“
To strip the wallpaper off the fairy tale of The Family House in which the comfort and happiness of men and children have been the priority is to find behind it an unthanked, unloved, neglected, exhausted woman. It requires skill, time, dedication and empathy to create a home that everyone enjoys and that functions well. Above all else, it is an act of immense generosity to be the architect of everyone else's well-being. This task is still mostly perceived as women's work. Consequently, there are all kinds of words used to belittle this huge endeavour.
”
”
Deborah Levy (The Cost of Living: A Working Autobiography)
“
On Rachel's show for November 7, 2012:
We're not going to have a supreme court that will overturn Roe versus Wade. There will be no more Antonio Scalias and Samuel Aleatos added to this court. We're not going to repeal health reform. Nobody is going to kill medicare and make old people in this generation or any other generation fight it out on the open market to try to get health insurance. We are not going to do that. We are not going to give a 20% tax cut to millionaires and billionaires and expect programs like food stamps and kid's insurance to cover the cost of that tax cut. We'll not make you clear it with your boss if you want to get birth control under the insurance plan that you're on. We are not going to redefine rape. We are not going to amend the United States constitution to stop gay people from getting married. We are not going to double Guantanamo. We are not eliminating the Department of Energy or the Department of Education or Housing at the federal level. We are not going to spend $2 trillion on the military that the military does not want. We are not scaling back on student loans because the country's new plan is that you should borrow money from your parents. We are not vetoing the Dream Act. We are not self-deporting. We are not letting Detroit go bankrupt. We are not starting a trade war with China on Inauguration Day in January. We are not going to have, as a president, a man who once led a mob of friends to run down a scared, gay kid, to hold him down and forcibly cut his hair off with a pair of scissors while that kid cried and screamed for help and there was no apology, not ever. We are not going to have a Secretary of State John Bolton. We are not bringing Dick Cheney back. We are not going to have a foreign policy shop stocked with architects of the Iraq War. We are not going to do it. We had the chance to do that if we wanted to do that, as a country. and we said no, last night, loudly.
”
”
Rachel Maddow
“
Educate yourself, welcome life’s messiness, read Chekhov, avoid becoming an architect at all costs.
”
”
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
“
mental health is based on a certain degree of tension, the tension between what one has already achieved and what one still ought to accomplish, or the gap between what one is and what one should become. Such a tension is inherent in the human being and therefore is indispensable to mental well-being. We should not, then, be hesitant about challenging man with a potential meaning for him to fulfill. It is only thus that we evoke his will to meaning from its state of latency. I consider it a dangerous misconception of mental hygiene to assume that what man needs in the first place is equilibrium or, as it is called in biology, "homeostasis," i.e., a tensionless state. What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him. What man needs is not homeostasis but what i call "noo-dynamics," i.e., the existential dynamics in a polar field of tension where one pole is represented by a meaning that is to be fulfilled and the other pole by the man who has to fulfill it. And one should not think that this holds true only for normal conditions; in neurotic individuals, it is even more valid. If architects want to strengthen a decrepit arch, they increase the load which is laid upon it, for thereby the parts are joined more firmly together. So if therapists wish to foster their patients' mental health, they should not be afraid to create a sound amount of tension through a reorientation toward the meaning of one's life.
”
”
Viktor E. Frankl (Man’s Search for Meaning)
“
Interruptions are especially destructive to people who need to concentrate – knowledge workers like hardware engineers, graphic designers, lawyers, writers, architects, accountants, and so on. Research by Gloria Mark and her colleagues shows that it takes people an average of twenty-five minutes to recover from an interruption and return to the task they had been working on – which happens because interruptions destroy their train of thought and divert attention to other tasks. A related study shows that although employees who experience interruptions compensate by working faster when they return to what they were doing, this speed comes at a cost, including feeling frustrated, stressed, and harried. Some interruptions are unavoidable and are part of the work – but as a boss, the more trivial and unnecessary intrusions you can absorb, the more work your people will do and the less their mental health will suffer.
”
”
Robert I. Sutton (Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best... and Learn from the Worst)
“
For most of human history, when you were born you inherited an off-the-shelf package of religious and cultural constraints. This was a kind of library of limits that was embedded in your social and physical environment. These limits performed certain self-regulatory tasks for you so you didn’t have to take them on yourself. The packages included habits, practices, rituals, social conventions, moral codes, and a myriad of other constraints that had typically evolved over many centuries, if not millennia, to reliably guide – or shall we say design – our lives in the direction of particular values, and to help us give attention to the things that matter most. In the twentieth century the rise of secularism and modernism in the West occasioned the collapse – if not the jettisoning – of many of these off-the-shelf packages of constraints in the cause of the liberation of the individual. In many cases, this rejection occurred on the basis of philosophical or cosmological disagreements with the old packages. This has, of course, had many great benefits. Yet by rejecting entire packages of constraint, we’ve also rejected those constraints that were actually useful for our purposes. “The left’s project of liberation,” writes the American philosopher Matthew Crawford, “led us to dismantle inherited cultural jigs that once imposed a certain coherence (for better and worse) on individual lives. This created a vacuum of cultural authority that has been filled, opportunistically, with attentional landscapes that get installed by whatever ‘choice architect’ brings the most energy to the task – usually because it sees the profit potential.” The German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk, in his book You Must Change Your Life, has called for a reclamation of this particular aspect of religion – its habits and practices – which he calls “anthropotechnics.”6 When you dismantle existing boundaries in your environment, it frees you from their limitations, but it requires you to bring your own boundaries where you didn’t have to before. Sometimes, taking on this additional self-regulatory burden is totally worth it. Other times, though, the cost is too high. According to the so-called “ego-depletion” hypothesis, our self-control, our willpower, is a finite resource.7 So when the self-regulatory cost of bringing your own boundaries is high enough, it takes away willpower that could have been spent on something else.
”
”
James Williams (Stand out of our Light: Freedom and Resistance in the Attention Economy)
“
What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him. What man needs is not homeostasis but what I call “noö-dynamics,” i.e., the existential dynamics in a polar field of tension where one pole is represented by a meaning that is to be fulfilled and the other pole by the man who has to fulfill it. And one should not think that this holds true only for normal conditions; in neurotic individuals, it is even more valid. If architects want to strengthen a decrepit arch,
”
”
Viktor E. Frankl (Man's Search For Meaning)
“
Thus it can be seen that mental health is based on a
certain degree of tension, the tension between what
one has already achieved and what one still ought to
accomplish, or the gap between what one is and what
one should become. Such a tension is inherent in the
human being and therefore is indispensable to mental
well-being. We should not, then, be hesitant about
challenging man with a potential meaning for him to
fulfill. It is only thus that we evoke his will to meaning
from its state of latency. I consider it a dangerous
misconception of mental hygiene to assume that what
man needs in the first place is equilibrium or, as it is
called in biology, "homeostasis," i.e., a tensionless
state. What man actually needs is not a tensionless
state but rather the striving and struggling for a
worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task. What he needs is
not the discharge of tension at any cost but the call of a
potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him. What
man needs is not homeostasis but what I call "noödynamics,"
i.e., the existential dynamics in a polar
field of tension where one pole is represented by a
meaning that is to be fulfilled and the other pole by the
man who has to fulfill it. And one should not think that
this holds true only for normal conditions; in neurotic
individuals, it is even more valid. If architects want to
strengthen a decrepit arch, they increase the load
which is laid upon it, for thereby the parts are joined
more firmly together. So if therapists wish to foster
their patients' mental health, they should not be afraid
to create a sound amount of tension through a reorientation
toward the meaning of one's life.
”
”
Viktor E. Frankl
“
We all have a blind spot around our privileges shaped exactly like us,” Junot Díaz has said, and it can create blindness to failures all around. 25 It results in the Einstellung effect: the cost of success is that it can block our ability to see when what has worked well in the past might not any longer. In the face of entrenched failure, there are limits to reason’s ability to offer us a way out. Play helps us to see things anew, as do safe havens. Yet the imagination inspired by an aesthetic encounter can get us to the point of surrender, making way for a new version of ourselves. Our reaction to aesthetic force, more easily than logic, is often how we accept with grace that the ground has shifted beneath our feet. 26 “Art is a journey into the most unknown thing of all—oneself,” architect Louis Kahn stated. “Nobody knows his own frontiers.
”
”
Sarah Lewis (The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery)
“
Rivera’s admiration for Stalin was equaled only by his admiration for Henry Ford. By the 1920s and ‘30s, nearly every industrial country in Europe and Latin America, as well as the Soviet Union, had adopted Ford’s engineering and manufacturing methods: his highly efficient assembly line to increase production and reduce the cost of automobiles, so that the working class could at least afford to own a car; his total control over all the manufacturing and production processes by concentrating them all in one place, from the gathering of raw materials to orchestrating the final assembly; and his integration, training, and absolute control of the workforce. Kahn, the architect of Ford’s factories, subsequently constructed hundreds of factories on the model of the Rouge complex in Dearborn, Michigan, which was the epicenter of Ford’s industrial acumen as well as a world-wide symbol of future technology. Such achievements led Rivera to regard Detroit’s industry as the means of transforming the proletariat to take the reins of economic production.
”
”
Linda Downs
“
You promised I could start any charity I wanted. I'm going to find or build low-cost housing for the displaced Charterhouse Lane residents."
Tom regarded his wife for a long moment. The flash of newfound assertiveness interested him. Excited him. He approached her slowly. "I suppose you'll want to take advantage of some of the undeveloped lots I own in Clerkenwell or Smithfield," he said.
She lifted her chin slightly. "I might."
"You'll probably rook some of my own people into working for you... architects, engineers, contractors... all at cut-rate fees."
Her eyes widened. "Could I?"
"I wouldn't even be surprised if you forced Barnaby, who has access to all my connections and resources, to act as your part-time assistant."
As Tom stared into his wife's beautiful face, he heard Barnaby exclaim in a heartfelt voice behind them, "Oh, must I?"
"Do you think I could succeed?" Cassandra whispered.
"Lady Cassandra Severin," Tom said quietly, "that you'll succeed is not even a question." He gave her a wry glance. "The question is, are you going to spend the rest of our marriage trying to make me live up to your standards?
”
”
Lisa Kleypas (Chasing Cassandra (The Ravenels, #6))
“
write animal stories. This one was called Dialogues Between a Cow and a Filly; a meditation on ethics, you might say; it had been inspired by a short business trip to Brittany. Here’s a key passage from it: ‘Let us first consider the Breton cow: all year round she thinks of nothing but grazing, her glossy muzzle ascends and descends with impressive regularity, and no shudder of anguish comes to trouble the wistful gaze of her light-brown eyes. All that is as it ought to be, and even appears to indicate a profound existential oneness, a decidedly enviable identity between her being-in-the-world and her being-in-itself. Alas, in this instance the philosopher is found wanting, and his conclusions, while based on a correct and profound intuition, will be rendered invalid if he has not previously taken the trouble of gathering documentary evidence from the naturalist. In fact the Breton cow’s nature is duplicitous. At certain times of the year (precisely determined by the inexorable functioning of genetic programming) an astonishing revolution takes place in her being. Her mooing becomes more strident, prolonged, its very harmonic texture modified to the point of recalling at times, and astonishingly so, certain groans which escape the sons of men. Her movements become more rapid, more nervous, from time to time she breaks into a trot. It is not simply her muzzle, though it seems, in its glossy regularity, conceived for reflecting the abiding presence of a mineral passivity, which contracts and twitches under the painful effect of an assuredly powerful desire. ‘The key to the riddle is extremely simple, and it is that what the Breton cow desires (thus demonstrating, and she must be given credit here, her life’s one desire) is, as the breeders say in their cynical parlance, “to get stuffed”. And stuff her they do, more or less directly; the artificial insemination syringe can in effect, whatever the cost in certain emotional complications, take the place of the bull’s penis in performing this function. In both cases the cow calms down and returns to her original state of earnest meditation, except that a few months later she will give birth to an adorable little calf. Which, let it be said in passing, means profit for the breeder.’ * The breeder, of course, symbolized God. Moved by an irrational sympathy for the filly, he promised her, starting from the next chapter, the everlasting delight of numerous stallions, while the cow, guilty of the sin of pride, was to be gradually condemned to the dismal pleasures of artificial fertilization. The pathetic mooing of the ruminant would prove incapable of swaying the judgment of the Great Architect. A delegation of sheep, formed in solidarity, had no better luck. The God presented in this short story was not, one observes, a merciful God.
”
”
Michel Houellebecq (Whatever)
“
Well before the end of the 20th century however print had lost its former dominance. This resulted in, among other things, a different kind of person getting elected as leader. One who can present himself and his programs in a polished way, as Lee Quan Yu you observed in 2000, adding, “Satellite television has allowed me to follow the American presidential campaign. I am amazed at the way media professionals can give a candidate a new image and transform him, at least superficially, into a different personality. Winning an election becomes, in large measure, a contest in packaging and advertising. Just as the benefits of the printed era were inextricable from its costs, so it is with the visual age. With screens in every home entertainment is omnipresent and boredom a rarity. More substantively, injustice visualized is more visceral than injustice described. Television played a crucial role in the American Civil rights movement, yet the costs of television are substantial, privileging emotional display over self-command, changing the kinds of people and arguments that are taken seriously in public life. The shift from print to visual culture continues with the contemporary entrenchment of the Internet and social media, which bring with them four biases that make it more difficult for leaders to develop their capabilities than in the age of print. These are immediacy, intensity, polarity, and conformity. Although the Internet makes news and data more immediately accessible than ever, this surfeit of information has hardly made us individually more knowledgeable, let alone wiser, as the cost of accessing information becomes negligible, as with the Internet, the incentives to remember it seem to weaken. While forgetting anyone fact may not matter, the systematic failure to internalize information brings about a change in perception, and a weakening of analytical ability. Facts are rarely self-explanatory; their significance and interpretation depend on context and relevance. For information to be transmuted into something approaching wisdom it must be placed within a broader context of history and experience. As a general rule, images speak at a more emotional register of intensity than do words. Television and social media rely on images that inflamed the passions, threatening to overwhelm leadership with the combination of personal and mass emotion. Social media, in particular, have encouraged users to become image conscious spin doctors. All this engenders a more populist politics that celebrates utterances perceived to be authentic over the polished sound bites of the television era, not to mention the more analytical output of print. The architects of the Internet thought of their invention as an ingenious means of connecting the world. In reality, it has also yielded a new way to divide humanity into warring tribes. Polarity and conformity rely upon, and reinforce, each other. One is shunted into a group, and then the group polices once thinking. Small wonder that on many contemporary social media platforms, users are divided into followers and influencers. There are no leaders. What are the consequences for leadership? In our present circumstances, Lee's gloomy assessment of visual media's effects is relevant. From such a process, I doubt if a Churchill or Roosevelt or a de Gaulle can emerge. It is not that changes in communications technology have made inspired leadership and deep thinking about world order impossible, but that in an age dominated by television and the Internet, thoughtful leaders must struggle against the tide.
”
”
Henry Kissinger (Leadership : Six Studies in World Strategy)
“
That realization helped Moesta and his team begin to understand the struggle these potential home buyers faced. “I went in thinking we were in the business of new home construction,” recalls Moesta. “But I realized we were instead in the business of moving lives.” With this understanding of the Job to Be Done, dozens of small, but important, changes were made to the offering. For example, the architect managed to create space in the units for a classic dining room table by reducing the size of the second bedroom by 20 percent. The company also focused on helping buyers with the anxiety of the move itself, which included providing moving services, two years of storage, and a sorting room space on the premises where new owners could take their time making decisions about what to keep and what to discard without the pressure of a looming move. Instead of thirty pages of customized choices, which actually overwhelmed buyers, the company offered three variations of finished units—a move that quickly reduced the “cold feet” contract cancellations from five or six a month to one. And so on. Everything was designed to signal to buyers: we get you. We understand the progress you’re trying to make and the struggle to get there. Understanding the job enabled the company to get to the causal mechanism of why its customers might pull this solution into their lives. It was complex, but not complicated. That, in turn, allowed the housing company to differentiate its offering in ways competitors weren’t likely to copy—or even understand. A jobs perspective changed everything. The company actually raised $ 3,500 (profitably), which included covering the cost of moving and storage. By 2007, when sales in the industry were off by 49 percent and the market all around them was plummeting, the developers had actually grown the business 25 percent.
”
”
Clayton M. Christensen (Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice)
“
So there you have it. O Software Architect, you must see the future. You must guess—intelligently. You must weigh the costs and determine where the architectural boundaries lie, and which should be fully implemented, and which should be partially implemented, and which should be ignored.
But this is not a one-time decision. You don’t simply decide at the start of a project which boundaries to implement and which to ignore. Rather, you watch. You pay attention as the system evolves. You note where boundaries may be required, and then carefully watch for the first inkling of friction because those boundaries don’t exist.
At that point, you weigh the costs of implementing those boundaries versus the cost of ignoring them—and you review that decision frequently. Your goal is to implement the boundaries right at the inflection point where the cost of implementing becomes less than the cost of ignoring.
It takes a watchful eye.
”
”
Robert C. Martin (Clean Architecture)
“
If you're building a new house or renovating your existing home, our highly qualified Architects & Interior Designers will guide you from the design stage to completion.For simple or complex commercial projects, the experienced Home Designers team will focus on project quality, cost reduction & delays.Communication is critical to ensure the building code is adhered to and contractors are working within the design documents.We're your go-to team for expert advice and innovative ideas.
”
”
The Home Designers
“
Indeed, the cost-performance ratio of the product will depend most heavily on the implementer, just as ease of use depends most heavily on the architect.
”
”
Frederick P. Brooks Jr. (The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering)
“
For it to be successful, the architect must • remember that the builder has the inventive and creative responsibility for the implementation; so the architect suggests, not dictates; • always be prepared to suggest a way of implementing anything he specifies, and be prepared to accept any other way that meets the objectives as well; • deal quietly and privately in such suggestions; • be ready to forego credit for suggested improvements. Normally the builder will counter by suggesting changes to the architecture. Often he is right—some minor feature may have unexpectedly large costs when the implementation is worked out.
”
”
Frederick P. Brooks Jr. (The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering)
“
It is the architect‘s job to not only create functional, quality software for users, but also to do so while balancing the other departmental priorities, with the cost containment interests of the business‘s CEO, with the ease-of-administration interests of the operations staff, with the easeof-learning and ease-of-maintenance interests of future programming staff, and with best practices of the software architect‘s profession
”
”
Richard Monson-Haefel (97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know)
“
Egyptologists claim that Khufu began construction of his pyramid so it would be completed in time to accept his corpse. I should imagine that while he was considering what style of pyramid he wanted, he would have been consulting his architects and engineers to see what was feasible. He also might have been interested in knowing how long it would take to build and how much it would cost. Using today's technology, modern stonecutters have estimated that it would take at least twenty-seven years just to quarry and deliver the stone. I wonder how long it would have taken Khufu's men using simple, primitive methods?
”
”
Christopher Dunn (The Giza Power Plant: Technologies of Ancient Egypt)
“
As a skilled choice architect, you are conscious of utilizing the WRAP and NUDGES frameworks in preparing your presentation and framing of the issues. Having completed a study of the value agenda, you recognize that you need to overlay the risk and mitigation costs into a single picture.
”
”
Matthew K. Sharp (The CISO Evolution: Business Knowledge for Cybersecurity Executives)
“
was the architect of my own failure. I lost my cool for just a second, and it cost me not just my acceptance to Yale but most of my friends and nearly my attendance at Edgewater Academy. Only my parents’ own strong standing as members of the faculty saved me from expulsion. After years of swallowing it all back, now it’s all over because of a single second of lost control.
”
”
Joelle Wellington (Their Vicious Games)
“
In 2005, when Congress still depended on Communist votes for a majority in Parliament, a National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was passed, assuring any household in the countryside a hundred days labour a year at the legal minimum wage on public works, with at least a third of these jobs for women. It is work for pay, rather than a direct cash transfer scheme as in Brazil, to minimize the danger of money going to those who are not actually the poor, and so ensure it reaches only those willing to do the work. Denounced by all right-thinking opinion as debilitating charity behind a façade of make-work, it was greeted by the middle-class like ‘a wet dog at a glamorous party’, in the words of one of its architects, the Belgian-Indian economist Jean Drèze. Unlike the Bolsa Família in Brazil, the application of NREGA was left to state governments rather than the centre, so its impact has been very uneven and incomplete, wages often paid lower than the legal minimum, for days many fewer than a hundred.75 Works performed are not always durable, and as with all other social programmes in India, funds are liable to local malversation. But in scale NREGA now represents the largest entitlement programme in the world, reaching some 40 million rural households, a quarter of the total in the country. Over half of these dalit or adivasi, and 48 per cent of its beneficiaries are women – double their share of casual labour in the private sector. Such is the demand for employment by NREGA in the countryside that it far outruns supply. A National Survey Sample for 2009–2010 has revealed that 45 per cent of all rural households wanted the work it offers, of whom only 56 per cent got it.76 What NREGA has started to do, in the formulation Drèze has taken from Ambedkar, is break the dictatorship of the private employer in the countryside, helping by its example to raise wages even of non-recipients. Since inception, its annual cost has risen from $2.5 to over $8 billion, a token of its popularity. This remains less than 1 per cent of GDP, and the great majority of rural labourers in the private sector are still not paid the minimum wage due them. Conceived outside the party system, and accepted by Congress only when it had little expectation of winning the elections of 2004, the Act eventually had such popular demand behind it that the Lok Sabha adopted it nem con. Three years later, with typical dishonesty, the Manmohan regime renamed it as ‘Gandhian’ to fool the masses that Congress inspired it.
”
”
Perry Anderson (The Indian Ideology)
“
Churches build buildings because the cost is clear; architects can give a good estimate of what it will take. But churches have a much harder time determining what it costs to build a sustainable youth ministry.
”
”
Mark DeVries (Sustainable Youth Ministry: Why Most Youth Ministry Doesn't Last and What Your Church Can Do About It)
“
Why Build a House? When people hear I’m an architect, some ask, “Why would I ever want to build a house? Isn’t that a lot of trouble to go through? Why wouldn’t I just want to buy a house that’s already built?” It’s a great question, and it’s worth spending a moment or two to consider. Essentially, when you design and build a house, you get to adjust the house to fit your needs and desires instead of having to adjust yourself to fit an existing house. It’s a little like going to the clothing store and having a suit custom made for you instead of buying a suit coat off the rack that almost fits. Yes, the custom-made suit costs more, but you feel so good when you wear it. It fits perfectly, it looks great, and you find yourself walking taller and being happier just because you’re wearing that beautiful suit.
”
”
William J. Hirsch Jr. (Designing Your Perfect House: Lessons from an Architect)
“
Why Build a House? When people hear I’m an architect, some ask, “Why would I ever want to build a house? Isn’t that a lot of trouble to go through? Why wouldn’t I just want to buy a house that’s already built?” It’s a great question, and it’s worth spending a moment or two to consider. Essentially, when you design and build a house, you get to adjust the house to fit your needs and desires instead of having to adjust yourself to fit an existing house. It’s a little like going to the clothing store and having a suit custom made for you instead of buying a suit coat off the rack that almost fits. Yes, the custom-made suit costs more, but you feel so good when you wear it. It fits perfectly, it looks great, and you find yourself walking taller
”
”
William J. Hirsch Jr. (Designing Your Perfect House: Lessons from an Architect)
“
BlueSnap is the only Global Payment Orchestration Platform that simplifies payments, while helping you to reduce costs and increase sales. We improve the payment experience, reduce friction, increase your authorization rates and expand your global footprint. Even the way we architect the product reduces strain on your resources to increase ROI. We focus on ways to decrease the costs associated with payments – eliminating unnecessary cross-border fees, reducing FX expense, and more.
”
”
BlueSnap
“
There’s a reason for that. The government here mismanaged the planning and construction of the Sydney Opera House so badly that the costs and schedule exploded. Little of that was Utzon’s fault. But he was the architect, so he was blamed and fired midconstruction. He left Australia in secret and in disgrace. His reputation was ruined. Instead of being showered with commissions to build more masterpieces, Utzon was marginalized and forgotten. He became what no masterbuilder wants to be or deserves to be. He became a one-building architect.[16] “What you call the costs are not the full costs,” I continued. “Yes, the Sydney Opera House cost a large amount of money, far more than it should have. But the full cost of that building includes all the other architectural treasures that Jørn Utzon never built. Sydney got its masterpiece, but cities around the world were robbed of theirs.” More silence. There are always other costs—costs that never appear on any spreadsheet—when a project spirals out of control. The simplest are what economists call “opportunity costs”: the money unnecessarily burned by bad planning that could have been used to fund something else, including other projects.
”
”
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
“
Crimp Roofing Sheets – 3sgroups
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Beyond their impressive performance, crimp roofing sheets contribute significantly to the aesthetic appeal of a building. The unique wavy pattern adds depth and dimension to the roofline, creating an eye-catching visual effect. Whether used on contemporary structures or to add a touch of sophistication to traditional architecture, crimp roofing sheets effortlessly enhance the overall curb appeal of a property. Available in a range of colors and finishes, these sheets allow for creative design possibilities, enabling architects and homeowners to achieve their desired look with ease.
In conclusion, crimp roofing sheets offer a harmonious blend of durability, style, and practicality. Their ability to provide superior protection while elevating the aesthetics of a structure makes them a favored choice for roofing solutions. With crimp roofing sheets, you're not just investing in a functional covering for your building; you're making a statement that merges architectural finesse with rugged reliability. Whether for a residential home or a commercial complex, crimp roofing sheets stand as a testament to the perfect synergy between form and function.
In conclusion, crimp roofing sheets offer a harmonious blend of durability, style, and practicality. Their ability to provide superior protection while elevating the aesthetics of a structure makes them a favored choice for roofing solutions. With crimp roofing sheets, you're not just investing in a functional covering for your building; you're making a statement that merges architectural finesse with rugged reliability. Whether for a residential home or a commercial complex, crimp roofing sheets stand as a testament to the perfect synergy between form and function.
”
”
shree sivabalaaji steels
“
Wealth is being in possession of one of God’s living creations. Because of this, new creations are constantly being produced, so you can never run out. Being rich is being in possession of many of God’s dead creations. You can run out of these because they can’t be replaced. Do you know that being rich is only being rich in art or creations? The rich have access to great artists’ work. This work is usually priced at the highest cost. They have the best designers, best architects, best automotive engineers, etc. When artists are great creators of a thing, and in possession of their work, people often say that they look rich. No. The rich look like us. They have access to our God given talents; and God is the biggest creator of us all.
”
”
Dushawn Banks (True Blue)
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That's his perception of reality," Nenad responded. "He has adopted it as his interpretation and cannot break free from it, and probably doesn't even consider doing so. In fact, we too are unable to escape his worldview as it partly is our own. However, when faced with the choice between the cat and the belt, I choose the cat. It's not doomed, it's not poisoned, and it can be easily removed by hand from the engine, even if it comes at a financial cost. I have enough space in my cage for its rescue. I can imagine that within its mind, this engine has become a prison for his hopes of salvation. Overcoming our phobias of losing money in the pursuit of something else, even in small amounts, is healthy. A ground strap costs nothing, and though it may require a bit of time in a repair shop, in this day and age, we are used to wasting our time for far less. The reality of our daily lives is filled with every online distraction, like a sheet riddled with holes from moths that we wrap ourselves in out of habit without even noticing. It’s so comforting. At first, you embrace what everyone else does, what you are told to think. But eventually, you come to the realization that you have the power to dictate your thought patterns and become the architect of your ideology. You can construct a personal propaganda machine that aligns with your values and desires, creating a unique model of the world that is entirely your own. Your mind is still going to be a box in one of the billions of drawers, but it’s going to be YOUR box. Your true home. Manipulate yourself. We should manipulate ourselves towards common sense, compassion, and hope that we’ll get a good batch of people at some point so we can live among more like-minded peers. Now it’s up to our online feed. Now the education in our phone holds the reins, encapsulated in the three-second video of someone's take on history, the five-second clip of fitness models or investment strategies. And if we're fortunate, some famous person would quote Epictetus' Discourses, perhaps echoing the wisdom of Dostoevsky, Camus, Kafka, Marcus Aurelius, Sartre, etc. This is our chance for us to avoid descending into mere survival instincts without the tempering influence of morality and an understanding of the absurdity that we have created around us. To get addicted to the freedom in our minds. OR to choose the ground strap, choose to sacrifice someone else’s life so we can preserve our resources, because that’s what greed is, on a deep ancient level it’s you hoarding resources the same way a squirrel does with its winter supplies. Choose to be a squirrel rather than a human and live off your acorns. Choose to kill the cat. Choose not to ruin your precious machine. Choose the current model of society and disappear in it like a pelican getting caught in an airplane engine. Perhaps responsibility is the first and maybe even the only synonym for human purpose. Of course, there is value in the small moments we experience, but they lack foundation if they don’t fit into the break from working on something meaningful.
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Hristiyan Ivanov (All the cages we live in)
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There are a few other programs for low-income people that are less known. There are HOME Funds and Community Development Block Grants that help bring down the cost of renovating existing housing in disrepair for low-income persons. The Guaranteed Rural Rental Housing Program is nearly identical to the USDA loan we previously talked about except that you do not have to live in the project, and tenants are capped to incomes of 30 percent of 115 percent area median income.
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James Petty (Architect & Developer: A Guide to Self-Initiating Projects)
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User interfaces are by far the most frequent cause of excessive development and maintenance costs. Because of that, they require lots of undivided attention from the software architect.
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Anatoly Volkhover (Become an Awesome Software Architect: Foundation 2019 (#1))
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Will your infrastructure require a human to manage? Will you need a fully staffed DevOps/SRE team to support your operations? How much will it cost to run the system at full scale? Can you save $$ while you are running the proof of concept for the first 6 months before you get funded? How costly will it be to handle the occasional traffic spikes? How well will your system protect the customer’s data? How can you best support the future development and testing efforts? Most of these questions are answered by selecting your hosting model. Several options exist: Use your own dedicated hardware Provision dedicated hardware from a cloud provider Provision virtual hardware from a cloud provider Install a container solution on dedicated or virtual hardware Rely on fully managed container orchestration solution Go serverless
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Anatoly Volkhover (Become an Awesome Software Architect: Foundation 2019 (#1))
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Programming languages, their features, readability, and interoperation Code reuse across platforms (server vs web vs mobile) Early error detection (compile-time vs runtime error detection, breadth of validation) Availability and cost of hiring the right talent; learning curve for new hires Readability and refactorability of code Approach to code composition, embracing the change Datastore and general approach to data modeling Application-specific data model, and the blast radius from changing it Performance and latency in all tiers and platforms Scalability and redundancy Spiky traffic patterns, autoscaling, capacity planning Error recovery Logging, telemetry, and other instrumentation Reducing complexity User interfaces and their maintainability External APIs User identity and security Hardware and human costs of the infrastructure and its maintenance Enabling multiple concurrent development workstreams Enabling testability Fast-tracking development by adopting third-party frameworks
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Anatoly Volkhover (Become an Awesome Software Architect: Foundation 2019 (#1))
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Can I have your sperm?”
“Umm, no,” says my very handsome friend. He’s standing in the doorway of his stunning Upper East Side townhouse, wearing a completely bewildered expression. Who can blame him? It’s 10 p.m. and I’m in my pajamas, my bunned-up hair hanging askew off my head.
“Before you say no, hear me out––”
“No,” he repeats as if I haven’t just given him instructions. He eyeballs my pjs with the pigs with wings pattern on them. A joke gift Delia bought me when she told me she sleeps naked and I said I would do that when pigs fly. They’re very comfy.
“Are you in your pajamas?”
“Yes.” I push past him to get inside. “I’m prepared to assume all cost,” I rush to say, my voice high and marked with desperation. “You know my financial situation. You know I don’t need help in that regard. And you can participate as little or as much as you want in raising our child––”
“Slow down, Stella––”
“Jeff said no...”
I walk directly into his living room and come to an abrupt stop. Stacks of cardboard boxes are everywhere.
“Are you moving?”
“Yes.” Ethan brushes a hand over his gorgeous face. “Where’s this coming from?”
“I want a baby and the gays said I was too structured. And we’re friends, right? We respect each other, right?”
“Wait? What gays?”
“The architect, and the professor of economics at Columbia. Keep up, will you.”
Ethan chuckles and I glare back. This wasn’t supposed to be this hard. And it’s poking at all my sore spots.
“I really liked the professor. He’s the one that said I was too structured. The architect said he found a more geographically suitable candidate, but I’m pretty sure he was lying because I would’ve moved uptown if that was the only issue.”
“Okay––” he says, taking a deep breath, his hands on his hips. “You want a baby.”
“Yes.”
“So go to a sperm bank.”
“Too anonymous.”
“I’m not giving you my sperm, Stella. I’m moving to Los Angeles in less than two weeks and I’m getting married. I don’t think she’d be too keen on me handing over my sperm.”
Stunned, I rock back on my heels. “What?! To who?”
“To a woman I’m in love with.” He smiles then, the sweetest of smiles, and I know he’s serious. “Camilla’s friend.” At my blank response he continues, “The actress––we haven’t talked in months.”
“I called.”
“To tell me my investments are up thirteen percent.”
“You’re up fourteen for the year now. And you said you were too busy for a drink.”
“You canceled the last time.”
Totally dejected, I slump down on the armrest of his couch. “You were the last name on my list.” I can’t keep the disappointment out of my voice. I’m so bummed I may start to cry and I am not a crier.
Ethan chuckles softly. “Wow, thanks.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Why not a sperm bank?”
“I want my kid to know his or her father. I don’t want to tell them I bought their father.
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P. Dangelico (Baby Maker (It Takes Two, #1))
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The idea that schedules can be shortened in order to reduce cost or speed up delivery is a very common misconception. You‘ll commonly see attempts to require overtime or sacrifice ―less important scheduled tasks (like unit-testing) as a way to reduce delivery dates or increase functionality while keeping the delivery dates as is. Avoid this scenario at all costs. Remind those requesting the changes of the following facts:
- A rushed design schedule leads to poor design, bad documentation and probable Quality Assurance or User Acceptance problems.
- A rushed coding or delivery schedule has a direct relationship to the number of bugs delivered to the users.
- A rushed test schedule leads to poorly tested code and has a direct relationship to the number of testing issues encountered.
- All of the above lead to Production issues which are much more expensive to fix.
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Richard Monson-Haefel (97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know)
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Every decision we make for our projects, be it technology, process or people related, can be a viewed as a form of investment. Investments come associated with a cost, which may or may not be monetary, and carry trust that they will eventually pay off. Our employers choose to offer us salaries in the hope that this investment will positively affect the outcome of their venture. We decide to follow a specific development methodology in the hope that it will make the team more productive. We choose to spend a month redesigning the physical architecture of an application in the belief that it will be beneficial in the long run.
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Richard Monson-Haefel (97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know)
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By 2008, storm clouds were gathering over Microsoft. PC shipments, the financial lifeblood of Microsoft, had leveled off. Meanwhile sales of Apple and Google smartphones and tablets were on the rise, producing growing revenues from search and online advertising that Microsoft hadn’t matched. Meanwhile, Amazon had quietly launched Amazon Web Services (AWS), establishing itself for years to come as a leader in the lucrative, rapidly growing cloud services business. The logic behind the advent of the cloud was simple and compelling. The PC Revolution of the 1980s, led by Microsoft, Intel, Apple, and others, had made computing accessible to homes and offices around the world. The 1990s had ushered in the client/server era to meet the needs of millions of users who wanted to share data over networks rather than on floppy disks. But the cost of maintaining servers in an ever-growing sea of data—and the advent of businesses like Amazon, Office 365, Google, and Facebook—simply outpaced the ability for servers to keep up. The emergence of cloud services fundamentally shifted the economics of computing. It standardized and pooled computing resources and automated maintenance tasks once done manually. It allowed for elastic scaling up or down on a self-service, pay-as-you-go basis. Cloud providers invested in enormous data centers around the world and then rented them out at a lower cost per user. This was the Cloud Revolution. Amazon was one of the first to cash in with AWS. They figured out early on that the same cloud infrastructure they used to sell books, movies, and other retail items could be rented, like a time-share, to other businesses and startups at a much lower price than it would take for each company to build its own cloud. By June 2008, Amazon already had 180,000 developers building applications and services for their cloud platform. Microsoft did not yet have a commercially viable cloud platform. All of this spelled trouble for Microsoft. Even before the Great Recession of 2008, our stock had begun a downward slide. In a long-planned move, Bill Gates left the company that year to focus on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. But others were leaving, too. Among them, Kevin Johnson, president of the Windows and online services business, announced he would leave to become CEO of Juniper Networks. In their letter to shareholders that year, Bill and Steve Ballmer noted that Ray Ozzie, creator of Lotus Notes, had been named the company’s new Chief Software Architect (Bill’s old title), reflecting the fact that a new generation of leaders was stepping up in areas like online advertising and search. There was no mention of the cloud in that year’s shareholder letter, but, to his credit, Steve had a game plan and a wider view of the playing field.
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Satya Nadella (Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone)
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All architecture is design but not all design is architecture. Architecture represents the significant design decisions that shape a system, where significant is measured by cost of change. (Grady Booch)
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Richard Monson-Haefel (97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know)
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This tension between interdependencies and adaptability is a deep feature of networks and profoundly affects many types of systems. Software designers see it when a program becomes so complex that any enhancement or bug fix introduces five new bugs. Architects see it when a client asks them to move a wall just one foot, and it has knock-on effects that send the project's cost sky-high. Some biologists, such as Stuart Kauffman, believe that this tension creates upper limits on the complexity of organisms. In economic organizations, there is a clear trade-off between the benefits of scale and the coordination costs and constraints created by complexity.
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Eric D. Beinhocker (The Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics)
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Benefits of Outsourcing to Architectural Rendering Companies
The demand for high-quality visuals has never been greater. Whether it’s showcasing a futuristic skyscraper or visualizing a cozy residential home, architectural renderings have become an essential tool for architects, developers, and interior designers. Let’s explore the key benefits of outsourcing architectural rendering services, and how it can enhance efficiency, creativity, and business growth.
1. Access to Expertise and Advanced Tools
Professional architectural rendering companies employ experienced designers, architects, and visual artists who specialize in creating high-quality renderings. They bring a level of expertise that may not always be available in-house, ensuring that every project benefits from top-tier skills and creativity.
Additionally, these companies use the latest software and technology for architectural 3D modeling and rendering, including tools like AutoCAD, SketchUp, and V-Ray. Outsourcing gives businesses access to these cutting-edge resources without the need for expensive investments in software or training.
2. Cost Efficiency
Building an in-house rendering team can be costly. It requires hiring skilled professionals, purchasing software licenses, and maintaining powerful hardware for rendering tasks. By outsourcing to architectural rendering services, businesses can save significantly on overhead costs.
Instead of managing full-time staff, companies pay only for the services they need, whether it’s a single project or ongoing support. This flexibility allows firms to allocate resources more effectively while still delivering high-quality visuals to clients.
3. Faster Turnaround Times
Time is often a critical factor in architectural and real estate projects. Meeting tight deadlines can be challenging when handling rendering tasks internally. Architectural rendering companies are equipped to manage large workloads efficiently, ensuring timely delivery of projects without compromising on quality.
Their streamlined workflows and dedicated teams allow businesses to focus on core activities like design and client engagement, while the rendering experts handle the technical aspects.
4. Enhanced Creativity and Innovation
Collaborating with specialized 3D architectural visualization services brings fresh perspectives to your projects. These companies often work with diverse clients across various industries, which helps them stay updated on the latest trends and techniques.
Outsourcing allows firms to benefit from this creative expertise, resulting in visually stunning and innovative renderings that captivate clients and stakeholders. Whether it’s experimenting with unique lighting effects or creating immersive virtual reality experiences, the possibilities are endless.
5. Scalability for Projects of All Sizes
The flexibility of outsourcing makes it ideal for businesses that handle projects of varying scales. Whether you need renderings for a single-family home or a multi-story commercial complex, architectural rendering services can adapt to your requirements.
Outsourcing also allows firms to scale their rendering capacity based on demand. For instance, during peak periods or large-scale projects, outsourcing ensures that deadlines are met without overburdening in-house teams.
6. Improved Client Communication
Visual presentations play a crucial role in architectural projects. By outsourcing to architectural rendering companies, firms can deliver photorealistic visuals that help clients understand and engage with the design.
Detailed renderings and architectural 3D modeling make it easier to explain concepts, showcase material choices, and demonstrate spatial layouts. This clarity fosters better communication, reduces misunderstandings, and builds trust with clients.
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Vizent
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AT THE END of the eighteenth century London was well into the mad, technology-driven expansion that would only stop with the establishment of the Metropolitan Green Belt in the 1940s. Since then, developers have gnashed their teeth and looked enviously back on a time when a man armed only with his own wits and a massive inherited estate could shape the very fabric of the capital. Times like when the fifth Duke of Bedford found his country house surrounded on three sides by Regency London, and decided there was nothing for it but to dig up the old back garden and rake in a ton of cash. He enlisted the legendary architect and developer James Burton, who had a thing for elegant squares, the newfangled long windows in the French style, and vestigial balconies with wrought iron decorative railings. The only carbuncle on the road to progress was the weird group of gentlemen who’d taken to meeting in the faux medieval tower that an earlier duke caused to be built to add some drama to his garden. These gentlemen were in the nature of a secret society, although they seemed well favored by certain members of court—particularly Queen Charlotte. In return for being allowed to demolish the tower, James Burton agreed to incorporate a magnificent mansion into the terrace along the southern side of the square. It would be built after the style of White’s—the famous gentlemen’s club—and include a demonstration room, library, dining hall, reading room, and accommodation for visiting members. The central atrium was so impressive it’s thought to have inspired Sir Charles Barry in his design of the more famous Reform Club forty years later. And so the Folly was born. And all of this at below market cost.
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Ben Aaronovitch (Lies Sleeping (Rivers of London, #7))