“
Frida Kahlo to Marty McConnell
leaving is not enough; you must
stay gone. train your heart
like a dog. change the locks
even on the house he’s never
visited. you lucky, lucky girl.
you have an apartment
just your size. a bathtub
full of tea. a heart the size
of Arizona, but not nearly
so arid. don’t wish away
your cracked past, your
crooked toes, your problems
are papier mache puppets
you made or bought because the vendor
at the market was so compelling you just
had to have them. you had to have him.
and you did. and now you pull down
the bridge between your houses,
you make him call before
he visits, you take a lover
for granted, you take
a lover who looks at you
like maybe you are magic. make
the first bottle you consume
in this place a relic. place it
on whatever altar you fashion
with a knife and five cranberries.
don’t lose too much weight.
stupid girls are always trying
to disappear as revenge. and you
are not stupid. you loved a man
with more hands than a parade
of beggars, and here you stand. heart
like a four-poster bed. heart like a canvas.
heart leaking something so strong
they can smell it in the street.
”
”
Marty McConnell
“
As usual, the day guard at the Dirksen Building glares at him as he slides through security. She’s certain he was the one who vandalized the sign outside one particular senator’s office to read BITCH MCCONNELL, but she’ll never prove it.
”
”
Casey McQuiston (Red, White & Royal Blue)
“
you take a lover who looks at you like maybe you are magic.
”
”
Marty McConnell
“
Take a lover who looks at you like maybe you are magic.
”
”
Marty McConnell
“
It's only by facing things that you ever put them behind you.
-Mrs. McConnell to Susan
”
”
Lois Duncan (Killing Mr. Griffin)
“
Remember the 11th commandment. Thou shalt not take thyself to damn seriously.
”
”
Roy Mcconnell
“
who did I think we were.
who did I think
I could make you.
this is the oldest mistake,
to confuse wanting
with magic. silence is the undoing
of every spell, and we are experts
in the unsaid. even now, I forget
to put us in past tense. as if
the air in this city were the same.
as if love is anything like its speaking.
”
”
Marty McConnell Emily Kagan Trenchard
“
Humankind is drawn to dogs because they are so like ourselves—bumbling, affectionate, confused, easily disappointed, eager to be amused, grateful for kindness and the least attention.
”
”
Patricia B. McConnell (The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs)
“
She was warned.
She was given an explanation.
Nevertheless, she persisted.
”
”
Mitch McConnell
“
We humans may be brilliant and we may be special, but we are still connected to the rest of life. No one reminds us of this better than our dogs. Perhaps the human condition will always include attempts to remind ourselves that we are separate from the rest of the natural world. We are different from other animals; it's undeniably true. But while acknowledging that, we must acknowledge another truth, the truth that we are also the same. That is what dogs and their emotions give us-- a connection. A connection to life on earth, to all that binds and cradles us, lest we begin to feel too alone. Dogs are our bridge-- our connection wo who we really are, and most tellingly, who we want to be. When we call them home to us, it'as as if we are calling for home itself. And that'll do, dogs. That'll do.
”
”
Patricia B. McConnell (For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend)
“
Draft-dodging is what chicken-hawks do best. Dick Cheney, Glenn Beck, Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh (this capon claimed he had a cyst on his fat ass), Newt Gingrich, former Attorney General John Ashcroft—he received seven deferments to teach business education at Southwest Missouri State—pompous Bill O’Reilly, Jeb Bush, hey, throw in John Wayne—they were all draft-dodgers. Not a single one of these mouth-breathing, cowardly, and meretricious buffoons fought for his country. All plumped for deferments. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani? Did not serve. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney? Did not serve in the military. (He served the Mormon Church on a thirty-month mission to France.) Former Senator Fred Thompson? Did not serve. Former President Ronald Reagan? Due to poor eyesight, he served in a noncombat role making movies for the Army in southern California during WWII. He later seems to have confused his role as an actor playing a tail gunner with the real thing. Did Rahm Emanuel serve? Yes, he did during the Gulf War 1991—in the Israeli Army. John Boehner did not serve, not a fucking second. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY? Not a minute! Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-MS? Avoided the draft. Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-AZ—did not serve. National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair John Cornyn, R-TX—did not serve. Former Senate Republican Policy Committee Chair John Ensign, R-NV? Did not serve. Jack Kemp? Dan Quayle? Never served a day. Not an hour. Not an afternoon. These are the jackasses that cherish memorial services and love to salute and adore hearing “Taps.
”
”
Alexander Theroux
“
It's August, which means Congress is on recess and Mitch McConnell has shimmied back into the ocean to seek a mate.
”
”
Stephen Colbert
“
Who drugged you?” Sheriff McConnell roars. “I mean, I don’t know. I’d like to know, that was some good stuff—er, I mean, yeah, that was really uncool, drugging us like that,
”
”
Jesse Q. Sutanto (Dial A for Aunties (Aunties, #1))
“
As Mike McConnell, the former director of national intelligence, told a US Senate committee in 2011, “If the nation went to war today, in a cyberwar, we would lose. We’re the most vulnerable. We’re the most connected. We have the most to lose.
”
”
Kim Zetter (Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon)
“
the road to programming hell is paved with global variables,
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete)
“
The big optimizations come from refining the high-level design, not the individual routines.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction)
“
Good code is its own best documentation. As you're about to add a comment, ask yourself, 'How can I improve the code so that this comment isn't needed?' Improve the code and then document it to make it even clearer.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction)
“
Drilling without thinking has of course been Republican party policy since May 2008. With gas prices soaring to unprecedented heights, that's when the conservative leader Newt Gingrich unveiled the slogan 'Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less'—with an emphasis on the now. The wildly popular campaign was a cry against caution, against study, against measured action. In Gingrich's telling, drilling at home wherever the oil and gas might be—locked in Rocky Mountain shale, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and deep offshore—was a surefire way to lower the price at the pump, create jobs, and kick Arab ass all at once. In the face of this triple win, caring about the environment was for sissies: as senator Mitch McConnell put it, 'in Alabama and Mississippi and Louisiana and Texas, they think oil rigs are pretty'. By the time the infamous 'Drill Baby Drill' Republican national convention rolled around, the party base was in such a frenzy for US-made fossil fuels, they would have bored under the convention floor if someone had brought a big enough drill.
”
”
Naomi Klein
“
FRIDA KAHLO TO MARTY MCCONNELL
leaving is not enough; you must
stay gone. train your heart
like a dog. change the locks
even on the house he’s never
visited. you lucky, lucky girl.
you have an apartment
just your size. a bathtub
full of tea. a heart the size
of Arizona, but not nearly
so arid. don’t wish away
your cracked past, your
crooked toes, your problems
are papier mache puppets
you made or bought because the vendor
at the market was so compelling you just
had to have them. you had to have him.
and you did. and now you pull down
the bridge between your houses,
you make him call before
he visits, you take a lover
for granted, you take
a lover who looks at you
like maybe you are magic. make
the first bottle you consume
in this place a relic. place it
on whatever altar you fashion
with a knife and five cranberries.
don’t lose too much weight.
stupid girls are always trying
to disappear as revenge. and you
are not stupid. you loved a man
with more hands than a parade
of beggars, and here you stand. heart
like a four-poster bed. heart like a canvas.
heart leaking something so strong
they can smell it in the street.
”
”
Marty McConnell
“
once gotos are introduced, they spread through the code like termites through a rotting house.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete)
“
Heuristic is an algorithm in a clown suit. It’s less predictable, it’s more fun, and it comes without a 30-day, money-back guarantee.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete)
“
Savings, remember, is the prerequisite of investment.
”
”
Campbell R. McConnell (Economics)
“
To put a trillion dollars in context, if you spend a million dollars every day since Jesus was born, you still wouldn't have spent a trillion.
”
”
Mitch McConnell
“
She’s certain he was the one who vandalized the sign outside one particular senator’s office to read BITCH MCCONNELL, but she’ll never prove it.
”
”
Casey McQuiston (Red, White & Royal Blue)
“
Mothering well is a prayerful art. —Lori McConnell, Restoring Hope in a Woman’s Heart
”
”
Stasi Eldredge (Becoming Myself: Embracing God's Dream of You)
“
She’s certain he was the one who vandalized the sign outside of one particular senator’s office to read BITCH MCCONNELL.
”
”
Casey McQuiston (Red, White & Royal Blue)
“
Unfortunately, I'm drawn to a rare species of bad boy exterior/good guy interior. Give me a Harley Davidson and a pair of aviators and I'm weak in the knees."
"I have a Harley," he blurted
"I know
”
”
Lucy McConnell (The Athletic Groom (Billionaire Marriage Brokers, #7))
“
To this day, I can’t quite believe how fortunate we were that someone like Sheriff McConnell was in charge of the case. His incompetence was vital in ensuring that nobody ended up charged with anything.
”
”
Jesse Q. Sutanto (Four Aunties and a Wedding (Aunties, #2))
“
I’ll meet you tomorrow morning at ten in your office, and explain everything. In the meantime, go home and get some sleep.”
“I have a meeting with McConnell and Baroja tomorrow at ten A.M. to review some procedures,” he said.
Now, that was the J.B. I knew. Never mind the demon attack; procedures needed reviewing.
”
”
Christina Henry (Black Wings (Black Wings, #1))
“
When people visit my farm they often envision their dog, finally off-leash in acres of safely fenced countryside, running like Lassie in a television show, leaping over fallen tree trunks, shiny-eyed with joy at the change to run free in the country. While they're imagining that heartwarming scene, their dog is most likely gobbling up sheep poop as fast as he can. Dog aren't people, and if they have their own image of heaven, it most likely involves poop.
”
”
Patricia B. McConnell (For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend)
“
Do you ever wake up in the morning and ask yourself ''Do I want to be amazing today?
”
”
Ben McConnell
“
Mirror, mirror on the wall," She caught Beu's gaze in the reflection. "Who's the handsomest man of all?
”
”
Lucy McConnell (Never Ever After (Quotable Romance #2))
“
Copy and paste is a design error
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete)
“
Trying to improve software quality by increasing the amount of testing is like trying to lose weight by weighing yourself more often. What you eat before you step onto the scale determines how much you will weigh, and the software-development techniques you use determine how many errors testing will find.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction)
“
So I invite all of you to show our own species the same patience and compassion that we show dogs. After all, dogs seem to like us a lot, and I have the utmost respect for their opinion.
”
”
Patricia B. McConnell (The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs)
“
McConnell made a decision to make the economy worse to improve his political prospects. People lost their jobs, their homes, and their retirement savings because McConnell opposed any action that would help the economy if he thought it would also help Obama.
”
”
Dan Pfeiffer (Un-Trumping America: A Plan to Make America a Democracy Again)
“
I’m not going to write stuff like, “Mitch McConnell and I may disagree, but when we’re off the clock, we’re the best of friends—sometimes we go to dinner and Mitch will laugh so hard that milk shoots out of his nose.” No, I’m not going to be writing clichés like that. Instead,
”
”
Al Franken (Al Franken, Giant of the Senate)
“
Programmers working with high-level languages achieve better productivity and quality than those working with lower-level languages. Languages such as C++, Java, Smalltalk, and Visual Basic have been credited with improving productivity, reliability, simplicity, and comprehensibility by factors of 5 to 15 over low-level languages such as assembly and C (Brooks 1987, Jones 1998, Boehm 2000). You save time when you don't need to have an awards ceremony every time a C statement does what it's supposed to.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction)
“
McConnell writes, "In ten years the pendulum has swung from 'design everything' to 'design nothing.' But the alternative to BDUF [Big Design Up Front] isn't no design up front, it's a Little Design Up Front (LDUF) or Enough Design Up Front (ENUF)." This is a strawman argument. The alternative to designing before implementing is designing after implementing.
”
”
Kent Beck (Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change (The XP Series))
“
complicated code is a sign that you don't understand your program well enough to make it simple.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete)
“
I am full of ordinary sounding words, but when I say them, and you are there to hear them, all is well with everything.
”
”
Austin McConnell (Today Is Spaceship Day)
“
Robots get to see the worst of the human condition on a daily basis. Good thing they don’t have feelings.
”
”
Martin McConnell (Viral Spark)
“
usually more time is spent in making good-looking presentation slides than in improving the quality of the software.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete)
“
The only way to reduce the variability in the estimate is to reduce the variability in the project.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art (Developer Best Practices))
“
An arrow isn't the only thing I shoot straight. If you ever come near my wife, you'll be hauled off in a body bag.
”
”
Lucy McConnell (The Protective Groom (Billionaire Marriage Brokers #5))
“
Jesus never spoke of truth in abstraction, as something that stands alone. Jesus always spoke of truth in relation to God being revealed through himself.
”
”
Tim McConnell
“
Choose your battles. If rapid development is truly top priority, don't shackle your developers by insisting on too many priorities at once.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Rapid Development (Developer Best Practices))
“
While writing her book, Sympathy for the Devil, Virginia A. McConnell documented the incident.
”
”
R.J. Parker (Serial Killer Groupies)
“
McConnell raised his hand like a traffic cop and said, “You must be under the mistaken impression that I care.
”
”
Barack Obama (A Promised Land)
“
If Mitch McConnell had been the leader of the Senate during Watergate, Nixon would have finished out his term, and the Republican Party would have named several airports after him.
”
”
Dan Pfeiffer (Un-Trumping America: A Plan to Make America a Democracy Again)
“
Mitch McConnell is a psychopath. He's a classic psychopath but he does it much more subtly than Trump does.
”
”
Justin A. Frank
“
... economists recognize that, other things equal, cuts in tax rates reduce tax revenues in percentage terms by less than the tax-rate reductions. Similarly, tax-rate increases do not raise tax revenues by as much in percentage terms as the tax-rate increases. This is true because changes in marginal tax rates alter taxpayer behavior and thus affect taxable income.
”
”
Campbell R. McConnell (Economics)
“
My old grandmother used to swear by Dr McConnell's Lung Syrup. She drank a bottle a day for the whole of her adult life. She couldn't give it up in the end. It's got morphine in it, you see.
”
”
Ray Galton (Hancock's Half Hour)
“
Mitch McConnell’s innovation was in using it constantly to slow down things that did have bipartisan support, just to make sure as little as possible happened that Obama could get credit for. You
”
”
Al Franken (Al Franken, Giant of the Senate)
“
Sex is totally fine during pregnancy,” Dr. McConnell said. How did people have such incredible straight faces? There must have been whole semesters in medical school where doctors had to say things that would make any normal human being laugh, and then not laugh. Porter could picture it, rows of future doctors staring into each other’s eyes while saying the words penis, vagina, testes, feces, et cetera.
”
”
Emma Straub (All Adults Here)
“
For years, the family funded legal challenges to various campaign-finance laws. Ground zero in this fight was the James Madison Center for Free Speech, of which Betsy DeVos became a founding board member in 1997. The nonprofit organization’s sole goal was to end all legal restrictions on money in politics. Its honorary chairman was Senator Mitch McConnell, a savvy and prodigious fund-raiser. Conservatives
”
”
Jane Mayer (Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right)
“
Since most callers have until moments before been completely unaware that there are bears in New Jersey, there is often in their voices a component of alarm, up to and including terror. McConnell’s response is calmer than pavement. She speaks in tones that range from ho to hum. “Yes, there are bears in your area,” she says, and goes on to say, with an added hint of congratulation, “You live in beautiful bear habitat.
”
”
John McPhee (Table of Contents)
“
As Thomas Hobbes observed in the 17th century, life under mob rule is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short. Life on a poorly run software project is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and hardly ever short enough.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Software Project Survival Guide (Pro -- Best Practices))
“
People who smile tend to manage, teach and sell more effectively, and to raise happier children. There's far more information in a smile than a frown. That's why encouragement is a much more effective teaching device than punishment.
”
”
James V. McConnell
“
leaving is not enough; you must
stay gone. train your heart
like a dog. change the locks
even on the house he’s never
visited. you lucky, lucky girl.
you have an apartment
just your size. a bathtub
full of tea. a heart the size
of Arizona, but not nearly
so arid. don’t wish away
your cracked past, your
crooked toes, your problems
are papier mache puppets
you made or bought because the vendor
at the market was so compelling you just
had to have them. you had to have him.
and you did. and now you pull down
the bridge between your houses,
you make him call before
he visits, you take a lover
for granted, you take
a lover who looks at you
like maybe you are magic. make
the first bottle you consume
in this place a relic. place it
on whatever altar you fashion
with a knife and five cranberries.
don’t lose too much weight.
stupid girls are always trying
to disappear as revenge. and you
are not stupid. you loved a man
with more hands than a parade
of beggars, and here you stand. heart
like a four-poster bed. heart like a canvas.
heart leaking something so strong
they can smell it in the street.
”
”
Marty McConnell
“
Thus, increases in interest rates matter greatly for the economy as a whole. They not only cause direct reductions in investment spending and interest-sensitive consumption spending (the main intent of restrictive monetary policy), but they also may reduce aggregate demand indirectly through their impact on asset prices.
”
”
Campbell R. McConnell (Economics [with ConnectPLUS Access Code])
“
Curl up and cue the lights because the rising curtain means only one thing…the story’s about to begin.
”
”
David Shawn McConnell
“
If you have to put a matchbox under your chair, you need to straighten out your floor.
”
”
John McConnell
“
developers insert an average of 1 to 3 defects per hour into their designs and 5 to 8 defects per hour into code
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete)
“
Either do the thing you should be doing, or don’t do it and don’t think about it. But don’t not do it and then spend the whole time thinking about it! That’s the worst.
”
”
M. Andrew McConnell (Get Out of My Head: Creating Modern Clarity with Stoic Wisdom)
“
Our species is obsessed with play: we are either participating ourselves or watching others play for us.
”
”
Patricia B. McConnell (The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs)
“
Try to create modules that depend little on other modules. Make them detached, as business associates are, rather than attached, as Siamese twins are.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete)
“
Fear begets fiction and fiction gives a shape to fear
”
”
Frank McConnell
“
A blanket attempt to avoid mistakes is the biggest mistake of all.
”
”
Steve McConnell
“
... economic growth is driven by supply factors such as improved technologies and access to more or better resources.
”
”
Campbell R. McConnell (Economics)
“
Be grateful for the home you have, knowing that at this moment, all you have is all you need.” Sarah Ban Breathnach
”
”
N.J. McConnell (Nuclear Threat (Escaping the Undead 1-3))
“
You can do anything with stacks and iteration that you can do with recursion.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete)
“
Spend your time on the 20 percent of the refactorings that provide 80 percent of the benefit.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete)
“
few people can understand more than three levels of nested ifs
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete)
“
When executives ask for an “estimate,” they’re often asking for a commitment or for a plan to meet a target.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art (Developer Best Practices))
“
Study after study has shown that motivation probably has a larger effect on productivity and quality than any other factor
”
”
Steve McConnell (Rapid Development (Developer Best Practices))
“
Reduce complexity. The single most important reason to create a routine is to reduce a program's complexity. Create a routine to hide information so that you won't need to think about it.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete)
“
People who are effective at developing high-quality software have spent years accumulating dozens of techniques, tricks, and magic incantations. The techniques are not rules; they are analytical tools.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete)
“
McConnell seemed an unlikely Republican leader. He showed no aptitude for schmoozing, backslapping, or rousing oratory. As far as anyone could tell, he had no close friends even in his own caucus; nor did he appear to have any strong convictions beyond an almost religious opposition to any version of campaign finance reform. Joe told me of one run-in he’d had on the Senate floor after the Republican leader blocked a bill Joe was sponsoring; when Joe tried to explain the bill’s merits, McConnell raised his hand like a traffic cop and said, “You must be under the mistaken impression that I care.” But what McConnell lacked in charisma or interest in policy he more than made up for in discipline, shrewdness, and shamelessness—all of which he employed in the single-minded and dispassionate pursuit of power.
”
”
Barack Obama (A Promised Land)
“
Mitch McConnell so graphically demonstrated when he withheld the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in a shocking act of constitutional disrespect for two other branches of government. Without question, the most profound and relentless assault on our democracy would come during the years of the Trump presidency. But even then, it was the willingness of members of the legislative branch to go along with his serial
”
”
Adam Schiff (Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could)
“
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell needs to get business lobbyists in a car and drive them around with a gun to their heads for an hour, explaining: We can give you regulatory reform, OSHA reform, tax relief, tort reform. But if we give you immigration, we won’t be in a position to give you anything else, ever again, and you’ll have to take your chances with Nancy Pelosi. The Chamber of Commerce has got to learn: You can’t have it all.
”
”
Ann Coulter (¡Adios, America!: The Left's Plan to Turn Our Country into a Third World Hellhole)
“
Ideally play is joyful and childlike, a physically and psychologically healthy exercise for both people and dogs. Psychologists and spiritual counselors advise us all to put more childlike play into our lives. I think it’s great advice: play is good for our spirits, our bodies, and our minds. It teaches us, both dogs and humans, to coordinate our efforts with others, to learn to inhibit ourselves even when excited, and to share the ball even when we want it for ourselves.
”
”
Patricia B. McConnell (The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs)
“
Managing complexity is the most important technical topic in software development. In my view, it's so important that Software's Primary Technical Imperative has to be managing complexity. Complexity is not a new feature of software development.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete)
“
Don't differentiate routine names solely by number. One developer wrote all his code in one big function. Then he took every 15 lines and created functions named Part1, Part2, and so on. After that, he created one high-level function that called each part.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete)
“
The goal is to minimize the amount of a program you have to think about at any one time. You might think of this as mental juggling—the more mental balls the program requires you to keep in the air at once, the more likely you'll drop one of the balls, leading to a design or coding error.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete)
“
Graham knew McCain hated Trump. He knew that in Washington, you had to deal with people who hated you. But he did not impart that particular piece of advice to the president. “My chief job is to keep John McCain calm,” Graham remarked. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell was “scared to death of John McCain. Because John knows no boundaries. He’ll pop our leadership as much as he’ll pop their leadership. And I will, at times, but mine’s more calculated. John’s just purely John. He’s just the world’s nicest man. And a media whore like me. Anyway, he’s a much nicer guy than I am.
”
”
Bob Woodward (Fear: Trump in the White House)
“
The next time you see a dog you’d like to greet, stop a few feet away, stand sideways rather than straight on, and avoid looking directly into her eyes. Wait for the dog to come all the way to you. If she doesn’t, she doesn’t want to be petted. So don’t pet her. It’s not really that much to ask.
”
”
Patricia B. McConnell (The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs)
“
One of the paradoxes of defensive programming is that during development, you'd like an error to be noticeable—you'd rather have it be obnoxious than risk overlooking it. But during production, you'd rather have the error be as unobtrusive as possible, to have the program recover or fail gracefully.
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete)
“
Niru, you're welcome to stay if you want, Ms. McConnell says to me without looking up from her desk. Without students in the classroom she is much smaller and more feminine. I stare at her legs visible beneath her desk and at the way her blonde hair falls about her face as she reads the New Yorker. Porn makes it look so easy, so casual, so routine. Older women are supposed to crave fresh young meat, to lick their pen tops absentmindedly while thinking about us, to squeeze their legs together in a good faith effort to keep from corrupting the younger generations. And I am supposed to stumble forward both confused and uncontrolled, pulled by my relentless desire like light towards a black hole. Except I am unmoved. I imagine Ms. McConnell naked, perched at the edge of her desk, legs crossed waiting for me to cross the room and give her what she needs. That's how they always say it, that they will take what they want, get what they need, that hardcore sex is good punishment for bad behavior. I wonder if it would set the record straight for me.
It's nice outside, Ms. McConnell says, you should enjoy the day. Her stare makes me feel like she can read my thoughts and I am suddenly embarrassed.
”
”
Uzodinma Iweala (Speak No Evil)
“
Managers of programming projects aren’t always aware that certain programming
issues are matters of religion. If you’re a manager and you try to require compliance
with certain programming practices, you’re inviting your programmers’ ire. Here’s a
list of religious issues:
■ Programming language
■ Indentation style
■ Placing of braces
■ Choice of IDE
■ Commenting style
■ Efficiency vs. readability tradeoffs
■ Choice of methodology—for example, Scrum vs. Extreme Programming vs. evolutionary
delivery
■ Programming utilities
■ Naming conventions
■ Use of gotos
■ Use of global variables
■ Measurements, especially productivity measures such as lines of code per day
”
”
Steve McConnell (Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction)
“
Don’t feel like a failure if you can’t make a social butterfly out of the dog you rescued from a nightmarish beginning. Giving him a kind, loving home and helping him to relax enough to nap in your lap are achievements in their own right. If you can manage them, you deserve much more than a blue ribbon and a silver chalice. However,
”
”
Patricia B. McConnell (For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend)
“
The unenlightened call him “Frankenstein,” confusing him with his creator. The less-unenlightened call him “the monster,” confusing him with his popular reception by the villagers and the local constabulary. But none of us knows, really, what to call him: knows, as it were, what name he would choose for himself, if he were given the choice.
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Frank McConnell
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I also wanted to go to the Senate side of the Capitol to check on something that was personal to me. The hallways outside the Senate chamber are lined with busts of America’s past vice presidents, each of whom also served as president of the Senate. My father’s bust stood outside Leader McConnell’s office. I wanted to see if it had been damaged or destroyed. As we neared the door to the Senate majority leader’s office, we noticed a group of reporters gathered there. I didn’t want to attract attention, so I stayed back while Kara walked ahead to check on my dad’s bust. “It’s fine,” she reported. “Not damaged at all.” I wondered if we would be able to say the same about our republic.
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Liz Cheney (Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning)
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Inheritance adds complexity to a program, and, as such, it's a dangerous technique. As Java guru Joshua Bloch says, "Design and document for inheritance, or prohibit it." If a class isn't designed to be inherited from, make its members non-virtual in C++, final in Java, or non-overridable in Microsoft Visual Basic so that you can't inherit from it.
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Steve McConnell (Code Complete)
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In 2015, Trump had made one of his most cruel and thoughtless comments about McCain. “He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” Graham knew McCain hated Trump. He knew that in Washington, you had to deal with people who hated you. But he did not impart that particular piece of advice to the president. “My chief job is to keep John McCain calm,” Graham remarked. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell was “scared to death of John McCain. Because John knows no boundaries. He’ll pop our leadership as much as he’ll pop their leadership. And I will, at times, but mine’s more calculated. John’s just purely John. He’s just the world’s nicest man. And a media whore like me. Anyway, he’s a much nicer guy than I am.
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Bob Woodward (Fear: Trump in the White House)
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The scriptural admonition to “prove all things” (1st Thessalonians 5:21) has no meaning when an institutional view may not be questioned. “Through a multitude of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14; 24:6) has no meaning when an authority figure provides the only acceptable answer. There is no need for a multitude when the only allowed counsel comes from an institutional authority figure.
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David McConnell
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The first unpurchasable blessing earned by every man who makes an effort to improve himself...is self-respect, and inward dignity of character, which once acquired and righteously maintained, nothing, no, not the hardest drudgery, nor the direst poverty, can vanquish. Though he should find it hard for a season even to keep the wolf of hunger from his door, let him but once have chased the dragon of ignorance from his hearth, and self-respect and hope are left him.
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Rick McConnell (Shadowing Dickens: A Christmas Novel)
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On the Senate side, the setting felt less stilted. Joe and I were invited to sit around a table with the forty or so senators in attendance, many of them our former colleagues. But the substance of the meeting was not much different, with every Republican who bothered to speak singing from the same hymnal, describing the stimulus package as a pork-filled, budget-busting, “special-interest bailout” that Democrats needed to scrap if they wanted any hope of cooperation. On the ride back to the White House, Rahm was apoplectic, Phil despondent. I told them it was fine, that I’d actually enjoyed the give-and-take. “How many Republicans do you think might still be in play?” I asked. Rahm shrugged. “If we’re lucky, maybe a dozen.” That proved optimistic. The next day, the Recovery Act passed the House 244 to 188 with precisely zero Republican votes. It was the opening salvo in a battle plan that McConnell, Boehner, Cantor, and the rest would deploy with impressive discipline for the next eight years: a refusal to work with me or members of my administration, regardless of the circumstances, the issue, or the consequences for the country.
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Barack Obama (A Promised Land)
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Even in the best of times, when we’re not stressed or needy, many of us enjoy petting our dogs as much as any other aspect of dog ownership. This is not a trivial need. Quiet stroking can significantly change your body’s physiology, lowering your heart rate and blood pressure. It releases endogenous opiates, or internal chemicals that calm and soothe us and play a significant role in good health. Lucky for us, most of our dogs adore being touched. Most normal, well-socialized dogs cherish getting belly rubs and head massages and butt scratches. Many dogs like grooming so much that they’re willing to work for it, pawing or barking whenever needed to remind their human not to stop.
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Patricia B. McConnell (The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs)
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The RNC was easy for Trump to corrupt to his will, because it had already been corrupted with voter suppression, Frank Luntz messaging, the Hastert Rule, the selling of Sarah Palin, telling different lies to different voters just to gain their support, Mitch McConnell's theft of the supreme court (assisted by those justices prevaricating at their senate hearings), to name just a few.
And how about the New York Times, and all those journalists country-wide who cared more about appearing "fair and balanced" than exposing lies and corruption? We watched them not know how to handle the vilification of facts, but that, too, started before Trump (think Joe Walsh calling out "You lie!" during Obama's State of the Union, when Obama was stating facts. They reported the lack of decorum, but not the lack of veracity.)
Now we watch the legal system--and its avenues for motions and appeals before, during, and after conviction--be abused and corrupted by Trump's legal team, with an assist from judges who don't even try too hard to hide their partiality.
We need those who participated whose eyes have now cleared to be as forthcoming as Michael Cohen has been in exposing how and why the deeds were done, and owning their culpability. They need to come clean, to help us find ways to strengthen the frayed and fraying institutions that are barely holding together.
It may be the only way through.
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Shellen Lubin