Owl River Company

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We invite comment and discussion on the following aphorisms.
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The unexamined life is not worth living.
  --  Socrates, in Plato's Apology


Classify, classify
1.  First Principles and Philosophy
2.  Policies
3.  Procedures
4.  Practices


With what shall I serve the Lord, my God?
  By doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with the Lord, my God
  -- Micah 6:8


For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto
	their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. 
  -- I Peter 3:12


The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the 
	streets.
  -- Proverbs 22:13


All that you have is your soul ...
  --  Traci Chapman [... get the CD ]


Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp. Or what's a heaven for?
  -- Robert Browning, at p. 101 


On my honor, I will do my best, to do my duty, to God and my Country; to
	obey the Scout law; to keep myself physically fit, mentally awake, 
	and morally straight


A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient,
	Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent.


Do a good turn, daily.


Be Prepared


First things first.

				
TRAF|s ∴
  - "The Organized Executive", Stephanie Winston


"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People"
   - Stephen R Covey
 - compare to -
"The One Minute Manager"
   -  Kenneth Blanchard, Spencer Johnson


"Getting to Yes"
   -  Roger Fisher, et al., The Harvard Negotiating Project


Top down design and HIPOs

					
First - do no harm
    -  Hippocratic Oath


Praise publicly, criticize privately


Everything human has limits


There is no substitute for planning
For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, 
	and counteth the cost, whether he have [sufficient] to finish [it]?
  -- Luke 14:28


Your first loss is your best loss.  
Learn from mistakes.
Hope to learn from the mistakes of others.
The school of experience is the only school from which some people learn;
	but eventually all its pupils die.


Apologize when you are wrong.


For ye were sometimes darkness, but now [are ye] light in the Lord:
walk as children of light; (For the fruit of the Spirit [is] in all 
goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto 
the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, 
but rather reprove [them].
   -- Ephesians 5:8-11


The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft' interred with their
bones.
  -  Shakespere, in Julius Caesar


Keep you accounts on your thumbnail
 - Thoreau, in Walden


Say what you'll do; do what you say.  A person is known by their deeds.


Without a nomenclature, it is much harder to organize thoughts.
Every profession has its lingo

										
When in doubt, tell the truth. - and -
Always do right. That will gratify some of the people, and
	astonish the rest.
  - "Mark Twain" (Samuel Clemens), in The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain


It is difficult to get a man understand something when his salary 
	depends on his not understanding it.
  - Upton Sinclair,  I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked (1935)

If you did it, write it down; if you don't write it down it didn't happen.
If you did it, bill it; if you don't bill it, it is a hobby, not a business.
An artist always signs his work
Don't use other people's work without permission and attribution.
A cat cannot cover up what it did on the linoleum.


Paying customers come first; unsatisfied customers vote with their feet.


Look before you leap.  
Dry runs avoid public embarrassment.  
Properly done, training is alway turns a profit. 
Pure research usually yields a profit.
Never experiment on production data.  
Make a backup before the catastrophe - It is too late to lock the barn door
	after the horses are gone.


The craftsman cares for his tools.
Hand them the tools, and get out of the way.
It's a poor craftsman who blames his tools.
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
If you cannot measure it, it is just an opinion; Metrics matter.  
Cost/Benefit analysis guides effective decisions.
	
		
Question assumptions - It doesn't matter a bit if the assumption is actually
	correct, and you have just confirmed it; it matters a lot if it is 
	wrong and you didn't confirm it


Play to your strength - not your weaknesses.


The Man in the Arena
  - T Roosevelt


"Je parle espagnol a Dieu, italien aux femmes, francais aux hommes et 
	allemand a mon cheval." -- "I speak Spanish to God, Italian to 
	women, French to men, and German to my horse." 
   - Charles V


Libertarianism is not about oppression; it is about self responsibility


Hegel's rules of being - (local copy)


Whomever goes to fight monsters should take care not to become a monster
	himself. And when you stare too long into the abyss, the abyss 
	stares back into you.
   - Frederick Nietzsche


If it is not useful [n]or necessary, free yourself from imagining that you 
	need to make it.
If it is useful and necessary, free yourself from imagining that you need to
	enhance it by adding what is not an integral part of its usefulness 
	or necessity.
 - And finally:
If it is both useful and necessary and you can recognize and eliminate what
	is not essential, then go ahead and make it as beautifully as you can.
   - Shaker saying ("Shaker Built: The Form and Function of Shaker Architecture"
	(This quote is of dubious origin, but the first couplet is worth thought)

Other Voices:
	Vincent Andres

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Copyright (c) 1998 Owl River Company
rev. 070905 RPH, PH