Rules of Thumb — by Tom Parker

From the introduction to the 1983 edition: "A rule of thumb is a homemade recipe for making a guess. It is an easy-to-remember guide that falls somewhere between a mathematical formula and a shot in the dark .... Rules of thumb are a kind of tool."

And: "... a rule of thumb is not always right. It is simply a personal tool for making things work most of the time, under most conditions."

Also: "This is a book for curious people. It is not a book of facts; it is a book of experience. It is by people who like to guess with precision."

Parker's written three volumes of rules over the years, of which I happened on the 1983 iteration, which I believe was the first (the 2008 edition appears to be the third).

Among the various tips and tricks in it were two from Kevin Kelly, then of Athens, Georgia, still in his Whole Earth/CoEvolution Quarterly incarnation and yet to emerge as grand founding editor panjandrum of Wired magazine.

One of Kelly's hints was among the most useful in the book, to wit: "To untangle anything stringlike keep pulling the mess outward, making it larger and looser until the loops untangle themselves. This is your only hope of success."

True enough.

But you have to love that Kelly-esque final line.

On second thought, you don't have to love it.

It's OK to like it.

Or even hate it.

I don't care.

Nor does he.

And you can take that to the bank.

Other ones I liked:

"Don't tap the face of a sticky gauge any harder than you tap the bridge of your nose."

"Don't tell a reporter anything you don't want printed. Not that they can't be trusted, but what you tell reporters off the record can lead them to another source who may not be so discreet."

"It takes almost twice as long to find something in your coat pockets when you are not wearing your coat. If you have a flight jacket or parka with more than four pockets, you can usually save time by putting it on just to look through the pockets."

"For capturing pythons, anacondas, boas and other large constrictors, it is wise to have one person for every 4 or 5 feet of snake."

I sent a draft of this post to Kevin Kelly and he noted that there's now a Rules of Thumb website.

One great thing about Kelly I've noticed over the years is that invariably anything he touches is improved after contact with his BrainField™.

One of these days I'll do a BehindTheMedspeak Rules of Thumb.