I think every physicist should have rules they live by. Today, I am going to start to compile a list that applies to myself. Here is the first principle that I am going to live by from now on:
- Never do any physics after 5 pm on Friday
Last night, I wrote a script that was supposed to just submit 30 jobs to the SLAC batch system. I made a mistake in the script, and hundreds of thousands of jobs got submitted. Forget the details – just know it was a stupid, stupid mistake.
So today, because I made the error of doing some last minute physics crap while tired on a Friday night, I get to stew in my own embarrassment and misery today. It’s good that the people in charge are largely forgiving, as long as this isn’t part of a pattern.
For some literary atonement, here’s a relevant passage from “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Ah ! well a-day ! what evil looks
Had I from old and young !
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.
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