Erik Christiansen wrote: >Niels Kobschaetzki wrote: >> Stupid me. I set folder=/home/user/.mail in each account instead of the >> folder of the account. Damn I am stupid. > > You are very hard on yourself. We do not in English have a single word > for the German "Vorführungseffekt" (demonstration effect), which > normally describes a process which works fine when you test it, but > crashes as soon as you demonstrate it to management (whether job or > domestic), but can all vouch for the "send button effect", in which the > answer to our question dawns in the seconds after posting. > > One trick is to describe what one has tried, and then everything one > might consider trying. More often than not, the message is then never > sent. But sometimes you do have to really hit send for inspiration to > fire. That seems to be a law of nature.
i now know that when i'm not making progress on figuring out a bug it is often a good idea to go do something completely different. this switches the brain from focussing on a tiny issue and lets the brain work on the problem from a more wider perspective (allowing the associative elements of the brain to work together to arrive at the solution from the sides). i learned this from when i was in college and we were allowed to check out a remote batch site over- night and through the weekends, but we could not get back in once we left. many times i would get stuck on a bug and then decide to finally leave. the sound of the click of the door locking behind me was often the time when the answer would hit. ant
