Comparing Pommes and Naranjas LaiserinLetterLetters™ Laiserin's Lemma™—Greatly Exaggerated Today's Top-Level Take-Away: Words of Wisdom > "Human beings, almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so." (Douglas Adams) > "An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field." (Niels Bohr) > "If a machine is expected to be infallible, it cannot also be intelligent." (Alan Turing) Comparing Pommes and Naranjas It's tough enough to compare unlike things, such as apples and oranges, but even harder when we label the comparisands with different names in disparate languages. As building designers, constructors and owner/operators shift their media of description and communication from "CAD" to "the next thing," we face the pommes/naranjas problem—proliferation of names and languages that prevent us from distinguishing meaningful differences and similarities among emerging approaches to software about buildings. I am convinced that the building industry cannot move forward with any of these new tools unless and until we agree on a term to replace "CAD." I am equally convinced that the best term for this purpose is… More... LaiserinLetterLetters™ An occasional sampling of reader electron-mail, or "keep those waves and particles pouring in, folks!" More... Laiserin's Lemma™—Greatly Exaggerated (lemma: a short theorem used in proving a larger theorem) Mistaking James Ross Clemens for his cousin, Samuel Langhorne Clemens—a/k/a Mark Twain—the New York Journal erroneously ran a Twain obituary in 1897, some 13 years before his actual death. Apprised of the "news," Twain famously replied, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." Recently, many observers have mistaken moribund "dot-coms" for their thriving cousins in the web-enabled building enterprise. In light of the latest developments, it would be safe to say that reports of the death of AEC e-business are greatly exaggerated. More...