Michael Bates: April 2026 Archives

John O'Sullivan on O'Sullivan's First Law on National Review Online

Often miscredited to Robert Conquest, O'Sullivan's First Law says, "All organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing." His reasoning: "I cite as supporting evidence the ACLU, the Ford Foundation, and the Episcopal Church. The reason is, of course, that people who staff such bodies tend to be the sort who don't like private profit, business, making money, the current organization of society, and, by extension, the Western world. At which point Michels's Iron Law of Oligarchy takes over -- and the rest follows."

Students Say Holberton School Bootcamp Is Like 'Lord of the Flies' - Business Insider

I'm not shocked by this. Friends tell me that the Holberton grads they've dealt with have generally been eager but ill-prepared. Learning to code -- learning how the syntax of a computer language works, how to use the development tools, how to build a running program -- is important, but it's not the same as learning how to solve problems or how to design and integrate large software systems involving multiple engineers.