That actually makes some intuitive sense. My only problem with "dark matter" is the term itself: I saw recently in Nature (the science mag) that one astronomer had proposed the term "transparent matter," which I like a lot better.
Of course music is art, and classical-type composers and symphony orchestras have done versions of music from Zelda, Mario, and others. As for visual art, there is a rich vein of it in gaming -- I've seen some breathtaking work, and I'm not much of a gamer.
I'm a Bard graduate, and I remember how we used to make fun of Leon Botstein (who started as President the same year I began as student). He had all these wacky ideas -- this one included -- that seemed doomed to failure and ridicule from the get-go, and which almost without exception worked better than anyone could have imagined. Leon doesn't get a fraction of the pub of other leaders in academia and culture at large, but I'd bet that 50 years from now he will be seen as one of the great American visionaries of this century.
Could scarcely agree more fervently, and I've been one of these "non-technical" technicians (BA, PM, TW, QA) for well over 20 yrs. I once sat through a meeting at American Express in which a PMP spent the first ten minutes (at least) going on about her green belt in 6-sigma and deftly receiving and expanding the plaudits that were returned to her. As the project went on I realized I had been placed under the governance of a secretary -- no it was worse than that, she was a niggling functionary; if the app could have been coded with triplicate carbon paper forms she would have been in her ultimate glory.
Bottom line: The best geeks I've ever worked with don't just think outside the box; they feel beyond the box. Creativity is about pushing and penetrating boundaries; and it's the best experience you can have at work. Creativity can't be taught or learned in a certification course; it can only be invited, in sort of the same way as you'd ask a woman out on a date.
The main lesson of any person or site posing as a techno-authority is that authority itself is now impossible, if it can be said that it ever was doable. I look at this place every day, at Ars, and at How-to-Geek (who regularly presents some surprisingly remarkable insights). Once a week I'll look over Motherboard's, BB's, and Wired's posts; and for the rest there's social media. As annoying as it can often be, following Anonymous's twitter feed frequently delivers pearls from sites I otherwise wouldn't visit. And for really important stuff I follow Glenn Greenwald of Intercept and the EFF and the Tor project's feed.
A wise and insightful set of observations. I offer that praise, of course, only because the Reindeer reflects my own experience in working with that odd codebase known as "English." I once encountered a question at a LinkedIn group I follow, which asked: "How do you prefer to write -- with pen and paper or computer?" And my answer was, "neither." I further explained that a typical 1,500 word piece gets "written" when I'm out walking, sitting in meditation, or hitting golf balls at the driving range. Very often, the "scribbling" part is done with a pocket audio recorder, so that the typing becomes more a secretarial act than a creative one (editing, however, is an entirely different story).
Perhaps the only area where I might differ from the Reindeer is in the matter of handling distractions. For me, the "cow in front of my train" can often become part of the thought. This piece, for instance, developed from such an interruption (someone drawing my attention to the Goswami rant that became the main subject of the essay). Sometimes, I have found, distraction can itself be focus disguised.
Now, as for the topic here: if the experience of watching someone code (or write, paint, or even dig a ditch) is an opening into the creative process of the work, then it's worth the watch. That is to say, it's more likely to be a waste of time than a learning experience, but the one good encounter may be worth the ten bad, as long as you can quickly recognize the difference.
A long time ago, in the mid-80’s, I got my first corporate job. I was going to be employed by one of the biggest real estate firms in NYC, working in a gleaming midtown tower and doing Important Things in a suit and tie. The shirt whose buttons could withstand my pride had not yet been invented. To celebrate before I started, I went home to bask in the glow of accomplishment amid family. In short, I imagine I was thoroughly insufferable.
Anyway, shortly before I left to return to New York and begin my corporate career, my old man took me aside. “Brian, congratulations again, and I mean that,” he said, smiling. “I just want you to understand one thing before you start. The company will ask for your loyalty — demand it, in fact. It will give you none in return. The company will ask for your sacrifice, and give you none in return. The company will ask for your trust, and give you none in return. How much of these things you give the company will depend on you and your judgment. Just don’t expect anything back except the paycheck. Do your best, but expect nothing in return from the company.”
...you can't beat bamboo strips. The oldest original versions of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching are written on rolls of bamboo strips. Not sure how they scan electronically, and you will have to keep your pet pandas away from them, but for document durability, you can't beat that format...
One of the most underrated of all professions. Consider: must be strong yet gentle; analytic yet intuitive; a scientist and an artist. Must have psy skills to deal with the phobic behavior of all who come into that chair. Must be handy with power tools in very small spaces. I'm always astonished to encounter someone who performs that occupation capably.
Agreed: in the widest context the question arises, "so what?" I'm not bothered in the least by the ads, and I usually push them a few bucks when I notice one. And if I'm bothered by the ad, I scroll past it -- oh, the pain! Really now, for what wiki has given to the Web, to society, to journalism, to education -- and compared with the depredations of Wall St. and corporate America -- how can this be even vaguely construed as a scandal?
I hope Chris Carter's paying attention -- he may want to work in a revision of his earlier view by that name (opening of season 7 of X Files) as he prepares the neXt big thing for FoX. That whole ancient alien astronaut theme could use some dusting anyway.
Stupidity, typically, is not a product of Nature but of impudence. It has little or nothing to do with intellect: some of the most obtuse idiots I have met in my life have had above-average IQs.
Well the message is all the same, legalities or not: we are the NFL, a massive, mega-billion dollar, tax-exempt corporation with the government deep and firm in our pockets. If we say you've done something wrong and bring out our army of lawyers to intimidate you, you will be intimidated, make no mistake about that. You may therefore split hairs all you like; we can chop heads and get away with it.
On balance, anyway, I will join Zirin in rooting for Seattle because of what they can make socially of another victory. But I won't be watching.
Agree completely. In fact, all the ST films failed to even approach the quality of the series. The best movie-length ST "films" ever made were the various 2-parters of TNG and Voyager, led by "Chain of Command."
I wrote the following in an essay a number of years back:
But first, a word about discipline: any discipline — of the body, the mind, a student, a child, an animal — that strays from the purpose of liberating and fulfilling its potential is no longer discipline but despotism. This betrayal of discipline, this loss of purpose, is in many respects the defining error of our age and culture — in education, government, the workplace, our markets, and our media. Natural discipline is more about possibility than limitation; it affirms and supports freedom and rejects oppression and punishment. If a path of discipline that you are involved with contains a trace of punishment, guilt, or imperiousness, then I would encourage you to leave that path immediately; for it is not discipline.
Slashdot Mirror
That actually makes some intuitive sense. My only problem with "dark matter" is the term itself: I saw recently in Nature (the science mag) that one astronomer had proposed the term "transparent matter," which I like a lot better.
Of course music is art, and classical-type composers and symphony orchestras have done versions of music from Zelda, Mario, and others. As for visual art, there is a rich vein of it in gaming -- I've seen some breathtaking work, and I'm not much of a gamer.
I'm a Bard graduate, and I remember how we used to make fun of Leon Botstein (who started as President the same year I began as student). He had all these wacky ideas -- this one included -- that seemed doomed to failure and ridicule from the get-go, and which almost without exception worked better than anyone could have imagined. Leon doesn't get a fraction of the pub of other leaders in academia and culture at large, but I'd bet that 50 years from now he will be seen as one of the great American visionaries of this century.
Could scarcely agree more fervently, and I've been one of these "non-technical" technicians (BA, PM, TW, QA) for well over 20 yrs. I once sat through a meeting at American Express in which a PMP spent the first ten minutes (at least) going on about her green belt in 6-sigma and deftly receiving and expanding the plaudits that were returned to her. As the project went on I realized I had been placed under the governance of a secretary -- no it was worse than that, she was a niggling functionary; if the app could have been coded with triplicate carbon paper forms she would have been in her ultimate glory.
Bottom line: The best geeks I've ever worked with don't just think outside the box; they feel beyond the box. Creativity is about pushing and penetrating boundaries; and it's the best experience you can have at work. Creativity can't be taught or learned in a certification course; it can only be invited, in sort of the same way as you'd ask a woman out on a date.
it is far easier to classify someone than to understand him; or even to make the effort.
S in the LH
then I in the RH
and X in the LH
The main lesson of any person or site posing as a techno-authority is that authority itself is now impossible, if it can be said that it ever was doable. I look at this place every day, at Ars, and at How-to-Geek (who regularly presents some surprisingly remarkable insights). Once a week I'll look over Motherboard's, BB's, and Wired's posts; and for the rest there's social media. As annoying as it can often be, following Anonymous's twitter feed frequently delivers pearls from sites I otherwise wouldn't visit. And for really important stuff I follow Glenn Greenwald of Intercept and the EFF and the Tor project's feed.
A wise and insightful set of observations. I offer that praise, of course, only because the Reindeer reflects my own experience in working with that odd codebase known as "English." I once encountered a question at a LinkedIn group I follow, which asked: "How do you prefer to write -- with pen and paper or computer?" And my answer was, "neither." I further explained that a typical 1,500 word piece gets "written" when I'm out walking, sitting in meditation, or hitting golf balls at the driving range. Very often, the "scribbling" part is done with a pocket audio recorder, so that the typing becomes more a secretarial act than a creative one (editing, however, is an entirely different story).
Perhaps the only area where I might differ from the Reindeer is in the matter of handling distractions. For me, the "cow in front of my train" can often become part of the thought. This piece, for instance, developed from such an interruption (someone drawing my attention to the Goswami rant that became the main subject of the essay). Sometimes, I have found, distraction can itself be focus disguised.
Now, as for the topic here: if the experience of watching someone code (or write, paint, or even dig a ditch) is an opening into the creative process of the work, then it's worth the watch. That is to say, it's more likely to be a waste of time than a learning experience, but the one good encounter may be worth the ten bad, as long as you can quickly recognize the difference.
...you can't beat bamboo strips. The oldest original versions of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching are written on rolls of bamboo strips. Not sure how they scan electronically, and you will have to keep your pet pandas away from them, but for document durability, you can't beat that format...
One of the most underrated of all professions. Consider: must be strong yet gentle; analytic yet intuitive; a scientist and an artist. Must have psy skills to deal with the phobic behavior of all who come into that chair. Must be handy with power tools in very small spaces. I'm always astonished to encounter someone who performs that occupation capably.
Agreed: in the widest context the question arises, "so what?" I'm not bothered in the least by the ads, and I usually push them a few bucks when I notice one. And if I'm bothered by the ad, I scroll past it -- oh, the pain! Really now, for what wiki has given to the Web, to society, to journalism, to education -- and compared with the depredations of Wall St. and corporate America -- how can this be even vaguely construed as a scandal?
wait, is this the same thing as the Yes Men Survivaball?
I don't know, this sounds a lot like a Korbomite Maneuver.
Dogs have masters. Cats have staff. (and no one knows who really said that first)
I hope Chris Carter's paying attention -- he may want to work in a revision of his earlier view by that name (opening of season 7 of X Files) as he prepares the neXt big thing for FoX. That whole ancient alien astronaut theme could use some dusting anyway.
It is an insult to the memory of Data's cat.
Just listen to the first 30 seconds of this from Alan Watts (nearly half a century ago).
And if 7 of 9 is in this new show, I'm watching. (ST Voyager, season 6)
Well the message is all the same, legalities or not: we are the NFL, a massive, mega-billion dollar, tax-exempt corporation with the government deep and firm in our pockets. If we say you've done something wrong and bring out our army of lawyers to intimidate you, you will be intimidated, make no mistake about that. You may therefore split hairs all you like; we can chop heads and get away with it.
On balance, anyway, I will join Zirin in rooting for Seattle because of what they can make socially of another victory. But I won't be watching.
Nowadays this seems the most sensible response; though I do recall years ago running the Yellow Dog distro on an ancient iMac with some benefit.
Agree completely. In fact, all the ST films failed to even approach the quality of the series. The best movie-length ST "films" ever made were the various 2-parters of TNG and Voyager, led by "Chain of Command."