I hope so. I'm 36 and I'm still trying to *get into* software development. I've been on the periphery where I can do a little here and there (building web sites, tech support, server admin) but never had it as my full-time job.
In a field where solid evidence, for any position, is virtually impossible to come by, agnosticism is the only rational view.
Sure. But once I get to this point, I also conclude that, given the unknowable, I find it prudent to live my life in accordance with the assumption that the unknowable simply isn't there. It may be entirely a misunderstanding on my part, but I find agnosticism tends to be more accommodating than I'd like. Maybe it's just the particular agnostics I've met. Don't get me wrong: I'm happy to let people do their own thing, but I do try to keep up a buffer where I'm not willing to go along with someone else's story they've pulled from the unknowable. So to make it more clear to the outside world I'm not going to play their games, I self-identify as an atheist because it better gets the point across. I'm not saying I *know* there's no higher power, but I'm trying to state clearly I'm going to *act like* there's no higher power.
All of this could just be me misusing the terms because I have the impression the general masses don't properly understand them. But considering the frequent arguments here about what atheism and agnosticism are and aren't, I'd say that impression is well founded.
Humor often isn't very rational, either. Should we also attack it? I have to say I personally treasure some irrationalities. There are plenty of reasons to push back against religion, but I'm not sure irrationality alone is a good deciding factor.
Curious analogy, but there's a big difference between the cases. All you have to do is demonstrate 2 as an even prime, and everyone can see it. They can also see why it has properties that are not the same as other even numbers.
On the other hand, God as imagined by the Judeo-Christian tradition basically has identical properties to any other god or gods described by other faiths, other than some personality and the written and oral traditions attached to it. That's because, beyond some internal feeling and that tradition, there are no properties at all to be demonstrated.
There are vast, demonstrable differences between the number 2 and numbers like 10, 34, and 100002. There's really no difference at all between Jehovah and Zeus, Baal, Osiris, and "the spirit of that old oak tree." I can tell the difference between 2 and 34 based on their properties. I have no way of telling the difference between Jehovah and Zeus because both have no tangible, observable properties to compare.
I personally prefer never to have an experience that might be confused with biting into a grapefruit rind, but I will firmly uphold your right to do so if you wish.
I drive through there a few times a year. One of my favorite stretches of highway in the country. Can't bring myself to get excited that the name has anything to do with the cartoon, though.
He's also said somewhere, I think on the DVD commentary tracks but perhaps somewhere else, that the town itself is in many ways modeled after Portland, so again this is no real surprise. (With convenient additions of whatever geography is needed whenever needed; hey, it's fiction.)
I'm rural enough that it's an hour and a half to the nearest BestBuy, and I love the heck out of Amazon. (Or I did until recently, when the Amazon Payments group gave me some of the worst customer service of my life; now I'm feeling conflicted about them.) I'll put up with WalMart if I absolutely have to have something today because it's the only local option, assuming it's something they actually have in stock.
Re:If your customers aren't always right...
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No, I hadn't realized it was necessary until then. I have asked about both ends every time since, though.
Really? I can't remember the last time one of those things did me any good. It's mostly a random crash (just reboot already and you're fine) or can through repetition be tied to a specific application or action.
Yeah, I've had a water heater moment that really made me understand being on the other side of tech support. Our water heater simply stopped putting out heat one day. I opened the panel, checked pilot light (still good), turned the temperature dial up and down, couldn't do anything to get it to kick in and actually heat water. Called the heating company. Guy comes out, turns the dial down and back up (just like I did), and the heat kicks in. Two years later it's still running fine, no parts replaced or anything. Still don't understand that one.
Re:"Any Key" phone call really happened ...
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I had an interview where they asked me what I'd say if someone called with the "any key" problem. Thinking it was a test of manners, I tried to keep a straight face as I explained how I'd approach the situation and educate the user, but I probably laughed a little while saying it. After I got the job, one of the hiring committee mentioned in passing, "You were the only person we interviewed who showed any sense of humor about that question." I'd assumed they were testing my diplomacy, but instead they were testing my sense of humor.
Re:"Any Key" phone call really happened ...
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I had a conversation with a secretary who kept referring to right-clicking as "opposite clicking." I suggested since right-click was the common parlance it might make things easier if she used the same phrase other people would use, just to reduce confusion. She paused for a second as if in thought and then said, 'So anyway when I opposite-click this..."
Re:If your customers aren't always right...
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So, to the sniggering nerds who laugh about their co-workers not being able to tell the difference between a "hard disk", a cpu and a computer case:...
That's hardly what most of these stories are about. I'll cut people a lot of slack for not having technical expertise when it's not their job. The user who can't play the DVD in the CD drive? I may chuckle to myself a little later but I'm not going to make fun of them in person or even with other techs. Likewise the user who says their home wireless stopped working, then confesses they don't have a wireless router at home, by which I deduce they'd been using their neighbors' networks at random until all the neighbors added passwords - I can see how someone would make that mistake.
On the other hand the user who asks me to buy them a new mouse because they're "afraid" to clean off the mouse ball (I know that's going back a ways) even after I've demonstrated the process needs to suck it up and get over their technophobia. Likewise the user who crashed their computer when installing a device because they failed to read the card with the gigantic lettering that reads "1) shut down computer; 2) THEN plug in device" is not going to get much sympathy from me as they're throwing a fit. And the manager who begged me to drive across town to her house, after hours, to configure work email on her home computer, earned enmity from me as soon as I saw the new computer was a laptop that she could have easily brought into work.
Re:If your customers aren't always right...
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One of my favorites involves failing to get a printer to power on, finally visiting the site in person, and having the customer explain, "Oh, I only checked the *other* end of the cable."
Re:If your customers aren't always right...
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Or the manager who asks why she can't print to the printer that was recycled years ago (and her specific words were "Why can't I print to the printer we got rid of?" - so she knew it was gone)?
That's right up there with this call:
Her: I'm trying to use Greg's computer but it won't come on.
I eventually identify that she's pressing the monitor button. I ask her to look for the "box" and press that button instead.
Her: Box? Uh, I don't see one. Greg took his laptop with him. Does that mean I can't use it?
Re:If your customers aren't always right...
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Oh, it definitely goes both ways. But since the slashdot crowd is techy it's more likely we're on the support side of the conversation than the customer side. It's not just that most of the bad experiences only come to us from that one direction, but that's where all of our good stories are.
As an example of something I've seen go both ways: I once called our ISP because we could send email but not receive it. They said they'd get back to us, but after a few hours I called them back to check on things. Their response was, "Oh, we figured it out and emailed you the solution hours ago." Even after they told me the answer over the phone, I don't think it clicked for them that you can't email a solution to someone who can't receive email.
On the other hand I got an email help request from a customer once. The entire message just read "help" and nothing else. "How can I help?" I emailed back. "I can't send email," was his reply. I assured him that he was indeed sending email, and we both went on our merry way.
I'm with you on bad form design. Especially forms that have the cancel button first and then the submit button after that - do they want people to cancel? I'm not actually sure the cancel buttons are really necessary anywhere except for perhaps the most delicate financial or health information. The number of dumb forms on insecure sites that'll still include an ability to cancel is just silly.
I travel sporadically and have never bothered to tell them when or where I'm going. The two times they've declined the card have been $100 purchases at a local department store we shop at regularly. Whatever heuristics they've got going, it's a little off kilter, but calling them wouldn't have made any difference.
Well, the joke's on them. I laughed, told them I saw through their ridiculously biased questions, and said I supported the candidate even more for choosing cause Y. Sadly, the other million people they tried to convert might have been more gullible.
How so? I don't see any obvious contradiction there. That stance tends to boil down to, "Spend money wisely while supporting personal freedoms." Not an oxymoron at all.
It's true. During the last election cycle I got a question which basically said, "Candidate X supported cause Y which is going to completely bankrupt America. Knowing that, are you more or less likely to vote for him?"
Slashdot Mirror
I hope so. I'm 36 and I'm still trying to *get into* software development. I've been on the periphery where I can do a little here and there (building web sites, tech support, server admin) but never had it as my full-time job.
In a field where solid evidence, for any position, is virtually impossible to come by, agnosticism is the only rational view.
Sure. But once I get to this point, I also conclude that, given the unknowable, I find it prudent to live my life in accordance with the assumption that the unknowable simply isn't there. It may be entirely a misunderstanding on my part, but I find agnosticism tends to be more accommodating than I'd like. Maybe it's just the particular agnostics I've met. Don't get me wrong: I'm happy to let people do their own thing, but I do try to keep up a buffer where I'm not willing to go along with someone else's story they've pulled from the unknowable. So to make it more clear to the outside world I'm not going to play their games, I self-identify as an atheist because it better gets the point across. I'm not saying I *know* there's no higher power, but I'm trying to state clearly I'm going to *act like* there's no higher power.
All of this could just be me misusing the terms because I have the impression the general masses don't properly understand them. But considering the frequent arguments here about what atheism and agnosticism are and aren't, I'd say that impression is well founded.
Humor often isn't very rational, either. Should we also attack it? I have to say I personally treasure some irrationalities. There are plenty of reasons to push back against religion, but I'm not sure irrationality alone is a good deciding factor.
Curious analogy, but there's a big difference between the cases. All you have to do is demonstrate 2 as an even prime, and everyone can see it. They can also see why it has properties that are not the same as other even numbers.
On the other hand, God as imagined by the Judeo-Christian tradition basically has identical properties to any other god or gods described by other faiths, other than some personality and the written and oral traditions attached to it. That's because, beyond some internal feeling and that tradition, there are no properties at all to be demonstrated.
There are vast, demonstrable differences between the number 2 and numbers like 10, 34, and 100002. There's really no difference at all between Jehovah and Zeus, Baal, Osiris, and "the spirit of that old oak tree." I can tell the difference between 2 and 34 based on their properties. I have no way of telling the difference between Jehovah and Zeus because both have no tangible, observable properties to compare.
I am also a fan of Portlandia. +1 Funny!
I personally prefer never to have an experience that might be confused with biting into a grapefruit rind, but I will firmly uphold your right to do so if you wish.
I drive through there a few times a year. One of my favorite stretches of highway in the country. Can't bring myself to get excited that the name has anything to do with the cartoon, though.
He's also said somewhere, I think on the DVD commentary tracks but perhaps somewhere else, that the town itself is in many ways modeled after Portland, so again this is no real surprise. (With convenient additions of whatever geography is needed whenever needed; hey, it's fiction.)
I'm rural enough that it's an hour and a half to the nearest BestBuy, and I love the heck out of Amazon. (Or I did until recently, when the Amazon Payments group gave me some of the worst customer service of my life; now I'm feeling conflicted about them.) I'll put up with WalMart if I absolutely have to have something today because it's the only local option, assuming it's something they actually have in stock.
No, I hadn't realized it was necessary until then. I have asked about both ends every time since, though.
Really? I can't remember the last time one of those things did me any good. It's mostly a random crash (just reboot already and you're fine) or can through repetition be tied to a specific application or action.
Yeah, I've had a water heater moment that really made me understand being on the other side of tech support. Our water heater simply stopped putting out heat one day. I opened the panel, checked pilot light (still good), turned the temperature dial up and down, couldn't do anything to get it to kick in and actually heat water. Called the heating company. Guy comes out, turns the dial down and back up (just like I did), and the heat kicks in. Two years later it's still running fine, no parts replaced or anything. Still don't understand that one.
I had an interview where they asked me what I'd say if someone called with the "any key" problem. Thinking it was a test of manners, I tried to keep a straight face as I explained how I'd approach the situation and educate the user, but I probably laughed a little while saying it. After I got the job, one of the hiring committee mentioned in passing, "You were the only person we interviewed who showed any sense of humor about that question." I'd assumed they were testing my diplomacy, but instead they were testing my sense of humor.
I had a conversation with a secretary who kept referring to right-clicking as "opposite clicking." I suggested since right-click was the common parlance it might make things easier if she used the same phrase other people would use, just to reduce confusion. She paused for a second as if in thought and then said, 'So anyway when I opposite-click this ..."
So, to the sniggering nerds who laugh about their co-workers not being able to tell the difference between a "hard disk", a cpu and a computer case: ...
That's hardly what most of these stories are about. I'll cut people a lot of slack for not having technical expertise when it's not their job. The user who can't play the DVD in the CD drive? I may chuckle to myself a little later but I'm not going to make fun of them in person or even with other techs. Likewise the user who says their home wireless stopped working, then confesses they don't have a wireless router at home, by which I deduce they'd been using their neighbors' networks at random until all the neighbors added passwords - I can see how someone would make that mistake.
On the other hand the user who asks me to buy them a new mouse because they're "afraid" to clean off the mouse ball (I know that's going back a ways) even after I've demonstrated the process needs to suck it up and get over their technophobia. Likewise the user who crashed their computer when installing a device because they failed to read the card with the gigantic lettering that reads "1) shut down computer; 2) THEN plug in device" is not going to get much sympathy from me as they're throwing a fit. And the manager who begged me to drive across town to her house, after hours, to configure work email on her home computer, earned enmity from me as soon as I saw the new computer was a laptop that she could have easily brought into work.
One of my favorites involves failing to get a printer to power on, finally visiting the site in person, and having the customer explain, "Oh, I only checked the *other* end of the cable."
Or the manager who asks why she can't print to the printer that was recycled years ago (and her specific words were "Why can't I print to the printer we got rid of?" - so she knew it was gone)?
That's right up there with this call:
Her: I'm trying to use Greg's computer but it won't come on.
I eventually identify that she's pressing the monitor button. I ask her to look for the "box" and press that button instead.
Her: Box? Uh, I don't see one. Greg took his laptop with him. Does that mean I can't use it?
Oh, it definitely goes both ways. But since the slashdot crowd is techy it's more likely we're on the support side of the conversation than the customer side. It's not just that most of the bad experiences only come to us from that one direction, but that's where all of our good stories are.
As an example of something I've seen go both ways: I once called our ISP because we could send email but not receive it. They said they'd get back to us, but after a few hours I called them back to check on things. Their response was, "Oh, we figured it out and emailed you the solution hours ago." Even after they told me the answer over the phone, I don't think it clicked for them that you can't email a solution to someone who can't receive email.
On the other hand I got an email help request from a customer once. The entire message just read "help" and nothing else. "How can I help?" I emailed back. "I can't send email," was his reply. I assured him that he was indeed sending email, and we both went on our merry way.
Balanced of course by the other users who feel compelled to spell out the entire page, including the hex codes, on a blue screen of death.
I'm with you on bad form design. Especially forms that have the cancel button first and then the submit button after that - do they want people to cancel? I'm not actually sure the cancel buttons are really necessary anywhere except for perhaps the most delicate financial or health information. The number of dumb forms on insecure sites that'll still include an ability to cancel is just silly.
I travel sporadically and have never bothered to tell them when or where I'm going. The two times they've declined the card have been $100 purchases at a local department store we shop at regularly. Whatever heuristics they've got going, it's a little off kilter, but calling them wouldn't have made any difference.
Well, the joke's on them. I laughed, told them I saw through their ridiculously biased questions, and said I supported the candidate even more for choosing cause Y. Sadly, the other million people they tried to convert might have been more gullible.
How so? I don't see any obvious contradiction there. That stance tends to boil down to, "Spend money wisely while supporting personal freedoms." Not an oxymoron at all.
It's true. During the last election cycle I got a question which basically said, "Candidate X supported cause Y which is going to completely bankrupt America. Knowing that, are you more or less likely to vote for him?"
But surely *next* year they'll be funny again, right?