A lot of people laugh at me for using a manual typewriter and correction fluid, and sending letters via snail mail, but I've never gotten a virus. Except when my aunt Chloe sneezed on that postcard.... Guess there are some benefits after all. ^_^
(Sure, you're safer, but most people prefer functionality over safety. I'll keep my WAP browser and Bluetooth contact synchronization, thank you very much, even with the gaping hole in Bluetooth.)
I'd argue that running a company is definitely a matter of engineering, or at least having an engineer's mind. A lot of it is social engineering, but the same skill set applies.
A good CEO: Needs to know the strengths and weaknesses of the people underneath him. Needs to understand process engineering. Needs to know how to arrange people so that they are most productive. Needs to know how to refer to reference sources (usually the people under him) when he doesn't understand the technical details of something.
A sales or marketing person, on the other hand: Doesn't understand process engineering. Doesn't know how to work with fundementally flawed materials (people.) Is usually idealistic and impractical. Never checks the damned details.
However, a CEO also needs to have a strong vision (a lot of engineers are detail oriented, and don't have a big picture idea of the system), and needs to have excellent social skills for bullshitting the board to keep them off the engineers backs.:)
It is vastly different in the US. It would be considered rude for the waiter to ask you to do any work towards signing the check. They pick up the card, whisk it away, and return with the receipt for you to sign, generally while you're polishing off dessert or drinks. You're expected to sit and relax.
The only restaurants in the US that have you go to the till to pay are really cheap nasty diners.
The rest of us chick types who are going for CTO/CEO/etc would like the bitches booted out, so they don't give women C*Os a bad name before we get there.:)
(speaking as a very disgruntled ex-HP employee.)
Re:um, car's aren't rockets...
on
Hondas in Space
·
· Score: 1
Actually, rockets are much simpler than cars, with fewer moving parts, and are therefore much easier to engineer.
Oh wait, you wanted a guidance system and life support. Never mind.:-)
While I think you're off base on the global warming thing, there is a point in there that I think people ignore.
Humans can, with a little enthusiasm, make the planet uninhabitable for themselves, via nuclear winter, global warming, etc, etc. However, making it uninhabitable for people and killing all life on the planet are two very different things. Even if we drastically change the environment, there are plenty of extremophilic life-forms that will simply expand out of their current niche, mutate, and re-fill the planet with life. Cockroaches, bacteria living near volcanic ocean floor vents... Life in general is resilient. You're probably not going to sterilize the planet, at worst you'll make it unlivable for people.
You wouldn't happen to be Rob Carr formerly of Private Idaho, would you? (Totally offtopic question, I realize, but if so, you were indirectly a formative influence on my career as a geek.)
Speaking as someone with a few semesters of Japanese under my belt, learning hiragana/katakana, and learning Japanese, are two very different problem sets. Otherwise everyone could learn n~ and e' and then they'd know Spanish.
A computer is a very useful tool for drilling and repetitive tasks, such as practicing hiragana, or kanji. But it's not a good substitute for real, live, unpredictable conversation, in the same way that playing the Sims is not a good learning substitute for interacting with real human beings.
Learning a language requires knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, but it also requires a live human being to giggle and tell you that while, yes, the two words you used together mean "egg" and "leather", they're also slang for female genitalia. There is no substitute for real people.
However, computers can be used to access real people, as mentioned elsewhere in this thread, via web cams, instant messaging, Japanese email pen pals (there's an exchange program for these at mylanguageexchange.com, among many other places online.) I found swapping emails with my teacher and IM with Japanese speaking friends incredibly helpful for learning idiomatic Japanese.
So what you're saying is, everyone agrees, except for the people who don't agree?
While I agree that the evidence for human caused climate change is quite strong, "infinite are the arguments of academics", and saying that everyone who doesn't agree with the majority view is an establishment tool or an idiot isn't exactly my idea of a convincing scientific argument. If you're trying to win converts (a worthy goal, may I add...), then insulting their intelligence seems like a non-optimal way to go about it. How about posting the informative links and cutting down on the polemic, so you look less like a net kook and more like an informed concerned citizen?
I found out because I went on their site looking for a utility to autogen documentation.
This one? http://cc.borland.com/codecentral/ccweb.exe/listin g?id=22743
(Just curious...)
I was hoping to ask you this in Menlo Park...
on
Ask Neal Stephenson
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
But I didn't get the chance. You seem to have a really excellent eye for culture in each of your books. The Victorians and Chinese in Diamond Age, the British in the Baroque cycle... Is there any culture in particular that's piqueing your interest right now, or that you feel more of an affinity for than any other?
Or perhaps you had 5 times better of a business idea, or a proven track record of having better ideas than the 200,000 dollar a year guy.... Not that all the other alternatives aren't also plausible, but you have to look at all the options.
Shameless plug. No, I am not single, but I am tired of hearing guys complain that there aren't any pretty geeky females out there. If I exist, there's gotta be plenty more like me.
Kamileon - Geek grrl extraordinaire
"Someone convinced me to go outside, and I kinda liked it. Without a computer, though, it's like an EVA without a lifeline." -- Chromatic
The sins of my fore-fathers and yours are not my f**king problem.
If you want reparations, complain about something current, instead of living in the past. Like racism.
Not to mention that half the white people in this country are descended from poor white trash immigrants who couldn't have afforded slaves in the first place. The lion's share of property belongs to those who started with a lion's share of property. The rest of us bust our ass in fast food until we get some real skills.
White Geek-grrl
(who worked her way through college out of a trailer park on Blimpie wages, so don't whine to me, bitch.)
Computers are a tool. The fact that you use computers to communicate is no more meaningful than if you'd used tin cans, pen and paper, or a telephone. But the fact that a tool is used doesn't rule out the possibility of a community.
Well before the development of computers, pen pals were a good way of creating and maintaining bonds with people you'd never met. Some people are happy forming intimate bonds with people without ever needing to see them face to face. It's obvious you're not one of those people, but there are plenty who are. People who want someone to talk to and form community with will do it any way they can, using all the tools at their disposal, whether it be meat, paper, or electronic. Don't underestimate the desperate human need for a herd to belong to.:)
I can't get no respect... Nobody likes my spelling...:) So I am officially changing my title to Mistress of Existentialism, in the hopes that nobody cares how it's spelled.
Hmm. So a man who reads geek news thinks that geeks aren't real men? Are you feeling insecure about your masculinity? Or are you a woman who checked my picture and is now consumed with jealousy because I'm sexy AND smart?:)
Anyone who reads here on a regular basis knows that my inability to spell only proves I'm a geek, the majority of posts on here have at least one error. For instance, it's spelled Tennessee. 2 N's, 2 S's, 4 E's. Got it?
Cheers,
Geek-grrl in training
"The quickest way to a man's heart is through his chest."
As in Dalai Llama? The little furry guy who runs around talking about world peace in between being a beast of burden and a source of wool? Gets invited to lots of conferences, but only goes if they have good hay?
Geek-grrl in training
"Never attribute to malice, that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."
Is it just me, or did the Socialist candidate state he FAVORED ripping off poor writers? What kind of an attitude is that for a socialist? You're supposed to rip off the rich to feed the poor starving writers, not vice versa...
Geek grrl in training
************************************************ *
A recent poll tells why the people of New Hampshire are supporting George Bush. 40% like my foreign policy, 40% support my economic policy, and 20% believe I make a good premium beer. - George Bush campaigning in 1988
Re:History proves this type of thing wrong
on
A Letter from 2020
·
· Score: 1
Unless, of course, it was 1945, and you were Japanese. Or 1960s, and you had long hair. Or, or, or. And of course, that's just the government. The mafia had laws unto itself as well. Due process of law has been circumvented before, and it will be again. I notice that you've posted several times, each time with the same generic response, saying that this could never happen, because the US is a special country. Please remember that the US is not the only country, and many other countries have already proven that these sorts of things can happen. DOn't cling blindly to the American dream and say that these things can't happen. You, and others like you, are the people responsible for stopping it or turning a blind eye to the possibility of it, and thereby letting it happen. Maybe not in 20 years, but possibly in 40. Or maybe never, but don't discount the possibility simply on blind faith.
Never underestimate the joys of a window on the 11th floor. I think every office should have one. In fact, I think no one should work in an office below the eleventh floor. All such spaces in buildings should be devoted to free beer, free speech, and foozball tables.
Seriously, though, I love my current office arrangement. The window is really a nice thing. I know some people don't like sunlight, but I find it a lot easier on my mental health than the incessant buzz of flourescents. I usually just turn the lights off. Let's see: Free coffee, hot chocolate, milk, etc, a communal fridge, lots of storage space and desk space so I can cover every square inch with cables and post-it(tm) notes. A small enough group that I can stick my head out and yell down the hall to anyone I need to talk to if need be. The promise of a nap-room and an air-hockey table in the next move. All these things are really great to have. But I wouldn't care about any of it if I had bad management or hordes of stupid/annoying coworkers. What makes an office for me is whether I dread going there in the mornings, and all the nifty perks in the world won't erase that.
Geek-grrl in training
"Beware of a tall dark man with a spoon up his nose."
{n | 1 n MAX_INT}th post!
I would have written {n | n (funky looking e)(funky looking R with extra line)}, personally, and that would be a more explicit form, but I was happy enough with his... It's a lot better than "4th post! Oh, wait, 7th."
Geek-grrl in training
Slashdot Mirror
A lot of people laugh at me for using a manual typewriter and correction fluid, and sending letters via snail mail, but I've never gotten a virus. Except when my aunt Chloe sneezed on that postcard.... Guess there are some benefits after all. ^_^
(Sure, you're safer, but most people prefer functionality over safety. I'll keep my WAP browser and Bluetooth contact synchronization, thank you very much, even with the gaping hole in Bluetooth.)
Let me know when you find one of those, I want to clone an army of him/her and take over the world.
:)
But in the mean time, I'll keep working on the huge frickin' laser beams, because I think you're going to be looking for a while.
I'd argue that running a company is definitely a matter of engineering, or at least having an engineer's mind. A lot of it is social engineering, but the same skill set applies.
:)
A good CEO:
Needs to know the strengths and weaknesses of the people underneath him.
Needs to understand process engineering.
Needs to know how to arrange people so that they are most productive.
Needs to know how to refer to reference sources (usually the people under him) when he doesn't understand the technical details of something.
A sales or marketing person, on the other hand:
Doesn't understand process engineering.
Doesn't know how to work with fundementally flawed materials (people.)
Is usually idealistic and impractical.
Never checks the damned details.
However, a CEO also needs to have a strong vision (a lot of engineers are detail oriented, and don't have a big picture idea of the system), and needs to have excellent social skills for bullshitting the board to keep them off the engineers backs.
It is vastly different in the US. It would be considered rude for the waiter to ask you to do any work towards signing the check. They pick up the card, whisk it away, and return with the receipt for you to sign, generally while you're polishing off dessert or drinks. You're expected to sit and relax.
The only restaurants in the US that have you go to the till to pay are really cheap nasty diners.
The rest of us chick types who are going for CTO/CEO/etc would like the bitches booted out, so they don't give women C*Os a bad name before we get there. :)
(speaking as a very disgruntled ex-HP employee.)
Actually, rockets are much simpler than cars, with fewer moving parts, and are therefore much easier to engineer.
:-)
Oh wait, you wanted a guidance system and life support. Never mind.
While I think you're off base on the global warming thing, there is a point in there that I think people ignore.
Humans can, with a little enthusiasm, make the planet uninhabitable for themselves, via nuclear winter, global warming, etc, etc. However, making it uninhabitable for people and killing all life on the planet are two very different things. Even if we drastically change the environment, there are plenty of extremophilic life-forms that will simply expand out of their current niche, mutate, and re-fill the planet with life. Cockroaches, bacteria living near volcanic ocean floor vents... Life in general is resilient. You're probably not going to sterilize the planet, at worst you'll make it unlivable for people.
To quote one of my coworkers:
"XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it."
You wouldn't happen to be Rob Carr formerly of Private Idaho, would you? (Totally offtopic question, I realize, but if so, you were indirectly a formative influence on my career as a geek.)
Speaking as someone with a few semesters of Japanese under my belt, learning hiragana/katakana, and learning Japanese, are two very different problem sets. Otherwise everyone could learn n~ and e' and then they'd know Spanish.
A computer is a very useful tool for drilling and repetitive tasks, such as practicing hiragana, or kanji. But it's not a good substitute for real, live, unpredictable conversation, in the same way that playing the Sims is not a good learning substitute for interacting with real human beings.
Learning a language requires knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, but it also requires a live human being to giggle and tell you that while, yes, the two words you used together mean "egg" and "leather", they're also slang for female genitalia. There is no substitute for real people.
However, computers can be used to access real people, as mentioned elsewhere in this thread, via web cams, instant messaging, Japanese email pen pals (there's an exchange program for these at mylanguageexchange.com, among many other places online.) I found swapping emails with my teacher and IM with Japanese speaking friends incredibly helpful for learning idiomatic Japanese.
So what you're saying is, everyone agrees, except for the people who don't agree?
While I agree that the evidence for human caused climate change is quite strong, "infinite are the arguments of academics", and saying that everyone who doesn't agree with the majority view is an establishment tool or an idiot isn't exactly my idea of a convincing scientific argument. If you're trying to win converts (a worthy goal, may I add...), then insulting their intelligence seems like a non-optimal way to go about it. How about posting the informative links and cutting down on the polemic, so you look less like a net kook and more like an informed concerned citizen?
I found out because I went on their site looking for a utility to autogen documentation.
n g?id=22743
This one? http://cc.borland.com/codecentral/ccweb.exe/listi
(Just curious...)
But I didn't get the chance. You seem to have a really excellent eye for culture in each of your books. The Victorians and Chinese in Diamond Age, the British in the Baroque cycle... Is there any culture in particular that's piqueing your interest right now, or that you feel more of an affinity for than any other?
Or perhaps you had 5 times better of a business idea, or a proven track record of having better ideas than the 200,000 dollar a year guy.... Not that all the other alternatives aren't also plausible, but you have to look at all the options.
Shameless plug.
No, I am not single, but I am tired of hearing guys complain that there aren't any pretty geeky females out there. If I exist, there's gotta be plenty more like me.
Kamileon - Geek grrl extraordinaire
"Someone convinced me to go outside, and I kinda liked it. Without a computer, though, it's like an EVA without a lifeline." -- Chromatic
You are not your ancestors.
I am not mine.
The sins of my fore-fathers and yours are not my f**king problem.
If you want reparations, complain about something current, instead of living in the past. Like racism.
Not to mention that half the white people in this country are descended from poor white trash immigrants who couldn't have afforded slaves in the first place. The lion's share of property belongs to those who started with a lion's share of property. The rest of us bust our ass in fast food until we get some real skills.
White Geek-grrl
(who worked her way through college out of a trailer park on Blimpie wages, so don't whine to me, bitch.)
Computers are a tool. The fact that you use computers to communicate is no more meaningful than if you'd used tin cans, pen and paper, or a telephone. But the fact that a tool is used doesn't rule out the possibility of a community. :)
Well before the development of computers, pen pals were a good way of creating and maintaining bonds with people you'd never met. Some people are happy forming intimate bonds with people without ever needing to see them face to face. It's obvious you're not one of those people, but there are plenty who are. People who want someone to talk to and form community with will do it any way they can, using all the tools at their disposal, whether it be meat, paper, or electronic. Don't underestimate the desperate human need for a herd to belong to.
Aleatha
Director of Solipsism
I can't get no respect... Nobody likes my spelling... :) So I am officially changing my title to Mistress of Existentialism, in the hopes that nobody cares how it's spelled.
Mistress of Existentialism
Two wrongs are only the beginning....
Hmm. So a man who reads geek news thinks that geeks aren't real men? Are you feeling insecure about your masculinity? Or are you a woman who checked my picture and is now consumed with jealousy because I'm sexy AND smart? :)
Anyone who reads here on a regular basis knows that my inability to spell only proves I'm a geek, the majority of posts on here have at least one error. For instance, it's spelled Tennessee. 2 N's, 2 S's, 4 E's. Got it?
Cheers,
Geek-grrl in training
"The quickest way to a man's heart is through his chest."
As in Dalai Llama? The little furry guy who runs around talking about world peace in between being a beast of burden and a source of wool? Gets invited to lots of conferences, but only goes if they have good hay?
Geek-grrl in training
"Never attribute to malice, that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."
Is it just me, or did the Socialist candidate state he FAVORED ripping off poor writers? What kind of an attitude is that for a socialist? You're supposed to rip off the rich to feed the poor starving writers, not vice versa...
* *
Geek grrl in training
***********************************************
A recent poll tells why the people of New Hampshire are supporting George Bush. 40% like my foreign policy, 40% support my economic policy, and 20% believe I make a good premium beer. - George Bush campaigning in 1988
Unless, of course, it was 1945, and you were Japanese. Or 1960s, and you had long hair. Or, or, or. And of course, that's just the government. The mafia had laws unto itself as well. Due process of law has been circumvented before, and it will be again. I notice that you've posted several times, each time with the same generic response, saying that this could never happen, because the US is a special country. Please remember that the US is not the only country, and many other countries have already proven that these sorts of things can happen. DOn't cling blindly to the American dream and say that these things can't happen. You, and others like you, are the people responsible for stopping it or turning a blind eye to the possibility of it, and thereby letting it happen. Maybe not in 20 years, but possibly in 40. Or maybe never, but don't discount the possibility simply on blind faith.
Never underestimate the joys of a window on the 11th floor. I think every office should have one. In fact, I think no one should work in an office below the eleventh floor. All such spaces in buildings should be devoted to free beer, free speech, and foozball tables.
Seriously, though, I love my current office arrangement. The window is really a nice thing. I know some people don't like sunlight, but I find it a lot easier on my mental health than the incessant buzz of flourescents. I usually just turn the lights off. Let's see: Free coffee, hot chocolate, milk, etc, a communal fridge, lots of storage space and desk space so I can cover every square inch with cables and post-it(tm) notes. A small enough group that I can stick my head out and yell down the hall to anyone I need to talk to if need be. The promise of a nap-room and an air-hockey table in the next move. All these things are really great to have. But I wouldn't care about any of it if I had bad management or hordes of stupid/annoying coworkers. What makes an office for me is whether I dread going there in the mornings, and all the nifty perks in the world won't erase that.
Geek-grrl in training
"Beware of a tall dark man with a spoon up his nose."
Damn it! I could have sworn I hit that preview button... Insert line breaks as needed.
{n | 1 n MAX_INT}th post!
I would have written {n | n (funky looking e)(funky looking R with extra line)}, personally, and that would be a more explicit form, but I was happy enough with his... It's a lot better than "4th post! Oh, wait, 7th." Geek-grrl in training