Hey! Don't knock the 'vibration protection'. Plenty of people out there really believe it makes a difference.
I once worked on a software project that actually had voltage, temperature, and vibration tolerance requirements . . . on the software. I bailed before the software went into final acceptance. I should have kept the requirements spec for posterity, but it was marked proprietary.
Maybe Denon should have bid on that project.
You beat me to the reference. Marshall McLuhan's book is:
Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
ISBN: 0262631598
McLuhan talks primarily about the media as extensions of our senses, but he also mentions tools as extensions of our bodies.
But the employees are working the overtime hours, they just aren't getting paid for them. And they are still late picking up their kids from the babysitters because of working late. Agreed, though, that the extra babysitting is costing far more than the overtime that the employees are not getting paid.
Amen to that! My standard response to telemarketers became "Put me on your Do Not Call list." In six weeks I stopped receiving telemarketing calls, and I haven't received any for two years.
Hmmm....it appears, then, that I never really qualified as a geek. I did have some people skills in school, which is probably what kept me out of the lockers. I did get along reasonably well with the other kids and the teachers, although the jocks were still a bit of an issue: I wasn't all that athletic, and that was probably a bigger issue with the jocks than my technical eccentricity.
People skills are something I have been aware of, and continually refining, throughout my career. That, in addition to my technical chops, is what has gotten me where I am today: the world seems to appreciate people who can make all of this wonderful, geeky stuff usable to them. I agree with you, PEOPLE SKILLS is where it's at, but it doesn't mean you can't keep a foot in both realms.
So, I guess I never really met the definition of a "geek". Oh, well.
I simply can't help noting the ironic differences between my life and the lives of my harshest critics in high school. Revenge was never a motive for my actions, never has been, never will be. But isn't it interesting how life turns out? I'm living reasonably well, I treat people well, I have a good home and a loving family. In contrast, I haven't been to jail, I haven't done drugs, and I haven't been on unemployment. I'm not fucking a supermodel. I don't drive a terribly expensive car. Don't have to. Don't need to. I'm not that shallow.
From my own experience, you don't have to be super-popular to make a six-figure income, but you do need to be aware of your client's needs. I guess that implies some level of people skills. I don't know what sociological studies have been made of the relationship of high school popularity to future income, but I was writing only from my own experience. No need to take my reply as anything more than that.
And, no, it wasn't the 1800's when I went to school, but the term "geek" didn't then have the digital connontations that it has come to have recently. For that matter, the word "nerd" didn't have its technical connotations, either. It just shows how language changes over time.
When I was in H.S., which, admittedly, was a few years back, I had an intense interest in all things digital, to the point that I had a reputation as someone unusual. (Not to date myself too badly, but the term "geek" hadn't been invented yet.) My brother, on the other hand, was very outgoing and got along with everyone, particularly with the more unsavory characters at school. You know, the ones that mom and dad told you to stay away from. So I get out of H.S., go on to college, and enter the digital realm. My brother, meanwhile, takes a slightly different path, but becomes a rather kick-ass carpenter.
Flash forward a few years. I've been through a few job changes, but mostly for the positive, and I'm doing reasonably well. My brother has also been through a few job changes, but not quite as well. So he's down at the unemployment office to keep his claims going and runs into one of those characters he used to hang out with in H.S. (You know the ones.) This guy is also trying to get his unemployment, and he doesn't have a car, so he asks my brother for a ride.
The two of them are riding back to the other side of town, reminiscing about those good times back in school, and talking about how they ended up where they are. It turns out this guy has been in jail for drugs and assorted other crimes, so life didn't quite go the way he planned. But he asks my brother "So, whatever happened to that weird brother of yours? I remember he was a real goofball."
And my brother says (this is priceless!) "That goofball is making six figures now." It was a very quiet ride back home.
My brother told me this story, and it made all the hell in H.S. worth it! Living well is, truly, the best revenge.
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Hey! Don't knock the 'vibration protection'. Plenty of people out there really believe it makes a difference. I once worked on a software project that actually had voltage, temperature, and vibration tolerance requirements . . . on the software. I bailed before the software went into final acceptance. I should have kept the requirements spec for posterity, but it was marked proprietary. Maybe Denon should have bid on that project.
You beat me to the reference. Marshall McLuhan's book is: Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man ISBN: 0262631598 McLuhan talks primarily about the media as extensions of our senses, but he also mentions tools as extensions of our bodies.
But the employees are working the overtime hours, they just aren't getting paid for them. And they are still late picking up their kids from the babysitters because of working late. Agreed, though, that the extra babysitting is costing far more than the overtime that the employees are not getting paid.
Given sufficient velocity, even a brick will fly. The F4 Phantom proved that.
And did anyone notice that the piece of candy that the Oracle ate looked exactly like . . . a RED PILL!
Amen to that! My standard response to telemarketers became "Put me on your Do Not Call list." In six weeks I stopped receiving telemarketing calls, and I haven't received any for two years.
Hopefully, costume standards are high enough now that there won't be lights on the *inside* of the space helmets.
I guess the new Starbuck character is going to be a caffeine junky.
People skills are something I have been aware of, and continually refining, throughout my career. That, in addition to my technical chops, is what has gotten me where I am today: the world seems to appreciate people who can make all of this wonderful, geeky stuff usable to them. I agree with you, PEOPLE SKILLS is where it's at, but it doesn't mean you can't keep a foot in both realms.
So, I guess I never really met the definition of a "geek". Oh, well.
I simply can't help noting the ironic differences between my life and the lives of my harshest critics in high school. Revenge was never a motive for my actions, never has been, never will be. But isn't it interesting how life turns out? I'm living reasonably well, I treat people well, I have a good home and a loving family. In contrast, I haven't been to jail, I haven't done drugs, and I haven't been on unemployment. I'm not fucking a supermodel. I don't drive a terribly expensive car. Don't have to. Don't need to. I'm not that shallow.
From my own experience, you don't have to be super-popular to make a six-figure income, but you do need to be aware of your client's needs. I guess that implies some level of people skills. I don't know what sociological studies have been made of the relationship of high school popularity to future income, but I was writing only from my own experience. No need to take my reply as anything more than that.
And, no, it wasn't the 1800's when I went to school, but the term "geek" didn't then have the digital connontations that it has come to have recently. For that matter, the word "nerd" didn't have its technical connotations, either. It just shows how language changes over time.
When I was in H.S., which, admittedly, was a few years back, I had an intense interest in all things digital, to the point that I had a reputation as someone unusual. (Not to date myself too badly, but the term "geek" hadn't been invented yet.) My brother, on the other hand, was very outgoing and got along with everyone, particularly with the more unsavory characters at school. You know, the ones that mom and dad told you to stay away from. So I get out of H.S., go on to college, and enter the digital realm. My brother, meanwhile, takes a slightly different path, but becomes a rather kick-ass carpenter. Flash forward a few years. I've been through a few job changes, but mostly for the positive, and I'm doing reasonably well. My brother has also been through a few job changes, but not quite as well. So he's down at the unemployment office to keep his claims going and runs into one of those characters he used to hang out with in H.S. (You know the ones.) This guy is also trying to get his unemployment, and he doesn't have a car, so he asks my brother for a ride. The two of them are riding back to the other side of town, reminiscing about those good times back in school, and talking about how they ended up where they are. It turns out this guy has been in jail for drugs and assorted other crimes, so life didn't quite go the way he planned. But he asks my brother "So, whatever happened to that weird brother of yours? I remember he was a real goofball." And my brother says (this is priceless!) "That goofball is making six figures now." It was a very quiet ride back home. My brother told me this story, and it made all the hell in H.S. worth it! Living well is, truly, the best revenge.
WWLLD? (What Would Larry Lessig Do?)
No, I hadn't heard that Kevin Bacon was linked to Al Quaeda. But I get it.