At DragonCon every year in Atlanta, GA, it is filled with people, a lot of them are geeks of one form or another. The most commonly asked question is, "Where is Registration?" It's more like this:
(1) People get in line at the information services booth.
(2) People look up as they wait and see the sign that gives direction for Registration
(3) They stay in line and then hear the person in front of them say, "Where is Registration?"
(4) And then when it is their turn, they ask, "Where is Registration?"
(5) Person behind the IS desk fixes a tolerant smile and repeats in rote, the direction to Registration.
This isn't because people are stupid. Ever seen that scene in the Wall, "We don't need no, education" 12 years of sitting at assigned seating, listening to the teacher, leaving when the bell rings, raising hands to speak, doing homework, and doing tests creates this kind of psychology. People have been trained to do what they are *told*. "RTFM" is something only a minority understands... yet even computer geeks RTFM when it comes to computers, and generally not the rest of their personal lives. The ones that do are an even rarer breed of geeks.
An example is this thread. A "side job" for additional income does not necessarily have to be something you do at work. Ideally, it should be something where Compounding Interest works in some way or another. In addition to working as a freelance computer fixer, or programmer, there are things such as shopping for stocks, real estate, note financing, starting a franchise, designing a franchise, volunteering for community programs, going to your kids' school for a day to teach a computer lab... I mean, come on. You guys program. You're used to creating code to automate your tasks. A successful financial system is created in the same way:-P
Have fun.
Geez, you guys, you're mapping cultural concepts onto the whole Taiwan/Mainland China that doesn't exist within the mainstream culture there. I not only speak Chinese, I was born in Taiwan with Taiwanese parents who were there before the Nationalists ever came.
The communist China *are* old Imperial Chinese culture -- no excuses -- and so are the Taiwanese. The nationalists that fled from China had until the past ten (twenty?) years continued to claim that China is a part of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The nationlists were only in "retreat" after all. There were a standing draft for young men for military service. Did I mention that the US had backed the Nationalist government during WWII?
Ignore the wordings. This is a contest between two governments with the same, ancient imperial cultures. That's why to the Taiwanese political mindset, it is entirely OK for Mainland China to take control of Tibet (which has historically been conqured and kicked out on and off). Why? Because it is NOT about Mainland China trying to Oppress Taiwan.
The whole cycle of succession of power, and revolutions by young men in China (and Taiwan) has a cultural inertia longer than the political existance of the United States of America. It's why the martial arts halls doubled as revolutionary cells, and why these martial artists were hunted down until they were sanitized by the "wushu" committee. It's a very old tradition that when the emperor takes power, everyone else accepts; the communist party is merely the emperor in his new clothing.
It's the whole might-makes-right trip these guys are on.
Personally, I root for the Tibetians, though I doubt they are as disturbed as the human-rights-activists fighting for them.
Slashdot Mirror
At DragonCon every year in Atlanta, GA, it is filled with people, a lot of them are geeks of one form or another. The most commonly asked question is, "Where is Registration?" It's more like this: (1) People get in line at the information services booth. (2) People look up as they wait and see the sign that gives direction for Registration (3) They stay in line and then hear the person in front of them say, "Where is Registration?" (4) And then when it is their turn, they ask, "Where is Registration?" (5) Person behind the IS desk fixes a tolerant smile and repeats in rote, the direction to Registration. This isn't because people are stupid. Ever seen that scene in the Wall, "We don't need no, education" 12 years of sitting at assigned seating, listening to the teacher, leaving when the bell rings, raising hands to speak, doing homework, and doing tests creates this kind of psychology. People have been trained to do what they are *told*. "RTFM" is something only a minority understands ... yet even computer geeks RTFM when it comes to computers, and generally not the rest of their personal lives. The ones that do are an even rarer breed of geeks.
An example is this thread. A "side job" for additional income does not necessarily have to be something you do at work. Ideally, it should be something where Compounding Interest works in some way or another. In addition to working as a freelance computer fixer, or programmer, there are things such as shopping for stocks, real estate, note financing, starting a franchise, designing a franchise, volunteering for community programs, going to your kids' school for a day to teach a computer lab ... I mean, come on. You guys program. You're used to creating code to automate your tasks. A successful financial system is created in the same way :-P
Have fun.
Geez, you guys, you're mapping cultural concepts onto the whole Taiwan/Mainland China that doesn't exist within the mainstream culture there. I not only speak Chinese, I was born in Taiwan with Taiwanese parents who were there before the Nationalists ever came.
The communist China *are* old Imperial Chinese culture -- no excuses -- and so are the Taiwanese. The nationalists that fled from China had until the past ten (twenty?) years continued to claim that China is a part of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The nationlists were only in "retreat" after all. There were a standing draft for young men for military service. Did I mention that the US had backed the Nationalist government during WWII?
Ignore the wordings. This is a contest between two governments with the same, ancient imperial cultures. That's why to the Taiwanese political mindset, it is entirely OK for Mainland China to take control of Tibet (which has historically been conqured and kicked out on and off). Why? Because it is NOT about Mainland China trying to Oppress Taiwan.
The whole cycle of succession of power, and revolutions by young men in China (and Taiwan) has a cultural inertia longer than the political existance of the United States of America. It's why the martial arts halls doubled as revolutionary cells, and why these martial artists were hunted down until they were sanitized by the "wushu" committee. It's a very old tradition that when the emperor takes power, everyone else accepts; the communist party is merely the emperor in his new clothing.
It's the whole might-makes-right trip these guys are on.
Personally, I root for the Tibetians, though I doubt they are as disturbed as the human-rights-activists fighting for them.