I am a current IDS/CS major at CMU as well, originally from Palo Alto in the Valley. While there are definitely some good things about Pgh-- lower rents, some nice residential areas, decent cultural attractions-- I too have absolutely no intention of settling there after graduation.
Why? Because, although CMU is nerd heaven, as soon as I step out into the city I feel like I'm out in the middle of nowhere. I miss the vitality of the Valley, the constant exchange of ideas, the sense that I'm in the middle of something really cool. I miss living on the bleeding edge. I miss the combination of hippy sensibilities and startup fervor, and the wealth of perspective and insight that living in an ethnically diverse area brings. Pittsburgh doesn't have any of this. It's a nice city, but it feels old and stagnant, like it's waiting in vain for something to happen to it. The presence of Fore Systems and a few startups is not enough. I, a young nerd, feel out of place.
The point is, amenities are great, certainly even necessary, but they aren't enough. There's something intangible that Pittsburgh doesn't have-- the vitality of the Bay Area-- and pasting on amenities may or may not help. I don't intend on waiting around to find out for myself.
Besides, there's no ocean, and just try and find a good bowl of pho in Pittsburgh.
Most of this is reasonably on target, but also blindingly obvious. Of course one shouldn't go after an airbrushed model, nor any other woman that society places on a pedestal because of her looks. We are not objects of worship, nor do we wish to be identified for the prestige we bring you by our looks. Image is only that, and makes no guarantee of compatibility. As a woman who fits many of the social ideals for physical attractiveness, I grow tired of being pursued by men who think it will boost their self esteem to have me, a trophy girlfried, on their arm. I made that mistake once-- I dated a model who was absolutely gorgeous and quite sweet, but completely uncompatible because I was in it ultimately for the prestige points. And, of course, one should not be outwarldly rude or scornful to women who are not attractive-- it's uncivilized and speaks ill of one.
I'd say you really missed the boat in recommending that Geek Females not be pursued. Who will understand you better than one of us? Who other than us will sympathize more with your love for sexy technologies, for the trancendental mindset of coding binges? We will not grow jealous of your work, because it is our work also, and by the same token, we are not inherently in competition with you. We can seperate our work from your work.
Of course, romantic involvement is a matter of personal taste. I've dated Geek Men, Non-Geek Men, and Non-Geek Women, and objectively I'd say that nerds make the all-around best partners. Maybe it's because they appreciate romantic involvement more, maybe it's because they're often closet sensualists, but mostly I think it's that they don't get jealous of the time and energy I put into my work. If you want someone who will do your laundry and cook for you, listen sweetly while you talk about your day at work but not understand a word of it, then so be it. To me, thought, that's not an equal partnership, and anything less than an equal partnership is not worth my time.
I've been using AltaVista almost exclusively, because of the text-based boolean searching features, for some time. This feature is, IMO, its greatest strength. This is the second redesign from AV I've seen, and each revision seems to become slightly less visually appealing and incorporates slightly more irrelevant cruft. The newest version is unslightly enough that I can hardly stand to look at it.
Here's the question: it seems like many of us choose a particular search engine because of a set of features that it implements particularly well-- Yahoo for drill-down searching, AV for boolean queries and more results, etc. However, most portals look just about the same to me, and as a result search sites are looking increasingly homogeneous. Is it really more profitable to try and be all things to all people (and therefore please no one) or is it possible to actually be more successful with a smaller but highly dedicated core audience?
I don't know about you, but I go to search engines to search, not to buy a car, read about the latest fashions, and bid on collectible Elvis plates as well.
Finally, someone mentions Gemini. I use a PS-626 for a similar purpose, and it works great. I've found that I can listen to one source through headphones while piping another through to the speakers -- trust me it's a nice feature if you live with anyone besides yourself. It's clean and quiet for the money. I'd reccomend a platinum series mixer for the job. You can get a 4 or 5 channel for what you're looking to spend.
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I am a current IDS/CS major at CMU as well, originally from Palo Alto in the Valley. While there are definitely some good things about Pgh-- lower rents, some nice residential areas, decent cultural attractions-- I too have absolutely no intention of settling there after graduation.
Why? Because, although CMU is nerd heaven, as soon as I step out into the city I feel like I'm out in the middle of nowhere. I miss the vitality of the Valley, the constant exchange of ideas, the sense that I'm in the middle of something really cool. I miss living on the bleeding edge. I miss the combination of hippy sensibilities and startup fervor, and the wealth of perspective and insight that living in an ethnically diverse area brings. Pittsburgh doesn't have any of this. It's a nice city, but it feels old and stagnant, like it's waiting in vain for something to happen to it. The presence of Fore Systems and a few startups is not enough. I, a young nerd, feel out of place.
The point is, amenities are great, certainly even necessary, but they aren't enough. There's something intangible that Pittsburgh doesn't have-- the vitality of the Bay Area-- and pasting on amenities may or may not help. I don't intend on waiting around to find out for myself.
Besides, there's no ocean, and just try and find a good bowl of pho in Pittsburgh.
My two cents as a Geek Female:
Most of this is reasonably on target, but also blindingly obvious. Of course one shouldn't go after an airbrushed model, nor any other woman that society places on a pedestal because of her looks. We are not objects of worship, nor do we wish to be identified for the prestige we bring you by our looks. Image is only that, and makes no guarantee of compatibility. As a woman who fits many of the social ideals for physical attractiveness, I grow tired of being pursued by men who think it will boost their self esteem to have me, a trophy girlfried, on their arm. I made that mistake once-- I dated a model who was absolutely gorgeous and quite sweet, but completely uncompatible because I was in it ultimately for the prestige points. And, of course, one should not be outwarldly rude or scornful to women who are not attractive-- it's uncivilized and speaks ill of one.
I'd say you really missed the boat in recommending that Geek Females not be pursued. Who will understand you better than one of us? Who other than us will sympathize more with your love for sexy technologies, for the trancendental mindset of coding binges? We will not grow jealous of your work, because it is our work also, and by the same token, we are not inherently in competition with you. We can seperate our work from your work.
Of course, romantic involvement is a matter of personal taste. I've dated Geek Men, Non-Geek Men, and Non-Geek Women, and objectively I'd say that nerds make the all-around best partners. Maybe it's because they appreciate romantic involvement more, maybe it's because they're often closet sensualists, but mostly I think it's that they don't get jealous of the time and energy I put into my work. If you want someone who will do your laundry and cook for you, listen sweetly while you talk about your day at work but not understand a word of it, then so be it. To me, thought, that's not an equal partnership, and anything less than an equal partnership is not worth my time.
I've been using AltaVista almost exclusively, because of the text-based boolean searching features, for some time. This feature is, IMO, its greatest strength. This is the second redesign from AV I've seen, and each revision seems to become slightly less visually appealing and incorporates slightly more irrelevant cruft. The newest version is unslightly enough that I can hardly stand to look at it.
Here's the question: it seems like many of us choose a particular search engine because of a set of features that it implements particularly well-- Yahoo for drill-down searching, AV for boolean queries and more results, etc. However, most portals look just about the same to me, and as a result search sites are looking increasingly homogeneous. Is it really more profitable to try and be all things to all people (and therefore please no one) or is it possible to actually be more successful with a smaller but highly dedicated core audience?
I don't know about you, but I go to search engines to search, not to buy a car, read about the latest fashions, and bid on collectible Elvis plates as well.
or maybe not. I've NEVER had X crash on me, it was always a window manager problem.
Slamming free software is like badmouthing Goodwill or Salvation Army.
Finally, someone mentions Gemini. I use a PS-626 for a similar purpose, and it works great. I've found that I can listen to one source through headphones while piping another through to the speakers -- trust me it's a nice feature if you live with anyone besides yourself. It's clean and quiet for the money. I'd reccomend a platinum series mixer for the job. You can get a 4 or 5 channel for what you're looking to spend.