vgr

6 ms·

1.
by vgr 14y ago
I do... when specific posts cross my radar. Good stuff. No longer keep up deterministically with anything via RSS/email though.
2.
by vgr 15y ago
Tried this out a while back. Very cool to watch linux booting up in a browser. Weird how abstractions loop from low to high to low again. I imagine sysad types would find this a pretty neat way to explore disk image files without having to
3.
by vgr 15y ago
Don't quite recall, but I think it was from a book about cathedral builders or something. But I'll admit my knowledge of medieval guilds is largely superficial and drawn from books where it was a side issue rather than the main topic. Your
4.
by vgr 15y ago
Interesting, thanks for clarifying. I assumed too quickly that journey in journeyman meant what it means to us today.
5.
by vgr 15y ago
I wrote the original piece. You can contact me via my blog http://ribbonfarm.com
6.
by vgr 15y ago
If you had your own iPhone app and knew how to market it properly, you wouldn't be at the mercy of Groupon's well-known strong-arm tactics in dealing with small businesses for instance. Or some other alternative tech-savvy way to market you
7.
by vgr 15y ago
In political science, a fairly well-known basic idea is that the two ways to dissent are exit and voice. Exit means you leave and go somewhere else, and was common in early political eras when most civilizations were small and surrounded by
8.
by vgr 15y ago
It isn't an old guard thing. It is a personality and strengths thing. I am not particularly old guard (I am 37), and while I am about average in the technologies I do know, I suck at learning new platforms/technologies. It's like pulling te
9.
by vgr 15y ago
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2011/11/groupon-deal-bu...
10.
by vgr 15y ago
That's the gist of it, with one correction. The 10,000 hours bit is fine, the missing detail is how you count to 10,000 when there are no convenient external reference points. The true extrinsic variables are things like a named discipline
11.
by vgr 16y ago
True. That's why I took care to separate out the clinical cases as carefully as I could. The reverse is also true: people who can be helped by cognitive reframings may not find medication useful. In fact, it can make things worse. A signifi
12.
by vgr 16y ago
Thanks. FWIW I am not a developer. I am a pointy-haired boss. My long-forgotten background is in aerospace engineering.
13.
by vgr 16y ago
The short answer is: you get used to it, but it is not ideal or a particularly healthy work lifestyle. It has many of the same problems as solitary confinement within a prison. Since the pattern is increasing all around, more social support
14.
by vgr 16y ago
Though I do that kind of cliffhanger stuff on occasion, that isn't the reason here. My "theory of Toby" merely requires a good deal of groundwork to be laid. And you're right on both counts... he's not in the hierarchy, and Zen/transcending
15.
by vgr 16y ago
ah, I stand corrected. this is a hazy memory from a Reader's Digest condensed book I read 20 years ago titled "I captured Adolf Eichmann" ... can't seem to find a ref to it anywhere online now.
16.
by vgr 16y ago
Actually, I did spend a year (and parts of 2 summers) in Austin. I used to go for late night walks near my apartment, which was just off 183, well north, in strip-mall land. If you walk slowly enough, you won't sweat. Or maybe that's just
17.
by vgr 16y ago
I think that nails it. There is an urge to demonstrate your success in everything you do, and some activities just aren't good mediums for showcasing how awesome you are.
18.
by vgr 16y ago
I am pretty darn surprised that THIS post has gotten vastly more discussion than just about any of my ribbonfarm posts that's gotten on HN. A few quick adds, since I seem to have mildly offended some of you. 0. The tangent on "having a life
19.
by vgr 16y ago
I am sorry that part offended you, but I usually can, with pretty good accuracy. There are studies (see Robert Levine, "Geography of Time") that use normal walking pace as a very characteristic indicator of geographic origin. The FBI caught
20.
by vgr 16y ago
That's one of the drivers, certainly, but there's many more forces. Check out Dan Pink's "Free Agent Nation" for more. It's a few years old by now, but still the best view of the overall trend.
21.
by vgr 16y ago
I think Morgan's figures may have excluded slaves. They weren't paid a paycheck either, so they fall in neither category.
22.
by vgr 16y ago
I use 'what's your goal' as a conversation starter as well, but if it gets bogged down there, I start to tune out. I think you and I may differ in what we consider 'useful.' I don't classify procedural starting points as 'useful' except in
23.
by vgr 16y ago
I believe it is not a big picture/details distinction but an information-free vs. informational distinction. There can be insight questions that are very large scale. Pascal's "probability that God/heaven/hell exist" is a very insightful bu
24.
by vgr 16y ago
aargh, sorry... looks like I DID use my google account last time and selected the vgr handle. Sorry.
25.
by vgr 16y ago
The 'different comm styles' ... I did not cite the reference, but there is a documentary about how Arab-Israeli conversations tend to break down badly even when both sides go in with win-win positive intentions. It showed some deep cultural
26.
by vgr 17y ago
well, hopefully there'll be a good crop of young startups coming out of this round. YC is always an interesting spectator sport.
27.
by vgr 17y ago
Everybody too busy with their YC applications to discuss this? ;) Venkat
28.
by vgr 17y ago
Yes, the series is inspired by Nietzsche's concepts to a large extent. Did not belabor the connection in the series since it would lose half the readers. There are subtle differences between what I am describing and the ubermensch concept t
29.
by vgr 17y ago
I am an engineer, but I am inclined to agree with you. As an undergrad, I was the dramatics/theater secretary of my hostel (==dorm), and did enough directing/script writing to get a real sense of the medium (even though I quickly found out
30.
by vgr 17y ago
On both this piece and the earlier one, I was kinda surprised that startup/hacker types would be so interested. I guess my mental image of the audience here is younger, fresh-out-of-college entrepreneurial types. Perhaps I am wrong, and the

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