The Age of Unreason

Tech Type 3: The Grinder

2006-03-01T11:56:00.000-05:00

The Grinder can take a blueprint or a spec and make something out of nothing - as long as it still fits into their bailiwick. The Grinder is called so because he is given a problem and has to grind it out, using the tools, techniques, and materials they already know how to use. If your give a carpenter the blueprints for a dog house, he will grind it out with two-by-fours and plywood. If you give a mason the same blueprints, you will get a brick and mortar version. It won’t matter whether or not it is the best material or approach, but it will get done. Grinders don’t ask too many questions, but they have lots of answers. So, whether or not your Grinder is any good depends on whether or not you choose the right one to work on your project.

The software Grinder not only know his programming language, but also the ins and outs of their dev tools.

Grinders can build the lego kit without instruction simply by looking at the box. Grinders trim a good tree, but still can’t see the forest. Grinders can follow any recipe in the cookbook.

Tech Type 2: The Configurator

2006-01-30T08:09:00.000-05:00

The configurator spends their day assembling the pieces and parts of their technology and making decisions about how they fit together. In the software world, the Configurator might be at home in the system console selecting radio buttons and drop down menus. The obnoxious punk down the street configures his 1998 Dodge Neon with parts found in the back pages of Street Rodder magazine.

Unlike the Reguritator, the Configurator has to make decisions. The combinations of choices have different net effects, unintended consequences, and sometimes chaos. But even though the Configurator actually has to think, his outcomes are limited, and thus, so is his comfort zone.

Favorite toy: Basic Legos.

Favorite food: Any combination of food from the value menu.

Tech Type 1: The Reguritator

2006-01-26T16:51:00.000-05:00

This type of techie is the walking reference guide of their technology. He silences crowds by being able to quote release notes from the Japanese version of a firmware release of a discontinued product (mostly because nobody cares). He revels in arguments of fact as in "everybody knows that Initech's tri-nucleus converter board won't amplify a 3rd order Ipshitz filter when the downconverter is in a 2 phase condition. Idiot!".

Unfortunately, the only tasks this person can perfrom include either learning more facts or answering specific questions they are asked. Your brother-in-law, the self-proclaimed audiophile, is a perfect example of The Reguritator. You hate to tell him about the new HDTV you bought because you know you will be berated on some obsucre factoid you overlooked.

The Reguritator's favorite toy: Lego Duplo blocks, paint by number kits.

Favorite food: Whatever mommy is making that day.

Viva!

2006-01-25T15:23:00.000-05:00

Top 10 Worst Movies of 2005

2005-12-30T10:49:00.000-05:00

Here are my Top 10 Worst Netflix Rentals of 2005. I am stupider for having watched them:

10. Meet the Fockers
9. Bewitched
8. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
7. Be Cool
6. The Exorcism of Emily Rose
5. The Battle of Shaker Heights
4. Tenebre
3. Cecil B. Demented
2. I Heart Huckabees
1. Land of the Dead

If you enjoyed any of the above movies, I feel sorry for you. If you are a friend of mine, I am embarrassed. Please don’t tell me that you watched any of these.

Top 10 Best Movies of 2005

2005-12-30T10:30:00.000-05:00

Here are my Top 10 Best Netflix Rentals of 2005:

10. A Very Long Engagement
9. Audition
8. The Upside of Anger
7. Bottle Rocket
6. Lost Highway
5. Sex and Lucia
4. The Aviator
3. Kung Fu Hustle
2. Primer
1. Sideways

Of course, I highly recommend these to (almost) anyone. Audition is a tough one to watch and you will have to watch Primer at least twice to follow it.

Others that came close (and you should also watch): Batman Begins, Star Wars Animated Adventures, Sidewalks of New York, The Straight Story, Owning Mahowny, Danny Deckchair, The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, The Third Man

Better in Theory

2005-12-29T12:07:00.000-05:00

Bouncing off of an idea in Esquire, I’m starting to compile things that sounded like a great idea at the time...

Homemade crafts as Christmas gifts

The ambiance of a greasy spoon restaurant

Having one more kid so you can have a boy/girl in the family

Midnight showings of cult films

Owning your favorite old TV shows on DVD

Looking up an old girlfriend

Impressing someone with your drinking skills

Waiting outside the box office all night for concert tickets

Getting to the front of a general admission concert

Truly authentic Chinese food

Study Reveals People Lazier Than Hurried

2005-11-09T10:33:00.000-05:00

SUMMARY

In this “fast paced” society we live in, we are pushed harder than ever to get it all done in less time and with less money. Or are we?

A recent study of the habits of Midwesterners (commissioned and conducted be me) reveals that people are actually three times lazier than they are in a hurry.

METHODOLOGY

In my travels throughout the Midwest, I often save time by stopping at McDonalds for a couple of breakfast burritos on the way to my clients’ offices. The line of cars is often quite long and I end up parking and walking into the counter to get faster service. I wondered why people insist on waiting in the long drive through line instead of going inside like I do and getting back on the road more quickly.

In nine visits I counted the number of cars in the line and the number of people waiting in line at the counter and placing a to-go order, including myself. In all cases I was able to leave before the last car in line when I arrived, proving that those who go inside leave more quickly than those in the drive through. Factoring in an assumption that 20% of the people in the drive through are simply ignore the idea of going inside, my conclusion is that those going on inside are actually in a hurry and those waiting in line are simply lazy by a factor of 3.04 to 1.

DATA

Day Cars Ignorance Adjustment Counter Lazy/Hurry
1 6 4.8 3 1.6
2 7 5.6 2 2.8
3 5 4 4 1
4 8 6.4 2 3.2
5 5 4 1 4
6 7 5.6 2 2.8
7 6 4.8 1 4.8
8 4 3.2 2 1.6
9 7 5.6 1 5.6
3.04

Forward to the Past

2005-09-28T08:22:00.000-04:00

The other day I was caught thinking about what I would do today if I were a senior year of high school. I was naturally drawn into thinking about what I would have, could have, and should have done when I was in fact a senior and how the past 19 years would have, could have, and should have played out. I prefer not to regret, only to reflect, but it is not easy to avoid thinking about your mistakes.

So here is my solution: when you find yourself thinking about how you screwed up x number of years ago, instead think ahead to what you want your life to be like x years from now. Imagine yourself in the future, looking back at what you should have been today. Then go out and do it right now!

On a related subject, let me share one of my favorite quotes (from Carrie Fisher, of all people):

Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.

Spare Some Change, Mister?

2005-03-15T08:41:00.000-05:00

The conventional wisdom on change is that it is continuous and that we all fear the unknown aftermath. Change is such a force in our lives that a cottage industry has begun to form around it. We are even conditioned in our work lives to recognize change, accept, and then adapt. The important thing is to recognize what you cannot control, and cope with it.

My problem with the Change Industry is that it seems to be focused on pacifying the masses as they choke on the medicine that is forced upon them. There doesn't seem to be enough value given to creating change for ourselves, and exploiting (yes, exploiting) the changes that occur around us.

I recently heard a story where a new manager comes into a small group from the outside. The group that has been together for a while is resisting the new guy's ideas because they represent change to the status quo. But the new guy is imposing ideas that he is familiar and comfortable with. So is he the one who is resisting change? Where is the innovation going to happen with this group?

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world.
The unreasonable man
persists in adapting the world to himself.
Therefore, all progress depends
on the unreasonable man.

I am firm believer that the best way to predict the future is to create it for yourself. The problem is that it is so damned hard to do.

We Are All Self-Employed

2005-03-03T09:36:00.000-05:00

You work for yourself. You are your own business. You are your own brand. It doesn't matter if you are employed by a global conglomerate, the local coffee shop, your dad, or some government bureaucrat.

You possess skills, experience, a track record, a personality that make up something of value to a financial transaction somewhere. You have to be designed, engineered, marketed, packaged, sold, and maintained. And you have competitors in your company, at your company's competitors, down the street, and on the other side of the globe.

The sooner you realize this hard fact, the happier you are. People spend too much time complaining about what they're company work-fare is NOT doing for them, and not enough time trying to improvise, adapt, and overcome to what their employer- their customer - really needs.

If You Know What You're Doing, Then You're Not Trying Hard Enough

2005-02-18T22:40:00.000-05:00

Getting things done the other night with Modern Marvels on in the background. Modern Marvels is a show on the History Channel where they tell the story about great technological achievements of the 20th century like the Golden Gate Bridge, Pacific Coast Highway, and even Modern Plumbing. They do a great job telling the story behind the story and pointing out the fascinating in the mundane things we take for granted. While I watched and listened, I couldn't help thinking about all the great things I had in store for myself as a young engineering student, and to feel depressed about the ordinary tasks I found myself actually involved in 15 years later. Have all the great things already been accomplished? Is my timing off? What am I doing wrong?

But then, while watching some Cal Tech professor explain the role of enthalpy in steam turbine blade design, it occurred to me that these guys are not much different than anyone else. He sat in his windowless lab all day working on the same experiments, worrying about his grant funding, wondering if his kids are going to grow up happy. I sit in my office all day, hearing the same customer problems, worrying about getting laid off, and wondering if my kids are going to grow up happy.

Throughout these stories, they encounter people in history who didn't know what they were doing. They were doing things that had never been done before and had no idea how it would come out. For every modern marvel, there are 10 modern flops. You don't know what you're doing because there is no manual, no reference book, no case study, and nobody else to talk to about how to get it done. Has it been tried before but failed? Are you creating the answer but nobody is asking the question? At the heart of not knowing what you're doing is to know that you are actually making an incremental advance, somewhere, somehow.

Navigating Self-Concept

2005-02-17T10:06:00.000-05:00

The "me" I remember being.
The "me" I really was.
The "me" I think I am.
The "me" I really am.
The "me" I want to be.
The "me" I need to be.
The "me" others perceive.
The "me" others want.
The "me" others need.
The "me" others try to make me
The "me" I will be.

Start here...

2005-02-17T09:33:00.000-05:00

Inconsequential entry