Entering the 21st Century

[peterbirks]

Whoo hoo. We've finally got Internet Explorer 7 at work (note the fact that I use the full term, rather than "IE7". Use of such abbreviations in blogs is a serious sign of geekdom and I try to avoid it. Of course, in poker, it sometimes slips through).

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After six weeks or so of running badly the inevitable has started to happen and I have begun to play badly too. The solution isn't complex. Do some stats analysis, do some reading, do some re-reading. Play more ABC poker according to strict rules and wait for the "touch" to return. However, the implementation of the solution is complex. For the first time, I wonder if my heart is still in it. It's a bit like the geeks vs jocks and chasing girls thing that was in an excellent article referred to by the esteemed Mr Young a few months ago. In that piece, it was astutely observed that many of the "geeks" moaned that they didn't get the girls, while the jocks did, without realizing that the major reason was the geeks didn't want it enough (even though they thought that they did). If getting sex and playing sports as a 17-year-old are your sole aims, to the exclusion of exams, reading, non-physical games, culture, and whatever, then you are going to get more sex. Similarly, if getting better at poker is my sole focus, then I'm more likely to succeed than I am at the moment, when work, life, and houses all get in the way. I'm not going to give those things up solely to focus on poker. Because, just as I was not in the "sex is everything" camp as a 17-year-old (and, as a result, of course, didn't get it), so I'm no longer in the "poker is everything" camp today. That does make me sad, because (as with the getting-sex bit as a youngster) I would like to be really good at poker. But I think I have to admit to myself that no longer do I want it enough.

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The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors has objected to London Mayor Boris Johnson's plan to publish detailed maps of reported crimes. A RICS spokesman said that "publicising high crime areas in such detail could literally wipe thousands off house prices overnight, further disadvantaging those who are already struggling to make ends meet".

I'm in a rush, so I will leave it to you to spot the two obvious idiocies that this statement entails. And this is a professional body.

Personally, I think that it's a bad idea to have surveyors at all, because if they discover faults in a house, it could wipe thousands off its value overnight....

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Comments

[(Anonymous)]

The article you're talking about wasn't specifically about sex - it was about popularity, though of course there is an overlap.

Here it is: http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html

As far as the The RICS statement is concerned, I can see a few problems, though I think this is a rare case where the word 'literally' has been used correctly.

1) While thousands could 'literally' be wiped off prices in some areas, they could also be added to other areas where there is less crime.

2) Lower house prices don't disadvantage everyone - they could even benefit those who are "struggling to make ends meet", if they don't own a house but would like to!

DY

[jaybee66.livejournal.com]

How to spot a nerd or geek.

1) They have a blog.

2) Every other blog post implores us to believe they are not a geek.

3) They use computers day and night.

4) They do all this in an empty flat save for themselves and their computers.

[(Anonymous)]

Boris, crime AND house prices! The Standard is going to have to print on larger paper just to get the headline in.

Lurker

From Head Office: UKSoNaG

[real-aardvark.livejournal.com]

Dear James,
We write to advise you that you may well be open to a suit for libel, with all consequent penalties.

We deplore your assertion that our members (nerds and geeks) can be identified by simple "possession" of a blog. Possession is not a crime. It is usually associated with pictures of cute kittens and coy references to when a toddler first learned to walk backwards without hitting a wall.

Mr Birks, who is not, so far as we can ascertain from membership records, either a nerd or a geek, appears merely to be a "wannabe" nerd or geek. In this he is no different from a ten-year-old girl in an American grade school who aspires to being Brittney Spears. We agree that this is a sad, and possibly terminal (positive or negative? hee hee hee) condition; but to confuse such infantile posturing with the real thing causes great hurt (with consequential damages) to our members.

We would conclude by suggesting that neanderthal bunker-dwelling zombies with a penchant for collecting huge quantities of evil-smelling rancid out-of-date foreign spices of dubious provenance should look to themselves before attacking the pitiful life of a man who, despite his best efforts, will never come to full fruition as either a nerd or a geek -- and we would be happy to email you a link to our Ajax-enabled True Colour web-site (PDF only), explaining the critical differences between the two.

In conclusion, if the pea-brain in charge of this blog refers to "Microsoft's" latest feeble attempt to produce a workable browser as either "IE7" or "Internet Explorer 7," then he is clearly not a geek. Or a nerd. His past sexual life need not concern us at this moment, although we may choose to call witnesses should we be forced to prosecute you for Class Action Libel.

The correct term, of course, is "Exploder."

Re: From Head Office: UKSoNaG

[jaybee66.livejournal.com]

Too many words. Somebody ask Dilbert to write me a half-page summary.

5)Using too many words when one will do.

Re: From Head Office: UKSoNaG

[real-aardvark.livejournal.com]

It's sad when pointy-haired bosses retire before their time, isn't it?

[real-aardvark.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, many other articles on wwww.paulgraham.com are well worth a read, too.

Avoid the ones on Lisp, and you should be fine.