I'm so awdul (OT)

On Jul 4, 10:41*am, tanadashoes wrote:
Comebacks include:

"What planet did you come from?" "Did your mother teach you that
language or did you pick it up in a barnyard?" *"Do you talk like this
in front of your grandmother?" *"Judge Judy is right. *You can't fix
stupid." *and so forth. *

You have got to be part Kender!

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

cshenk wrote:

bast wrote
Takayuki wrote:

I once studied an interesting employee personality profiling technique
that compared and contrasted, among other dimensions, people motivated
by demonstrating skill in work activities, versus people who are
motivated by social acceptance. People in the first group tend to be
analytical and distrust people who are successful yet do not share
their work style, considering the latter group to be "con artists".

And what do the social-acceptance people think of the demonstrating
skill group?

Hehe unless they also have good social skills, 'boring and pedantic but
useful'. Really though, people seldom break out quite that neatly.

Sounds like the ancient "techno-nerds vs marketing" war to me.

Sadly, I don't fit into either group. I'm definitely not slick or
socially adept, but unlike most other social misfit types, I never
buried myself in learning things or learning skills. I'm not saying
I don't have intelligence, but I'm far more interested in ideas and
theories than in information. I look for patterns rather than at
the specific data. Problem is, most geeky types don't respect that -
they respect *knowledge*, not theory.

Joyce

--
Loneliness is comforted by the closeness and touch of fur to fur,
skin to skin, or -- skin to fur. -- Paul Gallico

On 5/07/2010 7:40 AM, wrote:
cshenk wrote:

bast wrote
Takayuki wrote:

I once studied an interesting employee personality profiling technique
that compared and contrasted, among other dimensions, people motivated
by demonstrating skill in work activities, versus people who are
motivated by social acceptance. People in the first group tend to be
analytical and distrust people who are successful yet do not share
their work style, considering the latter group to be "con artists".

And what do the social-acceptance people think of the demonstrating
skill group?

Hehe unless they also have good social skills, 'boring and pedantic but
useful'. Really though, people seldom break out quite that neatly.

Sounds like the ancient "techno-nerds vs marketing" war to me.

Sadly, I don't fit into either group. I'm definitely not slick or
socially adept, but unlike most other social misfit types, I never
buried myself in learning things or learning skills. I'm not saying
I don't have intelligence, but I'm far more interested in ideas and
theories than in information. I look for patterns rather than at
the specific data. Problem is, most geeky types don't respect that -
they respect *knowledge*, not theory.

In that case, you've been hanging with the wrong geeky types, Joyce. One
of us is going to have to introduce you to the other side of nerddom,
the role-playing, comic reading, sci-fi convention attending variety.
*That* type likes interesting theories and ideas more than data
retention rates :-)

Yowie

On 5/07/2010 3:26 AM, tanadashoes wrote:
wrote:
Lesley wrote:

This has all just so reminded me of the worse put down I ever did- one
I'm still trying to forget because I'm not proud of it....well just a
little....

I was sitting on a bus and this guy sat next to me- didn't think much
of it the bus was packed and I had a Terry Pratchett book on the go.

Moments later the guy said "Hi"

So being polite I said "Hi" back...the next thing his hand is on my
boob so I pulled it away and said "What?!"

He said "The bus is about to stop. What about I take you round the
corner and s**g you for a couple of minutes?"

I think my face must have shown what I was thinking because his next
charming chat up line was "Come on! A fat ugly bird like you it's the
best offer you're ever going to get"

I looked at the guy and went "Okay"

So the guy got up and as the bus stopped he jumped off then turned
back to me....I smacked the bell twice and as the bus moved away at
the top of my voice I shouted "A couple of minutes? You should see
your doctor about your premature ejaculation""

This was a routemaster so not only did everyone on the bus hear it so
did everyone standing at the bus stop (and the way I shouted people
within about 200 yards)

Are you kidding?? You should be *proud* of that one! It's hilarious.
He deserved that!

Joyce


I agree. That one was not only priceless, but one for the books.

Brilliant! Bet he didn't try that again.

Yowie

Yowie wrote:

Sadly, I don't fit into either group. I'm definitely not slick or
socially adept, but unlike most other social misfit types, I never
buried myself in learning things or learning skills. I'm not saying
I don't have intelligence, but I'm far more interested in ideas and
theories than in information. I look for patterns rather than at
the specific data. Problem is, most geeky types don't respect that -
they respect *knowledge*, not theory.

In that case, you've been hanging with the wrong geeky types, Joyce. One
of us is going to have to introduce you to the other side of nerddom,
the role-playing, comic reading, sci-fi convention attending variety.
*That* type likes interesting theories and ideas more than data
retention rates :-)

Hmm. I seem to know a whole lot of people who are in that sf-con/rpg/
comix world, and they are some of the most annoyingly pedantic and
arrogant people I know! I've worked in Geek Central (ie, Silicon Valley,
in and around San Jose, California), for 18 years. I have a couple of
good friends who are part of that community, and while they aren't too
much like that, their *friends* are. Many of the people in that crowd
are just insufferable (IMO).

Not to say that I don't know any "nice" geeks, because I do. But even
the nice ones, who don't throw it in your face all the time that you're
not as smart as they are, still kind of think that way, I think. They're
just more polite about it.

I think the sf-con/rpg/comix crowd in the Bay Area of California are
probably different from the folks you know in Melbourne. (Please say
you live in Melbourne. I've only known you 11 years and I'm blanking
on where you live - sorry!) This crowd is absolutely HUGE in this area,
so they have a lot of social support and reinforcement for each other.
Finally, *they* get to be in the "in" crowd, and they're ruthless about
making sure that anyone who's not quite like them gets the same treatment
they got in grade school (minus the violence, of course).

Another contributing factor is that in the 80s and 90s (and now too,
to some extent), geeks have had a real "coolness" factor due to the fact
that the Internet has become so important to society. These are the
geniuses who created the Internet, after all, and their skills have been
in great demand. Not to mention that they have made lots of money doing
it. So in popular culture, geeks have taken on a certain coolness. They're
not just whiny weaklings that you beat up in the schoolyard. They're smart!
They can create cool, whizzy things! They work at places like Pixar! And
because this area has been one of the world centers of software development,
there are A WHOLE LOT OF THEM!

Maybe the geek crowd in your area is just smaller, not as wealthy, and
not as involved in the development of technology? (I'm sure there are
plenty of techno-types in your crowd, but in smaller numbers, I would
think.) And therefore, people are just happy to meet folks who appreciate
them and share their interests, so they're more accepting of each other?

Just a theory.

Joyce

--
The sun rose slowly, like a fiery furball coughed up uneasily onto a
sky-blue carpet by a giant unseen cat. -- Michael McGarel

Lesley wrote:
On Jul 4, 10:41 am, tanadashoes wrote:
Comebacks include:

"What planet did you come from?" "Did your mother teach you that
language or did you pick it up in a barnyard?" "Do you talk like this
in front of your grandmother?" "Judge Judy is right. You can't fix
stupid." and so forth.

You have got to be part Kender!

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

LOL! Best of all, only a fantasy gamer geek would get it.

Pam S. who has been accused of being part Kender

In ,
typed:
Yowie wrote:

Sadly, I don't fit into either group. I'm definitely not slick or
socially adept, but unlike most other social misfit types, I never
buried myself in learning things or learning skills. I'm not saying
I don't have intelligence, but I'm far more interested in ideas and
theories than in information. I look for patterns rather than at
the specific data. Problem is, most geeky types don't respect that -
they respect *knowledge*, not theory.

In that case, you've been hanging with the wrong geeky types, Joyce.
One of us is going to have to introduce you to the other side of
nerddom, the role-playing, comic reading, sci-fi convention
attending variety. *That* type likes interesting theories and ideas
more than data retention rates :-)

Hmm. I seem to know a whole lot of people who are in that sf-con/rpg/
comix world, and they are some of the most annoyingly pedantic and
arrogant people I know! I've worked in Geek Central (ie, Silicon
Valley,
in and around San Jose, California), for 18 years. I have a couple of
good friends who are part of that community, and while they aren't too
much like that, their *friends* are. Many of the people in that crowd
are just insufferable (IMO).

Not to say that I don't know any "nice" geeks, because I do. But even
the nice ones, who don't throw it in your face all the time that
you're
not as smart as they are, still kind of think that way, I think.
They're just more polite about it.

I think the sf-con/rpg/comix crowd in the Bay Area of California are
probably different from the folks you know in Melbourne. (Please say
you live in Melbourne. I've only known you 11 years and I'm blanking
on where you live - sorry!) This crowd is absolutely HUGE in this
area,
so they have a lot of social support and reinforcement for each other.
Finally, *they* get to be in the "in" crowd, and they're ruthless
about making sure that anyone who's not quite like them gets the same
treatment they got in grade school (minus the violence, of course).

Another contributing factor is that in the 80s and 90s (and now too,
to some extent), geeks have had a real "coolness" factor due to the
fact that the Internet has become so important to society. These are
the geniuses who created the Internet, after all, and their skills
have been
in great demand. Not to mention that they have made lots of money
doing
it. So in popular culture, geeks have taken on a certain coolness.
They're not just whiny weaklings that you beat up in the schoolyard.
They're smart! They can create cool, whizzy things! They work at
places like Pixar! And because this area has been one of the world
centers of software development, there are A WHOLE LOT OF THEM!

Maybe the geek crowd in your area is just smaller, not as wealthy, and
not as involved in the development of technology? (I'm sure there are
plenty of techno-types in your crowd, but in smaller numbers, I would
think.) And therefore, people are just happy to meet folks who
appreciate them and share their interests, so they're more accepting
of each other?

Just a theory.

The geeks I know are not the computer geek people, they're one step out -
they are the engineer/science/law/economics (not business, economics) geeks.
And are the most accepting group of people I've ever met. Then again,
Aussies roleplay quite differently than Americans, or so I've been told by
the folks in the know [1]. Maybe its because we don't have the likes of
Silicoin Valley where ggeks can be super-starts that we don't quite suffer
the same problem. Or I just don't socialise with jerks, Dunno.

Yowie
[1] Told by Eric Wujcik, who Joel and I roleplayed with for two very fun
days at a convention without a clue as to who he was. I think he liked it
like that. It was only at the pub after the convention that he told us that
he was the 'special guest' - because he's the author of the Amber diceless
roleplaying system. A thoroughly likeable fellow, and an excellent GM -
although we kinda flummoxed him by getting through his module far more
quickly than other groups he's played with.

Yowie wrote:

The geeks I know are not the computer geek people, they're one step out -
they are the engineer/science/law/economics (not business, economics)
geeks. And are the most accepting group of people I've ever met.

Interesting. I didn't even know there were law geeks! (Of course, you can
be a geek about anything - you just have to be very obsessed with it.)

Unfortunately, part of me is thinking, "Sure, to you, they're very
accepting. But that doesn't mean they'd be accepting to *me*." If the
very definition of a "geek" is about being passionately obsessed with
your interests, going for depth rather than breadth (ie, knowing a
tremendous amount about a narrow range of subjects), then I am the
anti-geek, because I'm pretty much a dilettante. I know that word has
a negative connotation, but it is what it is. I've developed basic,
and in some cases, intermediate skills in a whole bunch of things, but
I'm not an expert at anything.

This works for me because I often catch on to new things quickly, and
I do my best learning at the beginning. But I plateau quickly and then
I tend to just stay at that level forever afterward. I'm not complaining
about this, mind you, nor am I asking for suggestions for changing it.
I'm just explaining why I think I don't fit in with geek circles, of any
stripe. This discussion started because someone categorized workers into
"people who like to demonstate skill" and "people who want social
acceptance". I'm neither, as I said, but the reason I don't do so well
with the first group is that I don't have impressive skills to demonstrate.

Then again,
Aussies roleplay quite differently than Americans, or so I've been told by
the folks in the know [1].

I'm very interested in this. How are they different, according to your
source?

Maybe its because we don't have the likes of
Silicoin Valley

"Silicoin Valley" - I like that. I don't know if that's a typo or
deliberate, but it's very apt.

where ggeks can be super-starts that we don't quite suffer
the same problem.

Yes, that's just what I meant. Software geeks really were superstars
in the 90s. I think since the various economic crashes, as well as a whole
lot of outsourcing to cheaper workforces, they're not quite as cool as
they were, but the social communities still exist.

Or I just don't socialise with jerks, Dunno.

Excellent approach!

Joyce

--
"Sentimentality" -- that's what we call the sentiment we don't share.
-- Graham Greene

wrote:
cshenk wrote:
Hehe unless they also have good social skills, 'boring and pedantic but
useful'. Really though, people seldom break out quite that neatly.

Sounds like the ancient "techno-nerds vs marketing" war to me.

Aren't most marketing people nerdy though? Or maybe I'm biased,
being a kind of a nerd of marketing - I can go on and on about
regression tests on survey results, net promoter scores, customer
preference vs. performance, psychographic market segmentation, etc.

Takayuki wrote:

wrote:
cshenk wrote:
Hehe unless they also have good social skills, 'boring and pedantic but
useful'. Really though, people seldom break out quite that neatly.

Sounds like the ancient "techno-nerds vs marketing" war to me.

Aren't most marketing people nerdy though? Or maybe I'm biased,
being a kind of a nerd of marketing - I can go on and on about
regression tests on survey results, net promoter scores, customer
preference vs. performance, psychographic market segmentation, etc.

I don't know - most place I've worked, the engineers totally distrusted
marketing as "the suits". The suits tended to make decisions that the
engineers thought were stupid - from an engineering standpoint, of course.

Apple is (or used to be) an engineering-driven company. Microsoft is
a marketing-driven company. I think they're two good examples of where
companies go in each case. Microsoft is far more successful, because
their marketing folks know how to do business. But Apple has consistently
had better products.

Somewhere in the depths of the marketing department, there may be a
statistics geek crunching numbers, but I don't know that that person
makes the decisions about company direction.

Joyce

--
Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good
many ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia.
-- Joseph Wood Krutch