You're one of my favorites here, sas. We can always count on you for a good stream of consciousness.
-Doug On Jul 5, 2011 6:51 PM, "Steve Smith" <sasm...@swcp.com> wrote: > Pamela! >> Brilliant!!!!!! > Yes, xkcd is definitely brilliant. And Doug, well, he does have a way. > > FWIW, until I actually followed up and checked it out I *assumed* that > the cartoonist was a *wicked-smart* young woman... there is something > about the style of friendly but unreserved lampooning that seemed like > only an outsider who understood things inside out could muster. I don't > know why I thought *that* made the author female... somehow I just > did. If my older daughter could draw, I'd suspect her of it... wait! > xkcd *can't draw*! I'm calling her *right now!* > > The the relatively few women on this list: I must honor all of you for > putting up with our wide range of male-typical boorish habits. Some of > us even know who we are. I only know of Tory, Pamela, Dede, and Peggy > (as often enough posters to be memorable). I sure hope I haven't missed > someone obvious in this list, which would surely be another boorish male > habit. > > As for physicists... I once imagined I was one... for a few years > anyway, after picking up a BS in Math and Physics and then dragging > myself through a half-dozen grad courses as well, what else does one > need? If Computer Science and Engineering hadn't been blossoming and > captured me in it's vortex, I suppose I would have at least hacked away > as a third-rate physicist for part of my career. Several of my best > friends are Physicists. Some of them are women. > > I admit that there appears to be a bit of occupational hazard > associated with being a physicist in thinking that if you don't know > everything, you can figure it out, and if you can't figure it out and > nobody is looking you can wing it! This was what drew me there in the > first place. That or reading too much Science Fiction. > > It also is what flung me off like mashed potatoes from spinning mixer > blades! My first interview with Physicists involved a hazing that was > beyond my range (and I have a wide range)... After accepting a > different offer (in Computer Science) I heard that the Physicists who > had hazed me and left me feeling... not incompetent, but... well... > hazed... they had decided I was a stellar candidate (because I answered > all their questions the best I could and never once let on that I'd > rather be tossing them out their third story window? Or making up > esoterically difficult questions from some obscure field to ask them?) I > *wanted* that job so bad (control system for the Proton Storage Ring), > but couldn't imagine working with those jerks... Their instinct may > have been right... they may have saved me from a life in the wrong > profession! > > I fully appreciate (and occasionally attempt to live) both extremes... > "figure every ffing thing out from first principles, even if it takes > the rest of your life to do the most minute and trivial thing" VS "hack > it together on a whim and see what it does!". I prefer the romantic > image of the Natural Philosophers of the Age of Reason and Enlightenment > over that of the modern day Physicist. Though Feynman did a pretty good > job of making the modern physicist role an entertaining one as well, > hitting on Peter's wife not withstanding. > > In 1992 I bought a house that a Physicist started building in the late > 1960's... it was impeccably designed (to his very strange tastes) and > exquisitely built (with only the best materials and tools) virtually all > by the hands of the Physicist in question. The house was essentially > 50% complete when I bought it. The exterior was perfectly completed > excepting that there were no front steps. The interior was entirely > unfinished, bare studs and floor deck and not a single interior wall. > Talk about a blank canvas! The 1960's hydronic heating system was big > enough to heat an entire city block and he had a 7 zone hand made > manifold bolted to it with an oversized pump dedicated to each zone. > He had enough slant-fin radiator to line the entire exterior of the main > floor (2600 sq feet) and the exposed exterior of the above-ground > basement (1800 sq ft). He had boxed 1960's vintage fixtures with an > inch of dust on them (Avocado Green, Harvest Gold, Powder Blue, etc.) > including a Bidet. > > There was NO end to his obsession with detail and care and thought and > effort. I even inherited the 100lb jackhammer he used to carve the > basement out of the Tuff himself! There was little if anything on that > house I think he did not do with his own bare hands, with great thought > and care, and more than a little insight. He *was* prone to overkill > however, I could barely *lift* that jackhammer and I am not a small man. > > I'm a whack job myself when it comes to projects but this totally blew > me away. And he was so excited after 25 years to have someone else take > on his project who might do it justice. It took me 6 months of > dedicated effort (well, early mornings, evenings, weekends and liberal > LANL vacation days) and some pro help (drywall, electric, plumbing) to > make it liveable, 18 months to satisfy the bank to switch from > construction to FHA mortgage and 7 years to call it "done". It still > had an unfinished banco in front of the fireplace when I fled the > property with recurring nightmares of asymptotes. > > I can't be sure that this level of obsession and handling of detail is > directly correlated with the profession but anecdotally it seems to be > so. Physicists are amazing. But fortunately there are other species > of human as well! And especially those very clever few such as xkcd > "hisself". > > I sometimes suspect the author of being a one-man FRIAM list: > http://blog.xkcd.com/2010/05/03/color-survey-results/ > > - Steve >> >> >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
