Re: Rather Polite of Him, Wouldn't You Say?

docdwarf@panix.com wrote:
> In article <12m0mstdjc9ptd2@news.supernews.com>,
> HeyBub <heybubNOSPAM@gmail.com> wrote: 
>
> That saying, of course, accounts for the *exquisite* politesse of the
> Japanese... ummmm, the Chinese... ummmmm, the Swedes... oh well, it
> accounts for the well-known politesse of Dodge City... ummmmmm,
> Tombstone... ummmmm... hey, a lot of those 'sayings' are just old wives'
> tales, anyhow.
>
> (Before anyone trots out that fine, old chestnut about how the murder
> rate in Dodge City during the height of the Wild West Daze was half that
> in Washington, DC in the 1990s... remember, the assertion was about being
> *polite*, not about committing murder; the phenomenon of politesse is, I
> would say, an intricate social phenomenon having to do more with the
> aspiring towards a reified ideal than a fear of unlawful death... as the
> saying goes, 'Cowards die a thousand deaths, the valiant taste of death
> but once'.)
>
> DD

But in living longer, one would expect that the average number of a
cowards' offspring is greater than that of the average valiant man.

In article <1164045562.179587.56900@h54g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
Alistair <alistair@ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>docdwarf@panix.com wrote:

[snip - I apologise to myself for the midsentence interruption]
 
>
>But in living longer, one would expect that the average number of a
>cowards' offspring is greater than that of the average valiant man.

Perhaps so, perhaps no... in addition to living longer there's a little
matter of attracting mates... and then the process of mating... and then
the viability of the offspring generated by such mating... it can be seen
as moderately intricate, once one thinks along those lines... of course,
the problem with that might be, for some, instead of relying on the dicta
of fiction-authors they, themselves, might have to do something called
'thinking'... I think.

DD

"Alistair" <alistair@ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1164056885.578571.326160@f16g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>
> docdwarf@panix.com wrote: 
>
> Methinks that the law of large numbers is on my side. Also,
> remember that it is written thus: the m shall inherit the earth.
>

Only if the rest of us don't mind...

Besides, it was the Grs who will inherit the earth, wasn't it?

Pete.

"Alistair" <alistair@ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1164111732.314982.277480@h54g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>
> Pete Dashwood wrote: 
<snip>
>
> Gs, not Grs, surely?
>

Nah, Gs are a dying breed... they don't get to reproduce... :-)

Pete.

"Alistair" <alistair@ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1164206689.916371.276560@k70g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
> Pete Dashwood wrote: 
>
> So Bill Gates is not a g?
>

Ask his wife....

Pete.

"Pete Dashwood" (dashwood@removethis.enternet.co.nz) writes:
>
> Nah, Gs are a dying breed... they don't get to reproduce... :-)
>
Actually these days we are more into "assortive mating", generating
pureblood offspring. ;)

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/...pergers_pr.html
Issue 9.12 - Dec 2001
The G Syndrome
Autism - and its milder cousin Asperger's syndrome - is surging among
the children of Silicon Valley. Are math-and-tech genes to blame?
..
As more women enter the IT workplace, guys who might never have had a
prayer of finding a kindred spirit suddenly discover that she's hacking
Perl scripts in the next cubicle.
..
That's not to say that gs, even autistic ones, are attracted only to
other gs. Compensatory unions of opposites also thrive along the
continuum, and in the last 10 years, gitude has become sexy and
associated with financial success.
..
"In another historical time, these men would have become monks, developing
new ink for early printing presses. Suddenly they're making $150,000 a
year with stock options. They're reproducing at a much higher rate."

Darn, last year was the first year I made it over K$100. Guess I don't
make the cut.

Asperger's Syndrome may be the basis for the sterotype of the math/science/
tech g. AS is diagnosed at much higher levels among high level computer,
science, engineering and mathamatics professionals than in the general
population.
--
Temple Grandin:
"If it wasn't for people like us, the rest of you
would still be in caves talking to each other."

"Kelly Bert Manning" <bo774@FreeNet.Carleton.CA> wrote in message
news:ekdlva$c8c$1@theodyn.ncf.ca...
> "Pete Dashwood" (dashwood@removethis.enternet.co.nz) writes: 
> Actually these days we are more into "assortive mating", generating
> pureblood offspring. ;)
>
> http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/...pergers_pr.html
>   Issue 9.12 - Dec 2001
>   The G Syndrome
>   Autism - and its milder cousin Asperger's syndrome - is surging among
>   the children of Silicon Valley. Are math-and-tech genes to blame?
>   ...
>   As more women enter the IT workplace, guys who might never have had a
>   prayer of finding a kindred spirit suddenly discover that she's hacking
>   Perl scripts in the next cubicle.

In my reckless youth it always bothered me that female programmers were rare
(although there were some, and the ones I met were really good programmers).
I opted for liaisons with punch girls, which invariably ended in disaster...
I remember a Xmas party once... but that's another story :-)

When I finally did get around to dating a  female programmer, I found that
her other traits (absolutely no sense of humour, snobbery, and  smug
superiority (misplaced))  were more than I could stand, so it couldn't
last... :-) (I'm sure she speaks very highly of me, too ... :-)) It was a
very long time ago.

Some of us are just so far out there we simply haven't got a prayer of
finding a kindred spirirt, no matter what occupation they follow :-)

Having taken a liberal sample of what's on offer, I have now reached the
conclusion that it is better to be on one's own than to be with someone who
is bad for one :-) (took a while... the learning was fun... :-))


>   ...
>   That's not to say that gs, even autistic ones, are attracted only to
>   other gs. Compensatory unions of opposites also thrive along the
>   continuum, and in the last 10 years, gitude has become sexy and
>   associated with financial success.
>   ...
>   "In another historical time, these men would have become monks,
> developing
>   new ink for early printing presses. Suddenly they're making $150,000 a
>   year with stock options. They're reproducing at a much higher rate."
>
> Darn, last year was the first year I made it over K$100. Guess I don't
> make the cut.
>
> Asperger's Syndrome may be the basis for the sterotype of the
> math/science/
> tech g. AS is diagnosed at much higher levels among high level
> computer,
> science, engineering and mathamatics professionals than in the general
> population.
> --
>   Temple Grandin:
>   "If it wasn't for people like us, the rest of you
>    would still be in caves talking to each other."

That was an interesting observation. Thanks.

Pete.

"Pete Dashwood" (dashwood@removethis.enternet.co.nz) writes:
>
> In my reckless youth it always bothered me that female programmers were ra
re
> (although there were some, and the ones I met were really good programmers).[/colo
r]

They weren't that rare in the 1970s, about 1 in 3 in my Comp Sci courses.

That dropped to 1 in 10, along with a general decline in the numbers and
achievement levels, when the first Kindergarten thru Grade 12 victims of
an "experimental" math curriculum started arriving at University and college
in the late 1980s. Part of the new curriculum was a one size fits all
approach and "spiralling". Capable students got bored and quite. Slower
students didn't get it the first or second time around the spiral and also
quit.

My wife started out writing fortran programs on an IBM 1620 in high school.

When the local university converted to an IBM 360-145 Academic Math teachers
in local high schools were offered the opportunity to have their students
use the 1620 while it was still around at the university. A surprising numbe
r
of those students ended up pushing bytes around for a living, despite
starting university in areas such as Math, Chemistry, Physics, or in my
wife's case Honours Microbiology.

We still work with COBOL, among other duties and assisting our son with
his C++, Java, PERL, Oracle, etc. homework from High School Info Tech and
Univeristy Engineering Comp. Sci.

His smarter sister does it all herself, even uses earplugs or headphones
to create an isolation zone and avoid being annoyed by audio or visual
clutter or overload. Got to keep that hyperfocus going you know.

> When I finally did get around to dating a  female programmer, I found that
> her other traits (absolutely no sense of humour, snobbery, and  smug
> superiority (misplaced))  were more than I could stand, so it couldn't
> last... :-) (I'm sure she speaks very highly of me, too ... :-)) It was a
> very long time ago.

> Some of us are just so far out there we simply haven't got a prayer of
> finding a kindred spirirt, no matter what occupation they follow :-)

You have to work on controlling that hyperfocus. ;)

> Having taken a liberal sample of what's on offer, I have now reached the
> conclusion that it is better to be on one's own than to be with someone wh
o
> is bad for one :-) (took a while... the learning was fun... :-))

Well, getting married is one way to not have to think up polite ways to
say no, particularly if your physical appearance says jock, not g. ;)

Thanks for this Kelly.

Interesting to see the blip in the statistics regarding women and Maths. I
suspect it has been rectified today. The last project I managed had more
women than men on the team, and some of them were simply outstanding
.(professionally :-))

Only because this is a specialist newsgroup, and not because I really care,
I think that the IBM 360-145 you mentioned, is actually an IBM 370-145...
:-)  I seem to recall the 360 range having two digit model numbers, but I am
getting old and it was a long time ago :-).

I'll think on what you said regarding focus, if I can focus long enough....
:-)

Pete.

TOP POST - no more below


"Kelly Bert Manning" <bo774@FreeNet.Carleton.CA> wrote in message
news:ekfldl$kfr$1@theodyn.ncf.ca...
> "Pete Dashwood" (dashwood@removethis.enternet.co.nz) writes: 
>
> They weren't that rare in the 1970s, about 1 in 3 in my Comp Sci courses.
>
> That dropped to 1 in 10, along with a general decline in the numbers and
> achievement levels, when the first Kindergarten thru Grade 12 victims of
> an "experimental" math curriculum started arriving at University and
> college
> in the late 1980s. Part of the new curriculum was a one size fits all
> approach and "spiralling". Capable students got bored and quite. Slower
> students didn't get it the first or second time around the spiral and also
> quit.
>
> My wife started out writing fortran programs on an IBM 1620 in high
> school.
>
> When the local university converted to an IBM 360-145 Academic Math
> teachers
> in local high schools were offered the opportunity to have their students
> use the 1620 while it was still around at the university. A surprising
> number
> of those students ended up pushing bytes around for a living, despite
> starting university in areas such as Math, Chemistry, Physics, or in my
> wife's case Honours Microbiology.
>
> We still work with COBOL, among other duties and assisting our son with
> his C++, Java, PERL, Oracle, etc. homework from High School Info Tech and
> Univeristy Engineering Comp. Sci.
>
> His smarter sister does it all herself, even uses earplugs or headphones
> to create an isolation zone and avoid being annoyed by audio or visual
> clutter or overload. Got to keep that hyperfocus going you know.
> 
> 
>
> You have to work on controlling that hyperfocus. ;)
> 
>
> Well, getting married is one way to not have to think up polite ways to
> say no, particularly if your physical appearance says jock, not g. ;)

On 29 Nov 2006 07:20:43 GMT, bo774@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Kelly Bert
Manning) wrote:

>Before the second round of tests the
>fellow administering them foolishly asked if there were any questions. One
>of the IT gs put up his hand and asked if they should use the same
>personality on the second round of tests they had on the first. The
>administrator got very upset and stated that all the profound questions wer
e
>to be answered fully and honestly. The g's reponse was "what sort of foo
ls
>do you take us for", at which point the room erupted in laughter.

I've seen similar questions asked in job interviews.   Worthless.

I suspect a high percentage of those people who answer dumb questions
with dumb answers on TV are more knowledgeable than they seem.   They
know which answers give them a better chance of being on TV.