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Did they really include a shot of him writing formulas on a window at Harvard? That cliched "genius" shot is getting worn out. Of all the smart people I've ev
by barmstrong 16y ago
Did they really include a shot of him writing formulas on a window at Harvard? That cliched "genius" shot is getting worn out. Of all the smart people I've ever met, I've never seen one write forumlas on a window.
- CoryMathews 16y agoA Window is perfect when you don't have a large enough white board. I did it many times for college programming assignments.
- todayiamme 16y agoI can't afford a whiteboard so I use the glass coffee table for visualization instead. Nonetheless it does have the tortured genius cliché attached to it. As shallow as this sounds it actually makes it cooler. I like messing with people by writing poetry (Keats, Byron, Frost...) on it. I would recommend it to anyone who is sick of pretentious people who judge others.
- jackowayed 16y agoWhat writing implement works best? Dry-erase markers like you'd use on a whiteboard?
- CoryMathews 16y agoYeah those work good.
- jrnkntl 16y agoYes, which one do we have? I only know the shot of 21.
- ryanricard 16y agoA Beautiful Mind and Good Will Hunting, offhand. Well, Will was writing on a mirror not a window, but it still fits the "tortured genius doodles in grease pen" cliche.
- grinich 16y agoIt's not "genius", just convenient. I keep a few whiteboard markers lying around the house for when ideas strike. The shower and bathroom mirror are also good places.
- Groxx 16y agoMassively over-cliched, yes. But I feel I must point out: glass cleans better than those always-cheap dry/wet erase boards. i.e., perfectly, instead of leaving shadows / requiring alcohol.
- enjo 16y agoMy wife leaves me messages on our mirror every morning:)
- potatolicious 16y agoGlass also fits into proper decor a lot more than that awful white shiny material whiteboards are made of.
- blhack 16y agoNot a window, by the bathroom in my old house had a freaking ENOURMOUS mirror in it that I would use as a whiteboard all the time.
- michael_nielsen 16y agoThe Santa Fe Institute has absolutely enormous windows researchers can write on, complete with markers and erasers. It's surprisingly useful, because they're far larger than any blackboard or whiteboard.
- hazmattron 16y agoI feel like this is becoming standard in lots of places, or at least vogue. I worked in a chem lab at the University of Washington that had indoor windows expressly for notes and presentations, and the science library at my school has rooms with glass walls and markers for group studying.
- jgg 16y agoBetter yet, what mathematics did he specifically use when developing Facebook? It's my understanding that most of the "innovation" that went on involved stealing someone's code and marketing the end result to a niche community (Ivy Leaguers), and using the reputation gained from that to appeal to the masses. It took people out of the ghetto of MySpace and put them into a pristine, controlled environment. Tortured genius, or lucky asshole with a lot of money? You decide.
- davepeck 16y ago(Having seen the script: the equations determine, based on past user votes, the probability that each of two Harvard girls will be voted "better looking" in a head-to-head match-up.)
- mkramlich 16y agoExactly! My impression was that starting Facebook just took some PHP and HTML skills not differential equations and quantum mechanics.
- philwelch 16y agoI remember in the earlyish days of Facebook (after the Ivy League exclusivity ended but before it went outside of colleges) their FAQ page had a snarky response to the question "what graph theory algorithms do you use?" or somesuch.
- dotBen 16y agoI used to work in a modern office building with floor-to-ceiling windows and had a window desk. Suffice to say the windows were always covered with algorithms, scribbles, diagrams and all sorts of shit.
- GFischer 16y agoSame here. My former boss would draw diagrams and algorithms on the office windows all the time.
- stevejalim 16y agoDoes Steve Jobs cameo and say "How do you like them Apples?", pointing to a line of G5s? </awfuljoke>