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My dad is a Master Electrician but he still asks me questions about his hotmail account and to resend a link to my Picasa albums. He deals with megawatts of ele

by golgo13 16y ago

My dad is a Master Electrician but he still asks me questions about his hotmail account and to resend a link to my Picasa albums. He deals with megawatts of electricity on a daily basis. I would hesitate to call him dumb...

pavel_lishin 16y ago
Ditto for my stepdad, electrical engineer, holds more patents than I own books, and has put something on fucking Mars. Still can't get his webcam to work, and keeps every document on his desktop. It's just a matter of different knowledge domains. If you tossed me into the woods with experienced naturalists, they'd probably laugh every time I wiped with poison oak, too.
- lotharbot 16y ago
  What did he put on Mars?
  - pavel_lishin 16y ago
    A slight exaggeration, but he worked on the mass spectrography unit at UT Dallas, and that was part of the Phoenix mission. If you'd like to point out that it ended up having some problems due to an electrical short circuit and have a giggle, please do so now. :) He also ended up clearing out the entire building one day, because I think he left some chemicals on a hot plate. Every time after that, when the fire department would get called for whatever reason, if the fire chief saw him wandering around, he'd bellow, "STEIN, WHAT DID YOU DO THIS TIME!" Fun times.
- JabavuAdams 16y ago
  Actually, you'd probably laugh at them because they were naked.
  - barrkel 16y ago
    I think you're thinking of naturists, not naturalists.
    - JabavuAdams 16y ago
      Thank. You. I'm glad you nipped that in the butt. Could have been very embarrassing. I'm feeling snarky because it's 11:29 PM local time, and I'm about to ditch the trial server software I had planned to use and just write the goddamn things I need in Python, and keep it all in memory, so I can actually finish my shit this week. Fuck databases, fuck socket-server middle-ware, fuck best practice dogma (except when they really matter).
  - pavel_lishin 16y ago
    Yeah. I'm in the middle of the woods, helpless, surrounded by a bunch of naked men and women. Obviously my first instinct is to laugh at the only people that can keep me alive. :)
corin_ 16y ago
I have no reason to believe your dad is dumb, and I'm not someone who thinks you're dumb if you're not computer savvy (such as your Dad). That said, I've known and employed electricians whom I would call dumb, despite the fact that they can do their jobs. I'm not having a go at electricians, I can't do what they do, and I'm certainly not trying to make any point along the lines of "electricians are dumb except when it comes to their own area". Hell, I've known more intelligent electricians than dumb ones. What I am saying, though, is that I don't think "dealing with megawatts of electricity" proves that someone is/isn't dumb. (And again, that's not me saying you're wrong in saying your dad isn't dumb.)
- barrkel 16y ago
  I think you could replace the word "electrician" in your quibble there with just about any other profession, with a corresponding change to the "dealing with megawatts" boast, and it could still be true.
  - corin_ 16y ago
    Most professions, sure. Still, I prefer to see people being assumed clever for their job than those who are assumed dumb for theirs.
- barrkel 16y ago
  I think you could replace the word "electrician" in your quibble there with just about any other profession, with a corresponding change to the "dealing with megawatts" boast, and it could still be true. Even IT technicians and PR guys.

by golgo13 16y ago

pavel_lishin 16y ago

Ditto for my stepdad, electrical engineer, holds more patents than I own books, and has put something on fucking Mars. Still can't get his webcam to work, and keeps every document on his desktop. It's just a matter of different knowledge domains. If you tossed me into the woods with experienced naturalists, they'd probably laugh every time I wiped with poison oak, too.

lotharbot 16y ago
What did he put on Mars?
- pavel_lishin 16y ago
  A slight exaggeration, but he worked on the mass spectrography unit at UT Dallas, and that was part of the Phoenix mission. If you'd like to point out that it ended up having some problems due to an electrical short circuit and have a giggle, please do so now. :) He also ended up clearing out the entire building one day, because I think he left some chemicals on a hot plate. Every time after that, when the fire department would get called for whatever reason, if the fire chief saw him wandering around, he'd bellow, "STEIN, WHAT DID YOU DO THIS TIME!" Fun times.
JabavuAdams 16y ago
Actually, you'd probably laugh at them because they were naked.
- barrkel 16y ago
  I think you're thinking of naturists, not naturalists.
  - JabavuAdams 16y ago
    Thank. You. I'm glad you nipped that in the butt. Could have been very embarrassing. I'm feeling snarky because it's 11:29 PM local time, and I'm about to ditch the trial server software I had planned to use and just write the goddamn things I need in Python, and keep it all in memory, so I can actually finish my shit this week. Fuck databases, fuck socket-server middle-ware, fuck best practice dogma (except when they really matter).
- pavel_lishin 16y ago
  Yeah. I'm in the middle of the woods, helpless, surrounded by a bunch of naked men and women. Obviously my first instinct is to laugh at the only people that can keep me alive. :)

corin_ 16y ago

I have no reason to believe your dad is dumb, and I'm not someone who thinks you're dumb if you're not computer savvy (such as your Dad). That said, I've known and employed electricians whom I would call dumb, despite the fact that they can do their jobs. I'm not having a go at electricians, I can't do what they do, and I'm certainly not trying to make any point along the lines of "electricians are dumb except when it comes to their own area". Hell, I've known more intelligent electricians than dumb ones. What I am saying, though, is that I don't think "dealing with megawatts of electricity" proves that someone is/isn't dumb. (And again, that's not me saying you're wrong in saying your dad isn't dumb.)

barrkel 16y ago
I think you could replace the word "electrician" in your quibble there with just about any other profession, with a corresponding change to the "dealing with megawatts" boast, and it could still be true.
- corin_ 16y ago
  Most professions, sure. Still, I prefer to see people being assumed clever for their job than those who are assumed dumb for theirs.
barrkel 16y ago
I think you could replace the word "electrician" in your quibble there with just about any other profession, with a corresponding change to the "dealing with megawatts" boast, and it could still be true. Even IT technicians and PR guys.