4 ms·

I remember reading Phil Greenspun’s blog circa 2004 as a new grad and him alluding to people teaching their kids mandarin. I remember thinking, geesh, this guy

I remember reading Phil Greenspun’s blog circa 2004 as a new grad and him alluding to people teaching their kids mandarin. I remember thinking, geesh, this guy is at Harvard and MIT, he must know more than me. I’m glad I never followed through with that.

dirtybird04 8y ago
My first question whenever someone pushes forward an idea, regardless of how smart or popular they are, is how much the person benefits personally from the said idea.
rchaud 8y ago
During the dotcom crash of the early 2000s, there were similar comments in the vein of "glad I studied finance and not this computer science BS". The world is cyclical; what doesn't make sense today, may be obvious tomorrow. Condoleeza Rice learned Russian in college because that's what made sense in her time, especially if you pursued foreign service work. As Sec of State in the 2000s, she probably never had to use it in any official capacity. Come 2016, and knowledge of Russia is important once again.