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I wonder if he expends too much energy on being Quirky. He goes by a Quirky name, writes Quirky & Poignant guides, and responds to questions in a Quirky way. O
by shiranaihito 18y ago
I wonder if he expends too much energy on being Quirky.
He goes by a Quirky name, writes Quirky & Poignant guides, and responds to questions in a Quirky way. Overall, he's really quite Quirky.
He's unique and intelligent, we get it.
But for once, it would be nice to see him talk about something like a normal person.
- herval 18y agoDon't we have too many normal people out there already, saying the same stuff in their lookalike blogs...? (or maybe _why IS one of those guys as well, uh?)
- mapleoin 18y agoI wish people would say this more about other eccentric people. Some people aren't this tolerant with RMS for example...
- Zev 18y ago_why is eccentric in a completely out there way, its pretty hard to argue there's someone like him. RMS is a archetypal hacker from the 70's who remained that way in the 2000's. There's no doubt that they both do great things, one's just more then slightly more unique and the other is intimately known.
- trevelyan 18y agoI love archetypal 70s hackers. Just add rock.
- shiranaihito 18y agoThe thing is, each and every one of us is unique, by virtue of being born. People just happen to have converging tendencies, and there's nothing wrong with that. There's no need to Be Different. I'm not saying you shouldn't find your own thing and do it. It's just that being different doesn't require any effort on anyone's part. Besides, anyone could pick up _why's Quirky Shtick and sound roughly the same.
- herval 18y agoI wish I could... ;-)
- jamesbritt 18y ago"Don't we have too many normal people out there already, saying the same stuff in their lookalike blogs...? " False choice. There are smart, innovative thinkers expressing themselves with a notable lack of quirk, and a better signal-to-noise ratio.
- herval 18y agoso does one thing have to eliminate the other?
- jamesbritt 18y agoNo, of course not, but they seem to be related in the mids of many people. There's a great collection of short stories, Mathenauts: Tales of Mathematical Wonder, that has (as I recall) a tale of some institute that was hiring mathematicians. The candidates affected assorted behavioral quirks so as to come off as sufficiently bizarre, and, hence, brilliant. It seems a common stereotype.
- amvp 18y agoI agree in that I don't think the interview contributed very much, other than to propagate his quirky reputation But reading your comment makes it sound like that's all there is to him - it isn't. I found his book brilliant - the quirkiness in no way made it any less informative or useful, and only made it more enjoyable. I encourage anybody who hasn't read it, or who want's to learn Ruby, to take a look at http://poignantguide.net/ruby/ http://poignantguide.net/ruby/ Since he's able to contribute/create/do as much as he does, I say let him do it in any way he wants. Apparently he finds it fun to create and preform a character.
- nihilocrat 18y agoYeah, if you look at the literature surrounding the things he's created (hacketyhack, potion, etc.), you'll notice he talks pretty normal when it's about serious stuff.
- DannoHung 18y agoQuite. _why's style is simply there to get you interested. The substance of his work is what keeps you interested.
- deleted 18y ago[deleted]
- joechung 18y agoNormal is so overrated that it's cliché to say it is so.