3 ms·

First, the ability to make people feel comfortable around you (which usually means actually being comfortable around them) I second "the ability to learn" -- b

First, the ability to make people feel comfortable around you (which usually means actually being comfortable around them) I second "the ability to learn" -- but be more confident and bold (this is an extreme): “After Andy dropped out of Emerson College in his sophomore year, the [siblings] reunited in Chicago, where they started a construction business, learning most of the skills on the job. They once built an elevator shaft without any plans or previous experience, having projected unquestionable confidence to the people who’d hired them—not an unuseful talent in the film business.” You can see the enormity of the undertaking, and the brass buttons it takes to say that, yes, of course you can do something that you have no idea how to do. Sometimes filmmaking requires that kind of absurd confidence (but don’t do anything that might make people fall down several stories or anything)." http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/6-filmmaking-tips-from-the-wachowskis.php http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/6-filmmaking-tips-... http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/09/10/120910fa_fact_hemon http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/09/10/120910fa_fact_...

pavel_lishin 14y ago
> They once built an elevator shaft without any plans or previous experience, having projected unquestionable confidence to the people who’d hired them Wait, was this for a film set, or was this an actual elevator shaft that people will be using to zip up and down a building? Because if it's the latter, I'm terrified.
- SparrowOS 14y ago
  I did Ticketmaster's file compression in 1992. http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/11/mf_ticketmaster/all/1 http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/11/mf_ticketmaster/all/1 Denny gave me an LZW algorithm from a magazine. It's the same code I used at Ticketmaster -- to compress or uncompress a buffer, basically out of the magazine. At Ticketmaster, I did full multiple file archiving with bloom filters and encryption. In SparrowOS, it's individual files. My LZW applied to 16 color bitmaps is superior in every way to JPG. I get my own graphics compression out of a general purpose lossless algorithm built-in and applied automatically on files ending in ".Z" I generate my web site myself. I use uncompressed BMP files -- big. I added RLE BMP compression, just for my website. I don't need BMP file formats -- I have my own graphics format. I use BMP because it interoperates with Windows and the Web. I'm not interested in multimedia -- more like old school C64 games. With 16 colors, the standard formats are worthless. You might as well use loss-less. I could write a phenominally compressed loss-less screen-cast format.
- wallflower 14y ago
  The latter, yes. All major construction like elevator shafts is always inspected [1]. Since they are working on-site, the quality, speed, and scope of their (subcontractor) work is apparent and visible on a real-time basis. You have to know what you're doing - if you do not - worst case, you get someone injured/killed, best case, they fire you. Like the cliche goes - a contractor with shiny new tools isn't a contractor you hire. As for licensing, there are ways around licensing & bonding... The point is they weren't just bluffing - they had supreme confidence they could do it. And did it. As someone who is scared to install a new faucet, who does that? [1] They did the shaft in Chicago: http://www.sfm.illinois.gov/commercial/elevators/faq.aspx http://www.sfm.illinois.gov/commercial/elevators/faq.aspx

pavel_lishin 14y ago

> They once built an elevator shaft without any plans or previous experience, having projected unquestionable confidence to the people who’d hired them Wait, was this for a film set, or was this an actual elevator shaft that people will be using to zip up and down a building? Because if it's the latter, I'm terrified.

SparrowOS 14y ago
I did Ticketmaster's file compression in 1992. http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/11/mf_ticketmaster/all/1 http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/11/mf_ticketmaster/all/1 Denny gave me an LZW algorithm from a magazine. It's the same code I used at Ticketmaster -- to compress or uncompress a buffer, basically out of the magazine. At Ticketmaster, I did full multiple file archiving with bloom filters and encryption. In SparrowOS, it's individual files. My LZW applied to 16 color bitmaps is superior in every way to JPG. I get my own graphics compression out of a general purpose lossless algorithm built-in and applied automatically on files ending in ".Z" I generate my web site myself. I use uncompressed BMP files -- big. I added RLE BMP compression, just for my website. I don't need BMP file formats -- I have my own graphics format. I use BMP because it interoperates with Windows and the Web. I'm not interested in multimedia -- more like old school C64 games. With 16 colors, the standard formats are worthless. You might as well use loss-less. I could write a phenominally compressed loss-less screen-cast format.
wallflower 14y ago
The latter, yes. All major construction like elevator shafts is always inspected [1]. Since they are working on-site, the quality, speed, and scope of their (subcontractor) work is apparent and visible on a real-time basis. You have to know what you're doing - if you do not - worst case, you get someone injured/killed, best case, they fire you. Like the cliche goes - a contractor with shiny new tools isn't a contractor you hire. As for licensing, there are ways around licensing & bonding... The point is they weren't just bluffing - they had supreme confidence they could do it. And did it. As someone who is scared to install a new faucet, who does that? [1] They did the shaft in Chicago: http://www.sfm.illinois.gov/commercial/elevators/faq.aspx http://www.sfm.illinois.gov/commercial/elevators/faq.aspx