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“OK, but there are two rules…”

andyswan.com

41–50 of 75 posts

Re: “OK, but there are two rules…”

#41
Unfortunately the comment "Running a real estate website? OK... you’re not allowed to show the asking price or address of any home. Go." describes some of the most annoying real estate websites I've come across.

While restrictions can encourage innovation, sometimes they really do just get in the way.

Re: “OK, but there are two rules…”

#42

Another great parallel is from photography: Many film cameras used to be sold with only a fixed 50mm or a 35mm lens. The restriction forced people to think about what was in or outside the field of vision. Today's cameras that have 10x zooms do not force the same consideration, and I suggest that amateur photography has suffered as a result. A friend of mine is a house-painter by trade, and has set himself the restri…

Zoom lenses have been the predominant kit lens for cameras for the better part of twenty years. I think the migration to digital (where the cost of shooting is ridiculously low) has had a much greater impact on the worsening of amateur photography. That coupled with the ubiquity of sharing pictures on the internet has created a perfect storm of shittiness. Professional photographers love to lament about this, and whi…

Digital cameras didn't make amateurs worse, they just increased the amount of amateurs. And I'm sure it increased the amount of good photographers too, so I'm not sure what the complaint is here.

If old cameras took better pictures, then I implore professional photographers to use them.

Re: “OK, but there are two rules…”

#44
post #7

"Restrictions breed creativity" is hardly a new concept, but one worth repeating.

the original sounds much better:

necessity is the mother of invention. There are plenty of restrictions already I think, due to necessity, whether it is time, money, skills, why be even harder on yourself.

Re: “OK, but there are two rules…”

#45
I learned this concept from George Lucas when I was a child.

Star Wars Budget: $13M

Return of the Jedi Budget: $32M

I'm not joking when I say that juxtaposition influenced the way I think about life.

Now the idea almost seems like a trivial commonplace to me. Everyone from John Paul Sartre to David Heinemeier Hansson has written about it.

Re: “OK, but there are two rules…”

#46
post #41

Unfortunately the comment "Running a real estate website? OK... you’re not allowed to show the asking price or address of any home. Go." describes some of the most annoying real estate websites I've come across. While restrictions can encourage innovation, sometimes they really do just get in the way.

That was my reaction too! Every real estate ad in Puerto Rico does this; it's to make sure you're tethered to the broker, who is the only way you gain access to the market. Maddening.

(Well: I say "every", but it's changing even in Puerto Rico.)

Re: “OK, but there are two rules…”

#47
It's not too hard to see why this works if you think about it as a mathematical optimization. You have a very bumpy fitness function in parameter space. When you apply arbitrary constraints on the parameters you are selecting a subspace to examine for local maxima of the fitness function. This is an easier problem to solve than the original global maximization problem.

Re: “OK, but there are two rules…”

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zoom lenses have been the predominant kit lens for cameras for the better part of twenty years. I think the migration to digital (where the cost of shooting is ridiculously low) has had a much greater impact on the worsening of amateur photography. That coupled with the ubiquity of sharing pictures on the internet has created a perfect storm of shittiness. Professional photographers love to lament about this, and whi…

Digital cameras didn't make amateurs worse, they just increased the amount of amateurs. And I'm sure it increased the amount of good photographers too, so I'm not sure what the complaint is here. If old cameras took better pictures, then I implore professional photographers to use them.

The complaint was that the parent poster was postulating that amateurs have gotten worse recently, and that that could be explained by the increased usage of zoom lenses.

If I accept that the first statement is true (that amateurs have gotten worse), I disagree on the cause (that it's because of zoom lenses, as zoom lenses have been the norm on SLR's since the 80's).

I don't know objectively if amateur photographers are better or worse. I know that nowadays I see a lot more bad pictures than I used to (and while there is also an increase in good pictures, it hasn't increased nearly as much as the bad ones have). I am postulating that this is more likely due to the proliferation of digital and the ease at which photos can be shared (most people's crappy photos would only get viewed by their family members over the holidays when they dug out the slide projector).

I'm don't think it matters if old cameras took better pictures (for the most part, they did; although the other benefits of digital tend to make up for it).

Re: “OK, but there are two rules…”

#49

I appreciate the message, but am I the only one for whom the "fail fast" mantra is becoming grating? It seems like it was originally a good idea: if your startup is dead, let it die. Don't cling to a failed idea. Now, however, it's almost used instead of a plan, or as an excuse not to carefully consider your options. It seems as if it appeals to our innate laziness: "Take a shot. If you miss, oh well, better luck nex…

It's amazing how many things can become successful if you just stick it out and work at it. No?

Re: “OK, but there are two rules…”

#50

Another great parallel is from photography: Many film cameras used to be sold with only a fixed 50mm or a 35mm lens. The restriction forced people to think about what was in or outside the field of vision. Today's cameras that have 10x zooms do not force the same consideration, and I suggest that amateur photography has suffered as a result. A friend of mine is a house-painter by trade, and has set himself the restri…

Zoom lenses have been the predominant kit lens for cameras for the better part of twenty years. I think the migration to digital (where the cost of shooting is ridiculously low) has had a much greater impact on the worsening of amateur photography. That coupled with the ubiquity of sharing pictures on the internet has created a perfect storm of shittiness. Professional photographers love to lament about this, and whi…

I would be a far worse photographer than I am now if I did not have a digital camera. I do not have $5000 to blow on film and developer fees (or developing time, not to mention a lack of funds to blow on a darkroom setup) by experimentally learning about fstops or ISO settings, on a multi-day feedback loop, just for learning. I can afford batteries to take several thousand pictures, on a multi-second feedback loop, just for learning. My tools may be worse but I'm not aiming to be a pro.
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