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Let's all meet up in the Y2K

blog.gingerbeardman.com

71–80 of 96 posts

Re: Let's all meet up in the Y2K

#71
post #52
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I consulted for Deliverance a bit later than Y2K (probably in 2004/5). They were a very strange company internally at the time. First I want to say they weren't really like Deliveroo because they had their own kitchens. Or to be specific, one kitchen in Bloomsbury which made every major style of food. It was actually quite an amazing kitchen, with a Japanese sushi chef working next to an Indian curry cook and a pizza…

> investors couldn't see why anyone would use a phone to order food. Was pizza delivery a joke to them?

Their model at the time was a heavyweight desktop-only website where you could look at the menus, then call their call centre (visible through a large glass window right next to the kitchens) where a human would pick up and take the order.

I wanted to explore a simpler website that would have worked on the very limited phones of the time. I'd just come back from Japan where I'd used i-mode phones. You could sort of see that it was going to happen soon. However apps as we know them now, and always-on mobile internet in general, were not a thing at that point in the UK, and it's very difficult to explain why this stuff might be important to less than clueful people.

(I don't want this to sound like I had some amazing insight that no one else could see. It could be equally valid to say that I didn't have a clear idea myself and/or didn't explain it well.)

Re: Let's all meet up in the Y2K

#72

Focusing more on the "social side" rather the HW part, there is the part about the "Viral email", which must have been something that went viral in the UK Internet circles but not outside (I don't remember it and Y2K Internet was much smaller). Investigating about it you can end up reading The Register "article" about it [1] and well, that's something that definitely would not be published nowadays. Names and surname…

> which must have been something that went viral in the UK Internet circles but not outside (I don't remember it and Y2K Internet was much smaller). From a quick google it seems to have been reported in most of the tabloids and broadsheets. https://www.upi.com/Archives/2000/12/16/Woman-in-hiding-afte... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1081543.stm

I'm not in an anglophone country, but I also have bad memory and n=1 so obviously I cannot speak for everyone else.

Re: Let's all meet up in the Y2K

#73
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, my career started in 2000, so maybe that would be better. Just imagine a shop entirely staffed by white kids quoting whatever the zeitgeist had spat out last to each other while boiling over about trying to make a static website look right across IE, Netscape 4 and the oddity that was IE on Mac (way ahead of its time in CSS, but support was all over the place). Start with the “Whazzzzzuuuppp” of the Budweiser F…

[flagged]

I'm just describing my personal situation at the time (and the author's, judging by the pictures) because I have found in the 25 years since that having diverse views makes for better products.

Also, it's exciting that you signed up just to post about races. Is it F1, NASCAR, rally, what's your poison?

Re: Let's all meet up in the Y2K

#74
post #6

"When work felt like home" Gosh I haven't experienced that in a while. Working remote really does feel like a death sentence sometimes

Work should never feel like home. If you feel that anywhere, that's a major red flag.

Same with coworkers calling everyone a "family" - nope, don't fall for that.

Working remotely was the greatest cure for this misaligned thinking.

Re: Let's all meet up in the Y2K

#75
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it's because we're social animals that are supposed to be around other people. Sick of covid granting so much legitimacy to the antisocial among us. I actually think everyone should be forced to 5 day RTO for their own good

One might think so when alienated from the machine, but you can utilize the right temporal neocortex (mirror of your speech center on the left) which processes and emits emotions for whatever - it does not have to be other humans! A race driver (dono anymore) called this "Mechanical Sympathy" and it's what happens when you work on what feels wrong / tedious etc when working on your computer. And that usually involves…

Pirsig mentions this in his first book, and I always related to that part, as I'm the kind of person that "feels" the pain when someone turns a screw more than it can go, etc. Searching on the pilot you mention and the date of the book, I wouldn't be surprised if he picked up the term from Jackie Stewart indeed.

Re: Let's all meet up in the Y2K

#76
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never heard of Madge before. AFAIK, our token ring networking (at a big 6 accountancy) was all supplied by IBM, but I could be wrong. In any case, I despised it for poor speed and reliability.

yeah, Madge was a (UK based) 2nd source of IBM Token Ring kit … MAUs, CAUs and so on iirc much better determinism than Ethernet CSMA/CD

but also much slower - people tended to be interested in speed (and the price of the hardware) not determinism

Re: Let's all meet up in the Y2K

#77
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's because of all the added abstractions. 20-30 years ago you were closer to the metal, similarly to how you would play with arduino now. But now all you get is blackboxes which fogs the mind. De-alienate yourself! Feel the tools again! Learn low-level concepts and use them in your work (data-driven design, functional programming, etc.). Then it's like woodworking and cooking again.

No it's because we're social animals that are supposed to be around other people. Sick of covid granting so much legitimacy to the antisocial among us. I actually think everyone should be forced to 5 day RTO for their own good

No, you’re wrong. I think everyone should be forced to remote work, and all offices should be closed forever.

See how it feels to have someone make absolute claims that tell you how to live your life?

Re: Let's all meet up in the Y2K

#78
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it's because we're social animals that are supposed to be around other people. Sick of covid granting so much legitimacy to the antisocial among us. I actually think everyone should be forced to 5 day RTO for their own good

That's funny. As a remote worker (on and off since around 2003, exclusively since 2009), I guess you'd consider me an antisocial, and yet you're the one who wants to force people to do something. I'm fine with people who like going to an office, I just prefer not to. I wouldn't want to force everyone to work from home though. Do you have a good social circle outside of work?

Yes of course

Re: Let's all meet up in the Y2K

#79
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it's because we're social animals that are supposed to be around other people. Sick of covid granting so much legitimacy to the antisocial among us. I actually think everyone should be forced to 5 day RTO for their own good

I get to spend more time at social activities I enjoy on days I work remotely because I don't have to waste my time on a commute. > I actually think everyone should be forced to 5 day RTO for their own good I think you should get a life outside of the office.

I already have a rich social life outside the office

Re: Let's all meet up in the Y2K

#80
post #75
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One might think so when alienated from the machine, but you can utilize the right temporal neocortex (mirror of your speech center on the left) which processes and emits emotions for whatever - it does not have to be other humans! A race driver (dono anymore) called this "Mechanical Sympathy" and it's what happens when you work on what feels wrong / tedious etc when working on your computer. And that usually involves…

Pirsig mentions this in his first book, and I always related to that part, as I'm the kind of person that "feels" the pain when someone turns a screw more than it can go, etc. Searching on the pilot you mention and the date of the book, I wouldn't be surprised if he picked up the term from Jackie Stewart indeed.

I like you! Pirsig yes, Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance - i got from Gemini it's Jackie Stewarts quote though.
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