31–40 of 103 posts
Am I the only one who's annoyed by the author's inappropriate use of the plural possessive apostrophe? s/Parsons'/Parsons's/g
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Po...
There are a fair number of tech people I've encountered (mainly in the device driver and security subcommunities) who are part of OTO, Temple of Set, or other "left hand path" type occult groups or practices; a lot more who are just "pagan". Not too far off from any mainstream religions in concentration, which is way different from the general population.
Interesting- I only know a handful of hardware people, and that includes a pagan microchip designer. Is there a reason for those beliefs being more prevalent in those communities?
That's a shame really. Recording history shouldn't be motivated by politics and other peoples' sensibilities being offended. Regarding Aleister Crowley being 'The Wickedest Man on Earth', not even close. If you've ever read M. Scott Peck's 'People of the Lie', then you know what I mean.
That was a title Crowley took for himself, as he enjoyed being a notorious figure. His actual behavior, though, amounted to little more than being a sex maniac and saying blasphemous things during a much more socially conservative era. His 'autohagiography' makes for entertaining reading if you can get past the turgid Victorian prose. As for Parsons, the Wired article is being a bit clickbaity. In the last paragraph:…
If you want interesting side stories, how about Qian Xuesen, who was also one of the original handful of JPL founders, and who was hounded from his position and went on to found the Chinese rocket program. (Discussed on HN previously, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6905862). That's a historical figure who has actual significance, not just odd/occult tendencies.
The other interesting back story, besides Wehrner von Braun, is that of the principal founder of JPL, Theodore von Karman, who was a Hungarian Jew who left Europe in 1930. Von Karman was the first Director of JPL. Another founder with a back-story of considerable significance.
http://www.amazon.com/Sex-Rockets-Occult-World-Parsons/dp/09...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting- I only know a handful of hardware people, and that includes a pagan microchip designer. Is there a reason for those beliefs being more prevalent in those communities?
I don't know if the connection really exists, or why it might, but I am reminded of the connection Neal Stephenson draws between Babylonian Shaman and programmers. Like how programmers utter incantations which have a special power not fully understood by the rest of society, maybe hardware designers create patterns and layouts which have special power. The general concept appeals to them, so they are attracted to ide…
If we had to kick every eccentric out of science there wouldn't be anyone left to invent anything. Might as well write Newton out of the history books too for 30 years of failed attempts at alchemy and occult research.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know if the connection really exists, or why it might, but I am reminded of the connection Neal Stephenson draws between Babylonian Shaman and programmers. Like how programmers utter incantations which have a special power not fully understood by the rest of society, maybe hardware designers create patterns and layouts which have special power. The general concept appeals to them, so they are attracted to ide…
I can't speak to hardware, but there's certainly a certain similarity between occultism/esotericism and creating software - you have to be comfortable thinking about and working with things that, in a sense, don't exist. That doesn't mean they're not useful in their own way. It means that they don't have objective reality in the same way that a lake or a car or a building does.
Am I the only one who's annoyed by the author's inappropriate use of the plural possessive apostrophe? s/Parsons'/Parsons's/g
> "A lot of people would be shocked to find out that the space programme was founded by a man who held orgies in his Pasadena mansion." If we had to kick every eccentric out of science there wouldn't be anyone left to invent anything. Might as well write Newton out of the history books too for 30 years of failed attempts at alchemy and occult research.