[deleted]
I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee
181–190 of 315 posts
Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is his resume really skimpy? I thought it was rather good, but I have no reference points on what is and what isn't considered good enough.
I don't think it's skimpy, but maybe wrongly ordered and perhaps some stuff should be omitted. Example : Accomplishments (at the top) : High school dropout Education (at the bottom) : Member of MENSA. seems obvious to me which one of those two should be getting played up more. His site has been personally very helpful to me, and I hope that he has a run of better luck.
Sounds like writing him a new, attractive, professional resume could be very helpful. Clearly his biggest issues are dealing with people and presenting himself.
Side note: that he could live at all in San Francisco on that kind of income is truly impressive. At $1600 a month, rent alone is over $17000 a year.
Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee
#183Did he just post a screenshot of his bank account with the session key visible in the URL !? (I know it's probably not too significant and there are other checks in place, but I found it rather ironic when the text right above it happens to be "I try to be VERY VERY careful".)
The majority of his debit acct # is also visible. But seeing as he hasn't been very careful with the rest of his life, why should his empty bank acct be any different?
Who's going to commit fraud for $22.53?
Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee
#184I sent him $10.
Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's not like being socially awkward has to be an innate thing; they're called social skills for a reason, you can learn them. It doesn't have to be, true. But in the same way that a tone-deaf or rhythmically-challenged individual can probably never be even a decent musician, there are plenty of people who can probably never become 'socially skilled'. Consider autism, for example (in all it's degrees), and also the…
So your post kind of resonates with me, but if I were to boil it down I think your point is "Smart people frequently do dumb things, but that doesn't mean they're not smart". Agreed! I just think a lot of what we call social skills really comes down to, frankly, giving a shit about the person in front of you. For exceptionally smart people sometimes this is hard. Interacting with average people can be mind numbing. I…
"I just think a lot of what we call social skills really comes down to, frankly, giving a shit about the person in front of you."
Honestly, I don't think that that is always true. It's possible to have great social skills and not care about people at all. We sometimes call people like that sociopaths. And on the contrary, some people can care greatly but not understand how to express their care/interest.
Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
Down-vote me all you can, but OP's situation is most definitely self inflicted. It's the same with drug addicts. They can't help it. You can be compassionate with them, but it won't help them. What they need is a kick in their arse to fling them out of their comfort zone and embrace the big changes. Hopefully, OP's new job shall open his eyes and guide him in the right direction. He does not seem to be handicapped ne…
Do you think that making fun of people in desperate situations (for whatever reason) is the way to lead a virtuous life?
I think there's nothing wrong in making a joke, but not making fun of people. There is a difference, and I beg your pardon if you parsed mine as a latter.
Especially considering the fact that I went against the reddit traditions and added a "serious note" after the joke ;)
But oh well.
Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee
#187Did he just post a screenshot of his bank account with the session key visible in the URL !? (I know it's probably not too significant and there are other checks in place, but I found it rather ironic when the text right above it happens to be "I try to be VERY VERY careful".)
Actually, it's even better. He was browsing pr0n when taking that screenshot. Google those imgur filenames in the downloads bar.... facepalm
Why is porn something to hide? I dont understand it, is it because its shameful?
Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee
#188Cases like this, when the talented person in question is a geek who "doesn't interview well," always frustrate me. Most of my professional success is a result of social skills and a lot of experience with wildly different social environments and cultures. While I do work hard at being actually good at what I do (because that's just more fun!), I could get pretty far as a cruddy developer. And that just feels unfair,…
I get what you're saying, but I also tend to think: if they're so smart, why not learn some social skills? It's not like being socially awkward has to be an innate thing; they're called social skills for a reason, you can learn them. Many people were once socially awkward, and then fixed it. It's not particularly fair, but social awkwardness does tend to send a signal about what people value. And what a socially awkw…
Social skills are very hard to learn. The best way to learn something is to get a result, positive or negative, for a given input. When interacting socially, results can be difficult to observe, especially when you don't know what to look for, and often can be time delayed. It's also virtually impossible to test a specific behavior in isolation, which makes it difficult to detect what specific thing might cause you to be perceived negatively. Most people start off on a strong footing socially, making it easier to try new things to see if they get a positive reaction, but for someone that doesn't have such a strong footing it can be confusing and frustrating when people don't want to talk to you or spend time with you, and you don't know why.
Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lee is a noted Internet crank, very sure he's completely brilliant and everyone else is a moron. I remember his flaming about the quality of the Python documentation, e.g. https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2005-April/310...
Yeah, I have a feeling he might have burned a few bridges. https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2005-April/355...
Oh, thanks, that clears it up. It's kind of ironic that after dumping all over the intarwebs he's now trying to rely on the good graces of the intarwebs. I imagine there's enough people out there it'll work at least a little.
Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee
#190What about an Indiegogo campaign to help this guy out ?