Shibboleths that get you past the initial script stage
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Re: Shibboleths that get you past the initial script stage
#2> Any bureaucracy: Present as if you are collecting a paper trail. Prominent indicia of this include notebooks, organized files, and repeatedly asking for specific names, dates, and citations for authority “for my notes.”
This is my wife. A survivor of over three decades in the corporate world.
Re: Shibboleths that get you past the initial script stage
#3Find the accounting department at work and make as many friends as possible.
These people see the "numbers" (and that is the heart of any business). They can get your checks expedited (reimbursement or for vendors). They can tell you when a lay off is coming, or when the company blew out the numbers. Most of them keep booze at their desks. All of this will come at the price of coffee and doughnuts/pastries/baglels at the end of the fiscal year, or during an audit.
Re: Shibboleths that get you past the initial script stage
#4The one example with regards to doctors has worked for me in the past. I am sure the doctor didn't get the impression that I was a doctor also (I'm not), but when in my initial meeting with a new doctor the fact that I knew the non-brand names of OTC medications and mentioned only asking for antibiotics after having a fever that wouldn't break for more than 48 hours she basically said "oh you know what you're talking about, if you ever need antibiotics just call me and I will call in a prescription for you." I'm not a medical professional, I'm just technical and value precision and knowledge, and doctors seem to appreciate that. It helps if they can relax and not worry about overwhelming the patient by suddenly dropping chemical names or the real names for disorders, diseases, etc. If you show that you're actually interested in that stuff and not an 'alternative medicine' type that they have to pick and choose their words with like tip-toeing through a minefield, they can relax and do their job.
Re: Shibboleths that get you past the initial script stage
#5Another article from the same author on how to be a Dangerous Professional: https://www.kalzumeus.com/2017/09/09/identity-theft-credit-r...
(HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15206926)
Re: Shibboleths that get you past the initial script stage
#6Another article from the same author on how to be a Dangerous Professional: https://www.kalzumeus.com/2017/09/09/identity-theft-credit-r... (HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15206926 )
> “But I’m not a shareholder!” A surprising amount of Americans are shareholders in large financial institutions. Do you have an IRA? Does it invest in e.g. mutual funds? If you own a mutual fund or index fund, you are highly likely to beneficially own fractional shares of US financial institutions. Someone who owns 0.01 shares is a shareholder; welcome to the magic of capitalism.
I like this guy. He has great insight, this is very well put :D
Re: Shibboleths that get you past the initial script stage
#7The one example with regards to doctors has worked for me in the past. I am sure the doctor didn't get the impression that I was a doctor also (I'm not), but when in my initial meeting with a new doctor the fact that I knew the non-brand names of OTC medications and mentioned only asking for antibiotics after having a fever that wouldn't break for more than 48 hours she basically said "oh you know what you're talking…
I'm very skeptical that any doctors think you are a doctor because you know Acetaminophen and Tylenol are the same thing (the example from the tweets) in general.
I know doctors and they are typically very used to people 'knowing' random bits from their googling before they came in, and would rarely act like the patient has an actionable expertise even if they do.
In this example I suspect the doctor would've ended up giving you the option to just call in for antibiotics at some point, regardless of your knowledge of the names of OTC medications.
Re: Shibboleths that get you past the initial script stage
#8Another article from the same author on how to be a Dangerous Professional: https://www.kalzumeus.com/2017/09/09/identity-theft-credit-r... (HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15206926 )
> “But I’m not a shareholder!” A surprising amount of Americans are shareholders in large financial institutions. Do you have an IRA? Does it invest in e.g. mutual funds? If you own a mutual fund or index fund, you are highly likely to beneficially own fractional shares of US financial institutions. Someone who owns 0.01 shares is a shareholder; welcome to the magic of capitalism. I like this guy. He has great insigh…
It seems wrong though - I am not an American, but if you e.g. own shares in an ETF (or mutual fund), you just own shares in the ETF while they own the shares in the underlying assets.
I am not even sure if there's a legal definition of shareholder, but assuming that there is, I suspect this doesn't cut it and you are simply a stakeholder instead. Feel free to link to relevant materials, if that's not the case.
Re: Shibboleths that get you past the initial script stage
#9The one example with regards to doctors has worked for me in the past. I am sure the doctor didn't get the impression that I was a doctor also (I'm not), but when in my initial meeting with a new doctor the fact that I knew the non-brand names of OTC medications and mentioned only asking for antibiotics after having a fever that wouldn't break for more than 48 hours she basically said "oh you know what you're talking…
I'm very skeptical that any doctors think you are a doctor because you know Acetaminophen and Tylenol are the same thing (the example from the tweets) in general. I know doctors and they are typically very used to people 'knowing' random bits from their googling before they came in, and would rarely act like the patient has an actionable expertise even if they do. In this example I suspect the doctor would've ended u…
A common hack in customer service is to make the customer feel like they're getting special treatment, are more knowledgeable than most other customers, and so on :)
Re: Shibboleths that get you past the initial script stage
#10This is (hopefully not) obnoxiously off-topic...
As a Hebrew speaker, I wish the "shibboleth" idiom (which is a good one) was translated, rather than transliterated. laoned idioms are inherently exotic, and this one is worth demystifying
It means any choice of word (or pronunciation, in the literal example) that clearly identifies the speaker's group affiliations.
A good modern example is "LondonDerry/Derry. This'd be my my choice for an English translation of shibboleth.
These tweets are about hacking shibboleths, which is advanced mode. Basic mode would be just noticing shibboleths, and also why and how they so clearly identify speakers.
Shiboleths can have serious weight, can be used to disarm/arm. They're probably interesting to text analysis as a classifier. You can use them to reliably imply things about you, like patio does
One hack among many possibles. I'm looking forward to Mackenzie's modern Machiavelli YouTube series using Derries.