Never heard you speak before, jgrahamc. Enjoyed the video immensely.
Same here. This was quite a coup for Dmitri to get him speaking at the London meetup. Definitely one of the best talks so far.
That'll Never Work
21–30 of 31 posts
Re: That'll Never Work
#22Never heard you speak before, jgrahamc. Enjoyed the video immensely.
Same here. This was quite a coup for Dmitri to get him speaking at the London meetup. Definitely one of the best talks so far.
This is how Dmitri got me to come: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4640303
Re: That'll Never Work
#23Never heard you speak before, jgrahamc. Enjoyed the video immensely.
Thanks. I'm more than happy to speak at people's events on the following conditions: 1. I have something to say. I never give the same talk twice so I usually need quite a lot of warning so that I have time to come up with something original. 2. It's convenient for me to get there. 3. The talk is videoed and made public. Since I'm not being paid my pay is publicity.
Thank you very much for making it public.
Is publicity the only reason? I thought it was because you take pity on those born with the unfortunate curse of being constantly curious.
Re: That'll Never Work
#24The first thing I thought of when reading the title of this post is Adaptive Optics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_optics). When I was told the idea of using a mirror which could reposition itself thousands of times a second to correct for atmospheric disturbances I had an initial gut reaction of "this will never work". There just seemed like there was too much which could go wrong or would have to be compensated for. Of course I was completely wrong - the technology works brilliantly and along side telescopes is now being used in microscopes, medicine and weapons!
Re: That'll Never Work
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
If I had time I'd listen to what I said and write it down for you.
I'm not sure if this was a snarky reply or not, but you can get pretty cheap english translators on oDesk. Average price is $1/minute of translated material. The accuracy is usually superb, especially considering the price.
I think you might mean transcription.
Re: That'll Never Work
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
What would make you think that was a snarky reply on my part?
Strange. I think it's bleed over connotation from when you ask someone to do something and say something like "have you got that or shall I write it down for you?" Something about the "write it down for you " is often used in a condescending way.
Yeah, I think this was it. Sorry jgrahamc, I wasn't trying to be insulting. It was just the phrasing with threw me off.
Something about the mix of "I'd listen to what I said" and "I'd write it down for you" just seemed like an unpleasant way to say "sorry I don't have time to transcribe it"
Re: That'll Never Work
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure if this was a snarky reply or not, but you can get pretty cheap english translators on oDesk. Average price is $1/minute of translated material. The accuracy is usually superb, especially considering the price.
What would make you think that was a snarky reply on my part?
It reads like you're offering a personal transcription service, which would be an unusual thing to see in this context, so it's reasonable to interpret as sarcasm.
Re: That'll Never Work
#28Hi John, is there any way you can provide subtitles (in english) on this talk? or a transcript? English is not my native language so it's kinda hard to understand everything you say
I'm a native English speaker and found it hard to understand. I think the audio echo makes the sound unclear.
Re: That'll Never Work
#29John's a good speaker and has done a few "crazy" things. However I thought this talk was going to be about the wingnut ideas that really will never work because they defy human nature / currently known laws of physics / principles of good software design / basic logic / etc.
> wingnut ideas that really will never work because they defy human nature / currently known laws of physics / principles of good software design / basic logic
One of these things is not like the others. People defy the principles of good software design and get something that works all the time.
Re: That'll Never Work
#30That was a great talk, and well worth listening to. I think it also highlights why we find your blog posts interesting -- because you are an engaging speaker with that mysterious "charm" quality.
I feel that the HN post title is missing much needed air-quotes around "That'll Never Work" since the talk is all about ignoring the internal voice that tells you to give up.
While I've only done much less impossible things, I have found that the act beating the impossible helps give confidence for future tasks. You realize that things aren't as impossible as they seem at first glance.