Yahoo CEO might have lied about having CS degree • Hacker News Board

Re: Yahoo CEO might have lied about having CS degree

#211

Post by doug1001 » Sat, May 05, 2012, 12:23 AM UTC

fleitz wrote: post #63

smoody wrote: post #25

Sort-of off topic: That guy has nothing on some of the other infamous CEO career lies... take the ex-CEO of Lotus (former makers of 123, Lotus Notes, etc). He lied about being a fighter pilot, having a PhD, and being a black belt in tae kwon do. source: http://www.zdnet.com/news/background-of-lotus-chief-under-fi... I think people get to a point where they start to believe their made-up mythology. Or perhaps they rea…

"It "gave us confidence," says Maj. Gen. Thomas L. Wilkerson, former commander of the Marine Corps Reserve, who increased purchases of Lotus Notes after meeting Papows. "Jeff was a Phantom driver just like me."" This is exactly why people lie, because it doesn't matter how well your software works, what matters is that the people buying it feel like you're on the same team. Whether the CEO is a fighter pilot or not s…

i think the General was making a joke here (which is actually quite funny). The joke is based on a double entendre of Phantom--one meaning is of course imaginary and the other refers to the nickname of the famous USMC and USN fighter plane, the F-4, in service from circa 1975 to about 1990.

In other words, the General is saying "jeff was an imaginary pilot" and "i was an F-4 Phantom pilot"--which he (Gen. Wilkerson) actually was.

Re: Yahoo CEO might have lied about having CS degree

#212

Post by danssig » Mon, May 07, 2012, 11:44 AM UTC

pavel_lishin wrote: post #191

danssig wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I think "deterrence" has an incredibly awful success rate. I also think that, if prisons should even exist, they should only be for physically dangerous people. Never for "money" crimes. Being locked away from society for years, your life destroyed and likely abused or even raped seems beyond "cruel and unusual" to me. Personally I think the whole concept of prison is primitive and should be done away wit…

> If someone is violent then they have something wrong in their head and should be treated. This is not always possible.

But we could try. What good does it do to lock them in a cage?

Re: Yahoo CEO might have lied about having CS degree

#213

Post by path411 » Mon, May 07, 2012, 3:54 PM UTC

simcop2387 wrote: post #193

isomorph wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So kamaal's response wasn't totally on point but I don't see why s/he has been downvoted to oblivion Prefixing "Indians have a reputation of being sloppy programmers" with "let's say" doesn't totally take the sting out. I'm not Indian but I still winced when I read it

This is why i usually try to use some made up nationality/country in things like this. It's too easy for things to get distracted from your point by things like this. My personal favorite is Elbonia for any possible hypothetical country, [almost] everyone knows it isn't real and is just an example.

I take offense to the notion that Elbonia is just a hypothetical country.

Re: Yahoo CEO might have lied about having CS degree

#214

Post by pavel_lishin » Mon, May 07, 2012, 6:26 PM UTC

danssig wrote: post #212

pavel_lishin wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If someone is violent then they have something wrong in their head and should be treated. This is not always possible.

But we could try. What good does it do to lock them in a cage?

If they're untreatable, locking them up in the cage doesn't do them any good - it does society good.