Merlin's podcasts, particularly Roderick on the Line and the amazing Reconcilable Differences with John Siracusa, are amongst my favourite things to listen to.
"Preparing the way" is an absolute goldmine of an episode of Rec Diffs.
Merlin's Wisdom Project
41–50 of 68 posts
Re: Merlin's Wisdom Project
#42> Never argue on the internet. No one will remember whether you won or lost the argument; they'll just remember that you are the sort of person who argues on the internet. This is burned in my mind and doesn't anchor enough of my judgement of what to engage with on the internet yet, but I've never yet been steered wrong by it. EDIT - This is equally applicable to realms outside of the internet. You have to be really…
This is a purely selfish analysis though. You may be remembered as that person who argues about things -- but it could also be that the group is much better off due to your arguments.
"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit"
Re: Merlin's Wisdom Project
#43> Buy slightly larger shoes.
Slightly larger than what? From my experience of wearing larger shoes because they initially seemed more comfortable in the shoe store, that seems like bad advice.
Re: Merlin's Wisdom Project
#44Im not particularly fond of these types of lists, but given the author and the material posted, this is definitely an exception. One thing I didnt quite get: > Every project is a triangle made of time, money, and quality; shortening the length of one side necessarily lengthens one or—more often—both of the other sides. If I'm assuming the longer a side is, the "more" of it that is required, then the way I understand…
I think it’s the class pick two conundrum. Want it quickly and high quality? It’s going to take a lot of money. Want cheap and high quality? It’s going to take a lot of time. Want it fast and cheap? Quality will suffer.
If something takes a lot of time (= work?), how can it be done cheaply? Or is that in the sense of waiting for a long time for the right inspiration to hit you for how it can be done cheaply?
Re: Merlin's Wisdom Project
#45> Frequently ask yourself: do I want to be right, or do I want to be happy? I always felt that people giving this advice assume the latter is preferable. Is there something defective about me if I prefer the former?
I'd rather my surgeon be 'right' than happy...
Re: Merlin's Wisdom Project
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it’s the class pick two conundrum. Want it quickly and high quality? It’s going to take a lot of money. Want cheap and high quality? It’s going to take a lot of time. Want it fast and cheap? Quality will suffer.
If something takes a lot of time (= work?), how can it be done cheaply? Or is that in the sense of waiting for a long time for the right inspiration to hit you for how it can be done cheaply?
I have a couple of minor carpentry projects going on. I could finish them quickly if I bought or rented great power tools. I don't want to spend the money though, so I'm using mostly hand tools and manual labor.
Re: Merlin's Wisdom Project
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
If something takes a lot of time (= work?), how can it be done cheaply? Or is that in the sense of waiting for a long time for the right inspiration to hit you for how it can be done cheaply?
I have a couple of minor carpentry projects going on. I could finish them quickly if I bought or rented great power tools. I don't want to spend the money though, so I'm using mostly hand tools and manual labor.
My point is that I wouldn’t say that that labor comes for free. In any case, that triangle would then not apply in a commercial setting, where you have to pay those doing the labor, in addition to it taking time.
Re: Merlin's Wisdom Project
#48Who?
Was wondering if everyone was supposed to know who this was....read some of the comments that mention these kinds of wisdom lists ending up on HN here and there... It's like a name that seems sorta familiar but dunno if it just sounds like someone else from tech or something. Interesting a quick HN search shows a bunch of shares posts that got any traction but they're all like 14-15 years ago? Was Merlin Mann more of…
He is “still a thing.” A decade ago blogs were a thing and he was prominent as a blogger. Now blogs are dead, but he’s still podcasting a lot, so it’s easier to have not come across his podcast (because you’re not going to casually spend an hour listening unless you are pretty into it) than to not come across a blog (where people would link to ten random things every day).
Re: Merlin's Wisdom Project
#49Re: Merlin's Wisdom Project
#50Wait, what Flintstones am I supposed to have watched? The Hana-Barbera cartoon was so good that it deserves to be the go-to example for things that young people "somehow haven't heard of"?
I think any of it. I haven't seen a full episode myself and I'm not that young at this point. In general, it's now just stuck in my mind as a stand in for any sort of thing. I think there's an XKCD for this sort of thing (and XKCD may be close to being something you have to be over some age to know about). In general, just consider that someone not knowing something is a joyful time to introduce them to something new…
Love your advice about being joyful about the opportunity to introduce people to new things!
I think maybe I need to learn to be joyful about also re-introducing things to people who probably knew the thing at somepoint, but have since forgotten. (Generally applies to people older than their mid 30s)
As an "old guy" with a literal gray beard, I think it's really important to remember to be joyful when explaining things.
Sometimes my computer experience is more than twice the life experience of someone I'm explaining something to ( in years at least :^D )
Honestly, the harder ones are when I'm explaining something to someone in the 40s (or older) who it seems "should have known" something, but for some reason either forgot it or never bumped in to it in the frist place. I often make the wrong assumption that they should've known it, when really, that's just a personal bias based on my own experiences.
Thank you for this reminder to be joyful!