We in the US are in the unfortunate position of dealing with many years of “dumbing down” of our education system. Efforts to standardize education–while noble in concept–have really just established a standard for conformity and only served to maximize mediocrity. A car race where everyone is required to drive 55 offers little motivation for those who can go 100.
Continue reading
This beautiful diagram is best definition I have found those of us who are more complex than ordinary folk. Not entirely complementary, but accurate.
If a picture is 1,000 words, then a well-crafted diagram is 10 times that.
In November, 2010 BBC Four aired a 6 part series titled “The Beauty of Diagrams”. In the series, beginning with the Vitruvian Man, mathematician Marcus du Sautoy explains how and why pictures really do serve a thousand or more words. It is currently available on BBC’s iPlayer, and possibly on internet repositories like Netflix.
/r
Maybe “Geek Entomology” is more appropriate. Confused? Find the difference here.
Continue reading“Why have you suffer’d me to be imprison’d,
Shakespeare in Twelfth Night, V.I
Kept in a dark house, visited by the priest,
And made the most notorious geck and gull
That e’er invention play’d on? tell me why”.
No, it is not who you think! While it is evident our current president has certified geeks in his employ, he is really a poseur (“poser” for you millennial readers) when it comes to true presidential geeky-ness.
Before the word “geek” acquired its current meaning, the concept was most often applied to engineers. And in that context, the true presidential geek was Herbert Hoover, a mining engineer who proudly made his living in the profession. His defense of his work is classic:
Continue reading