One of the reasons I visit slashdot every so often is comments like this one:
by devkM:
Complaining about people complaining before they even complain...
preemtively metacomplaining
My term, I coined it!
HA!
Apr 24, 2006
Jonathan Coulton » Blog Archive » Thing a Week 29 - Code Monkey
Jonathan Coulton » Blog Archive » Thing a Week 29 - Code Monkey
Nice. Must visit and listen. Not for MBAs though :)
Nice. Must visit and listen. Not for MBAs though :)
Apr 23, 2006
Average starting salaries for college grads are up - Apr. 19, 2005
Average starting salaries for college grads are up - Apr. 19, 2005
This is for US colleges, of course. I wonder if similar data exists for Indian colleges and if it's available on the web somewhere. Please point me to it, if you know.
We (a couple of friends and I) were having a discussion the other day about how starting salaries for freshers (that's our term for people just out of college, starting their first job) have been changing. My observation was that they may have increased a bit since the time I was in the market, but not by too much. But the freshers have become too demanding, and they expect figures that are too high. Comments?
This is for US colleges, of course. I wonder if similar data exists for Indian colleges and if it's available on the web somewhere. Please point me to it, if you know.
We (a couple of friends and I) were having a discussion the other day about how starting salaries for freshers (that's our term for people just out of college, starting their first job) have been changing. My observation was that they may have increased a bit since the time I was in the market, but not by too much. But the freshers have become too demanding, and they expect figures that are too high. Comments?
The other side of merit & Mandal II- The Times of India
The other side of merit & Mandal II- The Times of India
Amazing. The byline of this article in indiatimes says "(Vivek Kumar is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University)". This is one confused prof, I think!
He doesn't like the fact that "Whenever the issue of reservation comes up for public debate, the entire Dalit and backward community is painted as devoid of any merit without caring about the fact that a majority of them survive without reservation". Not true, my dear prof. It's the people who get into schools and colleges and then into jobs without having gone through the same rigorous selection process as the other "normal" candidates, whose merit is being questioned. And again, it is relative to the people who have gone through the selection process, they may very well be better than the "normal" candidates at the very bottom of the heap.
I would have imagined it was a very simple situation, which even a professor of sociology should find possible to understand. However, he then goes on to crib about the state of the country and how it has been a garbage dump since the beginning of time - and tries to pin the blame on what he calls the "meritorious upper-class". Gimme a break! Quite apart from the fact that India was a large economy and a wealthy nation in historical times, I think that the historical failure (or otherwise) of the people in power has nothing to do with the issue at hand. (Actually, in the same vein that he writes, I could easily say that the situation would have been much, much worse if the "meritorious upper-class" has not been in power.)
He makes one point which makes it difficult to believe that he has any touch with reality. That of IIT/IIM graduates wanting to leave the country even before they... er, "pass out" is the phrase he uses, "graduate" is what I prefer. He says "Why is that career becomes more important than service to nation to many IITians and IIMians, who wait to go abroad even before they pass out?" Service to nation? In the tradition of "ask not what the nation does for you, ask what you do for it?"
Does he find it difficult to think of these people making contributions to humanity as a whole? Going to places where it is possible to conduct research in ways that this country refuses to enable? Or simply to a better life, the chance to earn some money so that their families back home can live a bit better? Why is he under the impression that everyone in the elite institutes of India are filthy rich brats? Or does he really think that all the so-called backward castes are philanthropists and given a chance to "pass out" of IITs would then proceed to make this country Utopia?
On the second page, he blasts doctors. Why do politicians go abroad for treatment if the "upper-class" doctors are so good? Does that reflect badly on the doctors or on the politicians, I wonder. Of course, all the "videshis" coming to India for medical tourism are idiots.
Similarly, sports, filmdom, exports, he bashes them all. To hear him say it, you'd think that all people belonging to upper-castes are somehow dysfunctional, that they've made a mess of society and the economy and sports.
Sports... no gold medal in the Olympics despite having no reservations. Hello? Sports is more or less controlled by the government, which does have reservations. The real reason, of course, is that we do not take sports seriously, it's not considered a viable career option by many; and quite frankly I think we have bigger problems to solve than getting a medal in the Olympics.
Films? Yes, it's a closed ecosystem. But, it's closed for EVERYONE, even the so-called upper castes. As I understand it, you need a sponsor, even if you are an "elite Brahman".
"None of the top industrialists is a first generation industrialist." So? What do you expect them to do about it? Throw away everything that their fathers built so that some prof somewhere can feel good about it? I guess a certain Mr. Murthy is not an industrialist, so he probably doesn't qualify for being first-generation?
Simple question? Even assuming that all his upper-class bashing is justified, how will reserving jobs help to change the situation?
Finally, he says: "That is why a number of social scientists have argued that the rewards in the educational and economic system are not based on merit. The educational and occupational attainments are related to family background and a number of circumstantial parameters rather than talent and ability. That is why people with the same educational qualification do not get the same type of jobs and those in the same jobs do not get equal remuneration."
Dude, NOTHING in this universe is fair. Certainly family background and "pedigree" matter. (If you want to have a level playing field, see my earlier post about the child pool.) Luck matters. Being in the right place at the right time. Taking the right risks, utilizing the correct opportunities, knowing when to say no, when to say yes. If you don't like the fact that a person's family background should matter, how can you ever be a proponent of reservation policies, that effectively say that since I belong to a certain community I deserve something that another person belonging to a different community does not?
If you insist on having some form of "social justice" then make all education completely free, in all institutes. Make all textbooks, equipment, tution, food, accommodation free, so that anyone can access education. That's probably an acceptable playing field. But don't chop off a person's legs because he is taller than you are and you want a level playing field.
Amazing. The byline of this article in indiatimes says "(Vivek Kumar is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University)". This is one confused prof, I think!
He doesn't like the fact that "Whenever the issue of reservation comes up for public debate, the entire Dalit and backward community is painted as devoid of any merit without caring about the fact that a majority of them survive without reservation". Not true, my dear prof. It's the people who get into schools and colleges and then into jobs without having gone through the same rigorous selection process as the other "normal" candidates, whose merit is being questioned. And again, it is relative to the people who have gone through the selection process, they may very well be better than the "normal" candidates at the very bottom of the heap.
I would have imagined it was a very simple situation, which even a professor of sociology should find possible to understand. However, he then goes on to crib about the state of the country and how it has been a garbage dump since the beginning of time - and tries to pin the blame on what he calls the "meritorious upper-class". Gimme a break! Quite apart from the fact that India was a large economy and a wealthy nation in historical times, I think that the historical failure (or otherwise) of the people in power has nothing to do with the issue at hand. (Actually, in the same vein that he writes, I could easily say that the situation would have been much, much worse if the "meritorious upper-class" has not been in power.)
He makes one point which makes it difficult to believe that he has any touch with reality. That of IIT/IIM graduates wanting to leave the country even before they... er, "pass out" is the phrase he uses, "graduate" is what I prefer. He says "Why is that career becomes more important than service to nation to many IITians and IIMians, who wait to go abroad even before they pass out?" Service to nation? In the tradition of "ask not what the nation does for you, ask what you do for it?"
Does he find it difficult to think of these people making contributions to humanity as a whole? Going to places where it is possible to conduct research in ways that this country refuses to enable? Or simply to a better life, the chance to earn some money so that their families back home can live a bit better? Why is he under the impression that everyone in the elite institutes of India are filthy rich brats? Or does he really think that all the so-called backward castes are philanthropists and given a chance to "pass out" of IITs would then proceed to make this country Utopia?
On the second page, he blasts doctors. Why do politicians go abroad for treatment if the "upper-class" doctors are so good? Does that reflect badly on the doctors or on the politicians, I wonder. Of course, all the "videshis" coming to India for medical tourism are idiots.
Similarly, sports, filmdom, exports, he bashes them all. To hear him say it, you'd think that all people belonging to upper-castes are somehow dysfunctional, that they've made a mess of society and the economy and sports.
Sports... no gold medal in the Olympics despite having no reservations. Hello? Sports is more or less controlled by the government, which does have reservations. The real reason, of course, is that we do not take sports seriously, it's not considered a viable career option by many; and quite frankly I think we have bigger problems to solve than getting a medal in the Olympics.
Films? Yes, it's a closed ecosystem. But, it's closed for EVERYONE, even the so-called upper castes. As I understand it, you need a sponsor, even if you are an "elite Brahman".
"None of the top industrialists is a first generation industrialist." So? What do you expect them to do about it? Throw away everything that their fathers built so that some prof somewhere can feel good about it? I guess a certain Mr. Murthy is not an industrialist, so he probably doesn't qualify for being first-generation?
Simple question? Even assuming that all his upper-class bashing is justified, how will reserving jobs help to change the situation?
Finally, he says: "That is why a number of social scientists have argued that the rewards in the educational and economic system are not based on merit. The educational and occupational attainments are related to family background and a number of circumstantial parameters rather than talent and ability. That is why people with the same educational qualification do not get the same type of jobs and those in the same jobs do not get equal remuneration."
Dude, NOTHING in this universe is fair. Certainly family background and "pedigree" matter. (If you want to have a level playing field, see my earlier post about the child pool.) Luck matters. Being in the right place at the right time. Taking the right risks, utilizing the correct opportunities, knowing when to say no, when to say yes. If you don't like the fact that a person's family background should matter, how can you ever be a proponent of reservation policies, that effectively say that since I belong to a certain community I deserve something that another person belonging to a different community does not?
If you insist on having some form of "social justice" then make all education completely free, in all institutes. Make all textbooks, equipment, tution, food, accommodation free, so that anyone can access education. That's probably an acceptable playing field. But don't chop off a person's legs because he is taller than you are and you want a level playing field.
Apr 22, 2006
"You can't wish away reservation" ?
That's the title of the article. The author seems to think that reservations in private industry is a good thing. The argument seems to be that since the government has failed in its aims of providing social justice, it's now up to private companies to take up the "challenge". It's an "idea whose time has come", apparently.
What Mr. Sethi seems unable to understand is the reason behind the opposition to reservations. Does he honestly think that anyone is going to sit and welcome the potential loss of opportunity? Would he be overjoyed if he was fired from whatever job he holds (if he does have full-time employment, of course) so that it can be given over to someone else who has not had the same opportunites as he did? Would the politicians supporting it willingly give over their chairs to someone else who has led an "underprivileged life"? Would the rich give away their wealth because possibly, maybe, theoretically, some ancestor of theirs, had oppressed someone else to obtain his wealth?
Education and employment are the two things that can make a person's life better without him being outrightly dishonest or criminal (the third factor being luck, of course). As far as I am concerned, I cannot condone any effort to take even these opportunities away from me or my family.
Apart from the emotional factors above, there is also the question of suitability, which the author seem to have no clue about. If he runs a business, would he willingly go out and hire random people from the street so that they can have equal opportunities? Would the air force recruit physically disabled and mentally unsound personnel to man their jets, just because historically such people have been discriminated against? I accept that discrimination against the so-called backward classes has been much more subtle and has a different context; but I also maintain that blindly giving over jobs and seats in schools/colleges is a very bad move. As far as companies go, I have yet to see any overt discrimination on the basis of caste or religion. We are hard pressed to find qualified candidates suitable for the job at hand in any case, and I hardly think any employer would be foolish enough to pass over a good prospective employee because of caste. Even with the existing reservation at the college level, I have not seen anyone checking out the caste of a candidate; qualifications, skillset, past experience, suitability for the job at hand are the overriding factors, how he got into his college is not relevant. Yet.
Like another author on rediff; in school, I had no clue about the castes and religions of my fellow classmates - unless the name made it very obvious about the religion part. I only read in textbooks about the varna system and that there were 4 castes in society. I read briefly about the reservation policy and the opposition to it. It did not matter much to me then, but I do remember feeling even then that it was not a very fair way of doing things. I learnt a bit more about castes when I was in college, probably because I met more vocal people there, from both sides of the fence. My choice of friends there was based on purely intellectual abilities, personality, "wavelength"; and to this day I have no idea about the castes of most of the people I met in college. It was during this time, that it slowly dawned on me that there was perhaps more to the caste system than the 4 varnas I kept reading about. I heard about subcastes, and the concept of surnames as castes, and I still find it confusing at best.
I have been working for several years since I graduated, and never have I had occasion to wonder about the caste of any fellow worker. I have never been concerned about the caste of people whom I met in my daily life
I don't know if my life has been totally removed from reality, whether it's completely opposite of what most people go through. I do know that if we do bring in reservations in private companies, the first question an interview candidate will be asked is "WTF is your caste?"
What Mr. Sethi seems unable to understand is the reason behind the opposition to reservations. Does he honestly think that anyone is going to sit and welcome the potential loss of opportunity? Would he be overjoyed if he was fired from whatever job he holds (if he does have full-time employment, of course) so that it can be given over to someone else who has not had the same opportunites as he did? Would the politicians supporting it willingly give over their chairs to someone else who has led an "underprivileged life"? Would the rich give away their wealth because possibly, maybe, theoretically, some ancestor of theirs, had oppressed someone else to obtain his wealth?
Education and employment are the two things that can make a person's life better without him being outrightly dishonest or criminal (the third factor being luck, of course). As far as I am concerned, I cannot condone any effort to take even these opportunities away from me or my family.
Apart from the emotional factors above, there is also the question of suitability, which the author seem to have no clue about. If he runs a business, would he willingly go out and hire random people from the street so that they can have equal opportunities? Would the air force recruit physically disabled and mentally unsound personnel to man their jets, just because historically such people have been discriminated against? I accept that discrimination against the so-called backward classes has been much more subtle and has a different context; but I also maintain that blindly giving over jobs and seats in schools/colleges is a very bad move. As far as companies go, I have yet to see any overt discrimination on the basis of caste or religion. We are hard pressed to find qualified candidates suitable for the job at hand in any case, and I hardly think any employer would be foolish enough to pass over a good prospective employee because of caste. Even with the existing reservation at the college level, I have not seen anyone checking out the caste of a candidate; qualifications, skillset, past experience, suitability for the job at hand are the overriding factors, how he got into his college is not relevant. Yet.
Like another author on rediff; in school, I had no clue about the castes and religions of my fellow classmates - unless the name made it very obvious about the religion part. I only read in textbooks about the varna system and that there were 4 castes in society. I read briefly about the reservation policy and the opposition to it. It did not matter much to me then, but I do remember feeling even then that it was not a very fair way of doing things. I learnt a bit more about castes when I was in college, probably because I met more vocal people there, from both sides of the fence. My choice of friends there was based on purely intellectual abilities, personality, "wavelength"; and to this day I have no idea about the castes of most of the people I met in college. It was during this time, that it slowly dawned on me that there was perhaps more to the caste system than the 4 varnas I kept reading about. I heard about subcastes, and the concept of surnames as castes, and I still find it confusing at best.
I have been working for several years since I graduated, and never have I had occasion to wonder about the caste of any fellow worker. I have never been concerned about the caste of people whom I met in my daily life
I don't know if my life has been totally removed from reality, whether it's completely opposite of what most people go through. I do know that if we do bring in reservations in private companies, the first question an interview candidate will be asked is "WTF is your caste?"
Apr 20, 2006
The caste factor: Show me the numbers
The caste factor: Show me the numbers
Something in a rediff article that I actually agree with. Of course, I have no interest in actually doing any research for numbers, like the author of the article seems to have done. But the point remains the same, government help to people should not discriminate on the basis of ANYthing other than need. It's like the beggars at the traffic lights - do any of the people who actually give alms go into the background of these beggars? Come to think of it, is there supposed to be a reservation policy for beggars? 60% of the alms that you give should go to OBCs or something like that?
Something in a rediff article that I actually agree with. Of course, I have no interest in actually doing any research for numbers, like the author of the article seems to have done. But the point remains the same, government help to people should not discriminate on the basis of ANYthing other than need. It's like the beggars at the traffic lights - do any of the people who actually give alms go into the background of these beggars? Come to think of it, is there supposed to be a reservation policy for beggars? 60% of the alms that you give should go to OBCs or something like that?
Apr 19, 2006
No room for reservation at Wipro: Premji
No room for reservation at Wipro: Premji
I think the best way out of this would be to create a child pool. Whenever a child is born, it must be introduced (dropped?) into the pool. Another child, randomly chosen, perhaps born a couple of days earlier, should be given in lieu of the child contributed to the pool. This way there will be total equality, since everyone will have a chance to be brought up in a good family and what you end up as will be purely based on luck. The children in the pool, while waiting for being removed from it, will be cared for by the government.
Brilliant idea, no? But somehow I don't see it being welcomed with applause and open arms...
I think the best way out of this would be to create a child pool. Whenever a child is born, it must be introduced (dropped?) into the pool. Another child, randomly chosen, perhaps born a couple of days earlier, should be given in lieu of the child contributed to the pool. This way there will be total equality, since everyone will have a chance to be brought up in a good family and what you end up as will be purely based on luck. The children in the pool, while waiting for being removed from it, will be cared for by the government.
Brilliant idea, no? But somehow I don't see it being welcomed with applause and open arms...
Apr 17, 2006
Up and running
Interesting weekend, if only for the fact that I finally managed to get my Opteron up. Minus a case, which means I had to set it up on my table next to the AthlonXP's box, all bare and forlorn, cables sticking out and drives lying in a circle.
I was missing two parts of the puzzle, some of you who have read my earlier rants would remember. A graphics card and a power supply. Initially I was prepared to even put in a lowly PCI card just to get my system running, but strangely enough, even that wasn't available in most of the places I went to. I looked at the next cheapest option, the 6200TC - but that was way too expensive; especially considering that I would have thrown it away when I got a "proper" card anyway. So I bit the bullet and am now the proud owner of an MSI 7900GT! Certainly amongst the top 3-4 GPUs available today - 7900GTX, X1900, X1800, 7900GT... Of course, it was expensive, much more than what I ought to have paid, I think; but what the heck.
My run-ins with the computer shops continued, this time around in Nehru Place. Why do people have the idea that video RAM is the only parameter a buyer would be interested in? Or is there a large scale scam going on in which the humbler GPUs are sold off as being superior to their elder brothers because they happen to have more video RAM? But I saw this feeling towards RAM size outside the shops too, among my less-fortunate friends (i.e. clueless newbies). A lot of people refused to understand why I was spending the equivalent of an entire low-end PC just on a card to display video.
The other item I wanted was a power supply. Now, considering that I am running a dual core Opteron and a 7900GT, I certainly didn't want to go for a no-name box. I went from shop to shop, in increasing frustration, only to discover that nobody had even heard of Antec. I expected better from Nehru Place - Mercury was the most respectable brand they could come up with. In sheer desperation, I called up a friend to ask about the CoolerMaster distributor in Delhi. But as luck would have it, I finally saw a shop with a CoolerMaster PSU in the display! To cut it short, I went in and bought a 450W CoolerMaster and found possibly the one shop in Nehru Place that had a person who knew that the Opteron165 was a dual core, and who recognized the MSI 7900GT from the box I was carrying.
Back home, I cannibalized my AthlonXP for a hard disk and a DVD ROM drive, not to mention the monitor, keyboard, mouse and UPS. Got it up and running and saw that when it runs it really RUNS! My motherboard is meant for overclocking and has sufficient options so that I was soon running my Opteron at 2.1GHz while the RAM ran cooly at 390MHz. Considering my cheapo RAM had been the bottleneck in all my previous OCing experiments, this motherboard is manna from heaven.
The Nvidia drivers decided that my 7900GT could actually run at 531MHz and not the stock 450, but I thought I wouldn't push my luck too far. I still have to get a decent case, with lots of fans. Threw a couple of games at this thing, everything runs with everything maxed out, as they say, with extremely decent gameplay. What more could I ask for?
I was missing two parts of the puzzle, some of you who have read my earlier rants would remember. A graphics card and a power supply. Initially I was prepared to even put in a lowly PCI card just to get my system running, but strangely enough, even that wasn't available in most of the places I went to. I looked at the next cheapest option, the 6200TC - but that was way too expensive; especially considering that I would have thrown it away when I got a "proper" card anyway. So I bit the bullet and am now the proud owner of an MSI 7900GT! Certainly amongst the top 3-4 GPUs available today - 7900GTX, X1900, X1800, 7900GT... Of course, it was expensive, much more than what I ought to have paid, I think; but what the heck.
My run-ins with the computer shops continued, this time around in Nehru Place. Why do people have the idea that video RAM is the only parameter a buyer would be interested in? Or is there a large scale scam going on in which the humbler GPUs are sold off as being superior to their elder brothers because they happen to have more video RAM? But I saw this feeling towards RAM size outside the shops too, among my less-fortunate friends (i.e. clueless newbies). A lot of people refused to understand why I was spending the equivalent of an entire low-end PC just on a card to display video.
The other item I wanted was a power supply. Now, considering that I am running a dual core Opteron and a 7900GT, I certainly didn't want to go for a no-name box. I went from shop to shop, in increasing frustration, only to discover that nobody had even heard of Antec. I expected better from Nehru Place - Mercury was the most respectable brand they could come up with. In sheer desperation, I called up a friend to ask about the CoolerMaster distributor in Delhi. But as luck would have it, I finally saw a shop with a CoolerMaster PSU in the display! To cut it short, I went in and bought a 450W CoolerMaster and found possibly the one shop in Nehru Place that had a person who knew that the Opteron165 was a dual core, and who recognized the MSI 7900GT from the box I was carrying.
Back home, I cannibalized my AthlonXP for a hard disk and a DVD ROM drive, not to mention the monitor, keyboard, mouse and UPS. Got it up and running and saw that when it runs it really RUNS! My motherboard is meant for overclocking and has sufficient options so that I was soon running my Opteron at 2.1GHz while the RAM ran cooly at 390MHz. Considering my cheapo RAM had been the bottleneck in all my previous OCing experiments, this motherboard is manna from heaven.
The Nvidia drivers decided that my 7900GT could actually run at 531MHz and not the stock 450, but I thought I wouldn't push my luck too far. I still have to get a decent case, with lots of fans. Threw a couple of games at this thing, everything runs with everything maxed out, as they say, with extremely decent gameplay. What more could I ask for?
Apr 16, 2006
Left will take on UPA after polls: Karat
Left will take on UPA after polls: Karat
After the polls? Why? If the guvmint is doing such a bad job, why wait? Or do they expect things to change after the polls? Or do they think that attacking the guvmint will make their voters angry? Does that not mean that the voters are happy with the guvmint?
After the polls? Why? If the guvmint is doing such a bad job, why wait? Or do they expect things to change after the polls? Or do they think that attacking the guvmint will make their voters angry? Does that not mean that the voters are happy with the guvmint?
Apr 13, 2006
Rajkumar's fans on rampage: 1 dead
Rajkumar's fans on rampage: 1 dead
I find this reaction very difficult to understand.
Was participating in such things really worth it for the person who was killed? What did the people who "went on a rampage" get out of all this? Was it necessary to go around buring buses and cars? If they did it for the actor who expired, do they think he (had he still been alive) and his family would have been very pleased at what they did?
This is not an expression of grief. Maybe anger, most likely simply bloody-mindedness.
I remember well the last time Bangalore was held hostage by people of this kind. And I'm happy that I've managed to get out of that place.
I find this reaction very difficult to understand.
Was participating in such things really worth it for the person who was killed? What did the people who "went on a rampage" get out of all this? Was it necessary to go around buring buses and cars? If they did it for the actor who expired, do they think he (had he still been alive) and his family would have been very pleased at what they did?
This is not an expression of grief. Maybe anger, most likely simply bloody-mindedness.
I remember well the last time Bangalore was held hostage by people of this kind. And I'm happy that I've managed to get out of that place.
Apr 11, 2006
Regionalism
Regionalism Plagues at work
Can't help but feel that the shoe is on the other foot now... I've faced exactly this kind of situation before, only difference being it was when I was in college. Oh, and it wasn't Marathi people ganging up against me, it was Tamils! Bengalis have done the same thing to me at work in the past too, so it looks like a pretty universal thing. Surprisingly it happened in the Netherlands too, but that's understandable since they're probably not used to having people who don't understand the usual language around.
What's really strange is that you don't need a crowd for this to happen, 2-3 people of one language vs. 1 of the othe kind is sufficient.
Can't help but feel that the shoe is on the other foot now... I've faced exactly this kind of situation before, only difference being it was when I was in college. Oh, and it wasn't Marathi people ganging up against me, it was Tamils! Bengalis have done the same thing to me at work in the past too, so it looks like a pretty universal thing. Surprisingly it happened in the Netherlands too, but that's understandable since they're probably not used to having people who don't understand the usual language around.
What's really strange is that you don't need a crowd for this to happen, 2-3 people of one language vs. 1 of the othe kind is sufficient.
Apr 3, 2006
Shopping
Can anyone tell me why shopping for computer parts is so difficult in Noida? I want a new video card and a power supply, so I just went around a couple of shops to get an idea of the availability and prices.
The first guy wrote down the fact that I wanted a "PCIe video card" and then made the customary call to some invisible guy who actually keeps the parts in stock.
"Do you want a 256MB video card?" he said. Ummmm... I guess so, but that's hardly the first question I expected.
"Uh. Yes, 256 MB."
"He wants 256 MB, what's the price? No, the real one. Not the one with the BIOS mod to display 256 MB... which company? ATi? OK. Radeon? OK."
He beamed at me. "ATi video card, sir, 256 MB. Radeon."
Riiiiight. "Radeon what?" I asked him.
"ATi Radeon, sir. 256 MB video card!"
I tried explaining to him about models in the Radeon line, but he was insistent that he had the 256 MB ATi Radeon. I finally gave up on him.
"Ditch the card. Do you have Antec power supplies? 480 watts, or more?"
"Ant.. what?"
"Antec."
"A-N-T-E-K"... he wrote down and made the call to the invisible guy again.
"No such thing as Ante-k, sir. We have Antrix.. er.. Antrex... something." He frowned and then asked the guy on the other end "Isn't that expensive for a power supply?"
"I would really like to have an Antec, or a CoolerMaster, or ThermalTake..."
He blinked. "I'm giving you the best power supply, sir. No local companies."
"OK, ditch the power supply. Do you have any Transcend or Kingston RAM?"
"We can get it for you tomorrow, sir."
The first guy wrote down the fact that I wanted a "PCIe video card" and then made the customary call to some invisible guy who actually keeps the parts in stock.
"Do you want a 256MB video card?" he said. Ummmm... I guess so, but that's hardly the first question I expected.
"Uh. Yes, 256 MB."
"He wants 256 MB, what's the price? No, the real one. Not the one with the BIOS mod to display 256 MB... which company? ATi? OK. Radeon? OK."
He beamed at me. "ATi video card, sir, 256 MB. Radeon."
Riiiiight. "Radeon what?" I asked him.
"ATi Radeon, sir. 256 MB video card!"
I tried explaining to him about models in the Radeon line, but he was insistent that he had the 256 MB ATi Radeon. I finally gave up on him.
"Ditch the card. Do you have Antec power supplies? 480 watts, or more?"
"Ant.. what?"
"Antec."
"A-N-T-E-K"... he wrote down and made the call to the invisible guy again.
"No such thing as Ante-k, sir. We have Antrix.. er.. Antrex... something." He frowned and then asked the guy on the other end "Isn't that expensive for a power supply?"
"I would really like to have an Antec, or a CoolerMaster, or ThermalTake..."
He blinked. "I'm giving you the best power supply, sir. No local companies."
"OK, ditch the power supply. Do you have any Transcend or Kingston RAM?"
"We can get it for you tomorrow, sir."
Apr 2, 2006
Cribs
No, not the ones in which babies are meant to spend time in. Complaints just doesn't sound as cool as cribs.
Why is it that nobody I come across seems happy? They may have their ups and downs, but they mostly seem vaguely dissatisfied if not actively unhappy. Is it because we set expectations too high? Or because we see good things happening to other people and wonder why w have been left behind in the dust? The realization that life could have been so much better had things gone a bit differently... if only my luck had been a bit better, if only I had worked a bit harder, if only I had taken that risk, if only people around me weren't such losers... I could have lived an entirely different life!
But it's a sad state of affairs when I have to go around telling people to lower their expectations so that they can be happy.
Why is it that nobody I come across seems happy? They may have their ups and downs, but they mostly seem vaguely dissatisfied if not actively unhappy. Is it because we set expectations too high? Or because we see good things happening to other people and wonder why w have been left behind in the dust? The realization that life could have been so much better had things gone a bit differently... if only my luck had been a bit better, if only I had worked a bit harder, if only I had taken that risk, if only people around me weren't such losers... I could have lived an entirely different life!
But it's a sad state of affairs when I have to go around telling people to lower their expectations so that they can be happy.
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