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[personal profile] vriad_lee
favourite quotes from paul graham

...there is a great temptation to work on problems you can treat formally, rather than problems that are, say, important.
--http://paulgraham.com/hp.html


Prices are determined by supply and demand, and there is just not as much demand for things that are fun to work on as there is for things that solve the mundane problems of individual customers. Acting in off-Broadway plays just doesn't pay as well as wearing a gorilla suit in someone's booth at a trade show. Writing novels doesn't pay as well as writing ad copy for garbage disposals. And hacking programming languages doesn't pay as well as figuring out how to connect some company's legacy database to their Web server.
--http://paulgraham.com/hp.html

Yes, as you suspect, a lot of the stuff you learn in your classes is crap. And yes, as you suspect, the college admissions process is largely a charade. But like many fouls, this one was unintentional. So just keep playin
--http://www.paulgraham.com/hs.html

A key ingredient in many projects, almost a project on its own, is to find good books. Most books are bad. Nearly all textbooks are bad. So don't assume a subject is to be learned from whatever book on it happens to be closest. You have to search actively for the tiny number of good books.
--http://www.paulgraham.com/hs.html

Enthusiasm is contagious, and so is boredom
--http://www.paulgraham.com/raq.html


refer me to more wise reading

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 11:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lather2002.livejournal.com
"Don't Hang noodles from your ears."
---Anonymous Russian Proverb

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 01:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lather2002.livejournal.com
Hey ! It is a Russian Proverb, look in the mirror ! hahahahahahaha . . .

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 01:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vriad-lee.livejournal.com
you mean paul graham's noodles are hanging from my ears. you mean paul graham is a liar. is that what you mean?

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 01:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emma-loy.livejournal.com
>Prices are determined by supply and demand, and there is just not as much demand for things that are fun to work on as there is for things that solve the mundane problems of individual customers.

Exactly. Look at me, as soon as I started to work on things that are difficult and fun to work on, I ran out of money in six months' time. I hardly have money to restore the roof on our little house!

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 01:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vriad-lee.livejournal.com
yes, but there's supposed to be a breakthrough point after which you have both fun and money (theoretically)

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 01:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emma-loy.livejournal.com
don't be utopic! (is there such word in English? it shouldn't be!)

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Date: 2005-10-24 01:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vriad-lee.livejournal.com
being utopian is the only way to justify cheerful spirits!

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 02:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emma-loy.livejournal.com
Oh yeh! This is exactly the thing YOU ought to justify!

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 02:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vriad-lee.livejournal.com
i'm very cheerful right now, almost euphoric (morbidly so)

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 02:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emma-loy.livejournal.com
A very bad sign ;( This one of the symptoms of depression: short bursts of euphoria. You should read smth nice or watch a really good movie. Or fuck something you've never fucked before. Like, say, Kubrik the Poet.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 02:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vriad-lee.livejournal.com
will the movies you gave do?

Like, say, Kubrik the Poet

...oh...

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 02:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emma-loy.livejournal.com
Hardly ;) They are all gloomy.
I wathced Sin Sity at last.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 02:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vriad-lee.livejournal.com
and настройщик, did you see it?

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 02:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emma-loy.livejournal.com
No, not yet. I have absolutely no time now, I had to skip my Zeze trip to stay alone and quiet and watch Sin City and Princess Mononoke! Muratova is for the next opening.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 01:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emma-loy.livejournal.com
BTW! I have The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins - the book on evolution Douglas Adams named as one that truly explains the Universe and everyting! I can upload it for you somewhere.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 01:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vriad-lee.livejournal.com
yes, do that! i still haven't finished any of Douglas Adams's books though (

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 01:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emma-loy.livejournal.com
Read the one I gave you! It is hilarious, you'll forget your depression.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 01:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vriad-lee.livejournal.com
it's still in zez. natasha's still there too

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 02:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emma-loy.livejournal.com
Hey, I lent it from a very fussy friend!! Are you sure The Hen didn't spoil it???

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 02:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vriad-lee.livejournal.com
a veeeery small chance i think

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 01:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] abele.livejournal.com
you're so multi-faceted. all of you:)

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 01:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vriad-lee.livejournal.com
so you like the quotes? )

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 02:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] abele.livejournal.com
yep, I do. I never heard about this author before though.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 04:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vriad-lee.livejournal.com
i think this is his most famous essay http://paulgraham.com/nerds.html

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 03:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wallynotorious.livejournal.com
Thanks for the quotes!

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-24 04:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vriad-lee.livejournal.com
he has a lot of interesting thoughts in his essays: http://paulgraham.com/articles.html

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