How my genius roommate changed my perspective
farhadg.com
farhadg.com
I follow someone on YouTube who moved to a small island in Panama, built his house, many boats, and lots of other items by hand using what he has. He is definitely crazy but he personifies this get it done attitude. A few years ago I travelled to Africa to volunteer at a hospital and was tasked with fixing an oxygen machine. I had to channel this YouTuber because there definitely was not the right tools and I definitely needed to get it done. I honestly surprised myself in how I was able to fix it and it was quite fulfilling.
I've not been able to get into his Southern American adventures so much.
I find the same, mostly because my motivation to solve problems has changed significantly.
I think there is room for both. Definitely during the prototype phase of a project, or on projects where there are very hard time constraints (epoxy is drying, etc.), or when you're out in the woods or whatever, working fast and creatively can be most beneficial. However as you transition into the finished product, it's often better to do use fresh and appropriate materials, do more QA/QC, write a robust test suite, and put a bit of polish on it (especially if it's for public consumption).
One good example occurred during our first COVID lockdown (in the UK) in 2019. DIY stores weren't open at all for a while. I'd decided to paint the roof of my summer house and while prepping it discovered that a couple of places had got completely rotten. We had rain storms forecast for a few days hence, so I had to make and attach a waterproof / windproof 'nosecone' for the roof using only the stuff available in my shed / garage. Very enjoyable, once I figured it out.
"Have no fear in accruing technical debt before your first major refactor, but when it comes time to 'do things right', you better do just that"
Edit: Got it, this one as per the other comments: https://youtube.com/user/JMEMantzel/videos
After reading this article I wonder if there are MacGyver-esque influences on younger generations? I haven't come across any YouTube channels or shows on Netflix, Prime or Disney Plus that would interest my 7 year old son and capture his imagination like MacGyver did for me as a kid.
Having said that, in true MacGyver fashion I started teaching my son Chemistry last weekend using a whiteboard, YouTube and some Minecraft analogies.
Just type "Lifehack" into youtube and search. Extremely low signal to noise ratio in videos made with monetization above all else. It's quite tragic.
A counterexample would be colinfurze[0] who makes very entertaining and inspiring videos. Apart from being a two legged OSHA violation his content is top notch. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/user/colinfurze
Here are some channels I like:
https://www.youtube.com/c/Techmoan
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtM5z2gkrGRuWd0JQMx76qA
The latter channel is perhaps not great for children because of his somewhat relaxed attitude toward mains voltage, but it's great for me.
PhotonicInduction is the extreme version of this, he's an electrical engineer / "mad scientist" who builds ridiculous things such as enormous capacitor banks for blowing things up, power supplies that deliver many kV for feeding to various household appliances, record players that spin at 10,000 RPM and that kind of thing. He also demos old tech you wouldn't see in other places like mercury arc rectifiers. Definitely "don't try this at home" but it's usually really interesting to watch.
For those ever so slightly more lazy than me and beyond :P
https://www.youtube.com/c/K%C3%AAnhs%C3%A1ngt%E1%BA%A1oVN-tr...
It's as tho there's nothing he can't figure out a hack for, and sometimes it's a matter of simply getting a nail gun to do the work.
If you start a channel, I'd follow along, btw.
I would definitely include some of Simone's builds in the super serious club especially now, but Mark Rober and Build Stuff Better definitely have a more engineering focus to their videos.
That's not a slight. But being resourceful (and creative, of course) is what was displayed. There was no evidence of genius. Being resourceful and creative means using what you have on hand to achieve a goal.
For example, I wanted to make a gift for a friend who loves dinosaurs. I used old bicycle parts and various bits of metal I had left over from other projects and made her a 3 foot tall T-Rex. She loved it! Money spent = $0. Am I a genius? Probably not. Was I resourceful and creative? Definitely.
Perhaps for people who don't have a "hack the world!" mindset, it does appear as genius I suppose.
I think the title reflects that semantic sentiment.
In my house I was considered a 'genius' for putting Cheetos inside a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich.
That's just a turn of style.
With that being said perhaps there's something in common between the stereotypes of hackers and genius, and that's not flattering I suppose.
I think this is it. I've realized that as an engineer, I look at the local environment around me as a construct. If I don't like something or think it can be improved, I can redesign it better. Hell, I once got the traffic markings on an entire street changed by sending a single email to the right person pointing out something that annoyed me whenever I drove through that area.
I've realized that not everyone has this mindset though. So many people write things off as "just the way it is" without considering that they can be changed. Sure, YMMV. As an average Joe, I really don't have much power to change the tax code. But I do have a lot of control over my local environment.
I'm reminded of When I was teaching, I would occasionally hear students grumbling about the way their homework was being graded. But with enough time, you'll hear students grumbling about nearly everything, so I never paid it too much attention. I'd just check that the grader had followed the rubric, and then either make a grade correction if needed, or just tell the student that it had been graded accurately. After several years, I got a long-winded email from a student expressing their dissatisfaction with the way their assignments were being graded. But instead of solely complaining, this student explained _why_ they were upset and politely requested that I consider changing my rubric. After some discussion, I did just that. I didn't concede all their "demands", but I did make changes that made the students happy.
This was a student that understood that the class policies were a construct, and that a sincere discussion can be sufficient to incite change.
> Perhaps for people who don't have a "hack the world!" mindset, it does appear as genius I suppose.
I'm not sure that's right either. I wonder if instead it might just be a matter of culture, possibly even class. If you grew up always just buying the "right" things and only doing things the "right" way, then maybe you just never learn that a thing's "purpose" is just what it was designed to do, not all that it can do.
> I used old bicycle parts and various bits of metal I had left over from other projects and made her a 3 foot tall T-Rex.
See now this is actually what I'd call "creative", since something was actually created.
To be fair I would be one of those people (am fairly young too) who thinks the word genius/brilliant is thrown around for way too many cases that it isn't accurate to the point that it is losing its impact. People are diluting language through hyperbole or lack of intentional use imho.
It could also be that too many people this kind of thinking is so foreign that it seems like genius/brilliance. I guess it could all be relative. A genius to the general public might be different from say a genius to a group of nuclear physicists.
In another way, I find it difficult to deem someone a genius by the results of their actions (i.e. resulting). It's much more about their mindset and decision making process.
ingenious : having or showing an unusual aptitude for discovering, inventing, or contriving an ingenious detective. 2 : marked by originality, resourcefulness, and cleverness in conception or execution an ingenious contraption.
I'm adding a note (as we speak) in the blog post to reflect this.
On another note, this interaction just made it to my Top 3 Internet Things of The Year :)
In fact a common definition of (higher) intelligence is the ability to see patterns (abstractions, properties, laws) in an otherwise random looking world.
Think of Darwin looking at birds, animals, vegetation, and being able to come up with something like the Laws of Natural Selection. Even today 99.999% of people would not see those patterns.
Think of Kepler looking at random movement of stars and planets on the sky and being able to come up with the Laws of Planetary Motion. Same thing, today 99.999% of people would not see those patterns.
On a much lower scale, the character in this text displayed a similar ability to see in otherwise random looking objects new properties, arrangements, and applications.
I think you are judging here based on the small scale of his achievement (rolling table, who cares, $50 at Home Depot could make better, right?) but you are failing to consider for the absolute-zero (or close to it) in resources that the guy had at his disposal.
For example an achievement like this: https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2018/09/06/... , in my opinion, has to be amplified in our eyes to compensate for the difference in resources availability in a typical bio-tech-lab in say US, and what was available here.
There was once a man from Song who was skilled at making ointment for chapped hands. For generations, his family had made their living by washing raw silk. A traveler happened to hear of it and offered to purchase the formula for a hundred catties of gold. The man called his family into conference and said, ‘For generations we’ve made our living washing silk and never earned more than a few pieces gold. Now we can sell our formula and earn a hundred catties of gold in an instant. Let’s give it to him!’ Once the traveler had the formula, he went to the court of Wu to persuade the king to use it in dealing with his troublesome neighbor state of Yue. The king put him in command of his forces to engage Yue’s navy in a midwinter river battle and the forces of Yue were routed. The King of Wu carved a slice from his newly gained territory and rewarded the traveler with a fief. The traveler and the silk washer were alike in possessing the formula of preventing chapped hands; one used it to gain a fief, the other to wash silk – it was in the use of the thing that they differed." [1]
[1] https://factsanddetails.com/china/cat3/sub10/entry-5581.html
I remember seeing ads on some hands ointment that basically said "this is the number one choice by norway's fisherman"
Basically the formula can help soldiers fight during winter so whoever has it has an advantage over the other side.
BTW the Chinese version if anyone is interested:
宋人有善为不龟手之药者，世世以洴澼絖为事。客闻之，请买其方百金。聚族而谋曰：『我世世为洴澼絖，不过数金；今一朝而鬻技百金，请与之。』客得之，以说吴王。越有难，吴王使之将，冬与越人水战，大败越人，裂地而封之。
Also to answer the other question why a traveller may have the skills to lead an army. So first I think this is just a story because I can't anything recorded in history regarding this battle. Secondly, many "travellers" during that time were strategists who were either of aristocratic origin or very rich. They made their livelihood to persuade kings to follow their advices and make profit (in money, fame and land) from it. Some of them probably were rich enough to own small armies so technically they could lead armies for kings.
But again this is probably a story Zhuangzi made up to "prove" his point.
Early consultants?
Some of them worked as "客卿" (persons who came from a foreign kingdom/principality but listed as a high-ranking official in the host kingdom/principality) and helped the king/prince with reforms. Local aristocracies were usually the target of reforms (in that sense, very much like a consultant of today) so someone from outside needs to move it forward. Some can serve as generals who own a small number of elite soldiers and can lead armies for the king/prince of the host kingdom/principality.
I'm pretty sure you can find similar examples in Medieval Europe.
> The people of Song Dynasty have good medicines for not tortoises, and they have always used 洴澼絖 as their business. If you hear it, please buy one hundred gold. Gathering together and seeking out the family, said: "My life is a 紴澼絖, but I only count gold; now I have a hundred gold skills, please go with it. "The guest got it, so as to talk about the king of Wu." The more difficult it was, the King Wu made him to fight with the Yueren in winter, defeat the Yueren, and seal the ground.
OK‽
I've just recently learned that Chinese is a very "analytical" language: The meaning of something is apparently to a large degree determined by how words are combined and isn't contained so much in the separate words by themself (at least that's my uninformed understanding of that subject, as I don't speak Chinese).
So without actually understanding the context it's likely hard to translate something. But a machine does not understand things. It doesn't have world knowledge so it can't interpret things in context. (An ancient context doesn't make things simpler either of course).
You would likely need AGI with a lot of world knowledge to translate such an things. But at that point machine translation for any language would be a solved problem anyway I guess.
The other thing is: How do you look up words you don't know having a writing system based on pictures? Without a computer this seems almost impossible to me. That's a big issue with such a writing system imho.
I would be keen on trying to learn a little bit Chinese as it's for sure interesting to learn to think in a very analytical language—if the writing system wouldn't be. I have already a hard time with the German orthography, even it's my main language…
Mongolians did not like the weather of the south in China as well so their forces an DNA are much less common in the south.
The use of optics in Europe also allowed them to see and prepare for ambushes, invasion and spying from far distances. The best modern example is keyhole: a Hubble space telescope designed for high resolution worldwide orbital scanning.
Africa was also not colonized without the aid of vaccines that killed Europeans and genetic mutations like sickle cell prevented the local populations from malaria.
Asterix joke: "The Romans, upon learning that the English requested a daily ceasefire from 2pm to 4pm because they were having tea decided to attack only between 2pm and 4pm". Obviously, that's fictional but you get the idea.
In Asterix in Britain https://asterix.fandom.com/wiki/Asterix_in_Britain the Romans attack during the time the British are having their hot water - with maybe a little bit of milk in it.
Before the final battle when all seems to be lost because the barrel of magic potion was sunk in the river Asterix announces that they have the makings of the magic potion (pulling some herbs out of his pocket) - synopsis from link above:
"Finally reaching the independent village, Asterix eases the Britons' disappointment by claiming he carries herbs to remake the potion; these are later revealed to be tea. With a psychological boost, the village prevails against the Romans. Asterix and Obelix return home to the inevitable feast. The Britons like the tea so much, they proclaim it shall be their national drink."
I admit, retconning your arch-foe's national non-alcoholic drink of choice is fairly grand, but I feel like you buried the lede there.
The Romans at this time were so incompetent at naval warfare that their only significant defeats in the war were losing their entire fleet to bad weather (more than once).
[0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvus_(boarding_device)
The story is nice but some details ruin it IMO.. How would a salesman know how to command an army ?
Also, the success of an army depends on a huge number of factors, not only dryness of hands.. Military strategy seems more important than hands
Can't wield weapons without hands.
All that to make a more general point: if you have the wrong expectations for the way something is, you're going to suffer because of those expectations. The silk-washing family was frustrated because they believed the balm could only be used in one way which kept them very poor and worn out. Huizi suffered because he was gifted seeds for some very large gourds, but expected to use them like normal-sized gourds, and eventually destroyed the gift after expending much time and effort on them.
OTOH: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” -- George Bernard Shaw
This means that the family received about 60kg of gold, or around US$3.6m at today's spot prices - a handsome reward for their valuable formula.
Even in the ancient proverbs, capitalism is the optimal way to allocate resources, and this efficient allocation benefits all. Someone should let Xi know about this. ;)
Also, this has nothing to do with capitalism. It's just exchange of money which had existed long before that system first developed in the city states of Italy.
well done
> Chuang Tzu was a philosopher in ancient China, who, one night went to sleep and dreamed that he was a butterfly. He dreamt that he was flying around from flower to flower and while he was dreaming he felt free, blown about by the breeze hither and thither. He was quite sure that he was a butterfly. But when he awoke he realised that he had just been dreaming, and that he was really Chuang Tzu dreaming he was a butterfly. But then Chuang Tzu asked himself the following question: "was I Chuang Tzu dreaming I was a butterfly or am I now really a butterfly dreaming that I am Chuang Tzu?"
Traditional storytelling would probably have suggested that the silk washer was naive and suffered for it, but he comes out great in this story. The traveler takes a huge risk in assuming this will prove to be a hugely important military asset, and I guess comes out ahead, but he was already in a position to pay this dude hundreds of catties of gold so... did it really make a difference?
i think we're just used to these 'fables' having some sort of downside for the person who accepted the quick buck, like the gold turned out to be worthless because the person that bought the formula became poor from mis-using it or whatever
maybe the lesson is "sometimes payday does come" ;)
He valued it enough to know about naval problems to know its huge value, and wasn’t unfair and left the silk washer whole. The silk seller’s motivation out of poverty was noted, solved by the traveler and not unfairly so he was “bought” and cooperated fully with what was a great deal for him, which lubricates away resentment, half effort, and unhappiness because giving a good deal to someone is similar to “buy once, cry once”. Negotiating costs time, energy, and paying less might not yield the full secret especially if the seller feels taken advantage of so he also will do his best not to cooperate.
Imagine if Steve Jobs paid Woz half the profits with what he knew.
The silk washer has no ability to even make use of the knowledge that the ointment has other potential applications or that it could be very valuable. It seems like a distracting element of the story.
If the dynamic of "don't try to rip people off when you have an informational advantage" was the point, it should have shown a consequence for doing so. As it stands, I see no reason why he shouldn't have offered 1 cattie of gold instead of 100.
Normal western storytelling would either
* Show the consequences of an action
* Have the character recall specific advice on the right thing to do; or reason through it; and then benefit
In this case a choice was made and it was fine-ish. But given we don't know how wealthy the traveler was, we're left to wonder if he was either:
* banking his entire net worth on this ointment
* saying "it's one ointment, silk guy. What could it cost, 100 catties of gold?" with a certain opulent flair.
Remember the South Park animation of Allan Watts? Why bother with a story? It’s also entertaining especially in that era to hear epics like Gilgamesh with what you might consider too much irrelevance. You’re thinking of a subset of western storytelling, they’re not all styled like Marcus Aurelius, Shakespeare is more widely read despite it being a play, being unclear enough to need translations on the margins, and footnotes at the end.
This is the similar to comparing the Old Testament with the 10 commandments and explaining why we should really change it because it didn’t conform to our personal sensibilities.
What norms? Who set them if anyone has at all? Is the Bible not the bedrock of Westen civilization? Is it perfectly clear in its ideas and lack emphasis on tangents that doesn't lead anywhere?
But there is a problem now. As a family, thanks to the incomes of the kids, have enough to survive (and thrive), but he continues with his efficiency-only approach, instead of the just-buy-it approach.
- So, we see plastic bottle based plant pots all over our house, instead of normal clay or terracotta plant pots, which look a bit better.
- We see DIY style visible piping and hosing to achieve drainage around the house where required, instead of hiring a professional plumber to have hidden piping (which would cost more)
- You come home one day and there is spray paint smell everywhere because of yet another (although very useful) project, and that paint causing asthma related problems to the kids (his grandkids) - Etc.
And now I am confused. I am not sure to tell him to stop (and kill one of his interests in living life) or to etl him continue (while the rest of the family continues being majorly inconvenienced).
Note that, we are a subcontinental family, and living in a joint-family is very common, and moving out is not an option for me (it will kill him more than asking him to stop).
(Also, while writing this it was very helpful. I think while writing this, I have decided that I will let him continue, as my inconveniences are much slight compared to the damage it will do him and his, I guess its called "agency")
I'm a lot like your dad, but maybe a bit wealthier and yet, the number of one-off tinkering solutions around the house is rather higher than you would probably expect in a normal household and yet apart from some frustration when things are a bit messy for a while due to some project on the whole it is a net positive. If my ability to do this would be circumscribed a lot of the joy would go out of my life.
I live in a rural area myself and it's not unusual to see a pick up truck with DIY elements on them such as a wood bed rack, or wood bed cap. Usually this is a dead give away of an older gentlemen driving it. My parents own a pick up truck that had an older gentleman as a previous owner and it has a DIY wooden center console in it as it did not come with one from the factory. Ford sells a center console as an option for some of them but I guess he preferred to build his own.
I fear this will be me in 40 years.
if you start early enough you can actually make/repurpose things out of scrap that are really nice...much nicer that what you can easily buy (without engaging a custom fabricator).
edit: you can also get access to nicer materials. mahogany from discarded dining tables, nice heavy alum/iron castings, really beautiful old antique appliances etc. (sadly copper alloys are worth to much to be left on the street)
I think a little more communication on your part for getting stuff you need done (or having him teach your kids these amazing skills) could make this a huge win for your family instead of a burden you have to tolerate.
Thank you for sharing. He sounds like a very interesting indiviual.
Or, my real recommendation--search for a new perspective, because you're so close already. Enjoy his objects, celebrate those that work well, and let him keep contributing to his family.
Good luck!
I've always been a tinkerer and a builder, but not professionally, and would always make functional but ugly items. Consequence of a poor, rural upbringing, I suppose. But in the new house, I resolved to put in the extra effort (and expense, but mainly labor) to build esthetically pleasing, high-quality repairs.
Staining and finishing the wood, sinking and covering the screws, squaring corners _exactly_, buying the proper tools for the job, that sort of thing. And it has been really rewarding. It doesn't feel like a bother or needless expense; it feels like growth, a new layer of expertise.
Seeing the wife posting pictures on Facebook saying "my husband built this!" was also a nice reward.
Anyway, I think that one strategy with that sort of person is to encourage them. Don't try to stop them, challenge them to learn drywall repair so they can hide the plumbing like a pro.
After a while I was tired of ugly solutions, so I've been forcing myself to make them pleasing to the eye.
I was largely inspired by a youtuber, channel name Pask Makes. Everything the guy makes is highly functional and also so, so good looking. Better than I can achieve, but I'm working on it.
Highly recommend checking him out for inspiration, although most of what he builds are shop projects (tools etc).
...
>(Also, while writing this it was very helpful. I think while writing this, I have decided that I will let him continue, as my inconveniences are much slight compared to the damage it will do him and his, I guess its called "agency")
You've distilled some thoughts on living with tinkers in my life, many of them has enough income later in life to just buy it, but finds joy in being resourceful. That said, it is very annoying to live with "ghetto" rigged contraption that means a lot to them but is just unsightly to you. It's an admirable and annoying combination of being resourceful and miserly vs DIYers who are willing to spend a little extra cash to buy new materials to put together a custom solution that both satisfy needs and general aesthetics for everyone. That said, I think the zero-waste repurpose aesthetic is what many fallout scavenger workshoppers enjoy about their handiwork, but don't realize others aren't deriving the same level of joy from living with their creations.
It's good to tell him what you need, especially around health. Encourage him to do his projects without making indoor air pollution. He can make his own fume hood for spray painting.
At that time, and due to the circumstances, I was kind of cranky and probably not terribly fun to be around. But I enjoyed getting to know @FarhadG through that time though. So if you happen to see this, hope all is well!
Thank you for reaching out. You made my day. Hope our paths cross again.
This isn’t a code base waiting for review.
The pictures clearly show a drill and saw dust. Which is what I would expect from repurposing closet doors. You couldn't put that together without significant damage to the furniture.
In most western countries you just lost your bond. No idea how permissible they are in China.
-George Bernard Shaw
Edit: proper attribution
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/536961-the-reasonable-man-a...
It was just a silly joke.
I think of William Kamkwamba creating windmills from car parts.
We need to remember that "education" is not the only way to achieve, some people are just wired up well and education comes from many more places than school! (I also believe in schools btw)
Related I suppose is 'analysis paralysis' - becoming so bogged down in working out the ideal way to do something, which parts shall I buy (I have access to all of them and the means for many of them after all!), how shall I do it, should I use my computer and education to model and parameterise it first, determine the properties I need from my materials to operate under the conditions I want, etc.
He had arranged for the movers to come in and take his stuff. When the time came the bell rang and the person on the other side said "I'm here". My friend was puzzled as he had quite a bit of stuff, weren't there supposed to be more of them? Turns out it was indeed just one mover on a scooter. But he was still able to move everything in a couple of trips by tricks like carrying the fridge on his back with aid of some straps and bundling and hanging everything.
When I was in China I saw people transporting all kinds of stuff on scooters and some were really impressive. One time I thought a lorry was coming and it was just somebody carrying really _a lot_ of empty plastic bottles strapped onto them.
I'm curious whether they got the deposit on their apartment back, given that apartments in Beijing are usually furnished, so probably the furniture was the landlord's. Could go either way: the landlord might be impressed at the added utility, or upset at the changes.
edit: Don't get me wrong I am happy you re-posted this. I just want to know if I have seen this before.
so no, just because he can do crazy things like dive into a frozen lake for X minutes doesnt mean the average person can.
That said. the breathing exercises and cold showers DO have a positive physiological effect and they are worth doing, even if you dont become superhuman overnight.
do his breathing technique every morning when you wake up, its like a very potent meditation that makes you feel good. im about to do mine now.
Cause, or effect? I think you are implying he was born an anomaly, rather than that he has become special using his techniques.
I used to teach people to survive extreme situations, and only used the WHM to teach them how to endure cold a bit better, but some people are just wired to be able to do so or not. It is no magic bullet.
personal anecdote: just do the breathing once or twice and youll feel it doing something. i find the effect very useful for eliminating brain fog and impulse control, also relieves my tired eyes, and makes me want to crack my knuckles. to me its like a rapid meditation but more potent.
its def not self help focused on alpha males. the breathing imo is the most effective single thing you can do from his 3 things (meditation, breathing exercises, cold exposure). This isnt new btw. the breathing is based on pranayama and people have experimented with blood oxygen/CO2 levels for performance forever. see: apnea training & freedivers.
Based on my experiences with programming, I imagine part of being able to think this way is also having experience building things physically. The fact that I can think about connecting pieces of backend infrastructure, or bits of reusable code, or a wiring up a handy library to solve a problem is from experience solving problems with the tools at hand.
Probably the best way to get started with this mindset in any problem domain is to just start making things, getting a feel for the capabilities of tools, the strengths of various materials.
In other words, the attitude adjustment is just one part of being able to solve problems this way - you've got to be very comfortable with your tools and materials, or have little to lose so you can experiment safely.
With software engineering, I think when you're comfortable with the syntax and capabilities of the language you're working with, you get fluency. And then once you have experience using the standard library and some common external libs, you learn parsimony.
I’m pretty biased against the raspberry pi and nearly every project I saw was achievable with old computers that would be free, but there’s not much glory in talking about using a netbook for ad blocking or a server over a shiny SBC that’s a real computer (like the real ones you probably already own, have better specs, negligibly more power usage, and are collecting dust).
My grandfather would collect garbage for building material and build things with it like a bench, a raised platform in the basement because it flooded, and old fan motors to make kitchen ventilation. He loved watching this old house.
My desk was a piece of wood I put on the arms of a chair, while sitting on the edge of my futon.
It worked OK.
I don't lionize this state of being. My more comfortable peers had better grades and had more fun.
My best guess right now is that compressing the spine of the books inwards, naturally creates a moment force on the covers that pushes the page-side of the book outward. So the whole thing works like a truss bridge, with compression on the top, and tension on the bottom.
I may be overthinking this though...
Now I am able give that article a second chance.
That word, which I eventually found in a google books excerpt, is bricolage.
I was very surprised to read this post only a few minutes later.
This is why Hacker News is my homepage. Thank you for sharing.
workbench was cool though
I directly blame watching a lot of MacGyver and A-Team as a kid.
Those shows really got me thinking obtusely, combined with being poor and not being able to go out and just buy what I needed.
Now it just comes naturally.
And that's a good thing.
No amount of genius can convert ideas into results if you don't have the 'put the work in' perspective of a hard worker.
Congrats!
It's common in student dorms because it's kind of tradition, students learn to do it from one another. Still it can be surprising to freshmen if they haven't encountered it before.
What happened to your room mate professionally?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wife_acceptance_factor
Luckily the articles' principle doesn't only apply to building furniture.
Edit - Clarification:
This comment describes only my personal situation and should in no way harm anyone. It is a satiric way of stating out that if you are not alone in your apartment you have to
1. Respect others feelings when rearranging your stuff or putting new things in
2. Regard the importance to build something aesthetical / beautiful rather than only useful
What is the new thing on your desk (splurged on a Mac Pro) - no my dear I always had it - got it from Craigslist/gumtree for a steal.
"Here, I bought you one too."
Fun image, though some overly sensitive people might decry it as sexism somehow, so probably not something i can joke about at work.
She said it was a terrible idea and would be a complete eyesore (which was exactly my point!)
[0]: https://smile.amazon.com/Remote-Generation-Silicone-Controll...
Me, I like to work with negative space when I’m making furniture - take stuff away to create something, add as little as necessary.
I also have my fair share of Heath Robinson contraptions, but as long as I keep them invisible (i.e. tucked away in a shed or a hutch quietly fulfilling its function) the WAF is fulfilled - and I have a stringent set of controls and policies set out by the SWAMBO.
Our bed is made out of leftover construction lumber and OSBs, but it’s very pretty, as it’s also made out of a bunch of walnut veneer doors I found by the roadside. Our kitchen is built from scrap wood from a skip, and the countertops are upside down concrete pavers with a tadelakt topcoat. The sink is a rock I took an angle grinder to. The faucets came from a “5 bits for €1” box of junk. People keep asking me who designed it, where did I buy X, Y, Z.
So, yeah. There’s no incompatibility - I started with the kind of quick and dirty hacks the roommate does as a student - but now that I’m pushing 40, I prefer to execute my stingy projects with quality.
Maybe it's because I didn't grow up (completely) on a farm, but between circular saw (regular blade), angle grinder, and circular saw (diamond blade) you can cut and shape just about everything with enough care.
I'll be using WAF in the future, however :)
I'd love to know how you think about this term and how you use it.
The definition of genius is not "resourceful" or "creative", it must indicate a profound mind who greatly improved human society through their intellect.
We shouldn't use terms like genius to drive content to our blogs, unless the word is warranted. That is why I believe it's click bait.