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brannerchinese

17 karma · joined March 14, 2012

Lexicographer of Chinese, Python programmer, happy when using regex, LaTeX, and other powerful tools for manipulating words.

I've had a successful academic career, but have also worked in industry (which I prefer), in the non-profit sector, and in a semi-government think-tank. I am fluent in Chinese and have spent six years living and working in rural China and Taiwan.

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brannerchinese··on Review of _Bullshit Jobs_
Review of _Bullshit Jobs: A Theory by David Graeber_; review by Eliane Glaser

> As well as documenting personal misery, this book is a portrait of a society that has forgotten what it is for. Our economies have become “vast engines for producing nonsense”. Utopian ideals have been abandoned on all sides, replaced by praise for “hardworking families”. The rightwing injunction to “get a job!” is mirrored by the leftwing demand for “more jobs!”

brannerchinese··on Brooks: Mental activities involving rule-following less valuable in computer age
What he thinks are more valuable are "enthusiasm," "people with extended time horizons and strategic discipline," and "procedural architects."

Sure — machines just program themselves if the environment is right.

brannerchinese··on “Premature optimization” as phrased by Musashi
Thanks for your question. I grant you, it could mean that the strategic thinking of the strategist is still immature. But in context I don't think it does.

Musashi lays great weight on developing keen perception of the moment and its potential. When he says _nama_ 生 'unripe' strategy, I understand him to mean strategy that is settled before conditions have ripened. That's comparable to Knuth's remark about optimizing code. I don't think Musashi means that the strategist is too inexperienced.

Although there is a vein in East Asian military theory about wizard-like long-range anticipation of strategic conditions, Musashi doesn't indulge in that.

brannerchinese··on A game theoretic approach to the toilet seat problem
Marsha and John's guests and visitors, however, are a different matter.
brannerchinese··on A game theoretic approach to the toilet seat problem
Some men will pee on the seat — whether intentionally or not I have never figured out — if it's left down. Leaving it up maximizes cleanliness.