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Comment Conservationists Demand Status Quo (Score 4, Funny) 103

Los Angeles, August 12, 2082
On Tuesday, a public hearing on shutting down the Los Angeles International Airport was again disrupted by conservationists. This is the second public hearing the LAX Airport Authority has held to consider repurposing the airport property into a nature preserve. Decreasing numbers of passengers and reduced tarmac requirements for liftoff for vessels such as the Boeing 998 Starduster have obviated the need for a traditional airport. In an attempt to stop the meeting, several conservationists handcuffed themselves to the podium. With signs and chants, the conservationists expressed their dismay at shutting down the fragile ecosystem of the rare legless lizard found only at LAX. "Every change the [LAX Airport] Authority makes to the airfield threatens to overturn the delicate balance of nature our legless comrades rely on." inveighed Charles Slatun, the group's putative leader. "We protested quite vocally when airlines began installing sound-dampeners on engines landing at the airport. But now, LAX as a nature preserve? This disregard for extant species must stop!" For months conservationists have been seen acting as informal greeters inside LAX as well as offering free taxi rides to the airport in an effort to convince the public that preserving LAX in its current form is in their best interest.

Comment Peer-level strategy (Score 1) 509

You might be able to succeed by disguising his schooling in terms him schooling you. Pick some topic which the guy needs to know (that you already know) and say (for example), "Bob, I'm having trouble understanding outer joins. I found this reference page on the Web but am still confused. Could we get together next Tuesday and maybe you could help me figure it out?". Providing lead time ("next Tuesday") gives him time to figure it out. Asking him for help strokes his ego and motivates him to learn the stuff so he can be helpful to you. There are variants on the theme. Pick some code from your project (or from the Web) that he can help you "understand".

Regarding version control, see if you can find some smallish standalone side-project which is relevant to your job. Express enthusiasm for working with Bob on it. Start it in version control. Do things like sit at his desk with him and say, "Let me show you what I've done". Then pull out a cheat sheet and scan it for how to check out your code, discover an error (or add a comment), then make a show of referring to the cheat sheet for how to commit your change. When you're done showing him your code then "forget" your cheat sheet, leave it on his desk. He'll need it because while you showed him your code you asked him if he could add XYZ to your code.

Code reviews. Have him participate in several reviews of others' code. If he's resistant to even that explain that because of his experience his insight is valued. Once in a review he's an equal participant in debating the merits of various blocks of code. The cordial, social aspect of debating the finer nuances of coding could be enough to warm him to the idea of submitting his own code to a review. Otherwise, when the time comes to review his code motivate it in terms of everyone learning from the code of an experienced engineer.

You get the idea. Be creative in finding ways that he can "help" you.

All that said, the parent is definitely correct. It really is management's job to set expectations including "learn this new technology". If management is amenable to "fixing" the old guy, but is just oblivious, then bring it to their attention, complete with telling management, "I don't want to hurt his feelings, but he can't do XYZ and it's taking time and energy away from the rest of the team for us to work around his limitations."

Comment That pro cameras are better is not relevant (Score 1) 267

Before discounting the inferiority of smart phone cameras to professional cameras, one needs to consider the user. There are millions of average Joes and Janes documenting their lives with their phones today. Go back 20 years ago and look at what the masses were using: instant cameras or some variant. Those cameras were inferior to professional cameras then as well. But the photos today's Joe/Jane are producing are absolutely amazing compared to the photos they were taking in decades past.

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