The Zoo over Ambuscade Street

The building I work in is now called the IWSL. This is what we would call a Bad Acronym, since people are saying I-Weasle, or I-Whistle. Nice.

I would also like to point out that the saying "a lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine" does not apply to goverment projects, as other people's lack of planning has caused several emergencies to land on my desk.

And the fact that it's Friday is failing to bring me any joy today, since I have to get up at 4:30AM tomorrow to...come to work.

Being given a legal document and told "think like a lawyer." Followed up with "I had six problems with this. Let's see if your comments match mine." Nobody can match the convoluted mind of my Group Lead.

Looks like I have an interesting set of weeks coming up.

Yea.

This was originally written in response to this, but I was interesting in hearing what others thought of it as well. Keep in mind that this was just fingers-to-keyboard writing, with no layout, editing, or structure:

I think you got upset at the right point, but for the wrong reason.

I have lots of experience talking about technical subjects with people who can't work a microwave. Lots. Working in the computer department of Office Depot will do that to you. And I got charged with just this a lot.

They would say something like "why do you have to use words I don't understand" or "put it in words I know." The problem with that is that computer terms are very specific. They can't be generalized or rephrased, they can only be explained.

And that's where you run into problems.

Because, see, there's a group of people I like to call the "agressively nontechnical." These are the people who can't work the microwave, and are proud of it! These are the people who brag "I can't even use that thing" when computers are brought up in the conversation. These people are the real problem.

The problem lies in their complete and total unwillingness to listen to an explanation of what, exactly, a technical term really means. They wallow in their ignorance and, instead of listening to what you're saying, and trying to comprehend it, they brush you off with an "oh, that's too complicated."

You can't blame those people on the techies. Not at all.

Not to say that there aren't a substantial number of technically-inclined who wallow in their technical superiority, who use the jargon as blunt weapons rather than the tools of exactitude they really are. These people disgust me. They are the arrogant weenies who never, emotionally, left their mother's basement. The ones who feel so inferior in every other way that they must beat you soundly about the head and shoulders with how technically competent they are, with how much more than you they know.

These people, we need to educate, castigate, and silence. These are the ones who give techies a bad name.

The two groups I mention, the techno-superior and the arrogant-ignorant, must, usually, be endured. There is little you can do to truly change their views.

Therefore, it is the responsibility of those of us who both understand technology and are capable of communication to meet those who are willing to learn halfway. We need to meet them in the middle, and educate them in the technology and the terminology, so that they no longer see "techno-jargon" as a thing to be feared and derided, but as the razor-precise and crystal clear terminology that they really are.

Techno-jargon is precise because it needs to be, much in the same way scientific jargon is precise, because it needs to be, and because there exists no simpler way of outlining the concept without resorting to a flood, an ocean of words.

We need to offer that flood to those who ask, and help them to understand. Otherwise we, as a community bound by common knowledge, have failed in the goal that all technology shares: to increase knowledge and understanding, to make the world a better place.

[NOTE] This is a pretty good indicator of how thoughts process through my brain, in case anyone was keeping track.

I would like to state, conclusively and for the record, that there are few things in this world that I despise more than arm and shoulder work.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to violate decency and Texan Community Standards with my Range Murata artbook.