Q & A

[sergebroom]

"It's better to ask stupid questions than to make stupid assumptions."
- yours truly yesterday

Comments

[kouredios.livejournal.com]

Ooh...I think that's going up on the wall of my classroom.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

My plans to corrupt young American minds are even more successful than I had hoped. Bwahahahah!!!

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

That is a damn' good aphorism.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

It is a good aphorism! 'Whereby whole cities may avoid the plague.'

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

That good? Not only does it cure and/or prevent, but it also cures the scourge that is dandruff.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

Indeed!

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

That's a much better statement than the old "There are no stupid questions" (because the children catch on quickly to the truth that some questions truly are stupid).

Along those lines, I told my son that when people say "Don't get mad." they really mean "Don't let other people make you mad about stupid things." His response was "Well, why don't they say that?!?".

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

There are indeed truly stupid questions, and this by any standards. And there are cases where what one considers stupid, others consider reasonable questions. That's the attitude I have toward the users of our systems. I often tell them not to hesitate to ask me a question, if they're not sure of something. This is much better than their refraining from asking about this or that aspect of a project, with the result of everybody finding out at the last minute that all the work was based on faulty assumptions and the project is doooooomed and so are we unless we work 40 hours a day for the next week.

Besides, it makes people happier all around when they're not made to feel like idiots.

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

I like it when people ask questions of any kind, because -- as I make sure to tell them -- it indicates that they're thinking. It also tells me where my teaching/training is lacking, because it is my responsibility to convey the information to the student/technician/child.

Part of the problem is, in my very humble opinion, that the early school years teach people to have the answers. After all, answers == good grades and good grades == happy people. Once you reach a certain point in life, though, you're supposed to change from having answers to having questions. More questions (or better questions) == indicates thinking == indicates "smarter person" == gains more social status/power/gratitude of people who actually have to do the project/etc.

You see how it goes: the early indoctrination leaves too many people afraid to ask questions for fear of being called dumb, so the problems exist hidden until all heck breaks loose and everyone ends up looking dumb.

Or maybe not.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

Having the early years be the acquisition of facts makes a certain amount of sense, considering the limited number of years allocated to one's education. (Mind you, when we were in high-school, those few years looked like they'd never come to an end.) Unfortunately, even chemistry and physics classes wind up with the student's goal being a passing grade and too many people never get out of that mindset and stop learning when they enter the work force. It may not be the goal of education to teach you to learn. Still...

Come to think of it, my favorite teachers were those who made me want to learn.

[miltonthales.livejournal.com]

When I've been told to train people I've always said "the only stupid question is the unasked question." I don't know who I stole it from.

It makes sense to me, although Serge's is better.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I often tell people I work with is to never hesitate to ask me questions,if they're not sure of something. Heck, I like others to act that way if the roles are reversed, after all.

[tania-c.livejournal.com]

Brilliant! Inspired, insightful, and brilliant. Serge, you are, indeed, "The Man".

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

I am blushing.

(I knew it had been a wise decision to make you the sidekick of Serge "Gentleman Adventurer!" Lemagnifique.)

[sajia.livejournal.com]

Hey! I thought I was your sidekick!

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

There's no reason why Serge "Gentleman Adventurer!" Lemagnifique can't have two sidekicks. You'd work on alternate days, unless there is a task of such awesome peril that the two of you would be needed.

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

I volunteer to be the wise-cracking lab assistant who does all the work and gets no credit. ;-)

It's "Eye-gor".

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Ah, but Serge "Gentleman Adventurer!" Lemagnifique is a strong believer in giving credit where credit is due. Besides, someone has to build those wonderful devices that Serge "Gentleman Adventurer!" Lemagnifique uses in his perilous travails. That makes you "Q", not Eye-gor.

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

Hm. You have a point there. But be careful: it's an explosive point. Set the timer with two clicks of the pen and you've got 20 seconds to hide or run.

Over here we've got the pants that turn into jam -- tops for turning away shark attacks!

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Based on the gadgets you describe above, I wonder if you currently are the sidekick of Willie Wonka.

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

I take it you've never seen Eddie Izzard doing James Bond? You should watch some of his routines; he's highly educated and does comedy based on stream-of-consciousness, with basic routines and characters that cross from one topic to another. His routine on Hannibal crossing the Alps is classic, as is his "Cake or Death?".

Anyway, he talks about James Bond driving the wrong car (without the ejection seat) and wearing the wrong pants (not the shark repellant but the ones that turn into jam).

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

I'll have to go look for those on YouTube. I knew of Izzard, but not exactly what he's mostly known for. By the way, did you see him in the movie The Revenger's Tragedy? It's a Jacobean play that was moved to a future setting, the setting being a collapsing civilization in Liverpool. (Makes one understand why the Beatles became musicians.) As far as I can tell, they stuck to the original language. Great cast. Christopher Eccleston as the Revenger, Derek Jacobi as the nasty man who killed Eccleston's wife, and Izzard as one of Jacobi's not-nice-at-all sons.