[Ibon]

I'm reading again after 25 years the famous book, Stranger in a strange land. There was a quote today in the book that was very amusing:

Heinlein Wrote$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')"Remind me to write an article on the compulsive reading of the news. The theme will be that most neuroses can be traced to the unhealthy habit of wallowing in the troubles of five billion strangers."

[SoothSayer]

Too right. You can have too much of a good (?) thing!

Summer has just arrived here, so I'm about to buy a bike.

Hopefully that will reduce my forum activity!

[benzoil]

There's a lot of wisdom nuggets in Heinlein's writings. Check out my signature for one. The problem is this (obsessive news reading) is the best crystal ball we have. Everyone on this site has two burning questions they dearly want answered:

When?

How bad?

Everyone wades into P.O. a little too deep at first it seems. All those people reporting depression and stress as a result of first contact are the proof. After awhile the anxiety levels off and people realize that the world won't end tomorrow. Still, that nagging feeling won't go away and sooner or later we're all back at peakoil.com for an update.

I've always found that the best antidote for chronic situation overload was having a plan. Take a walk in the woods for a few days and make your plan. I came up with mine while jogging. Once I had a plan I felt a lot better about P.O. Then all I had to worry about was how much time I had to implement it. If I only knew when or how bad then I could...

[gnm]

Great book great author... But maybe not the most apropro quote since the problems of peak oil are now and will forever directly affect my livelihood and future. So its not just the problems of 5 million strangers... Its my problem too. I feel it everytime I buy gas..

-G

[KhanCEO]

After reading many books about peak oil, watching a video with Albert Bartlett explaining growth and visiting this site over the last 8 months. I find this problem hard to ignore, 6.5 billion people and fossil fuels wont be around for very long. Im at the point now where I'm not going to tell anyone esle about this problem because everyone looks at me like I'm nuts. I'm focusing on myself and trying to stay sane. Walking away from this site for a few days will do some good, but when your away from the site and begin to talk to people you will find out how little everyone else knows about Peak Oil along with mainstream media and our government failing to warn us.

[Wednesday]

Heinlein, Herbert and Gibson are my favorites.

I think that most of us grew up envisioning a high tech, outer space future, but I'm thinking we have blown our chance for space...maybe forever.

[Kingcoal]

Most of those 5 million don't Grok PO.

[benzoil]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Kingcoal', 'M')ost of those 5 million don't Grok PO.

[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Kingcoal', 'M')ost of those 5 million don't Grok PO.

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ibon', 'T')hey will Grok it eventually though when they have no choice.

[SoothSayer]

Often when I interview software engineers I ask them:

"Do you grok grok?"

[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', '
')Yes, we're a bunch of doomers, and yes, we have to be subtle and "diplomatic" when we talk of Peak Oil with most people, but I would much prefer to be doomerish and realistic than cornucopian and clueless.

I think I'm mentally ready for what is coming. I'm psychologically prepared for the worst, and resigned to making whatever changes I'll have to make, and I thank this site for that.

[AmericanEmpire]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'b')ut I would much prefer to be doomerish and realistic than cornucopian and clueless.

[lateStarter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SoothSayer', 'O')ften when I interview software engineers I ask them:

"Do you grok grok?"

[SoothSayer]

>> And it is exactly at that moment where I would walk out the door.

Fine. The interview would then have fulfilled its purpose 100%.

I used to invite maybe eight to interview from 200 CVs/resumes.

Three would simply walk out during the interview, I would reject three more and make offers to the remaining two.

Only one of the two would usually accept because the other would have been made a better offer elsewhere ... despite the high salaries etc we were offering.

You recruit based on good skills AND for a good fit into the corporate culture. If "grokking grok" and "passing" similar questions is a cultural requirement then so be it.

In other corporations it might have been a psychometric test.

The corporation and the interviewers "own" the interview process so they can use any recruitment method they like.

[lateStarter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SoothSayer', '[')b]>> And it is exactly at that moment where I would walk out the door.

Fine. The interview would then have fulfilled its purpose 100%.

I used to invite maybe eight to interview from 200 CVs/resumes.

Three would simply walk out during the interview, I would reject three more and make offers to the remaining two.

Only one of the two would usually accept because the other would have been made a better offer elsewhere ... despite the high salaries etc we were offering.

You recruit based on good skills AND for a good fit into the corporate culture. If "grokking grok" and "passing" similar questions is a cultural requirement then so be it.

In other corporations it might have been a psychometric test.

The corporation and the interviewers "own" the interview process so they can use any recruitment method they like.

[SoothSayer]

You are 100% correct. The interviewers do 'own' the process. That doesn't make it correct or useful. I have on occasion walked out out on an interview in the past, not because I couldn't answer the question or supply the right answer, but because I knew in my heart, that if they had to ask such a question, I would not want to work for such an organization. They were just following a script...

Exactly! That's the point of the "silly" questions! If they strike you as "silly" rather than "acceptable" or "amusing" then you shouldn't take the job! (BTW it was NOT a script ... we were VERY thorough interviewers. We worked a lot with Microsoft who said that they were one of the few software teams that they had met that worked & thought like them. A compliment in my book.)

I personally was always more interested in hiring people that were passionate about what they were doing as opposed to being able to answer 'trivial pursuit' type questions. I really didn't care if they knew everything as long as they knew how to find the answer and were motivated enough to do so...

Correct! This was also part of the "cultural" interviews that I did.

I think that we are agreeing on this ...

[Kingcoal]

My response to whether I grok grok is that I do and I am working on groking the grok-grok.

[SoothSayer]

>> My response to whether I grok grok is that I do and I am working on groking the grok-grok.

You're hired!

[Kingcoal]

By the way, I am a software engineer!