tkusak's blog

  I have done a complete 180 on Paul Graham. After reading the first set of essays written by him, particularly “Why Nerds Are Unpopular,” I got the impression that he was the type of person to blame everyone except himself when misfortune strikes. After reading “How to Make Wealth,” I have to step back and apologize for my misjudgement.  I used to think the quote “hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard,” was a cliche, but as I’ve progressed throughout my life, meeting various groups of individuals in different settings and organizations, I have begun to see the validity in the adage. So much so, that I believe “hard-working-ness” is the most valuable trait someone can possess (if we are looking at succeeding financially, politically, educationally, etc. If we are talking about the most important trait in general, I would argue kindness, but that’s a different story). I am a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell, as I believe his books, essays, podcasts, and other publishings tel

  I really enjoyed the core messages of the essays for Writing 05. While I still get the sense that Paul Graham has a chip on his shoulder, at least in these essays he did make sweeping statements attacking the pillars of American society. Instead, he picked a topic he has a lot of experience in, and gave his personal opinion on it (which ironically, is the message he is trying to convey).  I do not know if I am qualified to truly judge most of the content from this week’s reading, considering: I have only really coded in mainstream languages (Python, Java, C#, C) Have little experience working in a start-up environment So take whatever I say with a grain of salt.  I’ll start by saying I really appreciated the message of “Beating the Averages.” A lot of what he said was common sense, but it needed to be said. The message of it “being a mistake to program in anything but the most powerful language” is inherently true, but I think a lot of people look past it. If you want to be a dis