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exFA

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  1. True enough, but given the type of school I went to (art school) where they basically gave us some space, a jerry can of gas, and some matches, that's exactly what I'd advocate. Then again, my world view is that creativity and innovation (with a dose of common sense) is the end goal, and everything else is secondary. That being said, real innovation is rare, and there's a genius in borrowing or being inspired, as someone like Jobs would bluntly put it. Your circumstance wasn't that unique from my perspective as I've run into dozens of kids guys like you -- young, lots of options, a good enough job, etc. But many times you see that squandered on video games, drugs and surfing for free pr0n. You had drive and passion long before I ever met you, and though it didn't seem like it in the early days, I really respected that. The general knowledge you speak of doesn't necessarily come with education, but from curiosity more than anything. Millions of kids go through the school system, and most I've met are pretty average or below that (which is sad), but I've also hung around with / met people that have had zero opportunity and zero options, and turned their lives or projects into something absolutely amazing. I'm not against school at all. I think it's a system that sort of works and as you point out, provides a reasonable foundation, but it's treated as a ends to means, versus a means to an end, and frankly, it's not that big of an achievement in my mind. It's a system you attend, you work through or you game through, but not an education unto itself. Combine it with someone with intellectual curiosity and drive however, and now you might have a dangerous combination. That 1/1000000 shot is true enough and the universe aligned for you. My point is (and why I even bothered to keep posting on this busy day, in the hopes this would be of value to someone) is you were always motivated, and frankly, most people with business degrees hang on that an awful lot (I'm generalizing of course, but it's fundamentally true in my experience -- maybe because it's all they have to hang on). As Woody Allen once said: "80% of success is showing up." -- call me jaded but most people don't bother showing up, and even when they do they don't bother doing anything great. So -- show up, and do something great?
  2. I remember having that discussion with Linus many years ago in my office. Of course it was my nefarious agenda to keep Linus chained to a desk and keep him producing something :ph34r: Rashdanmi is sort of right. There are many career paths that do absolutely require that piece of paper. Rocket scientists, brain surgeons, accountants, lawyers, technicians of some sort, etc. Most people I've met or hired though (and that's a fair number -- as Linus can tell you, I'm old) that aren't in those very specific vertical careers usually have diplomas or degrees that have little to do with what they end up doing, not surprisingly. Most successful business people I've met DON'T have business degrees as far as I can tell, but their underlings often do. I myself stay far away from MBAs when I'm at functions and events, since I'm always trying to recruit, but that's just me. ;) Actually, come to think of it, I know practically no "business people" with business degrees, or they just won't admit. :D The reality is, entrepreneurs gotta entrepreneur (as a verb). Linus for example was always full of piss and vinegar, always proposing something, pushing a new idea, or angle, and I was sometimes usually the bastard that said "NO". That being said, he often chose to do the right thing and as you guys see in his first video with the stuff he does now, keeps learning, refining and iterating. He was always busy, always pushed himself (and me) and always EXECUTED the best he could. Executed is an important word. I think I said something like this to Linus at some point "I have at least a few good ideas every morning while taking my crap morning constitution. Just getting ONE of them done this week or month is hard. Ideas are pretty useless unless you can deliver."
  3. Oh yeah - I do recall something like that did come out of my mouth. I was serious you know...
  4. Not much to tell. I walked up to Linus after watching his first video: "the video sucked, make it better!" and so he did :lol: then I said something like: "and you're on camera now. Lose the monobrow!" So a couple of days later his lovely girlfriend plucked it for him, and the rest is history. We don't see each other that often these days. Always good to hang with Linus. Plus he let's me steal his fries. :ph34r:
  5. Sigh... you totally left out the part where somebody **COUGH** made you pluck the monobrow... B)
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