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So,
You assume that he knows what his audience knows... Without previous interactions?
I say this because as an intelligent person who understands complex topics, including some of the quantum mechanics, etc...
I can tell you that WITHOUT interrogating your audience, it is NEAR impossible to know what they understand on any given topic. To this day, I meet people who don't know what "Calculus" means (assuming it is math related, as opposed to the generic definition as used in the Calculus of Set Theory).
One of the proofs that a Generic Proofing Algorithm cannot be written literally says "Because either the machine will have to assume too little, and therefore cannot solve complex proofs over its horizon, or it will assume too much, and will get caught in loops that don't get to the solution"...
That sentence was garbled to me... And as a receiver of a message, I have a DUTY to let the sender know that it was not understood. Human interactions are full of this. Walk up to someone and start talking to them in a foreign language. You will instantly be greeted by visual clues that they don't understand.
Also, don't confuse genius in ANY ONE area with the ability to communicate effectively. They are two separate skills. You don't expect the worlds strongest man competitors to know Concentric Geometries, nor do you expect math geniuses to know the effects of carbohydrate starvation/loading on a body builders physique...
Finally, the adaptability of the English language, in particular, is such that any complex field develops it's own Jargon. Try asking someone who has barely used a computer if they know if that is a PC or a MAC and if it has a CD-ROM or USB boot option in the BIOS.
Then ask yourself how many of those "words" would have utterly confused Einstein himself?
therefore, he must not be a genius, or the inquisitor must not be intelligent?
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All very good points. This is about the self-styled Geniuses who say their thing and then say, "You see that I'm right about this? Of course, I have explained this thoroughly and clearly? Any idiot would understand what I'm saying because I've made it so plain? Everyone else will find it to be genius and clear and perfect and right so I'm sure you see it the same way, right?"
At this point the inquisitor has the choice to fight like crazy or nod her head, hum a little tune and go on her way.
And, because of history the inquisitor knows that even if she explains the challenges to the genius solution then the Genius will simple wave his hands and say, "no, no. that is not a problem at all. Anyone can see as plain as day that those things will never happen."
La-la-la-do-ti-do-la (nodding head, humming tune, walking away) 
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Let me offer you a better way to deal with the genius...
The Professorial Walk... (Using the old Socratic Method) of asking questions...
First, never think it bad to admit to ignorance (lack of knowledge due to lack of exposure), it differs greatly from stupidity (lack of ability to grasp when exposed to knowledge).
This is an approach:
Genius: So it is obvious that we must do X.
Me: What other things did you consider before you decided X?
...
Me: Who else was involved in that decision to pick X?
...
(let them build their case... It makes breaking their legs more effective later).
Me: I noticed you did not discuss Y as an approach, why not?
...
Me: So, are you admitting you did not talk to enough people THEN, or you want to ignore everyone else now that you made your mind up?
Leave the Genius alone. Attack his ideas. Attack his thought process. Attack the things he ignored. There is NO DECISION made that did not ignore some details.
Also, during this time, it is best to AGREE with the decision. Watch Columbo a few times. He agrees, and this disarms the bad guy... Then he asks the question the guy does not want to hear.
BTW, if you listen well enough to any "Genius" they will literally tell you what question they DONT want you to ask... Ask THAT question. And truly listen to what they cover up next. Ask THAT question...
As an example, I had more of an Idiot boss. We published code that broke the printing for all of our customers. It had to do with a driver difference, we fixed it in 4 hours! But the customer suffered 4-6 hours of issues. He kept demanding to know WHO caused the bug. As the manager, I said it is my team, it is my fault. Not good enough. Who? I asked why? so we can punish them? "No, No... So it does not happen again"... Then fine, blame me, I am already making sure it does not happen again.
He would not relent. I walked him into the Owners office, who proceeded to ask me "Why not disclose this?" I replied "Because this idiot will use it to punish the programmer, declare some management level BS and guarantee that because of this one mistake, we will cut our development speed to 10% of what it is today, so every programmer can avoid being called out".
He lied and said that was not the point at all.
The owner asked... Then why do you care who actually caused it?
The owner sided with me. This guy was gone within 6 months, and our software continued to make great strides. I would NEVER have let anyone know who caused this, because I AM RESPONSIBLE for the good and the bad, and protecting my team comes first. I would have lost my job GLADLY over it.
Find that ONE nugget that they really are trying to hide. He was trying to hide WHY he needed to know. These guys you mention are hiding their lack of knowledge, and from a management perspective, they are hiding the ACTUAL RISK of doing it X... Especially if X is leading edge.
If you can link X with something that failed in the past that management did not understand, but were CONVINCED by a genius they had to do... You can kill anything!
Good Luck!
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That is all fantastic. Great stories to back up the ideas too.
Thanks very much for sharing that.
Also I love the Socratic method and do use it though not as well as I hope to.
And props to you for being a true leader and standing up for your people and your process. It is a very rare thing out in in corporate-land. 
Thanks again.
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Thank you. I have paid some heavy prices in other situations, but the company was better for the decisions made.
I hope you can find something. And realize the point is NOT to win the day, and prove the Genius is peddling Snake Oil... the point is that you can freely admit ignorance, and appeal to the vanity of the Genius... to make him explain himself. Start small. Enough to engage and dig a little. Don't try to win, let him know you will ask questions...
Imagine some day management comes to you and asks you why you are questioning this... And you find out they have similar concerns but are told it's because they don't understand...
Good Luck!
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I do not understand your questions and remarks; it's completely clear ...
Of course he need his myxl trag plinklegop.
Because who don't want to onkatik shoosilfar?
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Funny you say that...
I talked to 2 customers who said they left the last company because the "plinklegop" was forced on them, and it never worked... They had to spend days reconciling their accounting, and started fearing Sarbanes-Oxley violations... But if MANAGEMENT is good with that risk... I say go for it!
LOL
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Surely you know I must agree with you . . .
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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You sure set yourself up there. 
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And it has been promoted to 'High-Reliability Processor'. 
Quote: For Use In Aerospace, Military, and Critical Industrial Equipment
Minimum Instruction Fetch-Execute Time of 4.5µs (Maximum Clock Frequency of 3.6MHz) at VDD = 5V, TA = +25°C
Operation Over the Full Military Temperature Range -55°C to +125°C
Any Combination of Standard RAM and ROM Up to 65,536 Bytes
8-Bit Parallel Organization With Bi-directional Data Bus and Multiplexed Address Bus
16x16 Matrix of Registers for Use as Multiple Program Counters, Data Pointers, or Data Registers
On-Chip DMA, Interrupt, and Flag Inputs
High Noise Immunity 30% of VDD
Pb-Free (RoHS compliant)
It's still available after 42 years.[^] Is there any CPU that has been around longer and also is still in production?
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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I did come across an old product of our that used a Z80 (surface mount type) and spent a little while (too long!) trying to work out a way I could reconfigure it as a Spectrum...I think the there versions of Processors around from when the earth was hot, due to the fact that they were bought by firms to 'a job' and they have kept with it...
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Well ... the Z80 project was started in 1974, with release in 1976, so it's pretty much the same age. And it's still available in the form of the eZ80 (binary compatible, but a lot faster and supports 24 bit addressing).
Damn good processor as well!
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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wow, 24 bit address range. First thought was that would have been good back then, but remembered even a massive 4k upgrade cost more than a few weeks wages.
(for the youngun's, back then wages were paid weekly and in real folding cash. the first $5 was spent filling up the petrol in the car, the next $5-10 stocking up beer for yerself and 'the boys' in the weekend..., times they were tough.)
This internet thing is amazing! Letting people use it: worst idea ever!
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Yeah, I'd have loved the amount of memory we get used to these days: my embedded stuff had at best a 64K bit EPROM - 8KB - and a couple of K of RAM if I was lucky! Assembler was the only way to go (compilers just weren't efficient enough) and we used loads of clever tricks to fit stuff in.
A 50MHz Z80 with 16MB of memory? My first PC didn't even come close to that! If I'd used the HDD I fitted as VM, I'd have had up to 32MB ... 
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I remember an ad in Byte magazine for a 64K S-100 bus RAM board. The price was $1,495.
Software Zen: delete this;
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CodeWraith wrote: Is there any CPU that has been around longer and also is still in production?
Brains - and the production methods for the platform have remained relatively the same as well.
Of late, however, I think I've observed a lapse in quality control - many seem to develop processing problems at an early stage in the product life cycle.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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The 8080 is still in production, and is a couple of years older. They're not produced in huge volumes, of course. But Lansdale Semiconductor still has quite a few 8080s listed on their website.
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Are hot beverages good for your tranquilitea?
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Yo brew! Dont forget black coffee.
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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Es-steamed college; although some poster may say you really brew it, this time, I pot it to you that it's no worse than expected.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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hot beverages? gotta feel sorry for you folks that have seasons - some of them cold.
here it's always warm, not choice, just gotta grin and ![Beer | [beer]](https://www.codeproject.com/script/Forums/Images/beer.gif) it.
This internet thing is amazing! Letting people use it: worst idea ever!
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The warm weather's nice - that's for sure. On the other hand, having a winter means we don't grow insects large enough to carry off our pets.
That, and the joys of a monsoon season are something worth missing, as well.
On the other hand, your garden must be awesome.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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monsoons not so bad. Instead of a European style day of slow constant rain I reckon it's better when it gets done in 15 minutes with a lively percussion & lighting show. On a good one even the parked car alarms like to join in. (But the humidity afterwards, now that takes a toll.)
This internet thing is amazing! Letting people use it: worst idea ever!
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