The govemment is shut down, people can’t afford groceries, benefits are on hold, the military is not getting paid… and this asshole is building a $250 million baIIroom.
And it is “modernizing” things, too! Like every other asshole on this planet, Taco has learned that saying meaningless words like “modern” stops at least a certain set of people from asking more questions or having any more independent thoughts about the thing under discussion. I mean, because, gee, you don’t want to question something that is MODERN, now, do you?
Don’t think about it too hard [1], because: “modern”.
</Jedi mind trick>
I see this tactic employed on the job nearly every day - I work in tech, so the word “modern” is usually sprinkled in abundance all over completely bullshit and harebrained schemes, plots, claims and projects. Because so many vapid thinkers abound all throughout tech, and we have a steady influx of people that barely have any experience who now rely on Youtube influencers for their gurus, this tactic works a depressingly high amount of the time. Increasingly over time, tech operates more like the fashion industry (but instead of following whatever someone likes in NYC, London, Paris or Milan it’s about following whatever FAANG, or someone that supposedly works/worked at FAANG has said) than it does anything resembling real engineering… But I digress. :)
[1] I mean, definitely don’t think about how the term “ballroom” really invokes, for most people, maybe flappers in the 1920s, and that’s probably the most recent of references? 1700s Europe comes to mind…
I’ve seen things like “lightweight”, “robust”, “scalable” just kind of loosely applied to everything as well. These kinds of things are the purr words. Then the snarl words are applied to things you are trying to denigrate - for example, make sure you label something you don’t like “legacy” even if it’s still actively maintained and used by most everyone and is actually battle-tested.
Even better if you can say that some Youtube influencer with X amount of followers likes it…I swear, this industry has always been a bit susceptible to the new and the shiny, but because so many people are worried about being considered a “dinosaur” even if they are still in their early 20s, the amount of critical thought given to some highly impactful engineering (and also business) decisions seems to amount to little more than “so and so likes it”.
Don’t get me wrong, there was a bit of this even in the 90s where a certain type of engineer would always be looking to what Gates thought or whatever. But those kinds of engineers were often kind of mocked and thought as rather unserious. I’m not so sure the engineers that just look to what FAANG is doing/saying are mocked enough these days.
The govemment is shut down, people can’t afford groceries, benefits are on hold, the military is not getting paid… and this asshole is building a $250 million baIIroom.
A golden ballroom.
And it is “modernizing” things, too! Like every other asshole on this planet, Taco has learned that saying meaningless words like “modern” stops at least a certain set of people from asking more questions or having any more independent thoughts about the thing under discussion. I mean, because, gee, you don’t want to question something that is MODERN, now, do you?
Don’t think about it too hard [1], because: “modern”.
</Jedi mind trick>
I see this tactic employed on the job nearly every day - I work in tech, so the word “modern” is usually sprinkled in abundance all over completely bullshit and harebrained schemes, plots, claims and projects. Because so many vapid thinkers abound all throughout tech, and we have a steady influx of people that barely have any experience who now rely on Youtube influencers for their gurus, this tactic works a depressingly high amount of the time. Increasingly over time, tech operates more like the fashion industry (but instead of following whatever someone likes in NYC, London, Paris or Milan it’s about following whatever FAANG, or someone that supposedly works/worked at FAANG has said) than it does anything resembling real engineering… But I digress. :)
[1] I mean, definitely don’t think about how the term “ballroom” really invokes, for most people, maybe flappers in the 1920s, and that’s probably the most recent of references? 1700s Europe comes to mind…
I see many similar words used without evidence or justification.
Agile
Sustainable
Efficient
Future proof
You left out “AI” you silly goose
LOL, 100%.
I’ve seen things like “lightweight”, “robust”, “scalable” just kind of loosely applied to everything as well. These kinds of things are the purr words. Then the snarl words are applied to things you are trying to denigrate - for example, make sure you label something you don’t like “legacy” even if it’s still actively maintained and used by most everyone and is actually battle-tested.
Even better if you can say that some Youtube influencer with X amount of followers likes it…I swear, this industry has always been a bit susceptible to the new and the shiny, but because so many people are worried about being considered a “dinosaur” even if they are still in their early 20s, the amount of critical thought given to some highly impactful engineering (and also business) decisions seems to amount to little more than “so and so likes it”.
Don’t get me wrong, there was a bit of this even in the 90s where a certain type of engineer would always be looking to what Gates thought or whatever. But those kinds of engineers were often kind of mocked and thought as rather unserious. I’m not so sure the engineers that just look to what FAANG is doing/saying are mocked enough these days.
That’s so well put. I’m thinking of finishing my electrical engineering degree just so I can get out of the increasingly strange web app industry
It’s up to $300M last I saw.
Is Metrolinx building this ballroom?
Nah I’m sure this will get finished
He can we know the cost when there are no plans?
Concept of a plan?