What is your speciality?

Yes, that makes sense even to me having seen real forensic officers here in London who wear white paper suits and masks as opposed to a nice Armani and matching latex gloves I guessed the show was not accurately depicting reality. Are any of the technologies used based on anything real do you know? Some seem a little far fetched. I do not know if you watch much TV? I was wondering what you could watch for accurate depiction of law enforcement that would not have you shouting at the box? Thank you!
A lot of the technology and techniques, at least in the first several seasons (I haven't watched the last few) were real, if cutting edge and not commonly available. And, of course, everything always works out for them... In the real world, you don't get nearly as many good latent fingerprints, and when you do, they often don't get a hit within the systems...
 
Sweet! One of my first cars was a 1946 Willys CJ2A. I wish I still had it, but I want an early CJ5. I want to pick your brain about that sometime. I've got a local friend who's an expert on Jeep Commandos, but I'm not so much into those; I love the CJ and Wagoneers.
I currently drive a 79 Cherokee Chief and am working on a CJ-5 right now. Ive had a commando once as well. I just couldnt get past the front end I had to get rid of it.
 
@Bill Mattocks, having little knowledge of most of those endeavours there are a lot of questions I would like to ask like how did you get set up with the internet before there was widespread adopting, did you make your own hardware and write your own software or could these things be hunted out? I mean you could not go on the internet and buy modems and things since there was no internet. I think we take the internet very much for granted. I cannot imagine how it was before that. And what kind of BBS did you run? And what is your IQ. I used to be in Mensa though I did not like the fervency with which they hunted out their prodigies. And did you really sell weapons from your home? Did you have an inventory at your home or did you deal from a shed? How did that work and was it dangerous or risky? Anyway thank you, I think I am being impertinent by asking too much. I appreciate your time.

Good questions! Let me try to answer in order.

BBS: I bought my first 'real' computer with student loan money (hey, I used it for for school, right?) in 1988. (I had taken a break in my college career between 1979 and 1985, little thing called the military intervened). The computer was a "Leading Edge" 286 that cost me something like $2,400; it ran MS-DOS. I was living in Denver at the time; there was a local 'zine called "Boardwatch," put out by Jack Rickard, which listed all the computer Bulletin Board Systems in the area. I went to the local computer shop and bought a 2400 bps modem, got a second phone line for our apartment (I had also just gotten married at the time, didn't last), and started getting involved in online discussion forums. Know what? They were just like this, only without graphics (we used ASCII art, some people were quite good at it)!

Then I decided to set up my own BBS. I called it "The Pscylone" and I called myself "Mister Zen" (or in ASCII, ===[---Mister-Zen--- ). LOL! It was a discussion forum with a file download area. I ran The Major BBS software, it was free. I didn't do much programming, it was mostly configuration. I did get stuck into to a lot of batch file scripting, for ZMODEM and various transfer protocols, and I had some correspondence with Phil Katz with reference to the now ubiquitous PKZIP compression software.

I became a node on FidoNet and started doing bucket-brigade discussion forum transmission - it let different BBS' exchange public (and private - the first email outside of universities) messages in an overnight distributed way.

I then bought an old AT&T 3B2 computer from Johns Hopkins that had a dozen or so serial ports on it - it was a 'midi' computer that ran System 7 UNIX. I bought several more modems, got a few more phone lines, and wrote my own BBS software, so I was the first multi-line BBS in Denver (there were a couple two-line BBS', but they had to use DesqView or other multi-tasking time-splitting OS add-ons to get it to work, mine was multi-user natively). I didn't actually write a lot of code; UNIX had built in email and public discussion forum software, I just wrote shell scripts (and taught myself UNIX) to make the login shell for users coming in on TTY my script, which gave them the ability to use those tools from a menu I wrote; it looked and felt like a BBS to them; a bit less graphical, but multi-user; I had the first-ever 'live chat' BBS software ('talk' in UNIX). Seriously, I was using ancient technology (for UNIX) but I was way ahead of the curve in BBS stuff.

I moved from a job programming (in BBX BASIC, right out of college) to a job selling computers in a retail store (and I was damned good at it, taught myself how to read and bid on federal contracts, sold a lot of computers that way). This also gave me access to cheap prices on computer equipment, which helped a lot with my hobby. My marriage ended about this time; I suppose it had a lot to do with my obsession with computers.

I started to going to Boardwatch conventions, which eventually morphed into ISPCons, (Internet Service Providers) and from there, once the Internet started happening, the BBS world started dying.

I got my first Internet account via free dialup to Nyx, a service provided by Denver University Math Lab. It was great! I was able to use UNIX tools like telnet, ftp, archie, gopher, and so on to travel around the world from university to university; I felt like an explorer. This was heady stuff back in the day, know that I was sitting in Denver typing, and some computer in Canberra, Australia was doing something in response to my commands. I got on UseNet. This is my first-ever UseNet post via FidoNet gateway:

http://groups.google.com/group/misc.forsale/msg/c5d9af774c01904e?dmode=source

Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!sunic!uupsi!cmcl2!rutgers!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ub!boulder!pikes!mercury.cair.du.edu!mnemosyne.cs.du.edu!isis!scicom!idic!p0.f429.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG!William.Mattocks
From: [email protected] (William Mattocks)
Newsgroups: misc.forsale
Subject: test
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: 23 Nov 90 18:12:00 GMT
Sender: [email protected] (newsout1.26)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:104/429.0 - WestWind BBS, Denver CO
Lines: 9
Posted: Fri Nov 23 19:12:00 1990

test

--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
IDIC Fan Group | Net 104 UFGate: 1:104/2@FidoNet
8805 E 12th Av #311 |
Denver, CO 80220 |
(303)329-8136 (data) |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is my first-ever Usenet post via Nyx, the DU service:

http://groups.google.com/group/misc...6a28dbae3b?q="bill+mattocks"#97d19d6a28dbae3b

Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!isis!wmattock
From: [email protected] (Madoc)
Newsgroups: misc.forsale.computers
Subject: Tandy Model 100 laptop w/extras - $300o.b.o.
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: 4 Mar 91 23:30:03 GMT
Organization: Nyx -- Public access Unix, U. of Denver, dept. of Math/CS
Lines: 27



TANDY MODEL 100 WITH EXTRAS FOR SALE!
-------------------------------------

Tandy Model 100 laptop, perfect operating condition. Includes manuals, a
book or two on the Model 100, a carrying case, AC adaptor, NiCad batteries,
and LapLink II (cable, software, and manual) to transfer your files to or
from an IBM-compatible PC/XT/AT/386/486. This thing is great for taking
notes in class or at meetings. I've also got literature from the Model 100
club out in San Francisco, which still sells lots of upgrades (ROM and
software) for this unit. Radio Shack still supports this model also, as the
newer Model 102 is not much more than a "thinner" Model 100.

This computer works great, has 32K RAM installed, includes ROM-based:
BASIC, an editor, and a comm program; built-in 300 baud modem, RS-232
serial port (the comm program will handle external modems faster than
300bps), and parallel port with special ribbon printer cable.

All for $300/highest offer. I will pay UPS insured shipping in CONUS, will
negotiate shipping outside of US mainland.



Thanks,

Bill Mattocks

I used that early laptop to take notes in college, BTW. Again, I was an early adopter; and it worked great, I got fantastic grades because I could type faster than I could write longhand. I put tiny rubber bands around each of the keys (the kind people used to use for dental braces) to keep the keyboard quiet when I typed. I should have patented that; I started a trend.

I moved to Wisconsin, got a job in Northbrook, Illinois, doing tech support for a company that wrote an accounting package aimed at purified water dealers. I had the idea to and helped them set up a 64-line BBS for dealers across the country to stay in touch with each other and exchange financials with the parent company on, using the first multi-line BBS software written in Assembler (tBBS, by eSoft), which made the company a lot of money. Yay me. I also opened a used-computer store in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and set up another BBS there. I tried to sell used computers, didn't work that well. However, I did partner with a friend who set up the first ISP in Kenosha, which he later sold. He's a famous science-fiction writer now, still lives in Kenosha. I taught one of my nephews how to build a PC, he took to it like a duck takes to water and later wrote me a nice letter as a young adult, telling me how much impact I had had on his life; I was touched. Sometimes you don't know how the little things you do will affect others for a very long time.

IQ: Never been measured. My 'GT' score in the Marines was 126; high but not scary high. Frankly, though, I'm off the charts and I know it. I have met a few - very few - people in my life whom I knew were smarter than I was; but it's a good yardstick for me. I never took the SAT or ACT tests; I just started going to college when I was in High School as part of a state program in Colorado, and after that, I was a transfer student, so didn't need to take them. It's maybe not so much that I'm 'smarter' than other people, but that I think very differently. I come at problems from angles people have trouble following; but I get results. I'm an autodidact; I learn everything, I'm largely self-taught, and I find everything fascinating.

FFL: Back then (1986/97) it was easy. I was living in Omaha at the time. I just applied by mail, gave my hours as 'by appointment only' on the application form. Paid my fee, they sent me my FFL. It's not done that way anymore, you have to have a storefront and regular hours. I only did business part-time; I had a full time job working for the newspaper and a part time job clerking at a drive-through liquor store. Background checks were not required for purchases, only the FFL "I am not a crook or an addict" affidavit, which I had to keep on file when I sold a weapon. I did not have any inventory; I just bought through Shotgun News dealers using my FFL to have the weapons shipped to my house, and then sold it. I did not buy until I had an order placed; I charged 10% markup. I mainly did it so I could buy the weapons I wanted wholesale; mostly surplus WWII weapons. I gave up my license when it expired; by that time I had moved back to Denver and could not use it anymore anyway.

So there you go.
 
A lot of the technology and techniques, at least in the first several seasons (I haven't watched the last few) were real, if cutting edge and not commonly available. And, of course, everything always works out for them... In the real world, you don't get nearly as many good latent fingerprints, and when you do, they often don't get a hit within the systems...

And what's more important than almost anything else and is always missing from the TV shows? CHAIN OF CUSTODY! And where oh where is the EVIDENCE CUSTODIAN? In my experience, that's the stuff that gets challenged in court. And from what little I saw of "CSI" stuff, the techs mostly consisted of putting thing in envelopes and marking them for specific lab tests and sending them off to be tested, then getting back the results and informing the primary investigator of the results; oh, and maintaining complete chain of custody. Where I worked, the 'lab' did simple stuff; everything else was done at a variety of private or state-run labs that you mailed your stuff to.
 
@ballen0351, I think your proficiencies define you as an expert, no? I think some areas have their own scale and others do not. To me you are expert, to your seniors perhaps you are not as expert as them, you may still be regarded as expert nonetheless. And but I will not ask about your undercover work as I am sure it is sensitive. Can I ask because you mention uniform, do you work for a particular branch of law enforcement or do you work independently? Is it ok to ask, do you receive debriefing counselling when you exit undercover work or is the work you do not at that depth? I appreciate you taking the time to put this down, thank you. And you are an expert at growing a beard? And do you plan to remove it that you are wondering of your class reaction? Do you think your chin will still be there underneath? :) I used to love old Jeep and really any old vehicle. Working on those is far purer than dialling numbers on laptops! A wholesome activity, do you have any before/after shots, I love looking at those :) Thank you for sharing.
The courts say Im an expert but I still dont think I know as much. Ive been to classes with guys that went deep undercover with like the Mob and international drug cartels and things to me they are the experts. Ive mostly done local stuff street lvl narcotic and gun buys Ive done a few bigger buys but nothing compared to the real experts. Ive sold a little bit of fake stuff for buy-bust operations. That to me was always more fun because I dont do it as much.
As for my work I work for a local municipality. Im currently assigned to a Narcotics task force made up of state local and federal officers. At the end of the month Ill be puting my uniform back on and will be confinded back within my jurisdiction.
I love my beard Ill be sad to see it go. I hate shaving and have loved not needing to do so. Like I said Ive not touched a razor in over 3 years. My son is only 2 so Im worried he will not know who I am when I shave.
Ill need to dig up some before and after jeep pics alot of them really dont look much different Im more into rock climbing and things so alot of the work I do is upgrading internal parts like axels, transfer cases, roll cages ect. I do a little body work here and there and some paint but Im more into making them off road worthy then parade ready. But the Current CJ5 Im working on I plan to make nicer and make a beach cruser and nice weather day vehicle.
 
No expert in much of anything over here. I think I'm pretty good at joint locks and wrist grab escapes. Some people say I write pretty well, I understand concrete thinkers pretty well and seem to have a knack for solving problems.

Like Makalakumu, I've not striven for that but to learn at the opportunity and as many different things as I can realistically absorb in a jack of all trades fashion.
 
Not an expert on anything, really. I'm a relative noob to martial arts, training in MA for about 8 years now. I have been at BJJ since 2006.

I know a little about a lot of things, as I'm curious by nature. I also know a lot about a few things. I manage a facility that specializes in distance learning. We do live training delivered via satellite. We also produce training videos and web based lessons. So, I know a lot about adult learning and instructional design. As the manager, I don't create a lot of the actual product anymore, but I try to take on a producer role when I can.

We specialize in management and leadership training along with systems training. So, we produce courses on soft skills like coaching and effective feedback, problem solving and LR/ER, along with hard skills, such as workload management and analysis. Systems training includes everything from how to organize your inbox in Outlook to using organizational specific workload tools. It's an interesting job that keeps me busy.

If anything, I guess I could claim expertise in those topics. Instructional design and adult learning theory in general, along with expertise in the subjects we teach.

I dye fabric and dabble with batik. I create web sites and enjoy blogging, but I'd say I'm not an expert. I've written a couple of screen plays, but I'm under no delusions of grandeur there, either. :)
 
@jks9199, yes, fingerprints always seemed either perfectly formed or easily assembled even from fragments of bullets embedded in brick walls? The little UV torches? with the screen that reveal blood and other things, they were real I think? Can I ask please is forensic work your area of expertise? Notwithstanding, thank you so much for shedding further light on this.

@Bill Mattocks, wow from reading that it seems you were almost a pioneer of the internet forums in a way. Ah ASCII art yes I have seen that. So that was because internet sites had no graphics? ah I understand. I absolutely love reading all that technical stuff though I absolutely do not understand it :) And Mister Zen was for discussing programming things then? And who were your patrons? And do you still keep in touch I wonder? And do you have an internet forum now still maybe? Though I am sorry that your marriage did not go well, I am sure that was a terrible upheaval. And but you mention that after starting up your BBS then you mention the internet started happening and BBS world died? Is the internet a separate entity that had a particular starting date? I do not understand how that works? Ha and your first-ever UseNet post via FidoNet gateway is such a cliche! :D j/k And your keyboard idea with rubber bands is very innovative. It must have been a quiet class though! :) I really like the story of your nephew and his first PC. And your IQ well that is one of those things that some people like to argue over. I really like Gardner's multiple intelligences idea. I think that is a good mark of what is the full nature of intelligence. I had my IQ tested when I left school having made a not inconsiderable mess of everything and being convinced of my own stupidity :) And the idea of selling weapons legally out of your home is truly rock n roll though I appreciate it carries a terrible responsibility and gravity, still, that is too cool. And can one still do this now or maybe the law has changed in some way? And but yes, thank you so much for sharing that. Do not worry over replying if I am asking too many questions. It is all fascinating to learn, thank you!


@ballen0351, Oh goodness, the mafia? that kind of undercover depth sounds more than a little hazardous I imagine. Well I would not debate expertise, all I know is that your level of proficiency sounds considerable from here! :) And I hope that wearing your uniform is a good thing in its way. As someone said, it is nice to get what we want and but true contentedness is in determining how to want what we get. And oh perhaps you might show your son the process of shaving and witnessing the change in you for himself then the shock of you suddenly appearing will not be such an ordeal. A colleague of mine did exactly the same thing. He was more of a biker type and had what I would have called a biker beard if you know what I mean by that. He cut his beard in stages so he would not frighten his little one. And yours he is only 2 and but he will understand what he can see I am certain :) I wish you well with that. And you do lots of heavy work on your jeep, that is excellent, you must have a good deal of expertise for sure if you are fettling with transmission parts! that is no small matter nor is welding cages on properly! I like the original Land Rovers too which are similar to the CJ5 in layout. Go anywhere utility machines. I like that. Put a snorkel on the air intake and they will practically submerge happily too! :) I am grateful to be able to read these things, thank you very much.
 
@Bill Mattocks, wow from reading that it seems you were almost a pioneer of the internet forums in a way. Ah ASCII art yes I have seen that. So that was because internet sites had no graphics? ah I understand. I absolutely love reading all that technical stuff though I absolutely do not understand it :) And Mister Zen was for discussing programming things then? And who were your patrons? And do you still keep in touch I wonder? And do you have an internet forum now still maybe? Though I am sorry that your marriage did not go well, I am sure that was a terrible upheaval. And but you mention that after starting up your BBS then you mention the internet started happening and BBS world died? Is the internet a separate entity that had a particular starting date? I do not understand how that works? Ha and your first-ever UseNet post via FidoNet gateway is such a cliche! :D j/k And your keyboard idea with rubber bands is very innovative. It must have been a quiet class though! :) I really like the story of your nephew and his first PC. And your IQ well that is one of those things that some people like to argue over. I really like Gardner's multiple intelligences idea. I think that is a good mark of what is the full nature of intelligence. I had my IQ tested when I left school having made a not inconsiderable mess of everything and being convinced of my own stupidity :) And the idea of selling weapons legally out of your home is truly rock n roll though I appreciate it carries a terrible responsibility and gravity, still, that is too cool. And can one still do this now or maybe the law has changed in some way? And but yes, thank you so much for sharing that. Do not worry over replying if I am asking too many questions. It is all fascinating to learn, thank you!

I believe the first-ever BBS dates back to 1985. I started mine in 1987 or 1988, as I recall. At the time, I was 'late to the party', but looking back, it seems I was 'present at the creation'. I was not a pioneer, but I was only a few years behind those guys.

My BBS was for general BS'ing, with lots of individual forums on it, just like MT and many other modern discussion forums. Politics, religion, and so on. And I can program, and I've worked as a programmer, but I am generally much more of a person who takes existing technology and does things with it than one who writes the code. I do scripts and things; I 'glue' existing technology together to make it do stuff I want it to do.

Yes, the BBS world started dying as soon as the World-Wide-Web (as it was called then) was added to the existing framework of the Internet. Once people could visit a 'website' then everything changed. Until the web, no one saw any commercial use for the Internet; there was even a lot of discussion over whether or not commercial ventures would be allowed on the Internet at all. Until the web, the Internet was for nerds and geeks.

The funny thing was that when I was running a BBS and I got my first Internet account, I could see where it was going. I had been a fan of Samizdat or "Zine" culture for a long time; I was an inveterate reader of Factsheet Five and I could see that the Internet was going to blow up big. I saw it coming, I predicted it, I was told I was wrong by EVERYBODY. Hah. I was right; I'm always right about stuff like that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samizdat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factsheet_Five

I had no idea how big it would become, and I didn't anticipate the WWW, but I knew it was going to blow the BBS culture away. I used to refer to the Internet as "Democracy in a box," because, like underground printing with Xerox machines, once people got the Internet, freedom was going to happen everywhere, sooner or later. It's a revolution that is still happening. People thought I was nuts, even my best friends told me the Internet was a fad that would pass in time. Uh huh.

As to FFL licenses, yes, the law has changed. No more part-time dealers, no more non-storefront locations. Only 'legitimate' businesses now (like part-time isn't legitimate, but that's what they call it).
 
No expert in much of anything over here.
Do you think maybe that is only the case when you judge against the standard of others? I know you have expertise in MANY things you do not give yourself adequate credit for, yes I would bet that to be true several times over :) I would really like to hear of those. I think I have worded the OP badly. I think I am expert in things that greater experts doubtless would not. Is that naive do you think?

I think I'm pretty good at joint locks and wrist grab escapes. Some people say I write pretty well, I understand concrete thinkers pretty well and seem to have a knack for solving problems.
And can I ask what you write? And are you published online or in print that some people have been able to read and give you their opinion? I can imagine your proficiency in that field. I think problem solving requires expertise in a number of areas not least adaptability and novel thinking. Thank you for sharing these things, I am grateful to you!

Like Makalakumu, I've not striven for that but to learn at the opportunity and as many different things as I can realistically absorb in a jack of all trades fashion.
I think time and other things do step in to stop us from becoming "the world's best" at whatever. Still there can only be one world's best and everyone else after has simply a differing level of expertise I think :)



Not an expert on anything, really. I'm a relative noob to martial arts, training in MA for about 8 years now. I have been at BJJ since 2006.

I know a little about a lot of things, as I'm curious by nature. I also know a lot about a few things. I manage a facility that specializes in distance learning. We do live training delivered via satellite. We also produce training videos and web based lessons. So, I know a lot about adult learning and instructional design. As the manager, I don't create a lot of the actual product anymore, but I try to take on a producer role when I can.

We specialize in management and leadership training along with systems training. So, we produce courses on soft skills like coaching and effective feedback, problem solving and LR/ER, along with hard skills, such as workload management and analysis. Systems training includes everything from how to organize your inbox in Outlook to using organizational specific workload tools. It's an interesting job that keeps me busy.

If anything, I guess I could claim expertise in those topics. Instructional design and adult learning theory in general, along with expertise in the subjects we teach.

I dye fabric and dabble with batik. I create web sites and enjoy blogging, but I'd say I'm not an expert. I've written a couple of screen plays, but I'm under no delusions of grandeur there, either.
Steve, to your students you are an expert, no? If not what will be the marker or indicator of your expertise do you think?

And then as manager you are like a movie producer that oversees and organises? What makes a good manager do you think? And I like the abbreviation and technical stuff. I looked up LR/ER and that is related to HR maybe? :) I am glad you can see your expertise. Can I ask Steve if you could be expert in anything else that you currently do or do not do, what would that be? If you could liberate yourself to gain knowledge and experience what area would that be in?

And you are artistic too with the batik and when you say dabble do you produce items for yourself or your family? I see you in a custom dyed beachboy sarong!! And the writing too? Wow I did not realise you had completed screenplays. Original or translations from another source maybe? And can I ask then if you are under no illusions would that change if you gained interest in one of your screenplays from a television or movie studio? Or would you still see the work as you see it now? Thank you Steve for sharing this. I really enjoy reading and finding out not only of the huge wealth of cumulative experience and expertise and but also how people perceive that expertise. Thank you.



I believe the first-ever BBS dates back to 1985. I started mine in 1987 or 1988, as I recall. At the time, I was 'late to the party', but looking back, it seems I was 'present at the creation'. I was not a pioneer, but I was only a few years behind those guys.

My BBS was for general BS'ing, with lots of individual forums on it, just like MT and many other modern discussion forums. Politics, religion, and so on. And I can program, and I've worked as a programmer, but I am generally much more of a person who takes existing technology and does things with it than one who writes the code. I do scripts and things; I 'glue' existing technology together to make it do stuff I want it to do.

Yes, the BBS world started dying as soon as the World-Wide-Web (as it was called then) was added to the existing framework of the Internet. Once people could visit a 'website' then everything changed. Until the web, no one saw any commercial use for the Internet; there was even a lot of discussion over whether or not commercial ventures would be allowed on the Internet at all. Until the web, the Internet was for nerds and geeks.

The funny thing was that when I was running a BBS and I got my first Internet account, I could see where it was going. I had been a fan of Samizdat or "Zine" culture for a long time; I was an inveterate reader of Factsheet Five and I could see that the Internet was going to blow up big. I saw it coming, I predicted it, I was told I was wrong by EVERYBODY. Hah. I was right; I'm always right about stuff like that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samizdat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factsheet_Five

I had no idea how big it would become, and I didn't anticipate the WWW, but I knew it was going to blow the BBS culture away. I used to refer to the Internet as "Democracy in a box," because, like underground printing with Xerox machines, once people got the Internet, freedom was going to happen everywhere, sooner or later. It's a revolution that is still happening. People thought I was nuts, even my best friends told me the Internet was a fad that would pass in time. Uh huh.

As to FFL licenses, yes, the law has changed. No more part-time dealers, no more non-storefront locations. Only 'legitimate' businesses now (like part-time isn't legitimate, but that's what they call it).
So the networks that BBS ran on were not the same thing as the internet is that correct? At the beginning? At that point there was no worldwide web even on a smaller scale or was the worldwide web an actual "thing" that came after? Were there no opportunities to capitalise on the start of the internet? I should imagine you would be wealthy beyond wealth now. Or perhaps you are. And those fanzines were quite "underground" almost subversive in a way, no? And then law change means you cannot now deal weapons if you wanted to, perhaps regulation is the expedient way to handle the unscrupulous? There was something else I had wanted to ask you about, semiotics? I did not even know of such a definition around the concepts involved. It is quite a philosophical area with psychology and hard science also? Can I ask how you were introduced to this field? ANd where o you put your knowledge therein to best use or use most often? And so if you were to write an instruction/non-fiction book, on which of all these areas of expertise do you think you would feel most comfortable producing? Which would you feel most knowledgeable at producing and which would give you most enjoyment at producing? Are they all the same or different? Thank you again. This is very interesting. I am grateful.
 
Jenna said:
@elder999, do you think in MA we are conditioned to see ourselves as non-experts when most everyone else in our circles who do not practice MA to see us on the mats would differ in that opinion? Why is this? Your technical and work expertise sounds like the stuff of a John le Carre novel. I should like to know more as some things I am never certain if you are injecting levity as diffusing or diversion though I imagine to explain your trades and former career lives to a layperson like me would take more space than the forum could afford. I appreciate the brief synopsis though.

No-I think there are gradations in expertise, just as there are in everything else. It's easy to look like an expert from the outside-when I started in martial arts, a lot of the things I now do routinely, and think nothing of, looked like magic. As for my career-it's mostly pretty boring-not like a novel in any way. The difficulty about it is differentiating what I can talk about, especially in a forum like this, and what I shouldn't say a thing about.I can say I worked with tritium, and that I ran the Weapons Engineering Tritium Facility, and tritium is an isotope of hydrogen used in nuclear weapons. I can say somethings about what kind of work that was done at that facility-all of that is public knowledge, and I can say as much, but there are a host of other things related to that aspect of my career-a mere three years-that I can't say anything about, anywhere, ever.

Jenna said:
I think these activities are fascinating and I imagine your memoir would be significant.

Significantly boring. :lol:

Jenna said:
Gardening for food I appreciate. Do you have your own farm? I have window boxes, potato sacks and elevated beds lol as nobody has space in London, even the swinging cats.

More of a hobby farm-small vineyard, small orchard, heirloom corn and tomatoes.

Jenna said:
Everest? Do you look at it as being kept from the top or as practically summiting?

It was '96. I look at it as getting down alive.:lol:

Jenna said:
And I have other questions especially about your Lotus and but I will not take time just in case I am being impertinent. Thank you for sharing so kindly, I am grateful..

'67 Elan+2-major money pit I got a little obsessed with getting right. Wonderful car, but some lemons are just that....eventually sold it, but made no profit. Of course, if I'd kept it, there'd be a great deal of profit to make now......such is life....:lol:
 
@Flying Crane, Oh I love acronyms. I looked that up and now I know you are with the Professional Association of Diving Instructors! That is fantastic. I think diving is such a serene activity. And yes you are a swordsmith too? Do you think there is market in traditional skills such as these especially since we practice traditional arts? Are there many with such skills Michael? Again I wonder when you would feel expert? Thank you for taking the time to reply, I appreciate it.

Yup, PADI is the largest US based diving certification agency. I was the first level of instructor, and realized that the life of a diving instructor was gonna be pretty lean. So I stopped doing it altho it kept me in the Bahamas for a couple of months, back in the early 1990s.

I think there is a market for higher quality swords, but it is limited. And I am not a sword smith, I do not make blades (tho I would love to learn how to do that). I make hilts and scabbards, so it's woodwork and bronze casting for me.

there are some people turning out some outstanding work, and are doing it professionally. I'm just a tinkerer, to be honest. I've done a bunch, but my approach is a little different and it's a slow process and while I've sold a handful, I'm never gonna be able to quit my day job. It's fun and that's why I do it.
 
@Makalakumu, even if you have not striven to achieve it, might you be expert without acknowledging it?

One of the lessons I learned from martial arts is that a person can lose their grasp on reality when they start assigning themselves labels. The temptation to let the ego drive a person to greater and greater grandiosity has devalued the actual achievement of traditional markers for skill. Therefore, I've decided to eschew most of that in favor of letting others acknowledge my expertise. If I am an expert in an area, other people and my peers will recognize it.

Is it better to be expert in fewer areas or have proficiencies in more areas do you think? Is it possible to have both?

Yeah, it's possible to have both. I think that it's a matter of survival for myself. I want to have the kind of lifestyle that lets me adapt to changing situations and I want to develop real skill in certain realms. I approach new topics of learning with the idea that I always could expand my knowledge and skill in that area if I choose to do so.

Concurrency aside, your cumulative MA training must still have accounted for a sizeable whack of your time. Would you say your major expertise (I mean adeptness :)) was in the martial arts or elsewhere among your skills?

That's hard to say. For the first part of my life, I was definitely more interested in being outdoors and learning everything I could. It's one of the things that stimulated my interest in science. For the latter half of my life, I've definitely focus more on people and culture, and martial arts has been my vehicle of choice to explore these things...up to this point. Right now, I live in Hawaii, where the outdoor opportunities that I enjoyed living the on the mainland are very limited. I have an amazing opportunity to learn about people and Martial Arts here, though. Just about every art on the planet is practiced somewhere on this island. Oahu is called the Gathering Place for a reason.

Being a seasoned traveller, do you think it is possible that some are more inclined to life in wilderness even if born in a city? I have met rural and country folk in different places who had an incredible savvy that I always think is very metropolitan.

I grew up in the country. My family prized skills in hunting, fishing, and general outdoorsmanship. It's been the traditional way that talk about our manhood. For example, I have four brothers who I visit as frequently as I can. They tease me for living on the island and make sure to show me all of the pictures of their recent expeditions...and I usually shut them up by showing them something that I've done that's really exotic. We've always just drank beer and beat our chests while sharing pictures and stories of big fish and other tasty animals we've taken. That instinct runs so deep, it's always going to be part of my life.

Aside from the bragging and chest beating, there is a deeper side to my pursuits. I generally prefer wild and untouched areas because I feel more deeply connected then I do when around large groups of people. I go to refresh my spirit and center myself, getting in touch with who I am. I've always been a free-thinker and sometimes that becomes a physically lonely pursuit. Many would say that intentionally put myself physically and mentally in the weeds, constantly pushing the margins.

And can I ask what is the subject of your doctorate you are poking through?

This is a larger conversation that I have time to type right now. Essentially, I would like to reinvent school in order to create a system that draws out a students essence, rather then pours in what other people think that person should be. So, the subject is education.

And a calling to Patagonia? Does this suggest ancient ancestry or do you not believe in all that stuff? :) Thank you for taking the time to share, I am grateful.

I have taken all knowledge to be my province. Patagonia is an area that has remained profoundly unspoiled up to the point. I'd like to see it and live it with the people I love, perhaps passing on my love of wild places to my little ones.
 
The courts say Im an expert but I still dont think I know as much...
One expansion to help make this a little clearer to those not intimately familiar with the US court system. In a courtroom, a witness can generally only testify to things that they observed directly, and only to facts, like "I saw the man in the defendant's chair driving the car when it hit the other one." The primary exception to this is expert testimony. In that sense, an expert is someone who brings particular experience and training to the table that is beyond the normal range of experience. So, a crash reconstructionist might testify that "The car left 35 feet of skid marks. The minimum speed at the time the skid marks started was 27 mph" once their qualifications have been established, through voir dire which will include questions about training, experience, and just why the heck the court should take their word. So, I might qualify as a crash reconstruction expert, as a gang expert, or (and I want a prosecutor to work this one thanks to a dumb ruling a couple years ago!) as an expert on knives to establish that a folding tactical knife is indeed a weapon & not a tool (based on my 25+ years of martial arts training, including the use of tactical knives).
 
Steve, to your students you are an expert, no? If not what will be the marker or indicator of your expertise do you think?
Yes and no. I would say that I'm a very good presenter. Actually, as I think about it, I'd say that if I'm an expert on anything, it's in public speaking. I have over 10 years experience speaking to groups as large as 3,000 over several different mediums, from small groups to auditoriums to satellites. I have also put together seminars and facilitated training on different aspects of public speaking, including sessions on things like training, executive briefings, and conducting meetings.

But to answer your question, I am sometimes a subject expert. Other times, I facilitate training alongside a subject matter expert. So, in these situations, I will work with an expert to help them translate their expertise into English.
And then as manager you are like a movie producer that oversees and organises?
Manager like supervisor. I have several producers (really, instructional designers), along with a team of technicians who report to me. So, my job is to make sure that they're all moving in the same direction and to make sure that they have everything they need to get there.
What makes a good manager do you think?
That's a big question. I think that the very best managers are also effective leaders, mentors and coaches, and understand the difference between the three roles (four, really, because managing is another hat to wear).
And I like the abbreviation and technical stuff. I looked up LR/ER and that is related to HR maybe? :)
Yeah, sorry. That's a big part of what most managers do, particularly if you work with unions and a bargaining unit.
I am glad you can see your expertise. Can I ask Steve if you could be expert in anything else that you currently do or do not do, what would that be? If you could liberate yourself to gain knowledge and experience what area would that be in?
I don't know... I don't crave expertise. If there's something I'm interested in, I give it a go.


Sent using Tapatalk. Please ignore typos.
 
Ah so the CSI on TV is typically not accurately depicting that branch of law enforcement, I am grateful that you have explained that. It makes sense that the roles are necessarily specialised in the one area of expertise. Thank you. And I think Koine Greek is so beautiful to read in written form. I can muddle through reading in Greek and but do not know what I am saying :) know little in Greek except the Christian Lord's Prayer and which I know by heart in Greek as I was once advised that that was the original language from the verse in which that prayer appears. I do not know if that is true. Are there any grammatical or oral-spoken similarities between Vietnamese and Korean or is proficiency in one irrelevant to another? As for undergraduate degrees, I think the worth of something decreases as its rarity decreases and this is the cost of pushing everyone through university maybe? I hope you do finish your study though for you rather than for showing its worth to your granschildren. They will do well with or without a label after their names I know. Sorry for all the questions and but thank you again for your kind reply. It is a wonderful thing for me to have shared and learnt.

Well, the CSI question has already been answered. It is a TV drama. They do things for dramatic effect. If it is enjoyable to you, watch it and enjoy. And while some of what they claim to do is cutting edge, that is what forensics is about. Trying unusual things. I worked on a case once where we were disappointed to find what we thought were bloody footprints, were actually sock prints. The lab at my suggestion found a forensic anthropologist who specialized in human gait. I had read years before of work done in Nebraska on dinosaur gait by studying modern animals, to determine the speed of the dinosaurs. We wanted to identify a person from their gait. The anthropologist was able to do it. To my knowledge it had never been done before.

How wonderful you can read and understand Koine Greek. Some think the New Testament was indeed written in the Koine Greek, which was the most universal language of the day. Later Latin became that. As you probably know, there are lineages of New Testament Greek. That from Antioch and that from Alexandria. There is good evidence to support the Antioch is the more correct. There are some 5000 book, fragments, and references in sermons and other writings to support it. They all agree with each other in writings they are about. That is, those that purport to be the Gospel of John, as much of it as they contain, all agree. The Alexandrian is from two primary writings, which are purported to be ancient, but are much more modern in when they were found. One as late as the 1800s. They don't agree with each other in many things. I believe the Antioch version. It is the source of Greek for the King James Version. Not everyone, and not all churches agree with that. But it is refreshing that you have taken time to learn to read any of the Koine Greek. Don't give me too much credit. I have really just gotten started, but find it sort of fascinating.

Vietnamese and Korea are in two totally different language groups. Vietnamese is in the Chinese language group, and Viet Nam roughly translates into Southern People, having migrated out of southern China. The words are normally only one syllable long. They have tones as part of the word, so that the same combination of consonants and vowels, can be five different words in the southern dialect, or six in the Central and Northern dialects. The only time there is more than one syllable is when they have to combine words/syllables to make another meaning. As I recall, a ballpoint is man yon pil; a pencil that writes a thousand times. It is a distributive language. That is, sentence meaning is determined by the distribution of the words in the sentence. Subject, verb, object, and supporting modifiers. They have many classifiers, and they are often used as pronouns. They don't conjugate verbs.

Korean is in the Alto-Uraic language group, which includes Mongolian, Japanese, Turkish, and Finnish, as well as probably others I don't recall. It is an inflective language (as is Koine Greek) which means the subject and object are likely at the beginning, and the verb at the end (in Korean at least, not Koine Greek). At any rate, however it is done, the subject and object cannot be identified by their location in the sentence. They must be identified by endings or helper words, such as i, un, nun, ul, lul in Korean, or endings in the Greek. You may be familiar with John 1:1 (sorry, no Greek font, so phonetically), en arche ain ho logos kai ho logos ain pros ton Theon kai Theos ain ho logos hootos ain en arche pros ton Theon. The phrase kai Theos ain ho logos is translated 'and the Word was God' with Theos and ho logos telling us the meaning that we then have to translate into the way we speak English. Korean does the same, but the verb is always at the end of the sentence. Korean does conjugate verbs. BTW, you might enjoy learning John 1:1 in the Greek. It also is beautiful.

One way they are sometimes similar, is that due to the long period of being under China, Korean assimilated a lot of borrow words. When I studied Korean, I was amazed at the amount of words I learned which were similar to Vietnamese words I knew. Bank and Airplane and Airport are three. There are words for those both languages share from Chinese family meanings.

Now as I said, I am only now returning to Korean, and starting Koine Greek. So is somebody is fluent or even well studied in either and I have mis-stated something, please jump in and correct me.
 
I'm a retired Leo, but before that started - I took sports bets over the phone for a sub shop bookie.
I'll play anyone in the world Gin Rummy for money, but I'm the worst poker player that anyone's ever known.
I've been in the exercise field all my life, but love good cigars and fine wine.
I'm no expert in anything, except maybe contradiction.
 
Bill, your post was a real trip down memory lane. We had a couple of BBS in Seoul Korea around 1985/6. I don't recall exactly now. Based on what you are saying, it must have been 1986. I helped the owner with one, basically just making sure when he wasn't there that it stayed up or I restarted it. I remember the first 1200 modems. It was suddenly hard to read the screen as it scrolled, so different from the 300 modems where you could check spelling with your dictionary. lol

I once lusted for a 286. When I got my first PC, it was a 486 and I thought I was king. Why, the video board had a whole meg of memory. lol I studied Unix about 1991 or 92, and fell in love. I even bought my own PC version of Unix, a program called Coherent. Linux soon killed the commercial Unix programs for a PC. Before the PC, I had a Commodor 64, and had C and Cobol for that. Actually, for all that the Commodore 64 could do, its real thing was the incredible game programming the assembler programmers came up with, including using the eight sprites more than once per second, fooling the eye into thinking there were more than eight. Its sound chip joined right in for games. But Commodore seemed bad at marketing and finally went away.

I got tired enough with Windows slowness and poor security, that I loaded Ubuntu on the laptop I am using to write this.
 
There are a lot of talented folks on MT im starting to fell "Not worthy"

You shouldn't, there are people here, myself included, who couldn't do what you do. I help make a high tech comm system that hopefully gives folks out there in uniform a better chance of returning to their family in once piece, but that's not the same as actuall doing the work. :asian: Our LEADS (Law Enforcement and Defense Services) director recently put this quote in his signature at work:



It's not the bureaucrat,

it's the 'beat cop' who fights crime - get out there

and lead by example!
 

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