For what it's worth...

[Laserman532]

Perhaps if he had TAKEN time...

His job was to learn, my job (among many) was to teach, you may argue that I (and others) failed. That's certainly one way to look at it.

Funny thing, he was given yet another chance as a laserist. (This was after I'd left the company.) He took the travel advance, but the day he was supposed to be in Tucson to do the load in - he called up and quit.

Do you suppose I just might have a greater insight into of what I lived through than you do?

Brian

Is there anything more dangerous than sympathetic understanding? - Picasso

Well not knowing the situation or the "real story"... is there a moral to this story? Or are you just venting.

If you have been in the industry long enough you have certainly figured out that it is full of its fair share of fruits, nuts & flakes...what all great breakfast cereals and most industries must have for it to be good.

[laserist]

Well not knowing the situation or the "real story"... is there a moral to this story? Or are you just venting.

If you have been in the industry long enough you have certainly figured out that it is full of its fair share of fruits, nuts & flakes...what all great breakfast cereals and most industries must have for it to be good.

There's certainly a degree of venting, but there's a moral there too. You see the problem with Avo is he didn't care. He may have wanted to be a laserist, but he sure wasn't going to work very hard at it.

Way back when, Sam McGee had a little mini-scanner in his office. I remember a party or something where Darryl was playing with it. Sam kept calling out, "Write that down!" He meant write down the frequency settings that produced the image. It became a joke that acknowledged among other things, "I'm not a laserist..."

So this is for the people calling out for the old guard to "write that down"...

[ElektroFreak]

Somewhere along the line you confused people looking for help with safety and certification with people looking to extract all of your life's experience. There's a bit of a difference between the two.

[Laserman532]

There's certainly a degree of venting, but there's a moral there too. You see the problem with Avo is he didn't care. He may have wanted to be a laserist, but he sure wasn't going to work very hard at it.

Way back when, Sam McGee had a little mini-scanner in his office. I remember a party or something where Darryl was playing with it. Sam kept calling out, "Write that down!" He meant write down the frequency settings that produced the image. It became a joke that acknowledged among other things, "I'm not a laserist..."

So this is for the people calling out for the old guard to "write that down"...

let it go man...just slowly push your chair back away from the keyboard...slowly now

[laserist]

Somewhere along the line you confused people looking for help with safety and certification with people looking to extract all of your life's experience. There's a bit of a difference between the two.

No, I drew a parallel between this joke of a laserist I once knew and people who don't know enough to ask meaningful questions. Someone once claimed that there are four plateaus to learning:

I. Unconscious Incompetence – when you don’t know you don’t know
II. Conscious Incompetence – when you know that you don’t know
III. Conscious Competence – when you know but have to think about it
IV. Unconscious Competence – when you don’t even have to think about it

I’d like to suggest another plateau, Blissful Incompetence – where you want somebody else to anticipate all your needs, and map things out so you don’t have to try and understand any more than the bare minimum you need to get by...

[laserist]

Boy, you sure do like throwing that "competence/incompetence" card don't you?

You know nothing about any of us, yet you're so comfortable with your own delusions of superiority that you feel like it's your god-given right to judge others.

I smell a troll.

It's funny, some people are so sure I'm talking about them, and abstract that badly into: that I'm talking about everyone. I'm not. There are certainly competent/helpful people here. And like everywhere, there are some lazy hacks that abuse those people's good will. I admit I haven't bothered to catalog each set - so, which set do you think you belong in?

Brian

[drlava]

Why are you guys being hard on laserist here - his story, whether a parable (as intended) or real account (as may be the case) and the lesson it carries is worthwhile and true. He's not saying you or everyone here is incompetent, but as the saying goes a little knowledge can be more dangerous than a lot, and that is certainly the case with lasers.
The fact that there aren't many really outstanding, committed laser artists isn't an insult to everyone else, but should allow one to appreciate them more.

Edit: it doesn't appear that there has been a formal introduction, but for what it's worth, welcome laserist, I'm glad you're here.

[ElektroFreak]

OK, sure.. why not. While I find the opening anecdote to be disgraceful in the worst way (keeping in mind that this thread seems to have stemmed from another), Andrew's always worth listening to from my experience, so I'll give the benefit of the doubt and assume that laserist here didn't post it to discourage new people that don't fit his opinion of "quality" or "intelligence" from learning about laser shows and how they're done. Just what were you trying to say laserist? Perhaps injecting a little clarity into your posts might help? It's all too easy to misunderstand someone on teh interwebz..

[laserist]

Why are you guys being hard on laserist here - his story, whether a parable (as intended) or real account (as may be the case) and the lesson it carries is worthwhile and true. He's not saying you or everyone here is incompetent, but as the saying goes a little knowledge can be more dangerous than a lot, and that is certainly the case with lasers.
The fact that there aren't many really outstanding, committed laser artists isn't an insult to everyone else, but should allow one to appreciate them more.

Edit: it doesn't appear that there has been a formal introduction, but for what it's worth, welcome laserist, I'm glad you're here.

What a great phrase, "...a little knowledge can be more dangerous than a lot...”

Thanks for the welcome... As for an intro, I’m a guy who paid his laser dues half a lifetime ago working for Laser Images (from ’79 to ‘84) as a laserist, in field service, production management, and special projects.

I’d love to tell you I made up that story, but it’s true. If I’d told the story where I took Avo into Studio B, pointed to 4 switches on a mark VI control panel and asked, “Where do the signals from these switches go? You’d be totally justified in thinking I was making the whole thing up. It’s not all that unlikely that he wouldn’t know. And he didn’t, but after finding out the answer he didn’t remember it a month later when I asked again. It did take him less time to get the answer the second time. I’ve always assumed he at least remembered who he asked the last time. To his credit he asked for a second question. So I said, “There’s a single op-amp somewhere in the machine, and if that op-amp fails you won’t have any scanned imagery, but you’ll still be able to joystick the beams around the screen. What board is it on?” He came back a while later and said, “The motor driver card.” It’s not an answer that’s easy to find, and I didn’t care if he’d asked somebody. I just wanted him to learn something - somehow. A month later I pointed to the same four switches and asked, “Where do the signals from these four switches go?” He answered proudly, “The motor driver card!” I said, “No, (I didn’t actually ever call him Avo – in the real world I can be nicer that you might think) that’s the answer to the second question.” That was the day Cruz and Phil were promoted from inventory clerk and driver, and Avo started his new job in the stock room…

Oh and I’m an INTJ, which if you’ve ever read the profile might explain a bit…

[laserist]

OK, sure.. why not. While I find the opening anecdote to be disgraceful in the worst way (keeping in mind that this thread seems to have stemmed from another), Andrew's always worth listening to from my experience, so I'll give the benefit of the doubt and assume that laserist here didn't post it to discourage new people that don't fit his opinion of "quality" or "intelligence" from learning about laser shows and how they're done. Just what were you trying to say laserist? Perhaps injecting a little clarity into your posts might help? It's all too easy to misunderstand someone on teh interwebz..

Ok - If you want to do laser shows your obligation is to learn. It’s just that simple. Unlike the case with Avo, nobody here is obligated to teach you, and if they choose to teach, to answer your questions, and to post cool stuff - well then maybe it would be good form not to bitch about it...