"With all these interests, how do you keep from just being a dilettante?
It’s not about being a generalist. I like to go deep in a lot of things, but when I do, I like to go deep enough to contribute. If I like scuba, I become an instructor. If I like music, I become a disc jockey. If I like movies, I want to work on a movie set. I don’t become a world class academic in that field, but I get good enough to understand the nuances. And then, because I have experience in so many fields, it gives me a pattern that other people don’t have. For me, being unique and having friends who are unique is a really important thing."

The UX industry is becoming polluted by dilettantism. It’s no surprise then that people are attacking the field. We can expect more of it, and there’s a real chance that the fury and division we see in the conversation surrounding Ryan’s post will soon drown out the cause we espouse—designing technology that helps people be productive, empowered, and happy.

'While “self-styled” seems mostly a put-down, it is a notably weak one. The user of this phrase notes that someone claims something, but lacks an official credential, or strong consensus, supporting this claim. But we the reader can also note that this speaker offers no stronger criticism, and is not willing to directly contradict the offending claim. After all, instead of calling someone a “self-styled visionary,” you might say “he calls himself a visionary, but he’s not; he hasn’t has a vision in years.”'

'[Many Tea Partiers] see through this scheme...“Smells scammy,” wrote Red State Blogger Erick Erickson...Others are boycotting it, citing the $549 price for the convention, or the single night tab of $349 to hear Palin.
'[Even Glenn Beck, Palin’s enabler on Fox, seemed skeptical of Palin's answer to:] “Who’s your favorite founder?”...“You know, well, all of them"....
'So Palin, who can’t name a founder any more than she could think of a Supreme Court decision, wants to lead a movement inspired by the founders. If the original tea party had charged a week’s wages to register political outrage, we might still be wearing fussy stockings and bowing to some Lordship arriving in Boston Harbour.
'Palin says she’ll plow her take back into “the cause" [her favorite cause being Sarah Palin. Her PAC spent $63K to buy copies of her book, using average people's money to increase] her royalties and exposure....
'It’s always about timing: the trick is finding the mark, before the mark finds you.'

People who know a lot about a lot have long been an exclusive club, but now they are an endangered species. Edward Carr tracks some down ...