roland comments on Alien parasite technical guy - Less Wrong

61 Post author: PhilGoetz 27 July 2010 04:51PM

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Comment author: roland 28 July 2010 05:57:51AM *  24 points [-]

We're punters, not quarterbacks.

Please note that LW is not only read by americans and a lot of people from other countries have no idea what a punter and quarterback actually do. I had to look it up(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punter_%28football%29) but even so I'm not sure if I get the point you are trying to make.

EDIT: Great article, btw!

Comment author: newerspeak 28 July 2010 11:16:02AM *  5 points [-]

The quarterback is responsible for scoring points. He has decision-making latitude and delegates responsibility to other players. His skills are a superset of theirs.

The punter is the only player on the team who kicks the ball [1]. He's only on the field for a few minutes in any game. The job he does is important and failures are disastrous, but It's hard to tell the difference between a below-average punter and an excellent one.

[1] I know. But if it made sense it wouldn't work as a stand-in for industrial warfare:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om_yq4L3M_I [language NSFW]

Comment author: knb 28 July 2010 02:11:26PM *  1 point [-]

Placekickers kick the ball too, and they usually aren't punters.