> But when somebody tells me "wine tastes sweet", when it clearly and
> obviously does not, and it's trivially easy to verify over and over
> again that it /actually/ tastes sharp, bitter and corrosive,

Did you ever stop and think that not all wines are the same? Some are 
sweeter than others. A wine described as sweet is obviously not going to 
taste like a bag of sugar - what did you expect?

> Likewise, when somebody says that knowing people instantly makes every
> job search trivial...

Nobody said that, it's more likely to make is easier than if you don't 
know anyone.

> Perhaps the problem isn't "knowing people", but rather "knowing /the
> right/ people"? I mean, I certainly know a tiny handful of people. But I
> don't know anybody who actually works in computing. (Well, except
> Jayne.) Almost everyone I know wouldn't know the difference between a
> computer programmer, a network administrator and a data entry clerk.
> After all, they all "do computery stuff", don't they?

But those people *might* be able to put you in touch with the right 
person who does know about computery stuff. That's how networking works.

> Perhaps if I was the kind of well-connected guy who knows people in
> positions of power on a first-name basis, getting hired might be
> significantly easier. But I don't know anybody like that. I don't know
> of anybody who knows anybody like that. And I doubt I ever will.

You don't need to know anyone in a position of power, you just need to 
know other people who might have heard of a computery type job going. 
The more people you talk to obviously the more chance of finding out 
about a job that would be suitable.

> Well, that's a valid strategy. [Although there's no particular reason to
> focus on companies based on one specific city. Rather, just look for
> companies that might have a base nearby.]

Why are you limiting yourself to companies nearby?

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