I coulda been a contender

This interesting article talks about great hackers. I wish more companies would understand what programmers want and meet those desires. Specifically:

  • quiet and private work spaces
  • good tools
  • interesting work
  • few meetings and other distractions
  • flexible work hours
  • the option of working from home

One of the points the article makes that I particularly like is the bit about toolmakers and Duplo:

[H]ave the smart people work as toolmakers. If your company makes software to do x, have one group that builds tools for writing software of that type, and another that uses these tools to write the applications. […] [Then] the less smart people writing the actual applications wouldn’t be doing low-level stuff like allocating memory. Instead of writing Word directly in C, they’d be plugging together big Lego blocks of Word-language. (Duplo, I believe, is the technical term.)

I like this approach, not just because it makes sense, but because I like to think of myself as a toolmaker / toolsmith.

Update:

I have just read a second article by the same author and like it as well. Here he compares hackers to artists (specifically painters). I agree with this theory as well and especially enjoyed this bit:

If you want to make money at some point, remember this, because this is one of the reasons startups win. Big companies want to decrease the standard deviation of design outcomes because they want to avoid disasters. But when you damp oscillations, you lose the high points as well as the low. This is not a problem for big companies, because they don’t win by making great products. Big companies win by sucking less than other big companies.

An embedded computer chip, coming to an arm near you!

Well it’s happening faster than I first thought it would, but let’s start with a history lesson: In the beginning was the UPC code. Then along came the RFID tag. Initially this was just used for tracking merchandise. Then, seeing as it was so very useful for tracking things, it was used on pets. Now it is being used to keep track of children. It’s only a (brief) matter of time before this becomes mandatory for all new infants. Don’t act surprised when it happens to your grandkids.

Update:

Not wanting to miss out on all the fun adults are getting them too. Why not join in on this exciting new fad while it’s still new and trendy!

Voter Apathy


All I have to say is shame on those Canadians who didn’t vote. You have forfeited your right to complain about how this country is run if you can’t even be bothered to participate in what limited democracy we do have. Sure the system is far from perfect, but not participating is not the answer, it’s just plain laziness!

Judge orders couple to stop having children

While it’s certainly a controversial decision, I applaud the brave Judge for handing down this verdict. The simple fact is, you need to take tests and get a license to drive a car. In the state of New York, you even need a license to use a clothesline outdoors! But any old !@#$%^* can have a baby. Surely bringing a new human being into the world is infinitely more serious than these former cases. Why then is this most paramount activity left unregulated? I realize it is no simple matter and some solutions can be worse than the ailment, but surely there is something that can be done to prevent the thousands of unwanted and hence neglected children in the world. What do you think?

See stories here

Stop the Madness!

OK, so on the Global scale of world issues, this is not number one. I accept that. However, surely this is in the top 100 (at least I think so). Today I was surfing the web (as I am wont to do) and what should I see at the end of an article I am reading but no less than three different date formats! I mean come on people, surely we can solve this simple yet important problem:

It was my great (yet sadly deluded) hope that humanity would get its act together with the arrival of the new millennium when the problem of completing date formats posed an increased problem. Here is a great site that basically sums up my opinion on this matter.

Meat Bad! Time to Go Veggy?

First is was Mad Cow. Then it was toxic Tuna. Then PCB laden (farmed) Salmon. Now it’s sick Chickens! What’s the answer? Perhaps it’s time to give vegetarianism a try. Not ready to go all the way? Well that’s fine, why not try to just east less flesh. If you now have 21 meat meals a week (Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner, seven days a week), try 14. If 14, try 7, and so on (you get the idea).

Cartoon credit: Common Ground, Issue 154, May 2004 (Geoff Olson)

It’s catching on…

Something that my wife and I have been doing for a few years now is beginning to really catch on. Here is a snippet of an article that really describes the “movement”:

Whatgoesaround is not so different from a wedding registry, except that instead of telling friends what flatware and tumblers you’d like, you tell them what charities you’d most like to support. Then when someone wants to give you a gift, she can go to the site, go to your ‘givelist’ and make a donation the point-and-click way.

Here are some links: