I try not to mix my running friends and geek friends...they just don't really grok each other...but I find that a lot of my most productive coding happens when I am running long runs. With no music ( must have pulse monitor to record work out...I am a geek) my noggin can focus on sorting through shit loads of approaches to a problem and 99% of the time the solutions I arrive at are more elegant than anything I get to sitting at a desk . Prepping for a marathon, with its weekly long slow distance, is a great way to gets lots of work done...plus there is lots of geekin' in looking for the perfect protein/carbo drink and speculating about extending lactate threshholds...running the actual marathon is a stunningly bad time to work as you end up trying to find concrete ways to express the not so abstract pain that comes around mile 19....crap
Not that I wish them ill....
on
F'd Companies
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· Score: 1
but wouldn't it be nice if we didn't need f'd Co? But then who would write the postmortem of f'd Co when they hit the wall and flamed out?
I keep a few machines running just to keep my office warm. I figure it is motivation for me to work hard on really big files to keep toasty....sometimes I compile random stuff just to get the CPU crankin' out a few extra milli-BTU's.
We had a series of dhtml/javascript drop menus on some of the pages I wrote and they were always a pain on IE/Mac: OS7(?),8,9&X...It would take 10 to 30 seconds to draw all of the tables with the drop menus. I tried for hours to find a way around it and never did. The problem was limited to IE for Mac though, Netscape on the Mac was fine, IE and Netscape on Windows were fine too...I didn't chalk it up to the platform.
(to be fair I think I tried it on OS7 but I can't remember,it seems like I had a hard time getting IE 4 to run on OS7)
Doesn't it bother anyone that the people who are trying to unravel a tech centered puzzle like this don't just throw all the comments up on the web? Maybe this system is slanted towards dead tree publishing but systems are flexible and can be changed, it seems like this is a point central to the case. That the DoJ isn't willing to explore a distributed accessible means to solve the problem at hand doesn't fill me with confidence.
I have been thinking about making the same transition in the not-too-distant future and I have been resolving to learn from my experiences under management with no software experience.
The big thing I have 'learned' is to trust structured process. A few months ago there was a review of a book about web redesign...we all pooh-poohed it as un-needed. The process though is there to protect the developer by providing an environment in which the goals are clear and the terms of success known. This also protects the enterprise and upper management and if you, as middle management, remember to articulate that to BOTH sides you will have a much easier job. (that is my theory and I am sticking with it)
This doesn't mean if the developers screw-up you can't play whack-a-mole with them but you have to make sure that the screw up is on their part and not as a result of mis-set priorities or expectations....therein lies the importance of those requirements documents and all that happy crap...
Worth the lessons that can be learned....
on
ArsDigita Shut Down
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I have always had pretty high regard for PG. His book on web publishing, Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing, was one of the first that made real sense to me as it went beyond the obvious "a paragraph tag doesn't need a close paragraph tag" and talked about the how and why of information management/architecture. Sure ArsDigita was a company with no lack of ego and resources to start with (its hard to feel sorry for someone who can afford Oracle for their 'hobbies') but I admired the way they made the company come together with little corporate backing at the start and what seemed to be a pretty sound business plan. I always felt like AD was making its money off the right things,to start with a sound fundamental understanding of the meduim.
That the VC culture eventually brought the company down is disillusioning (word?) but should provide a more useful object lesson than the big splash failures the press is usually so quick to jump on.
I am still optimistic, I think the web has space for start-ups who want to write good software, make good sites and provide good services...but it isn't easy and there are an awful lot of mistakes to be made out there....
It is interesting to see Lessig speak in person. I saw him last fall and he very carefully traced the evolution of the notion of limited time cited in the parent post. The first notion of limited time was the author's life plus a little bit. The first revisions to this were few and far between but throughout the 20th century the 'limited time' became longer and longer and revised more and more often, culminating with the 'Sonny Bono' act which extends copywrite to basically 2+ generations.
I found it to be a pretty compelling, well-articulated case. Obviously Wired has tapped into this as well as their new issues sports a little Disney magic on the cover. Lessig also makes an interesting comparison between the so-cal/Disney ideas about intellectual property and the plantation culture of the 1800's...the benevolent masters who know what is best for those they care for. These ideas shouldn't be very foreign to most on in this community...look at most of the institutions that the/. community objects to, do you think that Microsoft has a problem with Mickey Mouse kept on a short leash, given the options they will have a result?
It seems to me what Lessig does is give an articulate voice to what most of us feel anyway at the same time he has the tools and research to back up what most of us feel is off kilter to begin with....
Don't under estimate the value of having the simple processes laid out. We tend to take for granted that a well designed software dev. cycle will turn out well designed software. But often management has no clue. On one hand books like this provide external validation of your insistance that a process be followed. On the other hand you also get a nice happy set up vocabulary/phrases and logic to use when convincing a client to stick to the track. I have always loved " Practical Software Requirements" but I have yet to work with anyone who will see requirements documentation through before they start plopping logos into fr-page along with 7 zillion add-on extensions which only work with v4.67123 of browser X.
If nothing else this book appears, in the picture at least, to have that rare blend of surface area and heft which makes it perfect for wacking the pointy haired dweeb across the noggin...when all else fails.....
I understand where this comes from but I was looking at Cocoon 2 from the Apache project and it made use of XML, today, seem a lot more viable. My understanding is that Cocoon can be set up to do post processing on XML files to put out in html, wap...or what ever the client requesting the document needs. I didn't get a feel for how to set up a DB backed system to do it in the next five minutes but I had a gut feeling that it wasn't too very hard...Cocoon2 is still beta but looks to be moving along
I think its the thing mylaptop sits on...there is a little extra room and I guess you could put coffee there....maybe the book keeps the laptop out of the coffee...if it spills...sort of like my dog...
How well does WinProxy work? Are there big speed losses? Is there quick, or not quick, way to share IP under linux? Outpost has the kit for 169.95 but there is that always popular free overnight shipping....I totally pine for wireless access for my laptop but don't have much interest in having to run winders everytime I need to get to my ISP...though I might could see letting a server run winders if it would feed my laptop....
Slashdot Mirror
Wasn't that sort of the point of the first quarter of the presentation?
I try not to mix my running friends and geek friends...they just don't really grok each other...but I find that a lot of my most productive coding happens when I am running long runs. With no music ( must have pulse monitor to record work out...I am a geek) my noggin can focus on sorting through shit loads of approaches to a problem and 99% of the time the solutions I arrive at are more elegant than anything I get to sitting at a desk . Prepping for a marathon, with its weekly long slow distance, is a great way to gets lots of work done...plus there is lots of geekin' in looking for the perfect protein/carbo drink and speculating about extending lactate threshholds...running the actual marathon is a stunningly bad time to work as you end up trying to find concrete ways to express the not so abstract pain that comes around mile 19....crap
but wouldn't it be nice if we didn't need f'd Co? But then who would write the postmortem of f'd Co when they hit the wall and flamed out?
I keep a few machines running just to keep my office warm. I figure it is motivation for me to work hard on really big files to keep toasty....sometimes I compile random stuff just to get the CPU crankin' out a few extra milli-BTU's.
We had a series of dhtml/javascript drop menus on some of the pages I wrote and they were always a pain on IE/Mac: OS7(?),8,9&X...It would take 10 to 30 seconds to draw all of the tables with the drop menus. I tried for hours to find a way around it and never did. The problem was limited to IE for Mac though, Netscape on the Mac was fine, IE and Netscape on Windows were fine too...I didn't chalk it up to the platform.
(to be fair I think I tried it on OS7 but I can't remember,it seems like I had a hard time getting IE 4 to run on OS7)
Doesn't it bother anyone that the people who are trying to unravel a tech centered puzzle like this don't just throw all the comments up on the web? Maybe this system is slanted towards dead tree publishing but systems are flexible and can be changed, it seems like this is a point central to the case. That the DoJ isn't willing to explore a distributed accessible means to solve the problem at hand doesn't fill me with confidence.
I have been thinking about making the same transition in the not-too-distant future and I have been resolving to learn from my experiences under management with no software experience.
The big thing I have 'learned' is to trust structured process. A few months ago there was a review of a book about web redesign...we all pooh-poohed it as un-needed. The process though is there to protect the developer by providing an environment in which the goals are clear and the terms of success known. This also protects the enterprise and upper management and if you, as middle management, remember to articulate that to BOTH sides you will have a much easier job. (that is my theory and I am sticking with it)
This doesn't mean if the developers screw-up you can't play whack-a-mole with them but you have to make sure that the screw up is on their part and not as a result of mis-set priorities or expectations....therein lies the importance of those requirements documents and all that happy crap...
That the VC culture eventually brought the company down is disillusioning (word?) but should provide a more useful object lesson than the big splash failures the press is usually so quick to jump on.
I am still optimistic, I think the web has space for start-ups who want to write good software, make good sites and provide good services...but it isn't easy and there are an awful lot of mistakes to be made out there....
It is interesting to see Lessig speak in person. I saw him last fall and he very carefully traced the evolution of the notion of limited time cited in the parent post. The first notion of limited time was the author's life plus a little bit. The first revisions to this were few and far between but throughout the 20th century the 'limited time' became longer and longer and revised more and more often, culminating with the 'Sonny Bono' act which extends copywrite to basically 2+ generations.
/. community objects to, do you think that Microsoft has a problem with Mickey Mouse kept on a short leash, given the options they will have a result?
I found it to be a pretty compelling, well-articulated case. Obviously Wired has tapped into this as well as their new issues sports a little Disney magic on the cover. Lessig also makes an interesting comparison between the so-cal/Disney ideas about intellectual property and the plantation culture of the 1800's...the benevolent masters who know what is best for those they care for. These ideas shouldn't be very foreign to most on in this community...look at most of the institutions that the
It seems to me what Lessig does is give an articulate voice to what most of us feel anyway at the same time he has the tools and research to back up what most of us feel is off kilter to begin with....
At least it gives you three weeks before you have to rtfm for "laundry" machine thing-ey...
Don't under estimate the value of having the simple processes laid out. We tend to take for granted that a well designed software dev. cycle will turn out well designed software. But often management has no clue. On one hand books like this provide external validation of your insistance that a process be followed. On the other hand you also get a nice happy set up vocabulary/phrases and logic to use when convincing a client to stick to the track. I have always loved " Practical Software Requirements" but I have yet to work with anyone who will see requirements documentation through before they start plopping logos into fr-page along with 7 zillion add-on extensions which only work with v4.67123 of browser X.
If nothing else this book appears, in the picture at least, to have that rare blend of surface area and heft which makes it perfect for wacking the pointy haired dweeb across the noggin...when all else fails.....
I understand where this comes from but I was looking at Cocoon 2 from the Apache project and it made use of XML, today, seem a lot more viable. My understanding is that Cocoon can be set up to do post processing on XML files to put out in html, wap...or what ever the client requesting the document needs. I didn't get a feel for how to set up a DB backed system to do it in the next five minutes but I had a gut feeling that it wasn't too very hard...Cocoon2 is still beta but looks to be moving along
I think its the thing mylaptop sits on...there is a little extra room and I guess you could put coffee there....maybe the book keeps the laptop out of the coffee...if it spills...sort of like my dog...
Sure enough and it is a good Howto...thanks...
How well does WinProxy work? Are there big speed losses? Is there quick, or not quick, way to share IP under linux? Outpost has the kit for 169.95 but there is that always popular free overnight shipping....I totally pine for wireless access for my laptop but don't have much interest in having to run winders everytime I need to get to my ISP...though I might could see letting a server run winders if it would feed my laptop....