grogs

Never claimed Python/Ruby solve this problem, just that PHP doesn't (but is claimed to).

Is mustache.github.com not good enough as a universal templating language?

I don't agree with ever design decision made for the syntax, and I've not used jinja, but it has the universal part handled quite well.

The idea of a roasted PHP is interesting. It's not a no brainer in the way CoffeeScript is though. There's no real choice of language in the client-side, but there is on the server side.

Server side devs can just learn ruby/python/.NET/Scala. Client side devs are probs best switching to JavaScript or something very similar.

Moreover, he likely advocates/d dropping out because college courses are not useful in the industry... By teaching himself, he can change/influence that.

Maybe the solution to SR is more/better learning. The computer could ask for confirmation/clarification, and gradually learn your speach patterns over time - lessening the need for constant clarification. This sounds achievable. People in Scotland should be able to talk to Siri, the learning phase should just be a little longer.

Cool idea, I'd definitely make use of this feature it was available. However, I don't think we'll ever see it, manufacturers won't consider it something people want.

What's the appeal of this? Just use SQuirreL or DBArtisan.

Facebook is just a tool for most people. Sure, increased exposure to computers will attract more people, but not a huge amount more. My younger brother uses facebook a lot, but has no desire to program.

True. However, the Internet as we know it today would not exist is committees controlled it. OSI 7 Layer vs TCP/IP Model. W3C Recommendations. There are many [significantly-]ignored committee creations.

I'm British, I've been crazy drunk 3 times. I don't do that often, I don't really even go clubbing anymore (last time was 6 months ago - in Hungary, gotta go back 10 months for UK clubbing).

I think the drinking culture in the UK is really bad. The French will happily drink a bottle of wine... but with a meal. I definitely drink most people get bored of it pretty quickly. I think it's insane that people get "pissed" weekly. Hangovers are not fun.

However, I have a (mini) fridge just for botted lager, which I dip into when watching football. I have a collection of 8-16year single malt whiskys which I slowly sip of occasionally. I often buy a nice bottle of ale, which goes well with a steak.

No clue why people would continue getting very drunk behond the age of 25. (I'm 21 and mostly bored of it)

Improve your recruitment, hire good people. Take advantage of any probation period. In the UK this is generally 3 months, and can be extended. During this period employees are just 'at-will'.

In the UK it can be up to 11months and 3 weeks before the main employment laws kick in.

Quite possibly. Libraries/Amazon need to get up to speed on this. I have a Kindle, as does my brother, my mum, and my nan.

My mum is a member of a library, and they have ebook which she can download and read on her laptop. However, she can't read it on the Kindle, as they are distributed as DRM protected ePub's.

To put it on her Kindle she would have to remove the DRM and convert to mobi... But she doesn't need, or even want, the DRM removed.

Also, second-hand books. I could very easily get hold of a Dan Drown's The Lost Symbol for £0.50 in a charity shop/second hand book store. But it costs £4.96 to get the Kindle edition. There's also no way to trade/sell/give Kindle books to other people.

Removing DRM but then deleting within loan period- or pirating and donating £0.50 to charity - for ebooks seems morally equivalent to me. But it's illegal/break of copyright.

At my previous employer, a high* level manager (3 levels above me - a leaf node developer), considered it his job to just shield his subordinates from demands/bullshit of those above him.

That's definitely a desirable quality, and leads me to believe he'd have other desirable qualities.

* In reality, middle management, but at the level where strategic decisions are made/strongly influenced.

Indeed. Some people believe that there's no real productivity gain from all team members being located in the same place. However, one of the (potential) benefits of being located in the same place (as management) is job security. People grow attachments to others.

Plausible if you accept that problems can be broken into separate pieces. Furthermore, measuring/comparing the productivity is non-trivial/impossible.

I've missed this feature in other languages.

Now I have a name, the cascades operator.

I don't think the syntax is especially elegant/readable, though.

Being in a stable location is always useful - easier to contact, and makes it possible to have face-to-face meetings. However, a startup is about the best (tech) job for travelling (on your own terms). I imagine people fly out for meetings, doesn't matter where they're flying from.

Being able to pay instead of getting cut off would be a better than the current situation. Lots of devs are (and the ones that aren't should be) unwilling to build upon an API they don't control, or have an promises for.

Hopefully the prices will be reasonable - what ever reasonable is.

It's not just that they provide free services, it's that those services are beneficial to society. Obviously this is very subjective and complex. Wikipedia would generally be regarded as good for society - removing the barrier to obtaining knowledge. However, if Wikipedia details how to make a bomb, that's regarded as bad for society.

Google helps society. They provide good search. What separates then from Bing is that they operate with the idea of "do no evil". Bing are seen as copying (an idea - stealing) which is bad in society.

Zynga provides cheap entertainment, but that's not good for society. TV isn't seen as good for society anymore - it's passive. There's an opportunity cost to being entertained - you could be productive - learning on Wikipedia.

To you. You're thinking free as in freedom, not free as in cost.

Freeware isn't open source, but it is free, in some very real sense.

Nothing is free, but can be a negligible cost. You can make temporary paper glue out of flour and water, you can boil it down to use for paper mache. You can add food colouring to your water & flour mix to make paint.

Food colouring cost money, as does flours, but you can make your own from plants/cereals if you really feel the need.

Either you have enough money to buy some glue, or you can spend time teaching your kids how to make it. If your kids have an impressive enough attention span, you'll be teaching them something by making the glue, even more if you make the flour!

Money just makes things convient/easy. You're trying to teach, lack of money helps that.

Yep, anyone wanting to do this: PhoneGap.