sheeps

Make sure you stand while smoking it, though. :-)

Maybe just a black rectangle in place of the name, with an appropriate link?

Another thought: most of us are not made of the same kind of stuff as Donald Knuth.

Whatever origin you think world-changing inventions or intellectual work has, talent or the right mettle to push yourself extremely hard or whatever, most people do not possess it. I don't. And I think there is much less motivation to "go against the flow" if you are reasonably sure that no great benefit will follow from it.

Exactly. Distance in time means greater uncertainty of reward, and greater uncertainty means lower motivation to go after it in the first place.

Nice post, very inspiring.

I have been dabbling with Ruby and other languages for a year, but have never had this sort of discipline. For a couple years I have wanted a programming job but have always had serious doubts about whether I can really "hack it" as a professional. I don't know any programmers personally (well, one friend on the other side of the country in SF, heh), and I look at job openings and their requirements / desired experience all seem so intimidating. :-/

I like graph paper for making vaguely mathematical doodles in classes. I even happened to independently "invent" a few concepts while doing this, like triangular numbers and the polyomino sequence. :-)

Another relevant one is E.M. Forster's "The Machine Stops":

http://archive.ncsa.illinois.edu/prajlich/forster.html

Got a print copy of the book two days ago. Worked through most of the first chapter, and really loving it so far.

No CS background and a little (~1 year off and on) programming experience. Though having taken a symbolic logic course in college is definitely making the first chapter easier! :-)