stopnamingnuts

Yup. I support a largeish legacy application for a federal government agency running on ColdFusion. The idea of rewriting it in another language is a tough sell as long as it's still supported by Adobe. I'm realistic about its past, present and future but I also still love using it every day.

> I would have to have that right in front of me and read it word for word. And if I get pushed to reveal a number I would need to just pause and slowly repeat it again word for word like a robot.

LOL. I'd probably read it like a bank heist hostage. Ideally, while blinking rapidly and visibly sweating on the Zoom meeting.

I think your thesis with regard to CO2 emissions is valid. Do you mind sharing whether you lost anyone close to you to COVID?

I concur. And the unironically retro web site design made me as happy as anything I can recall this week.

This is a pretty good summary of how I feel and why I dig my heels in every time my wife starts talking about a new camper, a boat or whatever. I suspect she envisions it like a magazine cover: better, carefree versions of ourselves enjoying the sunshine with friends (who are ideally green with envy).

I see myself disassembling the toilet.

It's not you. The article relies on a bullshit method of making its simple point, deliberately overcomplicating it for the purpose of signalling.

So, basically Airport '77?

Most broad statements including GenX really need to be qualified by noting its size (slightly greater than half) relative to either of the two pigs working their way through the python before and behind it. Three when you count GenZ.

Apathetic? Maybe. But even if we were all on the same page as a group (which we're not) I don't see how we have the numbers to force a systemic turnover on our own.

I am, of course, a member of GenX. Sometimes, as Planck said, progress has to happen one funeral at a time. None of this brings me any joy to observe.

If a new non-youngster developer wants to pursue the legacy app/niche language strategy described in the article then I tend to agree. ColdFusion is easy to learn but at the same time it's really just an abstraction layer for Java. If one finds they want to dip into the guts then that's certainly available. As you note, there's a respectable number of legacy apps, often in the US federal government sector. One still has to learn SQL, CSS, JS, etc.

I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.

I concur. And I'm saving these links.

As a tangent I would add that the damage isn't limited to the perfectionist. At some point one has to consider how the rigidity of perfectionism affects their relationships. It can be a self-indulgence in which one engages at the expense family or friends.

Anybody who finds this interesting and is interested in an entire community dedicated to this perspective may also take a look at reddit.com/r/stopdrinking.

Its non-opinionated, decentralized but moderated (pun unintended) discussion was a huge help when I quit drinking five years ago.

I'll just add that my path lined up with others who have commented here. Once it dawned on me that it was a crutch, and not just for fun, it felt like time to put it aside and do some work on myself.

However a series of steps or exploring a higher power wasn't what I felt worked for me. /r/StopDrinking turned out to be that sweet spot.

This strikes me as an issue that's widespread across groups but addressable almost entirely by individuals, which makes it perfect for abstract debate. ;)

My partner does this. OTOH, I love sleep and feeling refreshed when I've had enough. She's open about being pretty driven and makes her choice based on what's important to her.

Seems to me workism is part of that calculus. Balance usually requires opportunity cost. One has to value sleep, time for hobbies, time to spend with family... more than the real or perceptual carrot offered by wrapping one's identity in work. Or not. It's a choice regardless of whether made consciously or not.

I'll finish by acknowledging there are structural inequalities that make this, for many, a choice from a set of equally unappealing options.

Pretty dour commentary on human nature. There's a kernel of something worth considering but sacrifices nuance in favor of a crafted idea.

As a member of the described expert class, I'd say we have limitations equal to those of elites. That's not examined.

This essay is delightful. And masterfully written. FWIW, in my own version of What I Suppose Brain Surgery on Klingons Would Be Like the Klingons stay awake and are mainly just annoyed because you're wasting their time.

Well, I could have used that back in the 90s instead of lugging my crap up and down station stairs for the three or four connections between Narita and Urayasu. <sigh>

Clearly there are numerous markets supported by this model so I'm an outlier. My wife and I have considered fractional ownership of boats and vacation properties on several occasions. The things that turn me off every time is the inability to put a nail in a wall if I feel like it and the hassle overhead involved. I want to be able to whistle my dog into the car, hop in and go without having to coordinate with anybody else, knowing I have a toothbrush at my getaway spot.

> Nuked Logitech’s crap from orbit

+1. It's the only way to be sure.

This. I think innovation real-value is spikey. A low band of timesavers bumps along the bottom but is punctuated by occasional leaps in particular domains. From what I've seen the cochlear implant can offer an amazing difference to quality of life for those that choose it. I can only imagine the difference the implant, or the improved aids, would have made to my hearing-impaired college roommate in the early 90s.

+1 for beautifully summing up in seven words the key takeaway of the vast majority of public discourse.

I wonder if the nuance being identified by the other commenters might be the tragedy of the commons that can play out in collaborative settings. I'm right there with you, btw. Mine is also a non-sexy, non-commercial app and I'm happily a one man band. But a younger me, a junior member of a team, under pressure without close supervision would probably commit a certain amount of half baked spaghetti and be part of the governance problem.

I've been guilty once or twice of forming a strong (usually self-righteous) opinion only to have it collapse before I get a chance to enjoy smugly lecturing the Internet. This is interesting. Thanks for posting anyway.

I love watching these overhead in real time. For anyone not already familiar: https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/

I suspect I hit the sweet spot when I lived in Japan from 1993-1995 if I interpret your comment correctly. I remember being impressed by the tech. For example: ATMs into which one inserted not only a card, but also a transaction book which would be mechanically updated (versus spitting out a slip). I still have mine. We're talking about Japan so, naturally, my bank book features Snoopy prominently on its cover.

Indeed. If you told my hippie parents in the 1970s that it would take this long for weed to be decriminalized they would have promptly woven a macramé noose and hung themselves behind the outhouse at the commune.

Fantastic. I think we used a few of these while our kitchen was under construction. From a cooking perspective we lived like prison inmates with nothing but a compact microwave and electric kettle, doing dishes in the bathroom for months. If it had lasted a few more weeks I'm certain I would have started brewing toilet tank hootch from canned fruit salad.

Pretty good attempt to consolidate the nuances of design decision-making. I like what the author is trying to do. I would have enjoyed a little discussion of unpredictable unknown-unknowns from this perspective.

+1 for use of "dog-diggety"

This made my day.

That was the routine at Safeco in Seattle well into the 90s. My wife temped there over summers during grad school. Although she says they played Muzak instead of bells. So, in fact, it was much worse.