techiferous

I suspect panhandlers make more than $7/hour, so for them to stop panhandling and start using a mechanical turk station would be a pay cut.

> for people who disable JavaScript

I stopped caring about this long ago. I write database-backed web applications that require authentication, and in this context if a user has JavaScript turned off, that's their problem, not mine.

Have any TextMate users out there tried Sublime? I'd love to hear a comparison.

The Boston Ruby meetups have always been very good, but lately have grown in popularity and quality thanks to Brian Cardarella's leadership.

http://bostonrb.org

Hi, Davide. Feel free to get in touch if you'd like to have a web developer in your network: http://techiferous.com/about/

My relocation to Boston was logistically difficult, so I have a soft spot for helping others relocate. I'd be glad to be of assistance if you need help or have questions about Boston neighborhoods or tech hangouts.

I, too, find this strange. This does not seem like an event with a specific objective in mind (beyond taking down DNS). It seems like a release of internal psychological tension onto the external world. Smacks of Jung's shadow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_(psychology)

If you like maps like this and are from Boston, check out http://bostonography.com

> Where are the startups?

This type of device may need FDA approval which would require the setup of clinical trials, etc. So that would be a significant barrier to entry for startups.

Not sure why you are being down-voted, since your points further the discussion.

Anyway, consider Buckminster Fuller as a counterexample to some of your points. He definitely had the spirit of a producer. Here is a quote from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/automobiles/collectibles/1... :

    Fuller was born in Massachusetts in 1895 and died
    in 1983. He was admitted to Harvard twice, and twice
    expelled. He went from job to job until he was broke.
    After illness killed his young daughter, he had a
    revelation. He determined to make his life “an
    experiment to find what a single individual can
    contribute to changing the world and benefiting all
    humanity.”

Nice question; I'll take a stab at an answer.

Since consumers need producers and producers need consumers, you really can't argue that either one is inherently bad.

However, I would argue that our intent should be biased toward producing, since producing helps us grow. Consuming in this context has connotations of passivity, and while rest is important, too much rest will make us weak. Also, when you are consuming you can be mindless. When you are producing, you stretch your mind. Not only do you have to think about how to meet your goal, you have to think about what you are producing in context of value and other people. It's mind-expanding.

Also, it is natural for us to want to grow, so if we spend most of our time in passive consumption it will negatively affect our mood and sense of well-being in the world.

Hebb's Law: "Neurons that fire together wire together." This means you are probably setting yourself up for the following side effect: if you ever find yourself in a situation where you are sitting watching TV (at a friend's house, in a waiting room) you'll have the urge to get up and move.

HN style is to go really light on joking and really heavy on information. It can make for some dry reading sometimes, but it's better than Reddit where informative discussion can get drowned out by jokes, pun threads and snark.

So people tend to downvote witty comments unless they find them very funny.

> And for your own good, because you, yes you, are clearly irresponsible and can't think for yourself.

I really dislike a nanny state. But I also dislike a state where people don't take care of themselves and then clamor for better healthcare for their preventable diseases and expect the public to pay for it. Not sure what the answer is.

Or you could learn how to love the things you are already working on. That option is easily overlooked.

Hi TomasSedovic!

> Anything in particular you want to ask?

Just wondering how much dvorak gets in the way of vi/vim. Lots of wonderful answers showed up in this thread! Looks like dvorak is a small obstacle (because of hjkl) but not a show-stopper.

I want to meet a dvorak keyboard user who is passionate about vi.

"The site doesn’t have any current plans to pay contributors, but to help incentivize users to write high-quality courses, Codecademy aims to provide significant exposure to the best lesson creators."

I know Ruby very well (programming with it since 2006) and I have been professionally trained as a teacher. Yet "significant exposure" is not an incentive for me. I already have enough exposure to get the programming gigs that I want. My incentives would either be (1) money or (2) the joy of teaching. Since I have hardly any free time, my only incentive would be (1) money.

"Keep a list of headlines..."

I do this and it helps immensely. Whenever I come across some time for blogging, I never have to come up with a topic; I already have dozens waiting for me.

It also helps me filter the good ideas from the bad. I don't normally blog on an idea right away; I add it to this list. Some article ideas sound really good at the time but after a few weeks I realize they aren't so good.

"I was popular but felt like a scammer"

I think I know what you mean. I titled my latest blog post "Stop Using Single Point Estimates" but almost immediately regretted it. The tone was too rigid and link-baity. What I really wanted to say was, "Hey, point estimates are fine, but do you realize that you may be missing an opportunity by not using range estimates?" Really I just wanted to show people a different way of thinking about something. But it can be easy to pander to the up-votes.

But mostly I stay true to myself and use my blog to educate, which is truly rewarding. My favorite post is "Roadmap for Learning Rails" because it genuinely helps people and that's a wonderful feeling.

So I think if you are blogging and start feeling like a "scammer", step back and re-examine your goals. Instead of viewing it as primarily for self-promotion or making money, view it as contributing to the community and participating in the joy of education and sharing. Also, I'm realizing that the blog posts I feel the best about aren't opinionated as much as informative and helpful.

I agree. To further clarify, the hallmarks of fractals are (1) self-similarity, meaning the parts look like the whole and (2) recursion, meaning the parts themselves have parts (turtles all the way down). Padgett's drawings are beautiful geometric patterns, but lack strong self-similarity and recursion.

EDIT: Except this one. This one is fractal: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/-quantum-tree-jason-padge...

> If they break search, they will die.

Agreed. And if they don't innovate search, they will die.

Big change has to happen. Whether this is the right move remains to be seen.

This will introduce you to some good Ruby blogs:

http://planetrubyonrails.com

Although not blogs, there are some nice email newsletters that are good for keeping you in the loop:

https://cooperpress.com

> Everyone has cracked software, pirated movies, & torrents.

I don't have any of these. I'm not being contrary, just saying you should update your view that everyone has these things.

Nice. Quick off-topic question: assuming you have experience with TextMate, do you find SublimeText 2 to be slightly better than TextMate or significantly better?

Clearly in a legal sense? Honest question.

Per Joel's second point, I've recently noted at how absurd it is that campaigns spend so much money communicating their message when technology has made it extremely easy to communicate a message to millions of people at very low cost.

I fully support a move away from TV-dominated campaigns to Internet-dominated campaigns, especially since the Internet is more interactive anyway.

Another idea: choose your own adventure movies.

Idea: Open-source "movies". Both the tools and the resulting content are open-source.

(Incidentally, making a good movie doesn't necessarily have to be expensive. However, making yet another boring car chase scene does.)

I don't disagree with what you're saying.

I just think that if we techies try to understand some of the concerns of the copyright holders, we are in a position to propose legislation of our own. Until then, we are resigning ourselves to playing defense.

> seeking common ground, and compromising

> negotiation

This. Realizing that the other side is not the devil and has legitimate interests of their own, even if they are clumsy in communicating them or harmful in their actions.

Viewing the other side as evil is lazy. Coming to authentic, common ground is very hard work.