I wondered about generic tools, but didn't find any that would solve this. There's nothing special about my code - it's really just collecting data from the incoming POST vars, rearranging them and passing them along.
I thought it was interesting that the platform (AppEngine) enables simple one-off solutions like this - not everything needs to be abstracted into a ifttt style solution ...
- After hearing said podcast, I wrote a quick twitter hack to occasionally ask if you're in a dream (one of the techniques): https://twitter.com/#!/isdreaming
Gah! I didn't know Clint Mansell did the Moon OST. Must acquire. I have been listening for The Fountain soundtrack (by Mansell) while programming - and I love it. I also just discovered he did the Pi soundtrack.
Other OST picks: Tron (and Tron Reconfigured) and Nick Cave / Warren Ellis soundtracks - particularly The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
It's a good question. I am self-taught, and would never call myself a "self-taught computer scientist" ... "self-taught hacker" is just about right. For me the distinction would be that it's never going to get too theoretical, it's all applied (though I make every effort to make my applications efficient, correct and legible)
I got bit by the switch from Ruby to Node.js. The Node.js arrangement was considerably more difficult to set up on the older systems we maintain. Most annoyingly lesscss.org makes no mention of the switch away from Ruby. Our plan right now is to abandon less-css and just check the converted CSS into our repo - the (server setup complexity) costs far outweighed the benefits.
I was a little dismayed at that point too - but I think the rest of the paragraph clarifies the point well. I think he's talking about a sincere spiritual journey, not "religious people" as commonly encountered. I'm an atheist, but I also think there's a natural "spiritual" instinct that has to do with artfulness, reflection, and transcendence (eg. the attempt to transcend your view of the world as a single individual)
Chrome 13 / OSX 10.6.8 - I can navigate the courses pages, but don't see the CLI interface (just the section list, and the Disqus discussion). Also it's not redirecting to any shebang URLs. Works fine in Firefox.
This is a great point - when I was trying to articulate (to myself) why I prefer the keyboard it wasn't necessarily any speed advantage, it was more like the "flow" advantage. Your point speaks to that.
I think there's also a big difference in the amount of physical effort needed when using the mouse. With the keyboard it's easier to keep most of my arms relaxed, and when I need to switch to the mouse everything from the shoulder down has to contract into action.
I'm always interested in the idea of learning a new shell - but the ubiquity of bash is what generally holds me back. I fear that switching gears for each system I log into would seriously break the flow.
Junior Python/Django/Postgres developers - Oakland, CA
We specialize in energy efficiency program and project design, implementation, and marketing, as well as solar and other renewable energy system feasibility studies, project development and financing and water conservation programs. We (obviously) build web apps to support these programs.
A friend and I just finished a project based on this. It's called "The Virtual State of Jefferson" - it's a router that alters pages to "claim" cities in that area. I just posted a tech description about how the project works: http://ethanmiller.name/notes/virtual_state_jefferson_tech/
To be clear, my comment was made in surprise that that his creativity/passion goes unappreciated - I agree it's an amazing accomplishment.
In general though I think the binary of warm/emotion vs. cold/heartless is kind of useless. As in his quote : "I can understand why it’s an issue if you’ve got an extremely romanticized view of what art is" Art is amazing stuff people make, be it software or music.
I'm fascinated by this. It's interesting that in that context the creativity/passion/humanity of somebody like David Cope doesn't count. If he's writing software then it's just cold, heartless automation.
Deciding that spirituality is a defect from this is the wrong conclusion.
The experience of spirituality itself is natural and desirable. As described in the article, it's "self-transcendence." I experience self-transcendence when I listen to good music, look at good art, or otherwise get wrapped up in ideas that are bigger than (transcend) my day-to-day life in an inspiring way.
I thought it was interesting that the platform (AppEngine) enables simple one-off solutions like this - not everything needs to be abstracted into a ifttt style solution ...