July 2008 – Paweł Gościcki

Lucky to be a Programmer

From the great article on our fluorishing craft, Lucky to be a Programmer by Gustavo Duarte:

For the past few weeks I’ve been working with a fellow developer on a project that required an all-out programming effort. It’s done now, so we’re back to a regular schedule, but when people hear about the crazy hours they often say they’re sorry. They really shouldn’t be. I would never do this often, or for long periods, or without proper compensation if done for an employer, but the truth is that these programming blitzkriegs are some of my favorite periods in life. Under the right conditions, writing software is so intensely pleasurable it should be illegal.

(via Ryan Dahl)

Programming IQ: 55

It was a rather hard programming quiz. On the other hand 55 points is exactly 55%, so I have passed. Barely, but still…

100 push ups

Today, similarly to Ryan Dahl I’ve started the quest to make a hundred push ups. During the initial test I’ve made 24. That’s a good start, me thinks.

Update: Unfortunately I only made it as far as week 3. The progress curve was just too steep. I’ve tried several times to make it past week 3 but failed. And that, let me tell you, was not really motivating, so I just kind of let it go.

Strong Opinions, Weakly Held

A couple years ago, I was talking the Institute’s Bob Johansen about wisdom, and he explained that – to deal with an uncertain future and still move forward – they advise people to have “strong opinions, which are weakly held.” They’ve been giving this advice for years, and I understand that it was first developed by Instituite Director Paul Saffo. Bob explained that weak opinions are problematic because people aren’t inspired to develop the best arguments possible for them, or to put forth the energy required to test them. Bob explained that it was just as important, however, to not be too attached to what you believe because, otherwise, it undermines your ability to “see” and “hear” evidence that clashes with your opinions. This is what psychologists sometimes call the problem of “confirmation bias.”

Good life mantra? Who knows…

(via Bob Sutton)

Queerer Than We Can Suppose

Another great TED talk

(via Chris Wanstrath)