Having a go

A dangerous video for a software developer to watch: Damian Katz on CouchDB and Me. The story behind doing something great.

Living the dream, making a go of it, stepping up to the plate, having faith in your own abilities. Being successful by taking risk.

I think that inside some developers[0] is an urge to do this. One differentiation between those who succeed and those who don't is that only some try. Talent and opportunity are other important differentiators, but without the 'try' it can't happen.

Note to self: Must keep trying.

More info on CouchDB and Damian Katz.

[0] Is developing software a job, or is it something you'd do even if you weren't paid?

tech/sweng | 23 Feb 2009 | #

97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know

Soon to be released book: 97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know. An open collaborative wiki, these are the 97 things that will make the printed edition. The whole site, especially the selected 97 axioms, is a fantastic resource. So many people claim the title, but so few walk the walk or even talk the talk. Technical leadership is so important, but so badly done in practice.

Best item: Communication Is King.

tech/sweng | 19 Feb 2009 | #

The Magic Minutes

"Magic Minutes": The number of minutes after passing the 40 minute mark when running. They are the only minutes that count. They are only minutes that affect weight-loss and gains in cardiovascular fitness. You cannot skip straight to them, you need to go through the "useless" 40 minutes of running that has little impact first. This definition is neither scientifically proven, nor dependable in all circumstances for all people. Your unique situation may affect your results. Please talk your doctor before embarking on any exercise program :)

exercise | 18 Feb 2009 | #

Stock Market: Why shorting is wrong

Here is an article about how to short the stock-market. Shorting is selling stock you don't own, hoping the price will go down, and buying the stock at the lower price to cover your previous sells, hence making money. While within the law, it's just plain wrong.

Shorting allows day traders and the like to continue to make money while the market drops, but by doing so they are encouraging the market downwards hurting 'long' investors - aka your super fund.

Shorting should be banned permanently. The ongoing greed in the market is disgusting - step up the plate governments of the world! It's time for some regulation.

tech/misc | 16 Feb 2009 | #

What tripod do I have?

So when planning a photo trip overseas I keep on forgetting what tripod I'm currently using. It's embarrassing. So once and for all - the tripod I use is a SLIK U9000.

At least now it's on my blog so I can find it without having to go back into my Amazon account and looking up past orders from 5 years ago.

Oh, and by the way, I'm soon off to Wellington, NZ.

photos | 16 Feb 2009 | #

LinuxSA February 2008 - Chumby

  Hi all,

  Time for the February meeting announcement...

  The usual details:

   When:   6:30pm-8:30pm on Tuesday, 17th February, 2009
   Where:  Room G05/G06 Gerard Innovation Centre
           Prince Alfred College
           Capper Street, Kent Town SA
   Cost:   FREE
   Who:    Anyone and everyone.
           No pre-registration necessary.

  Presentation:

   Chris Iona will be presenting a talk on Hacking the Chumby.  This
   will be an introduction to its OS, hardware, and how to program it.
   See http://chumby.on.net/ for some general information about the
   Chumby.  Chris is a senior member of Internode's Content Services
   Group, with a strong web focus.

  Getting to the Venue:

   Prince Alfred College faces Dequetteville Terrace, but access to
   Room G05/G06 is only available from Capper Street; there is no
   access to these rooms from any other entrances in the College.  On
   Capper Street, Room G05/G06 is closer to The Parade West than to
   Dequetteville Terrace.

   Parking is available on-street or maybe off-street (adjacent to the
   Sports Centre). Look for the two storey stone fronted building with
   the sign "Gerard Innovation Centre". Enter through the double doors,
   first room on the right hand side of corridor (ground floor). The
   external door automatically locks at night. Should it not be propped
   open please be ready to knock loudly.

   There are buses that go along Dequetteville Terrace, with a stop
   adjacent to Capper Street. The 143, 145, and 146 buses leave from
   North Terrace, and the 141 and 142 buses leave from Currie Street
   and Grenfell street.

   If you are in the city, you could also catch the 99C bus to East
   Terrace, then take a 10-15 minute walk to the College.

  Pizza:

   After the meeting, please join us for pizza at San Giorgios (cnr.
   Frome Street and Rundle Street in the city).

  For more information:

   Email:        organisers@linuxsa.org.au
   Web Page:     http://www.linuxsa.org.au/
   Mailing List: linuxsa@linuxsa.org.au
   IRC: #linuxsa on irc.freenode.net

tech/LinuxSA | 11 Feb 2009 | #

ack and pv

The latest additions to my shell toolbox are ack and pv. Very cool indeed!

tech/code/shell | 03 Feb 2009 | #

Resuming normal activities

So it appears the back has been broken on our heatwave - we "only" had a 39C day yesterday meaning that we only equaled and did not break the record for longest run of > than 40C days.

The good news is that the nightly temperatures have dropped below 30C too, meaning that I could get back running in the early morning. Today was only a brief 6.5km, but boy did it feel good to get back on the road! Next step, do that 4 days a week; then get that back up to 12km and the marathon dream might get back on track.

exercise | 03 Feb 2009 | #