mori.net

Just made this masterpiece. . .more of an experiment in how this website works. . .

Works:

return {
//stuff
}

Doesn’t work:

return
{
//stuff
}

I’m learning this lesson again. I took 4 tortuous quarters of Latin in college, for some masochistic reason; I don’t regret it, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t painful. But then resurrection doesn’t sound like it should be an easy process.

But, why don’t I regret it?

Echoes of arcane languages resonate in their distant progeny. This is no different in programming languages, making learning dead or moribund languages that much more rewarding. . .

1) knowledge of arcane programmatic etymology gives greater gravitas to modern syntax and expressions
2) knowledge of arcane programmatic expressions conveys a sense of linguistic history and evolution
3) arcane languages often hammer a concept ad infinitum, of which new language creators will often take a small snippet. the payoff: knowledge of the old language is like intensive preparation for a tiny hi-jacked feature in the modern programming language

I re-used Plone after a long break. It gave me some perspective as to what’s wrong with the thing, in no particular order:

• Stuff is everywhere, all over the place. There are way too many places for things. Too many places = confusion. We’re talking Separation Of Concerns on crack.
• TAL is an abomination. A crime against humanity really. Far worse than putting code inside of templates, TAL puts an obscure clunky meta-language inside of templates. The result? Programmers and front-enders alike have to swim through a thick and murky swamp of templating logic. XSLT looks pretty by comparison.
• It is the opposite of Agile. Things are hard to change. You name it: HTML, External Methods, CSS. Not easy to change. They are all ‘encapsulated’, but in a bad way, as these are things that web developers need to modify all the time.

What’s good about Plone?

Plone’s great if you accept it and like it for what it is and does. While it’s clear that Plone is not a web framework and never advertised as such, by any stretch - for one’s sanity (talking developers here), it’s better thought of as (by managers!): barely modifiable. I’ll say it again: BARELY MODIFIABLE.

Epiphany: so really, there’s nothing wrong with Plone itself. The problem is with how people think of Plone.

Wrong: thinking of Plone as a modifiable tool.
Right: accepting it for what it is, and knowing that it is not a app that can be easily modified, nor should it be, unless you want to waste developer hours.

I’m writing this list, because I, for one, had no idea that there was a protocol to visiting new parents. Now, that I am one, I see the light. I figure many non-kid having people don’t know this stuff, just like I didn’t.

11. Don’t make out with my baby. Yea, I know you love her and all, but she’s still young with a weak immune system, and, well, it’s plain gross to watch! Reserve your necking for your significant other! If you want to show her love, donate $100 to her 529 Plan and give her a light hug goodbye.

10. Don’t expect to visit soon after the baby’s born, unless you are family. Well-loved family. Phrase the question: “When will you guys be ready for visitors?”

9. Make the effort to visit them. When the time is right, they will love you visiting them. Emphasis on you, because most likely it’s a lot more difficult for them to visit you. A lot more.

8. Do not visit new parents and their baby if you are in any way sick; yes, pinkeye and open sores count as ’sick’.

7. Please smoke your cigarettes and drink your whiskey after your visit; also, refrain from illicit drug use during your visit. Those things might lure the baby down a seedy path of darkness. . .prematurely.

6. Be on time. It is quite a big production to prep a baby for visitors; tasks include: timing the feeding so that the baby’s in a good mood for you, changing her, cleaning her and calming her; and, let’s not forget the work involved with the parents trying to decently spruce up themselves and the home. If you’re late 30 minutes, it’s like tossing half of that work out the window.

5. Wash your hands; this will make mom feel better and think more highly of you as a righteous, upstanding citizen - and, someone worthy of holding her prized golden baby snow monkey.

4. Bring food! The best gift for new parents is food. That’s prepared food period, whether purchased or homemade; new parents have little, if any, time to cook while occupied feeding, changing, nursing, walking and rocking the wailing li’l chim chim.

3. Don’t stay too long. Anywhere from 15 minutes to a few hours, depending on the stress level in the air.

2. Read the signs. Mom may very well want you to leave when she says: “Well, we should probably put her to bed now” or “I have to go breastfeed.” These statements should prompt an “Oh, sorry, we’ll get going now.”

1. Humor them. There’s a 99.99999% chance the parents are sleep deprived, so if they don’t make sense or are mentally dull, smile, feign a laugh, and act like you love their baby more than Jesus, no matter how baffled their non-sequiturs leave you.

to balance out the pottery story. . .

or as my fencing teacher used to say:

“perfect practice makes perfect execution”

“Science and religion are two windows that people look through, trying to understand the big universe outside, trying to understand why we are here. The two windows give different views, but they look out at the same universe. Both views are one-sided, neither is complete. Both leave out essential features of the real world. And both are worthy of respect.

Trouble arises when either science or religion claims universal jurisdiction, when either religious or scientific dogma claims to be infallible. Religious creationists and scientific materialists are equally dogmatic and insensitive. By their arrogance they bring both science and religion into disrepute. The media exaggerate their numbers and importance. The media rarely mention the fact that the great majority of religious people belong to moderate denominations that treat science with respect, or the fact that the great majority of scientists treat religion with respect so long as religion does not claim jurisdiction over scientific questions.”

- Freeman Dyson

love this idea - i think it applies to every craft i enjoy: programming, music, cooking. . .

do more, not less. regardless of quality - just do more.

read about DOING MORE!

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen something so emotionally painful and sad. I usually don’t advocate watching videos of someone dying - as it seems so incredibly voyeuristic and invasive. In this case, however, I’ve rationalized that if it were me, and my life came to a senseless and brutal end, I’d want others to know about it - perhaps the world, if it were a cause I truly believed in. The senseless and brutal death of Neda. The saddest part is that an unidentified man is yelling in Farsi: “My Neda, don’t be afraid, please don’t go, please don’t go, please stay…” Watch the video only if you are prepared to be greatly saddened, shocked and perhaps incensed for a quite a while. . .

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/06/21/2009-06-21_neda_young_girl_killed_in_iran.html

finding lots of great old jazz performances, that I would’ve never been able to find pre-web. . .