Piles of good stuff
So, I'm back from a week-and-a-half vacation. I didn't touch the web, email, or very many other hi-tech gizmos during this period. Contrary to predictions, I didn't get the shakes or exhibit any other outward signs of withdrawal. I am, however, fairly buried under the stuff that stacked up while I was gone. I have a fair number of emails (both home and work) to crawl out from under, and thousands of RSS items to read. In this situation, some would argue for just marking everything read and starting fresh. I just can't bring myself to do that (well, it was never an option with the emails, more so with the RSS), fearing I'll miss some good stuff. And, as I slowly make my way through the list, I have found many a nugget of goodness:
- A long, but very good, interview with Mac software developer Wil Shipley.
- Vanilla, a PHP/MySQL-based forum system that looks much nicer than the other free forum systems. It'll be high on my list to check out, should I need to add this sort of functionality (at work, not here).
- The Persional MBA 40, a list of 40 books that roughly contain information you'd learn in an MBA program. I like the concept (and I've even read a number of books on the list), but I do feel compelled to point out that the value of an MBA-type degree is only partly from the information conveyed. Discussions, networking, writing, and so forth, play a pretty big role. At least they did for me in my MBA-type (MSIM) program. Still, I'll draw from this list next time I'm looking for a management-ish book to read.
- Podcasts from WebVisions.
- Simon Willison introduces Django, a python-based web framework that many are comparing to Rails. One to check out, for sure.
- Jamis Buck and James Duncan Davidson both discuss deployment strategies with Rails. Both have good ideas that you can apply outside the world of Rails, too.
- Go watch this short video about designer Milton Glaser (via BD4D). I really keyed into his comments about art providing commonality to society. How, then, does this growing diversity of cultural artifacts (see, the Long Tail) fit into this? Will the increased specialization tear society apart, or bring it closer?
Well, I have about 300 more unread items to go, so I'll probably hit more good stuff.