I'm generally not, but that's okay.

If we didn’t have any early adopters ironing out the kinks, there’d never be a now-safe choice for the late majority. And if everyone always jumped on the latest thing on day one, society would waste needless cycles churning through the broken glass of beta software.

— The Stories We Tell Ourselves by Signal vs Noise

I now know that I bring scale to the products that I wait for.

I can't say if this trend is happening in the UK, but in the Lang house we've almost completely eliminated processed foods in favour of fresh home made meals. The simple pleasure of cooking with fresh ingredients is hard to give up when you've mastered a few basic dishes.

There's no excuse for the lack of blog posts around here recently. I've tried to kickstart my daily posts a number of times in the last couple of months but each time ends up in failure.

At first I had problem with ideas for writing. My ideas list had run dry and I struggled to fill it again.

Then when I had an idea for a post, I would quickly dismiss it on the grounds that it isn't worth publishing. I didn't have confidence in the idea to write about it to begin with, let alone actually get to the step of deciding whether it is publishable or not.

Now I'm so focused on other work that I am struggling to fit writing back into my schedule. I'm stretching myself in too many different directions.

None of these are valid reasons for not writing. They're excuses. I aim to do better in the future with regards to my writing.

... are willing to pay for your product or service. You'd be surprised just how many.

I really should. My problem at the moment is that I have too many things on the go at once. Something will need to give.

If you're struggling to blog, read this post by Curtis McHale. It will be a reality check for some. A reality check that is needed.

I know I needed it.

via FGGT

We need more posts like this. Good to see that Markdown is favoured by Curtis.

A clever idea for any notebook, but I have to say I do prefer my Nock Hightower.

The Art of Manliness uncovers everything about the humble pocket.

This is because the original pockets weren’t like the sewn-in pockets we know today, but rather separate bags detached from clothing. From the 15th until the mid-16th century, men and women carried essential items and currency in a pouch that was typically tied around the waist or hung from a belt. As thieves and “cutpurses” became more of a problem in the 17th century, people began to cut slits in their shirts, skirts, and pants, and tuck their pouches inside their clothing for safekeeping. This practice necessitated making the bags flatter and easier to reach into, so they would be more accessible and not create a significant bulge.

— A Man's Pockets
by The Art of Manliness

Curtis McHale talks about taking your blogging to the next level and hiring an editor.

Working with Diane I get something more though — I get someone to tell me when a post is just plain bad, and if it is, we take it back and re-write or scrap it altogether. She helps clarify my message so I’m communicating with my readers in the way I intend.

— Blogging and Quality Content
by Curtis McHale

XKCD delivers again with the Emojic 8 Ball.

A little fast one today.

I love this.

You turn up because of the people around you.

You know, the ones with common interests and sense of ambition.

The ones who want to invent new things and do old things better.

The ones whose distortion of reality present challenges that stretch you.

The ones who give you freedom to do things differently.

The ones you trust not to drop the ball (there are no ball droppers here).

You even turn up for the ones who grate on you (they’re also brilliant).

You turn up because the people around you value what you do.

They believe in you and give you what you need.

Together you create something more than a job.

Don’t settle for anything less.

— Why You Turn Up by Dom Goodrum

via swissmiss

Patrick Rhone shares a simple way he shapes the day in his favour. An excellent idea.

I cleaned out my RSS feeds over the weekend. The following feeds have been removed for different reasons:

• A Fresh Cup - Mike Gunderloy is taking a well earned break from his daily link posts around Ruby and Rails. I'll miss those posts but I can understand Mike's reasons for doing it. Maybe he'll back.
• BikeRadar.com - Not been particularly interested in the scope of content they're pushing. I prefer now to subscribe to niche blogs like Cycle EXIF and Pedal Consumption. Also they don't include images in their RSS feed, which makes reading about new bikes and components a bit redundant if there's no images to accompany it.
• ConversionXL, Copywriting by Copy Hackers, Quick Sprout, SaaStr, The KISSmetrics Marketing Blog, Vero Email Marketing Blog, Social Triggers - I'm done with building and marketing products. I'd rather be writing code.

I've also found a few blogs that have been added to my feeds list:

• Engine Yard Blog - I don't have anything deployed to Engine Yard, but they're always producing good content from a developers perspective.
• Iand.net - Ian Dick is a fellow dev from Scotland with a blog that has a good mix of content.
• Scribbling.net - I have always been a fan of Gina Trapani's work. Even though she's not part of the Lifehacker team anymore, it's good to see she's still writing
• The Art of Manliness - There we were, me and the boys trying to entertain ourselves when we hit upon the idea of making paper airplanes. Took it to the next level though and made some paper airplanes using the designs from this blog. What more reason would I need to subscribe?

I have old favorites I return to again and again. Stories like Watership Down, The Wind and the Willows, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Washington Irving’s Sketch Book are wonderful re-reads. I’ve read many of Jim Harrison’s works over and over; the same with books by William F. Buckley, Jr., Paul Johnson, Charles Murray, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, and H.L. Mencken. I recently added Elmore Leonard to my re-read stable.

— Reading and re-reading by Kurt Harden

I have been re-reading a few books from my programming stack. I haven't re-read any fiction for a while though. Might be time correct that.

I've been working with Ruby on Rails full-time now for close to 4 years. Two years as a full-time employee and two years as a freelancer. In that time I've worked with and built all manner of Rails applications. Content management systems, business support applications, healthcare service portals and my own little product, DailyMuse. It's still my choice of web framework for new projects, but I feel that lately I've become too settled with Rails. Yes it's a fine framework to work with and who could argue. It has a thriving community that offers great support and ensures the ongoing development of the framework, but there's more than one web framework out there.

In the last few months I've been trying out the Rust systems programming language. It's been a hit and a miss getting my head round the syntax but largely I feel that I am wasting my time with it. Why? Well Rust is still fairly new and at the time of writing this it's just about to emerge from its 1.0 beta phase. Despite the immeninent release of the stable version of the language, I still think I arrived at the Rust party too early. I've never been an early adopter of technology. I like to sit on the fence longer than normal before making any decisions about investing in a language or a framework. I might re-visit Rust in six months time or even a year to see how popular it is and whether it's worth investing my time in. So, putting Rust to the side has left a space for me to look at another language or framework.

Looking at the market today, there's such a variety in the demand for different languages and frameworks. I've done .NET in the past and while I think there's going to be a steady demand for it in the future, I do want to try something completely new. A language I've never used before. Enter Python.

Okay, it's not completely different to Ruby. It has duck typing and It's dynamic but it is also an established programming language. If I was going to learn a new language then it was going to be something that I could use in my career. Getting a Python contract with no experience might be tricky, but I'm prepared to tart up my Github page with a couple of projects done in Python that could add weight to my cause.

Also, if I'm going to pick a language that gives me extra tools to use then I want something that sits alongside it just like Ruby on Rails sits alongside Ruby. I not only want to learn a new programming language but a new web framework that is made with that programming language. Enter Django.

In the past I've tried to learn different programming languages and failed spectacularly but this feels different. Rather than picking an new cutting edge technology, I've picked an established programming language and an established web framework to go with it. They're not completely different from Ruby and Rails, but that's the idea. I'm a web developer, therefore it makes sense to learn another web framework. This might be a low risk investment, but that's okay. There's enough developers chasing the bleeding edge technology. How many are chasing established technology?

An amazing flyover of the ruins of Berlin after Allied air raids during World War 2.

A brilliant post about the increasing world of digital distractions.

Still, I am an optimist. Most nights last year, I got into bed with a book — paper or e — and started. Reading. Read. Ing. One word after the next. A sentence. Two sentences.

Maybe three.

And then … I needed just a little something else. Something to tide me over. Something to scratch that little itch at the back of my mind— just a quick look at email on my iPhone; to write, and erase, a response to a funny Tweet from William Gibson; to find, and follow, a link to a good, really good, article in the New Yorker, or, better, the New York Review of Books (which I might even read most of, if it is that good). Email again, just to be sure.

— Why can't we read anymore by Hugh McGuire

Remember that the decision to reduce your increasing inbox of digital goodies is down to you. It can be done, it just requires a bit of action and some discipline.

Might start calling my smartphone a dumbphone. It certainly makes me more dumb than smart.

The Zapier blog has been a new addition to my reading list and it certainly hasn't disappointed.

This post about the time-tested task management methods proves that having the killer productivity app isn't the key to being productive. Also great to see Markdown mentioned here.

Keep them coming Zapier!

Always loved these posters but never got round to buying one.

via Star Wars