Category Archives: Web

Interesting things I find on the web, when I should be working

William Gibson on Punk Rock, Internet Memes, and Gangnam Style | Underwire | Wired.com

If punk emerged today — instead of in 1977 — how would it take hold on the popular consciousness?“You’d pull it up on YouTube, as soon as it was played,” hypothesized William Gibson in a recent phone interview with Wired. “It would go up on YouTube among the kazillion other things that went up on YouTube that day. And then how would you find it?”

via William Gibson on Punk Rock, Internet Memes, and Gangnam Style | Underwire | Wired.com.

Why Dan Shipper is Wrong about Goals | Isaac Sukin

I advise these people that in order to usefully learn programming, they need to start with a project they want to accomplish for which programming is a possible way to successfully complete the project. Programming is not the end goal: code is merely one possible implementation. When you approach the problem this way, what was once an arduous task becomes simply an exciting step on the way to building something you can be proud of. Similarly, if you start out by saying you want to look fit enough to pick up girls/guys in time for beach season, going to the gym becomes one possible way to reach that goal, and a much less awful task. It also becomes a repeatable one because you know what to do the next time you have a similar problem and youre able to identify how your skills are useful.

via Why Dan Shipper is Wrong about Goals | Isaac Sukin.