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Steve Yegge tells the story[1] of his dad cooking: > When I was a teenager, my dad and my brother Mike decided to make homemade chili. I'd never seen it made b

Steve Yegge tells the story[1] of his dad cooking: > When I was a teenager, my dad and my brother Mike decided to make homemade chili. I'd never seen it made before, and I watched with keen interest as they added beef, beans, some veggies and spices, and other ingredients. Dad would taste it, add some more ingredients, wait a bit, taste it again. My dad has some pretty good recipes. So you can imagine my puzzlement when he opened the cupboard, pulled out 2 cans of Hormel chili, opened them and dumped them in. I waited a respectful moment or two before asking him why he was adding canned chili to his chili. Similarly, I think it detracts a bit from building a home-made x-ray machine if one of the ingredients is an x-ray tube from an old x-ray machine. [1] http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/10/egomania-itself.html http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/10/egomania-itself.html

robbedpeter 5y ago
https://youtu.be/-0G4-JicCIw https://youtu.be/-0G4-JicCIw Diy xray tubes are doable, but I don't fault them for the store chili or the reused tube. It's not always important that parts be as authentically diy as the whole, in my view.
robocat 5y ago
Steve rants against Agile - classic. “”” I waited a respectful moment or two before asking him why he was adding canned chili to his chili. They both said it tasted terrible, but, as my dad now-famously observed: "You can start with dog shit, and if you add enough chili, you get chili." Similarly, if you start with an Agile Methodology, and you add enough hard work, you get a bunch of work done. Go figure. But that's a tautology; you can substitute anything you like for "Agile Methodology" and it's still true. It's probably not difficult to find people who believe that Feng Shui has brought them success in their projects for years. Or throwing pennies in fountains. Heck, there are probably some people who practice witchcraft to help their projects out, and a great many of those projects — probably the majority — wind up being successful. If you do a rain dance for enough days in a row, it will eventually work. Guaranteed. So I'm not saying Agile doesn't work. It does work! But it's plain, unadulterated superstition. “”” Off topic, but thanks for the link.
dekhn 5y ago
so, I'm a maker, and there's some things that aren't worth making yourself, but if you integrate them, you're still a maker. x-ray tubes are an example (in my case, microcontrollers, stepper motors, and microscope objectives). (I have actually built a crookes tube, for fun, but it wasn't particularly reliable or safe)
- odonnellryan 5y ago
  Are programmers makers?
  - dekhn 5y ago
    Computer programmers are makers, but typically work on digital systems, where making is far, far easier.

robbedpeter 5y ago

https://youtu.be/-0G4-JicCIw https://youtu.be/-0G4-JicCIw Diy xray tubes are doable, but I don't fault them for the store chili or the reused tube. It's not always important that parts be as authentically diy as the whole, in my view.

robocat 5y ago

Steve rants against Agile - classic. “”” I waited a respectful moment or two before asking him why he was adding canned chili to his chili. They both said it tasted terrible, but, as my dad now-famously observed: "You can start with dog shit, and if you add enough chili, you get chili." Similarly, if you start with an Agile Methodology, and you add enough hard work, you get a bunch of work done. Go figure. But that's a tautology; you can substitute anything you like for "Agile Methodology" and it's still true. It's probably not difficult to find people who believe that Feng Shui has brought them success in their projects for years. Or throwing pennies in fountains. Heck, there are probably some people who practice witchcraft to help their projects out, and a great many of those projects — probably the majority — wind up being successful. If you do a rain dance for enough days in a row, it will eventually work. Guaranteed. So I'm not saying Agile doesn't work. It does work! But it's plain, unadulterated superstition. “”” Off topic, but thanks for the link.

dekhn 5y ago

so, I'm a maker, and there's some things that aren't worth making yourself, but if you integrate them, you're still a maker. x-ray tubes are an example (in my case, microcontrollers, stepper motors, and microscope objectives). (I have actually built a crookes tube, for fun, but it wasn't particularly reliable or safe)

odonnellryan 5y ago
Are programmers makers?
- dekhn 5y ago
  Computer programmers are makers, but typically work on digital systems, where making is far, far easier.