jballanc

71 ms·

571.
by jballanc 13y ago
Now what would be really interesting is some form of comparison between this proof and the conjecture by Brian Greene (and others) that it is highly likely that we are all bit players in a massive computer simulation of a Universe...
572.
Running a Ruby app on Heroku with Phusion Passenger(github.com)
4 points by jballanc 13y ago|0 comments
573.
by jballanc 13y ago
The Hacker Community's greatest flaw -- a total disregard for predecessors -- may also be its saving grace. On one hand, we guffaw at those "old timers" who worked in assembler, Fortran, C, or even Perl. "They could neve
574.
by jballanc 13y ago
Burnside Digital ( http://www.burnsidedigital.com/ ) -- Portland, OR or REMOTE (anywhere in the world) We're a consulting shop focused mostly on Ruby, Rails, and Mobile development. Currently, we're hiring for a num
575.
by jballanc 13y ago
I've heard it said that "only the middle-class can afford to be communists". The implication being that "to each according to his needs, from each according to his abilities" only seems attractive when you equate &q
576.
by jballanc 13y ago
English is the Lingua Franca, but the terminology is (last I checked) still heavily Latin. Anterior this, Rostral that...a this-ectomy or a that-otomy...even "heart attack" is properly a Cardiac Infarct, from the Latin "inf
577.
by jballanc 13y ago
The art is not Watterson's, but the words are.
578.
by jballanc 13y ago
I've often said that English is to programming as Latin is to medicine. Programmers will be writing "if" statements and "for" loops long after no one uses "if" or "for" in daily conversation. So
579.
by jballanc 13y ago
I wonder why Linux hasn't adopted something like OS X's "Sudden Termination" mechanism: https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Cocoa/...
580.
by jballanc 13y ago
I have always been a huge proponent of the concept of teaching the art of learning, as opposed to teaching a specific skill. My concern is that, as Rich discusses, truly learning to program is a slower process, at the outset, than learnin
581.
by jballanc 13y ago
For me, the most poignant message in this talk is when Rich draws the contrast between learning an instrument, which no one pretends is an easy task, and learning a new programming language, which seems to be increasingly accompanied by &qu
582.
by jballanc 13y ago
I'd like to replace your bear with a pendulum. History has shown that public sentiment towards authoritarianism is cyclical. Certainly Nazi Germany represented an authoritarian regime that was more repressive than the current US govern
583.
by jballanc 13y ago
If your rely on rules to maintain order, bad actors will figure out how to "game the system". If you rely on people to maintain order, bad actors will bribe and corrupt those in charge. The US has traditionally relied more on rule
584.
by jballanc 13y ago
well, I didn't say trained in what ;-) fixed...thanks
585.
by jballanc 13y ago
Ok, so maybe "extremely" was a bit much. In my defense I think leaving is much simpler at this point than hoping that the current course of politics and public sentiment in the US will change. > 1) Barriers to work and emigrat
586.
by jballanc 13y ago
There is an extremely simple solution: leave. I've not lived in the US for almost two years now. I've only had to travel back twice in that time. Meanwhile, in the same time I've visited France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and
587.
by jballanc 13y ago
Actually, no, many other kinds of food cannot be preserved simply by storage in airtight containers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botulism#Prevention
588.
by jballanc 13y ago
Interesting article, but they overlooked (or at least downplayed) what I think is the most important part of good coffee: > They should be whole beans, sustainably farmed, and roasted within the past few weeks. Roasted within the past
589.
No more compiling Phusion Passenger(blog.phusion.nl)
5 points by jballanc 13y ago|1 comments
590.
by jballanc 13y ago
I thought about this too, but it seems to me more like sweeping the problem under the rug than addressing it directly. Personally, if this encouraged even two or three people engaged in an interesting conversation to contact each other dire
591.
Ask PG: Can we limit reply count/depth?
8 points by jballanc 13y ago|10 comments
592.
by jballanc 13y ago
A country like America in the '60s, '70s, or maybe even '80s would build this in a heartbeat. A country like America today...who knows? This plan has the perfect mix of reasonably practical yet slightly unsettlingly new and u
593.
by jballanc 13y ago
...and this is the moment that you realize there aren't so many Obj-C developers out there as much as there are that many iOS developers out there, all being forced to use one particular language. Edit : For the record, I am a fan
594.
by jballanc 13y ago
As a (former) regular rider of the NYC subway, the thing that strikes me the most is just how short the platforms all are! Anyone who's ever had to turn an MVP into something that can serve millions of requests will appreciate some o
595.
BlinkLink Post-Mortem(clayallsopp.com)
2 points by jballanc 13y ago|0 comments
596.
by jballanc 13y ago
I think the author is close, but doesn't quite capture the entire reasoning behind "cure cancer" versus "disrupt dry-cleaning" or "new car manufacturer". The disparity between these things is not just a ma
597.
An Introduction to RubyMotionQuery(ir_public.s3.amazonaws.com)
12 points by jballanc 13y ago|2 comments
598.
Setting Up Midway Testing for an AngularJS App(blogs.burnsidedigital.com)
2 points by jballanc 13y ago|0 comments
599.
by jballanc 13y ago
It seems like the biggest point here is that compatibility with the extension API in Python is the anchor dragging down performance. Similarly, Ruby suffers from continued compatibility with its extension API. In the paper they compare with
600.
by jballanc 13y ago
I would buy the "Early History of Smalltalk" book in a heartbeat. If you write software for a living and have not read that Alan Kay essay, take tomorrow and go read it. You won't regret it! I'm surprised, though, that

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