quotes

posted by justin hileman 6 months, 2 weeks ago

Skimping on free soft drinks, a completely standard benefit at most high tech companies, is a great way to send your employees and potential employees the message that you just don't care about being an attractive workplace.

In a classic piece, Joel takes on misconceptions about employee perks, programmer productivity and getting in "the flow". This is a great (re)read brought to you via commenter nomalab.

posted by justin hileman 7 months, 1 week ago

If you're gonna interrupt everybody with an ad, it had better be something everybody wants to buy.

Traditional marketing generates average products for average people, because these products are targeted at the everyone.

From Seth Godin's talk called "Why marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department" at the Business of Software conference. Go watch the talk.

posted by justin hileman 7 months, 3 weeks ago

One reason programmers dislike meetings so much is that they're on a different type of schedule from other people. Meetings cost them more.

I've never been a meeting person. Paul Graham's latest essay helps give me words to explain why.

(Via @popthestack)

posted by justin hileman 9 months, 1 week ago

A px is a bludgeon to force your taste on the design. The em is a friend, it counsels the design and takes advice from it.

Tom DeForest captures many of my feelings on relative (em based) sizes in web design. The em is a thing of beauty :)

posted by justin hileman 9 months, 2 weeks ago

Constant companion, (& friend in old age) who will feel interested in one, -- object to be beloved & played with. -- better than a dog anyhow.

Charles Darwin, on wives. An excerpt from his balance sheet on the decision to be married.

(via Futility Closet)

posted by justin hileman 10 months, 2 weeks ago

I don't think you ever see a Lindy Hopper that's not smiling...

Goodbye, Frankie Manning. Thank you for everything you shared with us. We'll miss you.

And keep smiling :)

posted by justin hileman 10 months, 2 weeks ago

Introverts are not necessarily shy. Shy people are anxious or frightened or self-excoriating in social settings; introverts generally are not. Introverts are also not misanthropic... Rather, introverts are people who find other people tiring.

Dear extroverted friends, please read Caring for Your Introvert by Jonathan Rauch. And please, sometimes, occasionally, just leave me alone.

(via Claire Bagley)

posted by justin hileman 10 months, 3 weeks ago

One who is contented with what he has done will never become famous for what he will do. He has lain down to die. The grass is already growing over him.

Christian Nestell Bovee.

See also: Contented.

posted by justin hileman 10 months, 3 weeks ago

It is right to be contented with what we have, but never with what we are.

Sir James Mackintosh

See also: The grass is already growing over him.

posted by justin hileman 11 months, 1 week ago

While Ballmer may think people are paying $500 more for merely a logo, he’s only half-right. He should be more concerned that people like me are more than willing to pay hundreds in order to avoid Windows.

Chip nails the real issue in his comment on Harry McCracken's blog post analyzing the Microsoft "Lauren" ad.

Give me a Mac Tax over a Windows Tax any day.

posted by justin hileman 11 months, 4 weeks ago

People say “I'm just being myself” … That's not an achievement, that's not honesty, it's lack of imagination and cowardice.

Banksy, Existencilism

posted by justin hileman 1 year, 2 weeks ago

I don't know if they have retarded people working for them or not because I never had to call them and find out!

Sometimes the best customer interaction is no customer interaction at all... At least when contrasted with PrintPlace.com.

Check out Sam's amusing review of PrintPlace.

posted by justin hileman 1 year, 1 month ago

I have pretty good news for you: The present head of UN statistics doesn't say it's impossible, he only says "We can't do it".

Hans Rosling discusses access to publicly funded data for Gapminder at TED. Watch the video, play with the data, help change the world.

posted by justin hileman 1 year, 1 month ago

There are products and services I love that are annoying, but that's okay, because that's part of being in love. And there are products and services that are annoyance-free, but I don't love them. That's okay too. I like them just fine.

Seth Godin on the difference between beloved and tolerable. We all want to see our work loved, perhaps we should strive to be less annoying first? It's a great big leap to go from annoying to loved.

posted by justin hileman 1 year, 3 months ago

When you struggle with an OOP problem, your program still works, it's just sort of hard to maintain. Allegedly. But when you struggle with pointers, your program produces the line Segmentation Fault and you have no idea what's going on, until you stop and take a deep breath and really try to force your mind to work at two different levels of abstraction simultaneously.

Joel Spolsky on the perils of JavaSchools.

It feels a bit like grandpa complaining about walking to school barefoot, uphill both ways, but it's a good read.

Maybe I'm getting old and senile too :)

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