Comments for [M]etabrain [E]ntry [L]og http://blog.melchua.com Braindump of the Mel. Seek coherency and relevance at your own risk. Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:22:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 Comment on What I taught myself after work today by Mel http://blog.melchua.com/2008/10/09/what-i-taught-myself-after-work-today/#comment-1117 Mel Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:31:59 +0000 http://blog.melchua.com/?p=608#comment-1117 You just named three things, the first two of which I generally do not have because of enthusiastic overabundance of the latter. You just named three things, the first two of which I generally do not have because of enthusiastic overabundance of the latter.

]]> Comment on What I taught myself after work today by nikki http://blog.melchua.com/2008/10/09/what-i-taught-myself-after-work-today/#comment-1116 nikki Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:10:38 +0000 http://blog.melchua.com/?p=608#comment-1116 Yeah, but... Gentleness! Patience! Love! Honestly, you look like you're about to snap your pick in half. :( Yeah, but… Gentleness! Patience! Love!

Honestly, you look like you’re about to snap your pick in half. :(

]]> Comment on What I taught myself after work today by Mel http://blog.melchua.com/2008/10/09/what-i-taught-myself-after-work-today/#comment-1115 Mel Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:01:37 +0000 http://blog.melchua.com/?p=608#comment-1115 The above video was shot about after 5 minutes of practice, so yeah, I'm being super heavy-handed here. After fiddling with this on my commute home, I'm a little lighter, but still not light enough. I was rotating through the picks I had (I've never touched any picks before) and the rake happened to be it for that particular rotation. *shrug* Give me some time - I've been picking locks for something like 20 minutes so far. The above video was shot about after 5 minutes of practice, so yeah, I’m being super heavy-handed here. After fiddling with this on my commute home, I’m a little lighter, but still not light enough.

I was rotating through the picks I had (I’ve never touched any picks before) and the rake happened to be it for that particular rotation. *shrug*

Give me some time - I’ve been picking locks for something like 20 minutes so far.

]]> Comment on What I taught myself after work today by nikki http://blog.melchua.com/2008/10/09/what-i-taught-myself-after-work-today/#comment-1108 nikki Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:31:59 +0000 http://blog.melchua.com/?p=608#comment-1108 LESS FORCE ZOMG. PPS any particular reason you're raking instead of picking for a 1 pin? LESS FORCE ZOMG.

PPS any particular reason you’re raking instead of picking for a 1 pin?

]]> Comment on Brainstorming! Brainstorming! by Chriswaterguy http://blog.melchua.com/2008/10/05/brainstorming-brainstorming/#comment-1086 Chriswaterguy Tue, 07 Oct 2008 07:57:54 +0000 http://blog.melchua.com/2008/10/05/brainstorming-brainstorming/#comment-1086 Damn, wish you could do this at OSNCamp. Speaking of which, would your audience be interested in it? Note blogs.appropedia.org/2008/09/24/open-sustainability-network-camp Damn, wish you could do this at OSNCamp.

Speaking of which, would your audience be interested in it? Note blogs.appropedia.org/2008/09/24/open-sustainability-network-camp

]]> Comment on Why bounties fail by Kevin Mark http://blog.melchua.com/2008/10/06/why-bounties-fail/#comment-1085 Kevin Mark Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:33:14 +0000 http://blog.melchua.com/?p=598#comment-1085 The amount of effort required to fix any bug if converted into money would not be worth the time or effort. If you took the hours to research, search, try, debug, and document a bug, it would be huge. I fixed a bug yesterday for OLPC. I noticed it 4 months ago. It bothered me and other follow xo'er. It sat in the back of my mind and festered. So yesterday, I spent about 6 hours reading code, examining the wiki and making some tests. The result: 1 fixed bug and a personal sense of accomplishment. Could money have motivated me to do it faster? Maybe? How much money? $1, $10, $100,... Hmm. Maybe $100. Or some olpc swag. But ESR said it long ago, its a gift economy we geeks inhabit with various forms of currency, not always pieces of eight, arg! The amount of effort required to fix any bug if converted into money would not be worth the time or effort. If you took the hours to research, search, try, debug, and document a bug, it would be huge. I fixed a bug yesterday for OLPC. I noticed it 4 months ago. It bothered me and other follow xo’er. It sat in the back of my mind and festered. So yesterday, I spent about 6 hours reading code, examining the wiki and making some tests. The result: 1 fixed bug and a personal sense of accomplishment. Could money have motivated me to do it faster? Maybe? How much money? $1, $10, $100,… Hmm. Maybe $100. Or some olpc swag. But ESR said it long ago, its a gift economy we geeks inhabit with various forms of currency, not always pieces of eight, arg!

]]> Comment on Forging a software development community by [M]etabrain [E]ntry [L]og » Blog Archive » Why bounties fail http://blog.melchua.com/2008/09/28/forging-a-software-development-community/#comment-1084 [M]etabrain [E]ntry [L]og » Blog Archive » Why bounties fail Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:49:10 +0000 http://blog.melchua.com/2008/09/28/forging-a-software-development-community/#comment-1084 [...] thought this was a great point from last week’s discussion that deserved a shout-out: “Remember however that some (high level scripting) software will [...] [...] thought this was a great point from last week’s discussion that deserved a shout-out: “Remember however that some (high level scripting) software will [...]

]]> Comment on Forging a software development community by Mel http://blog.melchua.com/2008/09/28/forging-a-software-development-community/#comment-1083 Mel Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:45:12 +0000 http://blog.melchua.com/2008/09/28/forging-a-software-development-community/#comment-1083 Antoine, would you mind giving a few examples of what you think the biggest differences between writing articles and developing curriculum are? I agree that they're different things, but can't articulate exactly why very well yet, beyond the "curriculums need measurable learning objectives, articles don't" one. Antoine, would you mind giving a few examples of what you think the biggest differences between writing articles and developing curriculum are?

I agree that they’re different things, but can’t articulate exactly why very well yet, beyond the “curriculums need measurable learning objectives, articles don’t” one.

]]> Comment on What can we use for BigBoard connectors? by Mel http://blog.melchua.com/2008/10/04/what-can-we-use-for-bigboard-connectors/#comment-1077 Mel Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:09:33 +0000 http://blog.melchua.com/2008/10/04/what-can-we-use-for-bigboard-connectors/#comment-1077 Whoops - I should have specified... the "connectors" are flexible wires, exactly like the conductive fabric ribbons Andrew just described. (In fact, the lack of flexible connectors is one of the big downsides, in our opinion, of the original Snap Circuits.) Thanks for the clarification, Andrew! Also, stackable snap buttons exist? Where can I find them? I'm Googling about to no avail right now. Those would be wonderful - the single reason we didn't go with snap buttons for the first design was that we couldn't find stackable ones. In all other respects, they're perfect. Whoops - I should have specified… the “connectors” are flexible wires, exactly like the conductive fabric ribbons Andrew just described. (In fact, the lack of flexible connectors is one of the big downsides, in our opinion, of the original Snap Circuits.) Thanks for the clarification, Andrew!

Also, stackable snap buttons exist? Where can I find them? I’m Googling about to no avail right now. Those would be wonderful - the single reason we didn’t go with snap buttons for the first design was that we couldn’t find stackable ones. In all other respects, they’re perfect.

]]> Comment on What can we use for BigBoard connectors? by Andrew http://blog.melchua.com/2008/10/04/what-can-we-use-for-bigboard-connectors/#comment-1071 Andrew Sun, 05 Oct 2008 03:06:57 +0000 http://blog.melchua.com/2008/10/04/what-can-we-use-for-bigboard-connectors/#comment-1071 Why would snap buttons cause you to lose the ability to make multiple connections at a point? There are snaps that you can get that are double-sided with a male on one side and a female on the other. These would still be stackable. Another thought that I had was that rigid pieces will quickly become unwieldy if the connection points are rigid as well. Perhaps the kit would be well-served with conductive ribbons of fabric "wires" that have the connector of choice at either end? Why would snap buttons cause you to lose the ability to make multiple connections at a point? There are snaps that you can get that are double-sided with a male on one side and a female on the other. These would still be stackable.

Another thought that I had was that rigid pieces will quickly become unwieldy if the connection points are rigid as well. Perhaps the kit would be well-served with conductive ribbons of fabric “wires” that have the connector of choice at either end?

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