I Think You Should LEARN software engineering

The Driving Crooner dot com, baby!

Lesson: not every start up should/can make sense to every person...but every start up MUST MAKE MONEY!

The driving crooner dot com is like a tiny, frothy start-up in the following ways:

connection to legit good cause (he drives co-workers home from the bar!) potentially hooks you/builds goodwill

makes ZERO sense but at least one person is really passionate about making it exist in the world

must make money! Must exist in the world & will be so good for humankind but also must start earning revenue...yesterday!

classic ZIRP

incredibly stupid. But the hate it engenders...

...is just as stupid, ridiculous and frothy as the thing itself. And the righteous vitriol only makes the Founder double-down to "prove them wrong"! So the Founder gets paranoid...

...because their beautiful dream is very fragile. Many things – things outside the Founder's control! – have line up just right...

...for it all to work. But the Founder persists.

So go ahead. Ask them why they're doing it. You will hear an incredible story.

(thank u https://ithinkyoushouldquote.me/ for the memes)

Calico cut pants dot com!

Lesson: Making something? Easy. Maintaining it? Oof.

Before I became a software engineer whenever someone showed me something they made online – if it didn't look like total shit, I was impressed.

Now? I'm impressed if you made it 6+ months ago and it still works.

I have a graveyard of personal projects that I deployed and abandoned. I don't apologize for taking them down, because part of the point for all of them was to experiment. But also...before I actually deployed things myself I didn't really appreciate what a pain in the neck keeping something online can be.

When Connor O'Malley says he's in over his head, I believe him!

Mars Restaurant (one with Tim Heidecker where monster at space restaurant insults people and he freaks out when its directed at him and his date)

Lesson: Its easier to be mean online than in real life

Something I have been doing recently on bluesky:

A post about a specific person makes me laugh.

I click 'like'.

I reflect that:

1: the post is not very nice &

2: it's directed at a specific person who very well might see it, and then would see my endorsement of it.

I click 'unlike' with the reasoning: whatever the sentiment of the post is, it's not something I would say to their face in person. Or if someone else said it to their face in person and I was right there, I wouldn't then say "I agree!"

(Also want to say: NOT TRYING TO CLAIM THE MORAL HIGH GROUND! I often post without thinking. I certainly sometimes like things that are mean. I am bad at bluesky. And 99.999% of cases I don't care how anyone posts. But...)

recent example 'liking' then 'unliking': Casey Newton calling Ed Zitron 'Temu Kara Swisher'

Bluesky

(NOTE: I misremembered this! In my memory Casey posted this himself but it looks like he didn't, he just said it in an interview. I bet I'm remembering liking and unliking commentary on the event (still works I think)).

To get all pedantic about it:

If Casey Newton, myself, and Ed Zitron were standing around at a bar and Casey said, "Ed, you're like Temu Kara Swisher":

I would say:

Nothing.

If I were hanging with Casey Newton at a bar (btw Casey DM me, let's hang) and he said, "Ed Zitron is like Temu Kara Swisher":

I would say:

"Hah! That's hilarious, that's a very good burn."

If I were hanging with Ed Zitron at a bar and he said "Casey Newton called me Temu Kara Swisher!"

I would say:

"No! Oh, man. That's not very nice!"

(& if I were feeling really brave I might add: "Ed, I'm a fan. But sometimes I read you, and your anger causes me to disengage. And then I think all the people who are really mad about LLMs – and I'm not saying they're wrong! But I think about them, and I think about your writing, and I wonder – not implying you intend this or that it's even a real thing, this might just be my wrong perception. But I wonder if your anger is an engagement strategy and if it is I wonder if that's good for anybody. But what do I know? I've had a bit to drink here at this bar, I probably shouldn't drive. What? Oh, no you're going the exact opposite way as me. It's fine I'll just call this guy I know from work.")