Possibly Deep Thoughts

I was visiting a friend who has horses and real barn cats. The cats do get fed, but they prefer to hunt their own food. One of the kids found “something disgusting” in the barn, so I went out to investigate. I found the rear half of three red squirrels. Since I tie flies, I snipped the tails of for my own use.

I inferred from this that the tasty half of a squirrel must be the front. Maybe the cats know where hot dogs come from?

I also found a few sparrow wings, but everybody knows that there’s no good meat in sparrow wings, or legs. The breast is the best part!

Alan Knight points out a response to Paul Graham’s Hackers and Painters essay which corrects many facts from a painters point of view.

I’ve always understood that the point of the essay was that creative people will do what they love even if it doesn’t make them money. Many “famous painters” did their work even if offended their patrons, or if they weren’t getting paid. Does the fact that Van Gogh was a monetary failure devalue his art?

There are some people who will write code that doesn’t make them money. Witness many open source projects. Those who do this will mostly strive to do it better, just as its own reward. You can’t make bad programmers better by offering them more money. You need to find those who are doing it out of love, make sure their goals align with your, and let them go. Those who understand this will have a higher chance of success. Hackers don’t want to do the business side, but with compatible partners who love it can be a success.

It boils down to motivation. Do you love what you do? Why are you doing it? Would you do it anyway?