this is an occaisionablog
Theory: as the internet and related technologies allow for increasingly rapid evolution/devolution of subcultures and memes, content that is reliant on context will tend to suffer. (If it requires time/clicks to figure out the context, it won’t spread as quickly)
However: content that is especially enhanced by a break with context - so, ironic internet humor - will grow uncontrollably.
This is indeed the occaisionablog, given the time between posts. So here’s what’s up now.
I’m continuing to work as part of the team behind Sconex.com and, more recently, SugarLoot.com. We were acquired a while back by a larger company, but we’re still keeping the startup pace. The LAMP stack is our in-house weapon of choice. PHP is not my favorite language (at all) but it definitely works, and you *can* make quality code if you’re paying attention. The scaling/performance challenges are neat.
SugarLoot.com is the relatively newer site - a social-network focused on contests and the related content. It’s been in development for over a year - and oy what a year. (Our old building caught fire, for one thing.) The core functionality has been getting solid, and I think the culture on the site started to get really solid with a very popular movie-related contest. Now is the fun part: continuing to make changes (some incremental, some necessarily radical) on a site with an active community and increasingly high traffic.
Much more importantly and earth-shakingly: I moved from Somerville to North Cambridge, and what can I say? I’m in walking distance from the world’s most important steakhouse, and the cafe nearby is always showing soccer up on its big plasma screen. Home sweet home.
“REST stands for REpresentational State Transfer, which is basically meaningless.” (Agile Development on Rails, p175)