Chas Emerick's Blog

Tim Harford re-phrasing of the question:

Is it progressive to attack the very existence of mainstream economics?

is answered emphatically “No” by Simon Wren-Lewis in On criticising the existence of mainstream economics. Much of this “no” hinges on the premise that economics is a science, as well as a pretty thorough misunderstanding of the basis of political power. Put another way more briefly in reply to Mr. Harford’s re-phrasing:

yes, we absolutely should abdicate all policy decisions to an...

Advanced autonomous vehicle technology is maturing at such a rate that most observers expect it to be ready for commercial deployment in the very near future. Some companies have already begun live trials of semi- and fully-autonomous vehicle platforms on public roads. The general safety and productivity advantages of these developments is undeniable, but little discussion in any public forum has occurred regarding the negative human and social impacts of widespread deployment of comm...

As some may have already seen on Twitter or other channels, our friend Anthony Grimes (Raynes in #clojure IRC and elsewhere, @StRaynes on Twitter) has passed away.

The most immediate announcement of this came via Lance Bradley, one of Anthony’s closer friends from the Clojure community:

https://www.facebook.com/lancepantz/posts/10104155686547809?pnref=story

Anthony’s family set up a fundraiser to help with his final expenses, but people are going well beyond the target set there; in any case,...

I found myself with occasion to tell the same story multiple times in the past couple of days, so it seems appropriate to publish it somewhere for easy reliable reference:

Years ago at a programming language conference, I finally met in person someone I’d interacted with regularly on IRC and Twitter. In those contexts, he used a handle of his choosing, and naturally, everyone referred to him by it.

I noticed that everyone was addressing him by his initials. I played along, but eventually aske...

Republished from https://www.homehelpstatus.com/posts/2015/08/19/i-built-homehelpstatus-to-save-my-moms-life.

Legend has it that many (most?) people that start a software business, launch an internet site, or create an app in the modern era are looking for a big payday. That may or may not be true, but I know that, when I set out to create what would eventually become HomeHelpStatus, I did so for one reason: I needed to save my Mom’s life.

This sounds like hyperbole, but it’s not. As I’ve wri...

A “yak shave” — the performance of a task solely in order to continue one’s “real work” — has traditionally been a pejorative term in the software and programming world. Much like “real life” yak shaves (fixing the garage door so you can get the car out so you can go to the store so you can make dinner, each task discovered only in service of the one it depends on), shaving programming yaks is typically not considered enviable work. It’s all stuff you reluctantly attend to in order to get on...

When talking with others over the past year or so, I’ve occasionally mentioned how I’ve been “working on my empathy”. This usually prompts confused, awkward moments, but I’ve meant it wholeheartedly. The most basic way I’ve found so far to describe what this means is I’ve been attempting to be as mindful as possible in my interactions with others, and in my apprehension of their stories and personal testimony. My objective isn’t just to comprehend what I’m reading, watching, or being told, bu...

My mom has been battling secondary-progressive Multiple Sclerosis over the last 30 years (I’ve written about her a bit before). Over that time, she went back to school in her 30’s and graduated from the University of Massachusetts, worked as a substitute teacher and home health aide, and raised a son throughout. Unfortunately, she’s been quadriplegic for the last several years; despite this, she lives at home with the help of family and a number of personal heath aides, and maintains an indep...

I just published a written distillation of my talk at PhillyETE 2013, Distributed Systems and the End of the API, over at the “writings” blog for the Quilt Project.

Take a look, especially if you are interested in distributed systems, CRDTs, the general suckage of how APIs work, or if you’re curious about what this Quilt thing is all about. (Spoiler / hint: the talk+post isn’t strictly about Quilt, but is very strongly related.) My inspiration for writing up the content of the talk comes large...

Last week, I attended Theorizing the Web (TtW). I can say without hesitation that it was one of the most challenging, enlightening, and useful conference experiences I’ve ever had. I’d like to provide a summary account of my experience, and maybe offer some (early, I’m still processing) personal takeaways that might be relevant to you, especially if you are involved professionally in building the software and technology that is part of what is theorized at TtW.

The first thing you need to kno...