earthx.org blog

SXSWi has been percolating in my head for a few days now.  I find myself asking myself these questions in its wake:

• How is social software really of utility to me?  As a larger question, how are my other tools, diversions and practices really of utility to me?
• Given that I don’t get to code as my day job any more, how do I keep fresh?  How do I get back the sense of joy that I got from coding, joy I saw in a lot of folks at the conference?

I started looking at GitHub as a response to both these questions, and I’ve started my first app in Python as a debut project for GitHub.  I’m also thinking about the little ways I focus.  I’m wondering if I can make my diversions — my idle reading, my Web surfing — work for me in an attempt to do better work in everyday life, to learn more, and to enjoy that learning.

To that end, here’s some idle reading I’ve done today — I’d like to share it, to focus on it.

• How to build a “lean startup.”
• The death of quality and what to do about it.
• Five dollar programming words.
• John Resig’s problem statement for TestSwarm, which we saw live at SXSW as part of More Secrets of JavaScript Libraries.