Heatwave Ends (Hopefully)

The maximum temperature in Adelaide today was 41.5 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit). A cool change blew in this afternoon, and tomorrow's forecast is a more pleasant 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit). Hooray!

We've had 14 days of temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). As I mentioned yesterday, I returned (resorted?) to posting rants here in response to the heat. Now that the heatwave is over, I can give up this self-enforced rant-a-day madness. It's been an interesting experiment, but I look forward to posting less often and with more preparation.

Ranting is a Poor Substitute for Coding

After deciding that I had been reading too many "serious" books in recent years, and given that summer TV is usually pretty bad, I had hoped to spend evenings working on my own programming projects. Until the recent heatwave, this plan had been going quite well. But the heat has made it hard to concentrate and write decent code. Posting rants on this blog has been an alternative way to occupy my evenings, and let off some steam (literally and figuratively?).

However, the results have been mixed. I've been happy with the range of topics and the general structure of the rants, but my words have come out a bit muddled than I'd like. Maybe it's the heat? While that may be a factor, it's more likely that I haven't given myself the luxury of "sleeping on it" and reviewing before publishing. This approach served me very well at Uni when writing essays. It's also been useful when preparing technical documentation for work.

I guess I could go back and revise the rants to make my message clearer. But this is not a professional blog, it's just an excuse to write about things that interest me. I'm not expecting to make a career out of it. I enjoy programming too much ;)

So, don't expect as much activity on this blog once the weather becomes more bearable. But if something irks me enough, I still hope to write a rant about it.

[The extreme heat returned to Adelaide today. The maximum temperature was 43.9 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit)!]

Reality Bites and the ABC of Crime Investigation

I know it sounds like a broken record: the state of television programming is getting worse. Too much reality TV is a given. Arguably, the genre has reached its nadir with the aptly-named "The Moment of Truth".

When someone hits on a winning formula, everyone else seems to react by producing copycat programs. Witness the recent resurgence of the murder investigation genre: CSI, NCIS, Law & Order: SVU/CI, etc ad nauseum. Networks and producers are more willing to exhaust a "winning" formula than take a chance on something truly original.

What can be done? The average viewer doesn't have a lot of choice. All we can do is vote with our feet. I've decided to leave the TV turned off unless there's a program I think is worth watching. No more flicking through the channels in the hope of finding something interesting. The time saved not settling for mediocre viewing can then be spent on reading books, listening to music, writing, coding and blogging :)

To blog or not to blog?

[This is more of an observation than a rant.]

Blogging, in case you hadn't noticed, is a "big thing" at the moment. Bloggers are being taken to court and asked to reveal their sources in disputes over the leaking of trade secrets, e.g.:
   The Apple bloggers must name their moles

Other bloggers are losing their jobs for being too indiscrete in their writings, e.g.:
   Firms taking action against worker blogs

I've been blogging for a couple of years now. But I've never really written about anything too personal, and definitely never anything specific about my employment, because I don't think anyone "out there" either cares enough or needs to know anyway. I'll make an exception now to make a point: the past year has probably been the most sustained, difficult period of my life, but I doubt anyone would be able to work that out from any of my blog posts. I haven't seen any need to write about the specifics in a blog, preferring to discuss them privately with close friends and relatives.

I read several blogs, mostly technical in nature. Well, actually, I read the headlines and summaries of the blogs using RSS newsreading software, and if the article looks interesting, then I'll take the time to read the article in full. Some bloggers don't hesitate to mix personal stuff with technical writings. Sometimes there is a fine line between personal posts that are relevant to the blogger's intended audience, and those that arguably are not. Often the posts in this latter category can come across as overly self-indulgent and/or fall under the banner of "too much information".

I hesitate to pick on any individual blogger, but I'll have to do so to illustrate the main point of my argument. Matt Raible is a top-notch software developer and consultant. He usually writes about technical issues in web development. But recently he's posted two personal items:

1. No More Kids
2. What's next in my career?

I would argue that the first one (about his decision to have a vasectomy) falls into the category of "too much (personal) information", expecially in a usually technical blog. On the other hand, the second post (about future career direction), while also being of a personal nature, is arguably quite relevant to many people working in web development. In fact, I've been pondering the same question myself, and found that post both interesting and informative. Having said that, I'm sure there are some readers who see no problem with the inclusion of the first example.

In conclusion, I think bloggers should think carefully before writing about very personal things, unless the clear purpose of the blog is to comment on personal issues. I guess the title of this entry could be rephrased as: To blog here, or not to blog here. Perhaps I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, and should just make sure I use a newsreader that displays the category of blog entries.

[PS I don't know Matt personally, and I hope he doesn't take offence from my using his blog as an example.]