Free Soft

I'm in no way trying to conflate this with the meaning of my last blog post, but after a six month gestation, we just gave birth to a public website.

Of course, I'm making a sly little joke here about community, but I really believe in this stuff. Stack Overflow is, as much as I could make it, an effort of collective programmer community.

Here's the original vision statement for Stack Overflow from back in April:

So what is stackoverflow?

From day one, my blog has been about putting helpful information out into the world. I never had any particular aspirations for this blog to become what it is today; I'm humbled and gratified by its amazing success. It has quite literally changed my life. Blogs are fantastic resources, but as much as I might encourage my fellow programmers to blog, not everyone has the time or inclination to start a blog. There's far too much great programming information trapped in forums, buried in online help, or hidden away in books that nobody buys any more. We'd like to unlock all that. Let's create something that makes it easy to participate, and put it online in a form that is trivially easy to find.

Are you familiar with the movie pitch formula?

Stackoverflow is sort of like the anti-experts-exchange (minus the nausea-inducing sleaze and quasi-legal search engine gaming) meets wikipedia meets programming reddit. It is by programmers, for programmers, with the ultimate intent of collectively increasing the sum total of good programming knowledge in the world. No matter what programming language you use, or what operating system you call home. Better programming is our goal.

Although reaction has generally been positive, there has been a bit of backlash. Some have promoted the idea that Stack Overflow will only contribute to the increasing dumbenation of the world's developers. I think this is, in a word, horsecrap. I liked Joel's response to this in podcast 21 (mp3):

And it is true that we are all, as developers, hopelessly incompetent. The goal of a site like Stack Overflow is to somehow share the correct knowledge wherever it may be as it is scattered throughout the universe, and to cause that to be voted up and to be spread amongst us. There's this big universe of dumb programmers, and I'm one of them, and we all have a little bit of knowledge. I may know how to do this thing in VB6 which may be useful to somebody one day who's trying to maintain some ridiculously old piece of crap code. We all have these little tiny pieces of information and if we can just contribute a little bit, that information gets amplified, and maybe a thousand other dumb developers will benefit from my one little piece of good information.

And here's my response, from the same podcast episode, to all those who turn up their noses at community sites like this, preferring the input of "experts":

The idea that you have all these experts waiting in the wings to do stuff is an illusion in my experience. There's really just a bunch of amateurs muddling along trying to do things together. The people that are truly experts are too busy to even help, right? And if the experts are too busy to help, what difference does it really make if there are experts at all. Because the whole point of this endeavor is helping other developers, and whether you're an expert or not, if you have no time to help, you're not really contributing to the solution.

Stack Overflow is by no means done. We're still technically in public beta. But I believe what we have -- the confluence of wiki, discussion, blog, and reddit/digg ranking systems -- is a fair representation of our original vision for Stack Overflow.

It's a place where a busy programmer can invest a few minutes with as little friction as possible, and get something tangible from the community in return.

But who cares what I think; my opinion holds no particular weight. I'm just a member. This is our site. You tell me: how dumb are we?

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Tagi: legal search engine, stack overflow, fellow programmers, programmer community, experts exchange, programming knowledge, sleaze, sum total, mth, wikipedia, backlash, programming language, nausea, pitch, joke, operating system, developers, blogs, mp3

I have been putting baking soda in my fridge for as long as I have owned a fridge, knowing that it helped eliminate odors. I diligently replace the box every few months to keep the fridge fresh. Last month I heard about some new paint from Dutch Boy that has baking soda in it. Apparently what it does for a fridge it can do for an entire house. While I don't understand why it does not lose its odor-absorbing ability like the fridge-based system, I am happy to try something that gets rid of ...

Tagi: baking soda, new paint, dutch boy, mths, mth, fridge, stinky

To: Jason
From: Brian
Subject: Brando, King of Weird Gadgets
I can't believe I'm home, after being away for a month on that working trip. And yes, I am back in your hair. I've got some stories to tell, some gadgety, some not, but I only have one regret. On a side trip to HK to see my family, I tried to find the time to meet Brando, of weird gadgets fame, but we couldn't connect. I kept moving the time, and then he had to cancel and then he tried to undo the cancel, but it was too late. Maybe next time, but until then, I'm going to wonder what that guy is like in person. At least Elaine Chow and I got to finally meet and eat some noodles.

The site looks nice, and it's great to be around again during the day to cover you while you go get lunch, etc. But it is a lot harder to dig into the long term work while the news is buzzing about. Here are my favorite stories you and the gang found today:

•Sears Black Friday Ad Leaks, Full of HDTVs, Digital Cameras, and Other Gadgets
• Motorola's Aura Luxury Phone Given First Groping, General Thumbs-Up
• iPhone 3G Baseband Break-In, Unlock Closer

*with regards and thanks to Crecente and Ashcraft for letting me lift their night notes format.

Tagi: weird gadgets, iphe, sears, black friday ad, hdtvs, side trip, digital cameras, mth, jas, noodles, leaks, elaine, chow, hk, pers, fame, motorola, lunch

Tagi: logo contest, zorro, photo

The Dremel Multi-Max 6300-01 (avoid the Big Box 6300-02L) has been a huge seller over the past few month and it will continue through the holidays and beyond. This tool is very handy, has a great price and has been very popular with the tool press along with the other new oscillating tools.

While the oscillating tools have many possibilities obviously you need the right accessories to take full advantage of all that potential. Below is a quick reference for all the Dremel Multi-Max Accessories currently available, hopefully this will help you get the most of your new tool.

MM450 - 3” Wood & Drywall Saw Blade - $8.75
The round saw blade is really great for precise cuts in drywall, plaster and plywood. The MM450 is ideal for cutting openings in walls or floors for venting, repairing damaged floors or installing electrical boxes. Depth of cut is ¾”. One of the most popular blades so far this is included in the 6300-01 kit but not the 6300-02L sold at your local big box store.

MM440 – ¾” Wood Flush Cut Blade - $10.94
This blade is ideal for soft materials such as wood, drywall and plastic. Typical applications for this blade would be cutting doorjams, windowsill or trim work while installing flooring. Depth of cut is 1-1/4” giving it a full ½” over the MM450 or MM422. This is included in the 6300-01 kit.

MM422 – ¾” Wood & Metal Flush Cut Blade - $12.63
Very similar to the MM440 however this blade is also rated to cut non-ferrous metals such as aluminum, brass or copper. The blade also does a great job of cutting wood, drywall, etc however the depth of cut is only ¾”.

MM411 – 3/8” Wood Flush Cut Blade - $10.10
This blade is identical to the MM440 with a smaller width. Still a good choice for cutting doorjams, windowsill or trim work while installing flooring, this blade is better for the more detailed cuts. Best as a secondary blade.

MM500 – 1/8” Grout Removal Blade - $30.65
Oscillating tools in general have made the task of grout removal so much easier than this has ever been in the past. This blade makes it very easy to cut out and replace a broken tile in minutes. Watch Grout Removal Video. 

MM501 – 1/16” Grout Removal Blade - $30.65
Identical to the MM501 blade except it has a thinner cutting surface. Ideal for smaller grout lines common with smaller tiles or wall applications.       

MM610 – Flexible Scraper Blade - $10.10
The flexible scraper blade is ideal for removal of softer material such as caulk, glue, paint, etc. The scraper has rounded corners and blades on both sides so it is good at getting into hard to reach spaces. This is included in the 6300-01 kit.     

MM600 – Rigid Scraper Blades - $10.94
Similar to the MM610 but this blade has an even larger scraping area and as the name would indicate is much more rigid. This blade is a great option for removing vinyl flooring, carpet or tile adhesives which can be particularly difficult to remove.

MM11 – Hook & Loop Pad - $8.75
This pad is included in the 6300-01 kit so you will probably not need a replacement for a little while unless you accidentally loose it of course. It is an important item because it’s required for all sanding and grinding.

MM70W – 60, 120 & 240 Grit Sanding Paper for Wood - $5.24
This sand paper is for direct contact of bare wood, nothing stained or painted. Each pack includes 3 different grit sanding paper to take your raw wood from rough to very fine. One of each of these pads is included in the 6300-01 kits.

MM70P – 80, 120 & 240 Grit Sanding Paper for Paint - $5.24
Each pack includes three levels of sanding paper. The 80 grit is ideal for removing paint. The 120 grit is for sanding primer, removing brush strokes and paint runs or drips. The 240 grit paper is best for final sanding of primers before coating.

MM900 – 60 Grit Diamond Paper for Grinding - $38.52
The Diamond Paper is for rough grinding, shaping and smoothing of masonry, stone, cement, plaster and thin-set mortar. This pad is also good for preparing surfaces for tile replacement and other installations.  

I have been in contact with the nice people at Dremel and it looks like this list will possibly double by the first quarter next year. We can’t wait to see more accessories come out for the Dremel Multi-Max and make this tool even more multi purpose.    

     

Tagi: ferrous metals, aluminum brass, electrical boxes, soft materials, drywall, mth, aster, quick reference, blade, flooring, copper, amp, possibilities, alg, holidays, job