This is my first comment on HN. Until now I have been satisfied just observing. However this post was so well done that I felt obligated to create an account to leave some form of positive feedback.

I found this post an intense, enlightening, and thoroughly enjoyable read.

I recently finished "Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" and this post resolves an issue that the book did not settle for me: What is the relation between quality and our own doings? The book made an impressive point why Quality is an essential part in the things you create and why it is so hard to identify it as something concrete. But I failed to clearly see what drives a human to create something of quality and to know when you make something that has Quality. It seems that Passion is, what enables one to distinguish your own products in terms of quality and to strive for a higher quality in what you are doing. To me, this explains why passionate people are rarely satisfied with what they make.

The post makes a wonderful connection between Quality, which became an increasingly abstract thing for me, to something very concrete.

Skimmed to the end to see just how much I'd have to read. There, I read

> "PS – This is probably the best post I’ve written to date…maybe not in terms of technique or artistry, but it is the single post that is fueled by an intensity that did not wane at any point."

Nope, sorry. Now I can't read the thing.

It is interesting that you didn't bother to read the article but took time to post this comment. I don't understand what you are trying to prove..

The urge to not read the article after reading that paragraph was so strong, I felt that THAT was worth sharing. It is probably the best comment I’ve written to date, maybe not in terms of technique or artistry, but it is the single comment that is fueled by an intensity that did not wane at any point.

[after a couple of downvotes]

Alright Mr. and Ms. Snark Police, so I did give the article a chance. This time from the top and made it until I read this sentence:

"In recent memory, I distinctly remember: it was past 2am, I was listening to 杨宗纬 with my amazing, noise-canceling Shures in the background of doing something that required minimal mental processing power."

Yes, this text is so well written and worth my time that the author didn't even bother to proof read and see that he forgot to fill in a placeholder.

And just in case anybody wonders - yes, I did continue to read it all the way down, but it was really hard not to go into skipping mode. The rest of the article is more of the above - contrived, rambling sentences and touches of delusion of grandeur. Very little value apart from boilerplate mock-inspiration. No thanks.

I know that snark is sometimes too easily fired out here on HN, but I was merely stating my opinion on giving the article an honest shot. I don't think that is worthy of a downvote.

What placeholder?

"I was listening to 杨宗纬[here] with my amazing..."

I suspect he means: 杨宗纬

Can anyone translate that to English? I know a smidgeon of German and French, can count to ten in Russian...etc...but there is no Chinese/Japanese in there (my brain, I mean).

Thanks.

"杨宗纬" is probably "Aska Yang", a Taiwanese Mandopop singer.

So the original might read: "I was listening to [Aska Yang] with my amazing..."

Not sure how that is a placeholder though.

Thank you!

He apparently translated it differently: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3341401

nice article! passion is great yet almost impossible to measure