pdxgene
Since then, I've been aggressively paring back my "material footprint", and every thing I shed makes me feel a little lighter.
The other major change I made was to disable badge notifications on all apps. No more little red number telling me how many unread emails I have, etc. This has had a much greater positive impact than I had thought it would -- I don't find myself compulsively drawn into apps by the lure of "new stuff", and have cut down on my screen time considerably.
But I'd never do it with a Mark Helprin novel, or anything with sentences so beautiful you want to slow down and read them again.
I imagine I'd feel the same way about video content -- I can't imagine slowing down anything but the most garden-variety-informational videos.
There's intrinsic value in understanding the technology on which our life now fundamentally depends, as well as value in the intellectual rigor and skill development that "learning to code" requires.
I worry that the ultimate end of the "don't learn to code" path looks likely something like Economics -- a sadly esoteric subject on which those ignorant of it are nonetheless dependent, to their detriment.
I recall with glee the shock of recognition that all creatures live in moving fluids -- and our experiences are delineated merely by relative sizes and viscosities.
Maybe it's nerdy to say so, but it was definitely one of the top ten epiphanies of my life, and definitely helped me feel more connected to the natural world.
It's really easy to engage in hindsight-powered analysis. This article seemed perfectly reasonable at the time.
Seems like a slot machine...
Everything is on a spectrum, though, and there are plenty of opportunities for genuine disruption. The e-nable project that's putting prosthetic hands within financial reach (ugh, sorry, no pun intended) by bringing costs down via 3D-print-at-home is pretty impressive.
From a long-view-technology perspective, I can foresee a day when the "replication room" -- that makes parts and supplies on demand using additive manufacturing -- is as common to hospitals as the copy room. That would certainly bring down costs.
But I'm a programmer, and a tinkerer.
In order for this to be a viable mainstream reality, some enterprising company will need to establish a platform or system of consumer-grade components that bridges the gap between "general population computer literacy" and "ability to tweak one's electronic things".
In reality, that may be (for now) an unbridgeable gap. Maybe the only route to digital freedom is deeper digital literacy on the part of the average consumer.
But one thing is for sure -- as long as laws like the DMCA are in place, the deck is stacked against evolution towards DIY utopia.
When I was 13, I was incredibly fortunate to land an internship at Marvel Comics in NY. For a teenage boy obsessed with the X-Men, this was like dying and going to heaven. I didn't even care that I was given menial tasks and paid entirely in comic books. I got to meet John Byrne, and that was enough.
The OP sounds like someone with enough interest in programming that an internship would be at least as much about "fun" as it is about "professional development".
I say, if it sounds like fun, go for it. If nothing else, it'll be an opportunity to meet software professionals with as much genuine interest in programming as you have, as well as some who are in the industry for other reasons. Both will be instructive.
There's an interesting history behind how this practice got started, that's a good lesson in how multi-party markets work. Back in the good old days, touring acts typically got a modest percentage of gross ticket sales for a given concert, leaving enough for the promoter and venue to cover costs and make a profit.
At some point (the 80s, maybe?), artist percentages started creeping up closer to 100% (in one ridiculous example, Jimmy Buffet got "105% of gross ticket receipts"), so venues and promoters had to make money on something other than tickets.
Since "ticketing fees" weren't calculated into the gross ticket receipts of which a percentage were due to the artist, they were a green field for exploitation and creative deal-making, like the "promoter rebates" referenced above.
In many cases (almost all venues above a certain size), venues sign exclusive ticketing company contracts that come with up-front bonuses or advances on fee rebates, which make ticketing companies kind of like cash machines (or payday loan vendors?) for venues.
The general public perception of "ticketmaster is evil" is, as with most things when you look beneath the surface, much more complicated than it appears.
Scalping itself is a related but different issue that ticketing companies and venues could certainly limit or end if they had the will, but the system works just fine for them, so there's really not much incentive to change.
[sources: various anecdotes from music industry veterans who will likely deny a lot of the above if pressed ;-]
http://line6.com/mobilein/ http://line6.com/sonicport-audio-interface/
The opportunity to spin through a fairly complete history of electric guitar amps and effects was compelling, but nowhere near as compelling as the simple, reliable combination of a '72 Twin Reverb, RAT, and Tube Screamer. Sometimes, a multiplicity of choices can be paralyzing.
Of course, analog or digital, what's most important is the input :-)
Unless I'm missing something, JOBS doesn't have anything to say about non-equity crowdfunding:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumpstart_Our_Business_Startups...
But every tenth workday or so, and a lot of weekends, I roll the 1990 Carrera 4 cabriolet out of the garage, which totally makes up for not being on a bike ;-)
Only thing I can figure is that he was holding out for an airport fare. Give that it was raining pretty hard, this was kind of annoying.