Off-Topic
All Off-Topic posts from the blog — philosophy, career, management, and other topics outside of day-to-day programming.
September 2026
1 articleCodes of Conduct Are the Root of All Evil: Reclaiming Your Freedom
Codes of conduct were sold as protecting minorities and used to cancel Eich, Stallman, Garfield, and Torvalds. Ten years later, no study shows a diversity gain, and the newest one shows the document pushing out people already there.
April 2026
2 articles20 Years of Blogging: Translating Everything to English
Four days ago I hit 20 years of blogging. When I sat down to write the anniversary post, I ended up doing something I never had the bandwidth for: translating the whole blog to English. With Claude Code, over a weekend.
My Sim Racing Cockpit - Formula FX1
I replaced years of unstable stands with a Formula FX1 cockpit featuring Fanatec direct drive, PS5, RTX 4090, and a 4K OLED. It doesn’t wobble and is ready in 30 seconds for my single-player use.
March 2026
2 articles37 Days of Vibe Coding Immersion: Conclusions on Business Models
After 37 days, 650+ commits, ~144K lines of code and nearly 10 published projects, my conclusion on what vibe coding means for the future of startups and business models.
Software Is Never 'Done' — 4 Projects, Life After Deploy, and Why One-Shot Prompting Is a Myth
125 post-production commits across 4 projects in 10 days. Real bugs, real users, real iteration. Why one-shot prompting is a myth and software is never 'done'.
February 2026
1 articleRANT: Did AI Kill Programmers?
Akita's rant on why AI won't replace real programmers, why the programming bubble already popped, the S-curve ceiling of current LLM architecture, and what actually changes for engineers in the LLM era.
June 2025
1 articleAGI or Skynet Isn't Coming Anytime Soon
Why the current LLM architecture cannot reach AGI, and why the hype from Big Tech CEOs and media-anointed experts is mostly backroom negotiation noise.
May 2025
3 articlesComputing History and Retro Dev on YouTube
A curated list of YouTube channels on computing history and retro development that every dev should watch.
RANT - LLMs are LOOT BOXES!
Why LLMs for real coding behave like gacha loot boxes, and why every incentive in the industry pushes you to burn more tokens.
Rant - Will LLMs Evolve Forever? Demystifying LLMs in Programming
A hype-busting rant on LLM benchmarks, the myth of exponential AI progress, and my hands-on experience showing why Vibe Coding does not work.
July 2018
1 article[Off-Topic] The Pity Evolution of Modern Society
Akita criticizes online lynch mobs, echo chambers, and the idea of a right never to be offended. To him, social media turns outrage into public trials without dialogue or due process.
August 2017
1 article[Off-Topic] Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies in Brazil
I shared recommendations for Brazilian companies connected to blockchain and cryptocurrencies, still as an investor without a project of my own. I also looked for professionals with hands-on experience to speak at THE CONF.
June 2017
5 articlesEstimates are Promises - A Better Metaphor
Estimates can become promises when risk is managed: lock in time and cost, prioritize the first 20% of the scope, and use staging deliveries and velocity as gauges for adjusting course.
The Economics of Software Development
For small teams, software economics starts with the smallest product that works, accounting for time while avoiding technical debt, premature microservices, and unnecessary performance optimizations.
Starting with Blender
My guide to getting started with Blender covers initial settings like Cycles, Filmic, and CUDA, then moves into photography, composition, and PBR materials. Learning takes study, practice, and shortcuts.
[Off-Topic] Talent Is Highly Overrated: Humanizing Einstein and Killing Gods
The piece questions the myth of natural talent and humanizes Einstein by highlighting deliberate practice, chance, and complex systems. Success has no recipe. It depends on effort and circumstances.
Conference Talks, Interviews, and the Pen!
Talks, interviews, and blog posts lose their audience when they focus on what and how instead of why. Persuasion starts with understanding each audience’s priorities.
February 2017
1 article[Off-Topic] Carpe Diem and the Myths of Happiness
I take apart the myths of constant happiness, motivation, and “do what you love.” Hedonic adaptation explains the frustration, while learning and enjoying the present restore agency.
January 2017
1 article[Off-Topic] Why are we all moving away from Apple?
This retrospective argues that the iPhone, cloud, and web apps made switching systems easy, while Apple stopped advancing after Steve Jobs. To the author, technology has been stuck since 2010.
November 2016
1 article[Off-Topic] Learning Statistics
While studying statistics with R and Daniel Navarro’s book, the author uses Simpson’s paradox to show how aggregated data can hide patterns and why statistics demands care.
July 2016
1 articleThe Year of Linux on the Desktop - It's Usable!
Testing Bash on Ubuntu on Windows, the author successfully runs Rails, Ruby, Node, Crystal, and Go. PostgreSQL requires a native Windows server, while Elixir and Erlang still lock up.
May 2016
1 articleRails has won: The Elephant in the Room
The defense of Rails admits its anti-patterns and monopoly in Ruby, but argues that focus, adoption, and cost-effectiveness still make it the pragmatic choice for most small and medium projects.
April 2016
3 articles[Off-Topic] Free Software: An Exercise in CAPITALISM
Free software is private property distributed under a license, with voluntary exchange and competition free of any regulator. That's why projects die, forks get born, and nobody can decree success.
[Off-Topic] If You Need "Validation," You're Probably Wrong
Drawing on his Rails journey, the author argues for producing on your own terms and rejecting moral authorities and dogmas. To him, critical thinking, falsifiable ideas, and personal responsibility are the antidote.
The Year of Linux on the Desktop, by Microsoft??
I tested Bash on Windows in Preview 14316: Ruby, Redis, and Memcached work, but memory, shared memory, symlinks, and pseudo-terminals still fail. The promise is good, but it isn’t ready.
March 2016
1 articleWar is Over, or is it? A New Dawn for Microsoft
Bash on Windows and free, open-source Xamarin tools could make Windows attractive to non-.NET developers. The author sees a plausible way out of OS X, but only if Microsoft delivers on its promise.
November 2015
1 articleBrazil Situation: No Macs for the Rest of Us
I tested a Dell Inspiron with Ubuntu after a MacBook Pro became too expensive for a Brazilian budget. Linux covers about 80% of my use, but proprietary software still requires Mac or Windows.
January 2015
1 article[Off-Topic] Compilation: "Processes and Methodologies Won't Help You!"
The collection criticizes ready-made recipes such as Agile, Kanban, and #noEstimates and argues for the scientific method, skepticism, and continuous study to make better decisions.
December 2014
1 article[Off-Topic] Talking with a University Professor
In response to a professor, the author argues for selective UML, Design Patterns as reference material, XP, and multiple paradigms. Java remains useful, but universities should prioritize fundamentals.
November 2014
1 article[Small Bites/Off-Topic] "People over Processes" — what are "People"?
Agile inherits from Lean its emphasis on processes and continuous improvement, but prioritizing people takes psychology, behavioral economics, and network theory. A reading list to start with, and a reminder that we're less rational than we'd like.
October 2014
1 article[Off-Topic] 3D Printing, the Legend?
While analyzing Print the Legend, I show how MakerBot went from an open 12-person startup to acquisition by Stratasys. The documentary portrays the price of turning rebellion into a system.
September 2014
2 articles[Off-Topic] Agile: the Truth Behind the Method
I argue that Scrum, XP, and other Agile practices cannot save bad teams. They expose risks and problems quickly. Agility depends on committed people, continuous practice, and concrete behavior changes.
[Off-Topic] DO NOT Do What You ("THINK") You Love
I question “do what you love” and show how pursuing only what you think you love ignores responsibilities and unstable passions. My conclusion: seek Kaizen by always improving how you produce something useful.
August 2014
1 article[Off-Topic] First Time in São Paulo, What to do?
A personal guide organizes São Paulo’s restaurants, nightlife, museums, markets, parks, and neighborhoods by subway station, with a layered map for people short on time.
July 2014
1 article[Off-Topic] Someone Important Left the Community! Now What??
TJ Holowaychuk’s departure does not determine Node.js’s future. Resilient communities renew themselves when established figures make room for new contributors, without turning people into idols.
May 2014
1 article[Off-Topic] Career in Programming — Coding Isn't Programming
Programming is not just building websites with frameworks. The author argues for studying English, Computer Science, and fundamentals such as algebra, statistics, algorithms, and compilers to create valuable solutions.
March 2014
3 articles[Off-Topic] Commenting on the Approved Marco Civil
Commenting on the approved Marco Civil text, the author considers network neutrality valid but criticizes costs, regulatory agencies, and mechanisms that would expand state access to private data.
[Off-Topic] Breaking Bad was a very successful startup
Reading Breaking Bad as a startup, the author sees Walt as an entrepreneur obsessed with quality, scale, and territory. To him, taking responsibility requires sacrifices and good partners.
[Off-Topic] Lean Is Dead, Long Live Efficiency
Agile and Lean became an industry of courses, certifications, and tools that obscures their principles. The text argues for returning to basics: deliver value, avoid waste, learn, and question.
February 2014
1 article[Off-Topic] The New Generation's Dilemma: start a company or get a job?
A bad boss does not make entrepreneurship the only way out. A job offers pay, learning, and results for building a career, while starting a company without experience may just reproduce the same problem.
November 2013
4 articles[Off-Topic] Remote Work — Small Office, Home Office (SoHo)
Remote work works, but it is not a universal solution. Reviewing 37signals' book Remote, the argument is that structures between full centralization and isolation favor collaboration, mentoring, and career growth.
[Off-Topic] Tech Startups, B2C overcrowding. Boring.
The text criticizes the race toward nearly identical B2C startups and argues that B2B innovation starts with understanding corporate processes. Without that experience, the shortcut can leave a generation years behind.
[Off-Topic] Programmers Are Terrible Communicators (UDP vs TCP)
Using UDP and TCP as a metaphor, the text says programmers confuse informing with communicating. Real projects require confirming connection, context, order, understanding, and message delivery.
[Off-Topic] Agile Done Wrong
The text argues that Agile cannot save teams without technical ability and commitment. Planning, pair programming, quality, and responsibility become a performance, and bad professionals need replacing.
October 2013
3 articles[Translation] Letter to a Young Programmer Considering a Startup
In this translation by Alex Payne, startups appear as a means, not a destination: culture standardizes, VC seeks returns, and work can take a high toll on relationships. Purpose should guide the choice.
[Off-Topic] Math, Trolls, Haters, and Internet Discussions
A mathematical foundation against self-help's magic formulas: with no defined domain they just split opinions, correlation isn't causation, and isolated cases like Lean Startup prove nothing. Consensus doesn't make truth.
[Off-Topic] #noEstimates Debunked
The author separates projects from ongoing operations to defend estimates, objectives, and constraints in projects. To him, constraints drive innovation, but competent execution matters more than any methodology.
August 2013
1 article[Off-Topic] Estimates Are Promises. Promises Must Be Kept.
The author argues that software estimates are promises, not predictions, and that keeping them requires responsibility for communication, negotiation, time, and obstacles, as well as code.
July 2013
2 articles[Off-Topic] Comfort Zone: Taking to the Streets Isn't the Only Solution
The author criticizes turning complaints about pay, conditions, or investment into a strategy and argues for taking on hard problems, because personal effort can create room for innovation there.
Predictably Irrational
Drawing on Dan Ariely, the author introduces Behavioral Economics to show how prices, dishonesty, and placebos expose predictably irrational decisions, something essential for anyone who manages people.
June 2013
3 articlesIntroduction to Agility
Robert Martin recounts how XP, Scrum, and Crystal converged at the 2001 Snowbird meeting into the Agile Manifesto. Akita warns against dogmatic process and consultancies that put method ahead of people and customer value.
Processes, Methodologies, and the Human Brain
The author explains how emotion, randomness, and pattern-seeking create superstitions and false recipes for success. In projects, methodologies are techniques to test and adapt, and none of them holds as a universal truth.
What Does It Mean to Be a Manager?
Henry Mintzberg treats management as a practice, not a science or profession: good managers combine art, craft, technique, and experience to act according to the context.
May 2013
6 articles[Off-Topic] A View from the Past About the Internet
A 1996 text revisits the Internet’s origins, users, and services, while following the arrival of advertising, e-commerce, and security protocols for online shopping.
[Off-Topic] A View from the Past About the Internet
Recovered from a 1996 Word file, the text reveals how the Internet was understood at the time, from demographic research and online ads to digital shopping and the promise of virtual reality.
Processes and Methodologies Won't Help You
Processes and methodologies don’t create good developers. The text argues for continuous practice and competent professionals first, then techniques and processes that can extend their work.
[Translation] Standards: excellence vs. mediocrity
Reporting on an exercise at Toyota, Jason Yip shows that the standard was the champion’s time: four seconds. The text contrasts standards that limit with those that drive excellence.
[Off-Topic] People: Rational Animals? The id and ego in marketing
Neuroscience suggests that emotions influence decisions before we rationalize them. From there, the text argues that marketing should trigger desire and then offer reasons to justify it.
Brazilian Portuguese Can Confuse Us: Standard vs Pattern
In programming, default, pattern, and standard can all become “padrão” in Portuguese, but they mean different things: a preselected choice, a recurring solution, and a norm used as a reference.
April 2013
1 article[Translation] Estimation — The Best We Can Do
Ron Jeffries argues for estimates as ranges of cost and velocity, used to test risks, make decisions every two weeks, and guide the product without becoming a promise or negotiation.
March 2013
1 article[Off-Topic] Most people said they'd use my product. Will it work? No!
An online survey with 70% favorable responses doesn’t validate a product: a biased sample, leading questions, and shallow analysis can turn numbers into meaningless conclusions.
January 2013
1 article[Off-Topic] The World Today Is Very Good! Happy 2013!
Using data from Gapminder, Hans Rosling, and Steven Pinker, the author argues that the world has improved in longevity, poverty, and violence, while criticizing alarmism and guilt tied to donations.
December 2012
1 article[Off-Topic] A Vent III, Reflecting on 2007
Revisiting his 2007 writing, the author argues that consulting requires continuous learning, autonomy, responsibility, and financial health. The problems of 2012 put that model to the test.
September 2012
1 articleRuby is Beautiful? What is Beauty?
Based on a talk by Richard Seymour, the author argues that beauty isn't a choice between form and function: it's felt, and depends on knowledge and experience.
August 2012
1 article[Off-Topic] The Myth of the "Legacy"
The author criticizes automatically rewriting legacy systems and tells how he fixed an ASP with DCOM in two weeks, preserving the code and winning the client a new project.
May 2012
2 articles[Off-Topic] Great Artists Steal
Starting from a phrase attributed to Picasso, the author argues that artists and developers begin by copying techniques, advancing only when practice helps them adapt, refine, and make them their own.
[Off-Topic] Reading with subtitles over Kanjis in Japanese webpages
Rikaichan, Furigana Inserter, HTML Ruby, and Mecab can add hiragana or katakana readings to Japanese webpages. The combination helps reading, but Furigana must be disabled to use Rikaichan.
December 2011
1 article[Off-Topic] New Year's Message — Philosophy
Drawing on Ayn Rand and Leonard Peikoff, the author defends capitalism as a moral issue: entrepreneurs should judge ideas rationally, not deceive the public, and recognize allies and enemies.
May 2011
1 article[Off-Topic] Opinions, Truths, Democracy and Ethics
Akita separates opinion from truth and democracy from anarchy: teams can decide how to implement a strategy, but must respect inviolable principles, professional ethics, and the client's outcome.
April 2011
1 article[Off-Topic] Mea Culpa: Democratic Organizations Don't Work
After revisiting his defense of democratic organizations, Akita concludes that companies belong to owners and shareholders, while teams help implement strategy within defined limits.
February 2011
3 articles[Off-Topic] Demystifying the "Evil" Microsoft
While translating a libertarian defense of Microsoft in its antitrust case, the author argues that vague laws give government arbitrary power and that the company's dominance came from competition, not coercion.
[Off-Topic] The Fountainhead: Howard Roark's Defense
After watching the 1949 adaptation, the author publishes Howard Roark's final speech with subtitles, Ayn Rand's defense of individualism against altruism, conformity, and servility.
[Off-Topic] Atlas Shrugged: Is Money the Root of All Evil?
Drawing on Francisco D'Anconia's speech in Atlas Shrugged, the author presents money as the result of production and reason, while condemning wealth gained through coercion, fraud, and favors.
January 2011
1 article[Documentary] The iPod Revolution
The author subtitles The iPod Revolution, a documentary summarizing Apple's recovery from 1997 to 2006, Steve Jobs's return, the iPod, and iTunes, and compiles videos on the iPhone, iPad, and other milestones.
June 2010
1 article[Off-Topic] Jeff Patton and Megan Fox in the same post?
For his talk at Wire 2010, the author recreated Jeff Patton's iteration-and-increment example on video, replacing the article's pixelated image with a more polished version.
April 2010
1 article[Off-Topic] The Humble Programmer, by Edsger W. Dijkstra
Dijkstra argues for humility before the difficulty of programming: avoid bugs from the start, use abstractions and modest languages, because no tool eliminates complexity.
March 2010
1 article[Off-Topic] Penn & Teller and Larry Flynt, on Freedom
Flag burning and Hustler v. Falwell show that free speech protects even offensive symbols and satire against the government. The author extends this principle to companies.
February 2010
1 article[Off-Topic] Wake up Call
Starting with Up in the Air, the author recalls that jobs are not permanent: do good work without accepting abuse, stay loyal to yourself, and find a purpose.
January 2010
5 articles[Off-Topic] Reading the Agile Principles
The 12 Agile principles need to be read together: delivering value quickly does not excuse quality, simplicity, collaboration, or continuous improvement. The Manifesto is not a ready-made recipe.
[Off-Topic] Companies, People, Success
Apple, Buffett, and Niederhoffer show how luck and context distort success stories. For the author, retrospective recipes cannot be replicated, and companies should make money sustainably.
[Off-Topic] Who's the Idiot?
India's failed birth-control effort came from a misunderstood cause: without retirement, sons served as insurance for old age. Understanding why changes the solution.
Off-Topic: Literature for Agile Managers
Reading for Agile managers includes complex systems, chaos, and evolution. The thesis is that Agility requires studying principles and context, not copying recipes from Lean, Scrum, or manufacturing.
[Off Topic] Dunbar and Cross Functional Teams
In Dunbar's experiments, a multidisciplinary lab solved in 10 minutes a problem that E. coli specialists had spent weeks trying to overcome. Debate and metaphors make new ideas emerge.
December 2009
2 articles[Off Topic] Watch Out for Kanban-butt
Kanban is a technique from the Toyota Production System, not a synonym for Lean or a complete methodology. In non-repetitive software, understanding why comes before applying the tool.
[Off-Topic] You Don't Understand Anything About Scrum
Scrum's origins lie in complex adaptive systems, self-organization, and the studies of Takeuchi and Nonaka. Scrum, XP, and Lean share roots and should be understood through their principles.
November 2009
4 articles[Off-Topic] Restaurants and Technology
The restaurant analogy separates companies whose core business is technology from those that merely use it for support. In the former, programmers should experiment and create tools, as at GitHub.
[Off-Topic] Obedience to Authority
Drawing on Asch and Milgram, I argue that conformity and obedience weaken Agile teams and advocate decentralized organizations, with leaders and architects recognized through merit.
[Off-Topic] Cell Phones and Airplanes
I argue that cell phones do not bring down airplanes and interpret the warning to turn off electronics as a way to keep passengers attentive during critical moments of the flight.
[Off-Topic] The Problem of Credentials
I question using certifications, titles, and celebrities as shortcuts for validating ideas, show common decision-making fallacies, and argue for testing arguments with skepticism.
September 2009
4 articles[Off-Topic] Thinking Makes You Better
Pair programming needs an active pilot and co-pilot, Agility is accountability, and the Spolsky versus Bob Martin spat becomes a case for testing Agile practices, grasping their reasons, and refusing dogma.
[Off-Topic] The Argument from Intimidation
Ayn Rand's translation identifies argument from intimidation as a fallacy that replaces reasons with fear and guilt, defending evidence and carefully examined premises.
[Off-Topic] Man's Rights
Ayn Rand's translation defends individual rights as the foundation of freedom and capitalism, limits government to protection against force, and rejects economic rights requiring others' labor.
[Off-Topic] The Cult of Gray Morality
Commenting on Ayn Rand's The Cult of Gray Morality, the author distinguishes honest error from deliberate omission and criticizes those who use ambiguity to evade moral judgment.
August 2009
1 article[Off-Topic] The Damn Regulation Law Is Back!
The author criticizes PLS 607/07 for restricting systems analyst jobs to degree holders, leaving enforcement unclear, and threatening self-taught developers and the free market.
July 2009
8 articles[Off-Topic] All Marketers Are Liars
Seth Godin advocates marketing built on stories and genuinely different products, not checklists. The author applies the idea to Apple, the iPhone, and how Rails spread in Brazil.
[Translation] What Makes a Good Programmer?
Two translations argue that good programmers prioritize usability, responsibility, collaboration, and delivery. The second adds creative laziness and the humility to ask simple questions while debugging.
[Off-Topic] Bought My First Mac — Now What?
The author offers guidance for first-time Mac owners, covering shortcuts and Finder, apps, security, virtualization, and development. Adapting means leaving Windows habits behind.
[Off-Topic] Intervene or Not? The "Catch-22" of Co-Pilots
Drawing on airplane accidents, the author adapts the PACE protocol for software teams: ask, alert, challenge, and intervene when a manager ignores serious risks.
[Off-Topic] Reference Books 2008-2009
A reading list on Lean, Agile, management, complexity, and science reveals the path that led the author to connect self-organization, continuous learning, and democratic organizations.
[Off-Topic] Agility, Chaos, Self-Organization
The text connects Agile with complex systems, chaos, emergence, and power laws. The thesis is that organizations learn and innovate best at the edge of chaos, though provoking disorder carries risks.
[Off-Topic] Negotiable Scope Contract
The author contrasts fixed- and negotiable-scope contracts: trying to freeze uncertainty turns problems into disputes and losses, while prioritized deliveries and collaboration reduce risk.
[Off-Topic] Authority vs. Responsibility
The author argues that separating authority from responsibility dooms processes to failure. Teams accountable for results should decide how they work, with specialists serving as consultants.
June 2009
2 articles[Off-Topic] Standards, Commodities, and Innovations
Apple and Zara illustrate a Lean view: rethinking standards, reducing waste, and producing to demand can increase delivered value and reduce stuck inventory.
[Translation] Advice for Software Development Managers
Gerald Weinberg shows how blame culture and incongruent communication sabotage projects, while congruence improves problem-solving. Change happens through six stages.
May 2009
1 article[Off-Topic] The 5 Team Dysfunctions in Code
Five team dysfunctions appear in anti-patterns such as null checks, duplication, untested code, and hard-to-understand solutions. Isolated techniques cannot fix a command-and-control organization.
April 2009
1 articleOff-Topic: Should I Go to College?
Fabio concludes that a good college can accelerate learning and shape talent, but does not determine success: disciplined people can learn on their own too.
March 2009
1 article[Off-Topic] Net Negative Producing Programmer
Fabio introduces NNPP, the programmer who creates losses by accumulating technical debt or becoming a single point of failure, and distinguishes this profile from juniors willing to learn.
February 2009
1 articleTranslation: Flaccid Scrum
A translation of Martin Fowler's 'Flaccid Scrum': adopting Scrum without technical practices sinks the team into a messy codebase. Notes on testing, refactoring, frequent integration, and collective ownership.
December 2008
2 articlesTranslation: Technical Debt
Translation of Steve McConnell's classic article on technical debt: accidental vs. strategic debt, the interest that shortcuts charge, and why every debt belongs in the backlog.
Off-Topic: Scientific Method vs Cargo Cult
Cargo culting is repeating structures without understanding why. The fix is testing hypotheses with throwaway prototypes. At YellowPages, four months of prep kept four months of coding from becoming twenty.
October 2008
2 articlesOff-Topic: Understanding the Economic Crisis
Drawing on Taleb and the financial crisis, the author explains why past data cannot prove theories. It can show an idea is false, while Black Swans expose its limits.
Off-Topic: The Agile Manifesto, or How to Become Google
Agility comes from philosophy, trust, and self-organizing teams; methodology alone won't do. From the Agile Manifesto to Conway, Pareto, Wikipedia, and Google: why open source culture breeds innovation.
September 2008
1 articleOff-Topic: The Power of Myth, Redux
Self-help, certifications, and canned methodologies promise to manufacture leaders. The argument: leaders make themselves through self-teaching, merit, and real challenges; the magic recipe takes the credit.
July 2008
1 articleOff Topic: Why Programmers Should Play Go
A Jon Dahl translation: Go has simple rules and near-infinite complexity, and shapes, proverbs, and joseki mirror design patterns, agile principles, and programming exercises.
May 2008
2 articlesOff-Topic: Bleeding for Rails! Part 2
After taking a bus to Niterói and enduring an exhausting day, the author picked up his passport at 7:05 a.m. With the paperwork in hand, he started scrambling for flights and lodging for RailsConf.
Off-Topic: Bleeding for Rails!
With no passport slots in São Paulo, the author went to Niterói, donated blood in an anti-dengue campaign, and got an appointment with the Federal Police. RailsConf was possible again, in a rush.
April 2008
3 articlesOff Topic: Let's All Stop the Regulation of the Systems Analyst Profession
The author criticizes regulating systems analysts by comparing software with high-risk professions. To him, degrees, councils, and bureaucracy do not guarantee quality and may still block good professionals.
Off Topic: Never Trust TIOBE
Examining TIOBE’s formula, the author shows how search-engine hits, duplicates, and noise distort the measurement. The index therefore cannot support reliable conclusions about language growth.
Off-Topic: Google App Engine and Cloud Computing
From self-hosting to co-location, VPS, AWS, and Google App Engine: the appeal of elastic on-demand resources and the price of adapting an application to paradigms that make future migration harder.
March 2008
1 articleOff Topic: We Are Mathematically Illiterate
While translating Bruce Martin, the author uses birthdays, presidents, sports, cards, and π’s digits to show that patterns naturally emerge in random data and do not prove supernatural causes.
February 2008
1 articleTranslation: I Don't Know What I Want, But I Know How to Get It
The translation separates iterative development, which expects a solution to be validated and changed, from incremental development, which adds functionality. The point is to plan room to discover, refine, and discard.
January 2008
1 articleOff Topic: "I Am Legend" - TERRIBLE!
The review considers I Am Legend’s opening strong, but rejects the monsters, Richard Matheson’s shallow adaptation, and the religious third act. For the author, the movie completely falls apart.
September 2007
1 articleTranslation: Counting Is a Waste of Time
The translation criticizes counting tasks, estimates, and hours when those numbers do not guide decisions. A case involving 20 to 25 tasks a day exposes the waste of measurement.
August 2007
4 articlesOff Topic: Pale Blue Dot
An image of Earth captured by Voyager 1 inspires Carl Sagan to reflect on our fragility and responsibility, while the author recommends Cosmos as a legacy for raising curious children.
Off Topic: Enemies of Reason
Inspired by Richard Dawkins and Carl Sagan, the author argues for evidence, skepticism, and personal responsibility against dogma, superstition, and irrational disputes between technologies.
The Sunk Cost Fallacy
A movie ticket illustrates the sunk cost fallacy: money already spent should not decide the next step, whether you are judging a movie, a software license, or an architecture.
AkitaOnRails, Retrospective 1985-2007
The author revisits his path through computers, languages, and projects before reaching Rails and working for himself, arguing for continuous learning, curiosity, and non-dogmatic decisions.
June 2007
2 articlesA Rant, Part II
After leaving a consultancy that delayed payments, the author recommends staying liquid, learning continuously, and preparing an exit when signs of crisis appear, without trusting visionary bosses’ speeches.
Off Topic: Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Speech, 2005
In his Stanford speech translation, Steve Jobs connects chance, being fired, and illness to life’s choices. The message is to follow curiosity, work you love, and your own intuition.
April 2007
1 articleOff Topic: Be Arrogant!
The author turns “be arrogant” into a demand for competence: saying yes means studying and delivering. His journey with English, movies, audiobooks, podcasts, and feeds shows how he practices it.
March 2007
1 articleOff Topic: A Rant
The author criticizes careers stuck in forms, complaints, and technologies chosen only for salary. His answer is continuous learning, exploring systems, and contributing to open source projects.
February 2007
1 articleGetting Real Translation - Release Candidate 2 Launch
The Brazilian Portuguese translation of Getting Real reaches Release Candidate 2 with all 16 chapters translated and half the review complete. The public version comes before the final launch attempt.
January 2007
3 articlesOff Topic: "Here's to the crazy ones ..."
The Think Different ad marked Apple and Steve Jobs’ comeback, celebrating people who challenge rules and change the world. The author links that defense of creatives to a possible Rails and 37signals manifesto.
Off-topic: MacWorld 2007 - Steve Jobs Announces the Long-Awaited iPhone!
At MacWorld 2007, Steve Jobs introduces the iPhone as an iPod, phone, and internet communicator in one device, with a multitouch screen, OS X, Safari, Wi-Fi, and a camera. The US launch is planned for June.
Off-topic: MacWorld 2007 - Steve Jobs Keynote
Before the 2007 MacWorld keynote, rumors about the iPhone, Leopard, new Macs, and Apple TV heighten an unusual level of anticipation around Steve Jobs and Apple.
October 2006
1 articleKathy Sierra: Dilbert and the Zone of Mediocrity
Kathy Sierra describes the zone of mediocrity, the space of safe products nobody loves. Quoting Scott Adams, she argues for risking passion. Escaping means silencing the voice that kills ideas early.
September 2006
1 articleEvolution Through Competition
The author argues that criticism and competition drive technology forward. In Rails, limitations around internationalization, legacy systems, and asynchronous tasks have already encouraged community solutions.