<rant>

How many times have you proposed using some kind of software solution to a particular problem, only to be informed that

We already have a system we can use for that.

or maybe

We don’t want to duplicate effort.

or even the most heinous of declarations

We don’t want to add yet another solution to the mix.

? What?

Okay, I understand that many organizations have deeply ingrained workflows and a borderline-pathological aversion to change, but just hear me out for a second: we live in a world with a veritable Canadian Tire of software tools at our disposal [for those who need clarification, the preceding sentence was supposed to be a hyperbolic analogy to illustrate the profundity of targeted tools available for tackling specific problems]. In fact, this set of tools has grown so expansive that there are now tools designed just to tool-ify other tools (i.e. “workflow-as-a-service” platforms and what not)!

So why, in the midst of this glorious renaissance of targeted applications, do we continue to leech our problems until they finally wither and die of their own accord? I’ve said this before, and I’ll probably keep on saying it over and over again until someone finally puts me out of my misery, but: I’d rather have 10 good solutions to 10 problems, than 1 crappy solution to 20.

Yes, we can use this bug-tracking software as a wiki. But should we? Yes, we can use this spreadsheet to track feature requests. But should we? While we’re at it, why don’t we just consolidate everything down to a bunch of bescribbled napkins? It’d be a lot easier, and it seems like the natural progression of pressing every problem through the lowest common denominator of collaborative functionality.

Maybe I’ve just become jaded and crotchety at the ripe old age of 25, but adding another bookmark to your browser toolbar doesn’t seem like such a big deal. In the grand scheme of risk analysis, an additive solution that’s self-contained, yet extensible, looks like a win-win solution to me.

(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

</rant>

For lack of anything genuinely useful to do this evening, I’ve written up a quick JSON API for the Acadia Geeks QDB.

URI: http://mvgrafx.net/tom/api/quotes/
Method: GET
Params:

• id — the ID of the quote you wish to retrieve, e.g. 1556
• order — one of either “asc” (ascending order, oldest first) or “desc” (descending order, newest first)
• nick — filters by conversation participants, e.g. tom (note: does not include “ventriloquism”)
• limit — limits the number of quotes returned to N, where N is an integer greater than zero, e.g. 10

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] recently finished Penn Jillette‘s latest novel, God, No!: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales, and I have to say it was immensely enjoyable, cover to cover. Prior to reading it, I have to admit I had only a vague idea of who Penn Jillette was. World-famous magician, outspoken libertarian, but that’s about it. Now, I think I know more about him than perhaps I would otherwise wish (anyone who’s read the second-to-last chapter knows where I’m coming from here).

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