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New posts #

• Code Style that breaks clean code rules: Space Shuttle Style
• Learn JS. Are you looking for a new JavaScript job? Three things you can do when looking for new opportunities.

Books I've read #

• The Great CEO Within The Tactical Guide to Company Building by Matt Mochary with Alex MacCaw and Misha Talavera
  I'm not even sure where I found it. It has a bunch of simple productivity advice like Inbox Zero, but also advice on getting investors or employees. What struck me was how much people were treated as tools and stepstones. Because of it, I started reading a book I had long in my reading list:

• The Psychopath Code: Cracking The Predators That Stalk Us by Pieter Hintjens.
  The title is misleading. It's not about psychopaths. It's about social predators. Some of them pose as your friends, one maybe your boss, maybe even your spouse. There is a lot that's not convincing in the book—when the author presents his theories. What's useful is when he explains what has worked for him.
  The most useful tools I got were:

  1. Look for the impact. In a family, a group or company looking for the stress, burnout, money or resources lost in mysterious ways.
  2. Look for drama. Is there someone in the group generating drama all the time? Are they getting money, time or resources from others without giving anything back?
  3. Look for people in the center of attention. Some of them are nice, but predators like this spot.
  4. A startup founder is unlikely to be a predator, but they come for the money so they show up around her.
  5. Organizations can be predators as well. Have you ever spotted a company when it's common for people do get divorced for example? Where you have to spend so much time and energy that you lose your life outside of work?
  6. Personally, it reminds me of my own heuristic to avoid organizations using Work hard, play hard mantra. It's a lie, and leads to addiction, because it is a manic defense that leads you to fall hard

• Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude by Raymond M. Kethledge, Michael S. Erwin
  I got inspired to read it after reading Spend More Time Alone post by Cal Newport. Especially the definition of solitude made me interested:

The right way to define “solitude” is as a subjective state in which you’re isolated from input from other minds.

The book follows a standard pattern: you get the gist of the main idea at the beginning. Then read a bunch of stories to prove a point, and read a summary and get some advice at the end. Even knowing it I can say that I've enjoyed reading it. It's short and while I knew most of the stories I enjoyed the last one about Pope Jan Paul II and it made up for the boring parts.

Elsewhere on the Web #

• A Manifesto for Preserving Content on the Web
  It's a great manifesto and it sounds nice to be able to add This Page is Designed to Last on my blog. But, I prefer to give up some of the rules for the accessibility of the blog. I still recommend you to read it.
• This Is The Most Fun Way To Make Your Life Awesome (Pandemic Edition) by Eric Baker
  All information on what can help you stay mentally healthy at home. Lots of scientifically proven ways of keeping yourself, your family and everyone you know healthy. Please read it.

Please stay safe and take care of yourself and others.

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