Does that include photons? Photons that have travelled the furthest are, by the above definition, at the boundary of the universe - an ever expanding boundary - which they will never exceed. If this is so and you were 'outside' the universe, would it look like a black hole? Does a universe have an event horizon?

I've had a near identical experience over the last 30 years. Every point in the article rang true and I sympathise with every one of them.

Regarding the second point: One of the hardest things to swallow is a programmer with 2 or 3 years experience pointing out code smells in my work simply because he's read Clean Code (I've been a professional, full time programmer for 30 years). Sure, there are code smells in my work - I won't deny it - I'm not a clean coder and I accept that my coding style leaves a lot to be desired. But I work hard and solve difficult problems to a clients satisfaction.

Is it just me or does anyone else think that 'code smells' is a demeaning expression?

Yep - agreed. The "Pardon the interruption" and "We value your privacy" is pure nonsense. "We value your privacy" must be the biggest piece of misinformation on the web. Tip: Turn off Javascript and all the extraneous crap disappears and the web returns to peaceful normality.

Firstly, what's the opposite of asshole. Is there a name for that?

Secondly, this: >Really, you can’t afford to keep assholes around - it’s better to have a hole in your team than an asshole.

That may not always be true. It may actually be better to have an asshole than a teamhole, particularly if project delivery is dependent on the asshole. It may be unpleasant but unavoidable - at least temporarily. It may also be a financial issue and financial issues affect shareholders, and shareholders can be assholes. You win some, you lose some.

The closing section made it all worth while. Probably the best 3 paragraphs I've read all year.

For browsing the web I use Chrome with JavaScript disabled. It means I never have to deal with auto-play videos. If there is something I find in Chrome that I want to watch, I drop the url into FireFox and watch it there. I use Firefox for applications and Youtube. Surfing the web with JavaScript disabled is good protection against malware as well as a really good ad-blocker and tracking-stopper. Those websites that only render with JavaScript simply don't get my attention.

Dreaming in Code by Scott Rosenberg. As a programmer of 30 years I have taken more quotes and found more common ground with this book than any other. Here's a small extract that caught my attention: "In order to build something, you have to have a blueprint. And we don't always have one. Then you hit unexpected problems. It's hard to know how long something is going to take until you know for sure you can build it."

agreed. that's the equivalent of doing work for free when it should be a business transaction. so, tech-related new years resolution number one: learn to say no in as diplomatic a way as possible.

no alcohol before breakfast and try to remember to change my underpants at least once a week. no seriously, I like kramer1416 idea of figuring out how to get into flow state on a regular basis. I reckon that would be an overall win for personal productivity. Also, lose weight through exercise and learn how to brew cider.

Ritual. Some of this helps with sleep, too, if you do it before bed.

Choose a smell, music, a special way of sitting. A cup of coffee, a snack. A combination of things. Perhaps use headphones. The more often you do this before time you have flow, the more likely it is that your body and mind will view that ritual as a signal to get into a flow state.

Resource: Occultism. Some mind states used with occultism are likened to the state of flow and folks work some time getting to those states faster.

You should use an ad blocker because it gives you control over your browsing experience. You need that control because advertisers have made the web an unpleasant place. The thing is, we all need adverts. Think of all the products you've bought, that you wouldn't have known about without advertising. The issue isn't 'To block or not to block'. Everyone should block ads until advertisers learn to behave. As advertisers are unlikely to learn to behave voluntarily, it's up to ad-blockers, bloggers and news sites to start pushing advertisers in the right direction. Annoying ads, slow downloads and tracking all need to go. Bloggers should avoid the main offenders and work with advertisers that offer true unobtrusive ads, minimum downloads and that don't track. We need adverts, but more importantly, we need advertisers to play nice.

Are you objecting to advertising in principle? I don't have anything against advertising as a means of improving sales. We just need to stop talking about 'advertising' and start focusing on 'annoying' and 'tracking'. I object to anything that tracks me and to ads that annoy me while I'm trying to read an article. To be fair, it's not just ads. I hate any form of animation while I'm trying to read. It makes it harder to concentrate. I wish all bloggers (and news sites) would avoid using GIFs and ensure their content rendered fully without JavaScript (vain hope). As far as I'm concerned if adverts are unobtrusive, don't track and have a light download, I'm OK with them. Mostly I'll ignore them (just like I do with TV ads) but at least they provide revenue for bloggers.