DISQUS

That choosing not to host a blog on myspace doesn't automatically mean one has better taste than those who do choose that route. Yeah there's a lot of stupidity and/or ugliness on myspace, but you can find that stuff all over the internet.

What, you mean I can’t just call them complete idiots with VERY bad taste in color schemes and nothing to say? :)

The same accusation can be levelled against most bloggers.

I thought the site was a tribute to doctor Kevorkian ;)

Looks pretty good though. Congrats on the launch!

Speaking of Rummy ;)

http://rummyheadache.ytmnd.com/

I missed the voter registration cutoff by a day :(

But the elections went the way I thought they would anyway. Except for Katherine Harris getting 38% of the vote, I have no idea that many people didn't think of her as completely insane.

I've always thought Microsoft hardware was top-notch and well designed. For example, my intellimouse fits my hand almost perfectly (seriously, the only "complaint" I'd have about it is that I can't find a left-handed version), and the XBox controller, as much crap as it initially got, I thought was very innovative with the cords that snap off rather than taking the whole console down with it (my dog tripped over them a lot ;)).

Software? I have a love-hate relationship. The two pieces of MS software I find a joy to use are Excel and SQL Server. Much of their other software drives me insane though, because of its "annoying" factor (MSN messenger and Outlook I'm looking at you). And of course, IE is a pain in any web designer's ass.

I think Microsoft can do a lot better than it has lately with regard to its products. A lot of it seems like its features get committeed to death or uselessness, a common sign for larger companies with byzantine management structures.

Sadly, I see Microsoft going in a direction similar to IBM in the future, which sucks because I like their mice and video games :)

Ouch. Good luck getting back in regular form; I know dental work, painkillers and work aren't a great combination.

Duplo is the set for smaller kids.

And Aaron, if you still like legos you'll love Mindstorms. Basically lego for adults. A bit pricey ($200) but you get a robot you can program to do cool things. :)

I agree with Leroy. Even within the US there's so much variance. For example, the Boston accent sounds probably closest to British while the Southern accent sounds nothing like either one.

"What would you do with the ability to read 200 year old newspapers from your desktop?"

I'd finally be able to see if Ye Olde Baltimore Times from 1801 had a classified section that looks like craigslist :p

Seriously though, I could see it being extremely useful for research papers/academic purposes.

So take b5, 9rules, and spam blogs out of the download count and we're down to about 30 :p

Just kidding, this is a great accomplishment by the WP crew.

I hate Trebuchet for long passages of text (just a personal thing I guess) but otherwise it looks awesome :)

Yards are cool :)

And renting isn't so bad for your first 1-2 years in a new location, especially if you don't know if you'll be staying there. At least it gives you time to find a place you'll be extremely happy with.

4/10 with no help from the interweb.

And to think I always got As in history in high school and college.

does it involve cocaine and/or skateboarding and/or trains?

I moved out of the northeast at the right time :D

What's with everyone moving south?

Good luck on the move Aaron.

Carol, that's because NO comments are getting through. I tried commenting on your site the other day and got blocked. Unless you consider me a spammer :(

This is why Google's recent update hasn't shaken me much. Yeah it sucks for my newer sites, but for the more established stuff I work on it's been a good thing. A lot of low-quality sites/links have been purged.

PS: Your link to wordpress in this article is messed up.

/pours a 40 for a fallen homie

Well I realized that when re-reading your entry. The title question

Can A Web Programmer Make a Living Programming?

Misled me for a second.

But then again, I like having a 401K and health benefits :)

If I were to go self-employed, I'd be doing a mix of things to keep a steady income stream. I'd build some software, offer services to clients, come up with some moneymaking sites on my own, etc. I do this on a somewhat irregular basis now as supplemental income. I'd lean more heavily on the non-client-focused work though, because in freelancing you're never really self-employed; you just have a lot more bosses.

Yeah I'm not self-employed :)

"Unique" is not CMS #43012941, nor is it a Myspace clone script, nor the next dating script or blog.

There really aren't many niches that haven't already been plugged up a hundred times.

The money is in consulting, you're both right. It's in figuring out what your client needs, then integrating and customizing it to fit. Only rarely do you need to write all new code yourself nowadays.

That said, I make a living writing custom code full time, and I'm nowhere close to the top 10% of coders so maybe I'm just dumb lucky.

Little kids are sponges at that age, so good on you for encouraging him. He could probably learn a few languages (non-programming) if you sat him down with some videos or tapes.

Gotta say… I’m loving the Colbert action that’s taking shape in this conversation. :)

Yeah it's really Lincolnish