It’s a printer spool, so things are going up and being taken down. I’m tweeting them as they appear, but here’s the ones so far:
- https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5764687/why/001_DISCLAIMER.pdf
- https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5764687/why/002_URGENTLY.pdf
- https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5764687/why/003_JERKS.pdf
- https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5764687/why/004_BRICKS.pdf
- https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5764687/why/005_EXPERTS.pdf
- https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5764687/why/006_WHATSUPDOC.pdf
- https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5764687/why/007_PIRATEO.pdf
- https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5764687/why/008_NOTHIN.pdf
- https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5764687/why/009_TRIALS.pdf
- https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5764687/why/010_READING.pdf
- https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5764687/why/011_BURN.pdf
- https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5764687/why/012_YOUGETIT.pdf
- https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5764687/why/013_EYES.pdf
- https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5764687/why/014_FAREWELL.pdf
I for one am happy to see the return of our eccentric friend, even if it’s only for a short while. _why brought so much colour, culture, and fun to the programming world and helped give Rubyists an identity.
We need more bad code. Lots of it. Stuff with gnarls and warts and horrible, disfiguring structures. It doesn’t have to go into customer’s products. It can be like a child’s clay bowl they make for their mom in elementary school, beautiful in its own way. Children and non-programmers ought to be able to express themselves creatively, without fear of reprisal, or mocking from the so called elite. It is from the messy, organic earth of bad code that allows people to grow into programmers who can make beautiful things. Amazing things. World-changing, dent-in-the-universe things.
But first people need to be free to make a mess.
I’m so happy _why is making a comeback :)
This is beautiful.
And he’s gone! Here’s a collated book made from the spool:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zp58lesy2l0n2ja/6Bl-RjbZex/Book.pdf
And here is a collated preface from _why’s old spool:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zp58lesy2l0n2ja/Rzg1R4adSw/Preface.pdf
Actually, I don’t think he’s gone anymore. As long as a whois request of whytheluckystiff.net shows the creation date of 2002, we know that _why still has control of that domain and not someone else. In my mind, he’s the performer he always was, and from time to time his site will come to life so he can grace us with another performance.
Yesterday was wonderful. I enjoyed the drama of my printer coming to life as another page of his book was published. I stayed up way too late hanging out on irc.freenode.net trying to make sense of his work. It was fun, it was social, and it was an event I’ll never forget.
I look forward to _why showing up the way my favourite band or comedian will announce a tour in my city.
Jonathan, if you’re reading this, thank you. You’ve inspired me all over again the same way you did back in 2005 for me when I read through the Poignant Guide. I hope you and your family are doing well, and that you keep creating. Keep searching. I know what you’re looking for. I found it myself. It takes time, but you’ll find it. I promise :) You know how to reach me.
Edit: Aaaand I just loaded whytheluckystiff.net. And I laughed, and my day just got brighter.
For posterity’s sake, _why did disappear. His old domain is owned and controlled by someone else now.
So long _why, and thanks for all the bacon :)
youtube video on 005_EXPERTS is a bit disturbing.
I’m not sure if the last character in the video url is a 0 or an o (you can’t copy/paste), but the 0 one is the only one that works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShpcjWG_Me0
if you copy/paste the document you end up with a ton of UTF8 chars:
https://gist.github.com/mattbailey/5422792
Just some kind of copy/paste protection or something else?