Writing in a Rainy Day
Today I’m writing from a soggy Sheffield and this is probably the right time to open the laptop and start thinking about what to say. Finding the right topics is not an easy task, especially for someone that’s not used to “common” writing - I do write a lot of code during the day though 
- and therefore I’m always scared of a blank page and that’s why I usually start by adding the Things I like and Today's links. But when the topic has been decided, well words flow smoothly.
So, the question is: Why did I go into web development?
TL;DR
I went into web development because I loved the Internet since the first time I used it and I understood its potential.
My first computer was a C64c that my dad brought home when I was around twelve/thirteen years old and I was already reading some computer magazines that were available at that time, trying to understand whatever I could about the new cool stuff: Home Computers.
The next step naturally came: Reading the user manual and start developing small programs and so on. But because my family wasn’t that wealthy, in the years to come we couldn’t afford to buy more modern machine so the C64c was my only available home computer for a long time.
I’ve been enough lucky that through my high school and then my university I had access to different kinds of computers, from MS-DOS to Window based ones, Unix mainframes and Apple Macintosh, where I’ve been able to develop some really basic programming skills. Well not that basic, given that for my master thesis I built an Apache module with Pearl to serve the content of a website depending on the type of client. Sort of responsive web, but a bit earlier.
The real change came when I graduated and a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to join his web development startup. I obviously accepted and on my first day I’ve been given a book about PHP and some time to learn. And here I am now…
A useful git alias that gives you a nice and concise view of your commits
gpretty='git log --date=short --format="%C(blue)%h %C(reset)%s %C(magenta)%aN %C(green ul) %ad%C(reset)"'
A collection of git commands on this Gist
Things I like - in random order
I do enjoy reading stuff on Substack, I found some really cool writers there. The ones I’m currently following are:
The one and only Patti Smith.
Opinions from Robert Reich.
If I want to have a different view on books, music, arts etc. Ted Gioia.
How cool is she? Margaret Atwood.
Finding new music on Bandcamp:
A Liverpool based artist Pixey Some good Synthpop from FM-84
What about the concept and design of Poolsuite?
I 
this picture
You can find it here: Halloween and the Wizard Nebula
Today’s Links
How cool is this? An PDF issue of Softalk an Apple II focused magazine of the early 80s: Softalk Sept. 1980
One of the websites I love most: Internet Archive
Some interesting considerations about web design: It’s 2023, here is why your web design sucks.
NASA project to let members of the public collaborate with scientists Citizen Science