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ben vandgrift

@ben.vandgrift.com

recovering technologist, problem solver, gardener, woodworker. coauthor of ‘clojure applied: from practice to practitioner’. a giant among hobbits

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06.07.2023
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Latest posts by ben vandgrift @ben.vandgrift.com

OH: “the people with the money don’t have the balls, the people with the balls don’t have the money.”

hearing that hurt me deeply in a necessary way.

21.02.2026 06:24 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

the primary is March 3, early voting is open now. if you’re independent, you choose your ballot.

13.02.2026 15:54 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

YEAH, i’m going with the actual leftist.

13.02.2026 15:50 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Preview
Dues for Congress The official site of Justin Dues — antiestablishment, reform-focused US Senate candidate for North Carolina. Explore his Project 2030 platform to restore integrity, fight corruption, fix healthcare, p...

NC people, it’s worth showing up for the primary. your choices on the non-fascist side are:

- center right big business (Roy Cooper)
- no meaningful positions (Colon)
- religion-first messaging (Quick)
- some old weathy folk

and the guy who wants to flip over a table: www.justicewithdues.org

13.02.2026 15:50 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

i don’t know of any hard and fast rules about what constitutes an accent vs a dialect, but it’s linguistically interesting to me. i’ve never heard it in the wild (meatspace), afaik.

08.12.2025 15:19 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

i can’t unhear the _influencer accent_. the strong upward lilt at the end of a phrase, like they’re asking a question instead of making a statement. it’s most prevalent in gen z influencers, but also can be heard in many millenial content creators.

08.12.2025 15:19 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

If “AI” did the thing, organizations would be bragging about the outcomes instead of jawing endlessly about the tools.

17.10.2025 02:07 👍 242 🔁 60 💬 8 📌 9

if they’re serious, talk about conspiracy to commit domestic terrorism charges for ICE agents and collaborators.

21.11.2025 00:39 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

every democrat fighting for a seat in next year’s election should include ‘publishing the names and photos of every ICE agent’ in their pitch

21.11.2025 00:09 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

felt necessary to share this with otter people

13.11.2025 11:14 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

This is legit why exec level in a lot of places are obsessed with copilot.

It takes their word salad and turns it into a word salad that sounds smarter (but isn't).

13.11.2025 09:28 👍 178 🔁 33 💬 6 📌 1

i hear you but you have to remember that you’re way smarter than me.

13.11.2025 00:16 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
a stick of butter with the word ‘emails’ printed on the wax paper

a stick of butter with the word ‘emails’ printed on the wax paper

13.11.2025 00:11 👍 6 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

yes. this is a correct and reasonable response. it should take years and penance to recover from being a class+race traitor.

13.11.2025 00:09 👍 7 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

can anyone point me toward a `core.async.flow` example that’s nontrivial? what lit the light bulb for you?

#clojure

13.11.2025 00:06 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

don’t threaten me with a good time

12.11.2025 23:52 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

007.1

we’ve been through this, Ken.

12.11.2025 23:24 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

hey folks: take care of your people. if you’re in a position of influence or leadership, take care of your people. if they look up to you, take care of your people. even if you think maybe they need to have some sense slapped into them from time to time, take care of your people.

12.11.2025 23:18 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

can someone please tell me how i can both:
- make the world a better place
- continue be secure in my ability to eat and sleep under cover
given:
- not born/already rich

chatGPT has been no help

08.11.2025 01:46 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Eloquent Ruby, Second Edition Write elegant Ruby code--not just correct, but idiomatic. Go beyond the vocabulary and syntax and learn to express yourself with eloquence.

It's official! The beta release of Eloquent Ruby, 2nd edition is now on sale!

pragprog.com/titles/eruby...

05.11.2025 12:44 👍 36 🔁 11 💬 3 📌 2

so what are you building? what is your mgmt telling you to build? what are your guests (customers) going to see and use? how will that reflect on you as a host (company)?

plan accordingly. spend accordingly. allocate budget accordingly.

or your guests will be risk splinters fetching their plates.

01.11.2025 13:48 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

shop shelves cost almost nothing to build. $200 goes a long way. the _lumber_ for my cabinets was $22k. plus hardware, plus weeks of work—the kitchen is the largest room in my house. i love to cook for other people. those cabinets definitely make a statement about the quality of my work.

01.11.2025 13:48 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

cabinetry (customer products and services) needs to be planned, designed, and well-executed. it will be viewed used over and over by your household and your guests. cabinets have to last a long and be low maintenance.

shop shelves take an afternoon. cabinets take days, if not weeks.

01.11.2025 13:48 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

shop shelves? 1/4” (6mm) isn’t a big deal. cabinetry? 1/8” (3mm) is a big deal. shop gear doesn’t need finishing. cabinetry does.

bottom line: your shop facilities (internal tools) need only enough care to make them functional and strong. you’re the only one who will see them. no need to fuss.

01.11.2025 13:48 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

your kitchen cabinets should match. maybe they don’t need to be identical, but they should have a coherent theme. shop shelves are items of necessity, built over time as needed. they can be a little haphazard visually and functionally. (if it doesn’t bother you. it bothers me. i over-engineer.)

01.11.2025 13:48 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

you will be judged on your cabinets. you’ll judge yourself, too since you have to use them every day. you’ll build in conveniences to the cabinets that your shop doesn’t need, or at least isn’t worth the fancy soft-close drawers and spaulted maple doors and drawer fronts and fancy fixtures.

01.11.2025 13:48 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

both need to be strong enough to support some weight. neither should be offensive to look at.

shop shelves (internal tools) can be inexpensive. 2x4s and osb are probably fine for dry storage.

kitchen cabinets—the things people _see_—have a higher standard. there are more moving parts, for one.

01.11.2025 13:48 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

on a woodworking forum i frequent:

“good enough” is the difference between fine woodworking and “it’s fine” woodworking.

the same is true for software.

shop shelves don’t have the same rules as kitchen cabinets.

01.11.2025 13:48 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

hello fellow west wing fan.

“if in the future you’re wondering: ‘crime…boy i dunno’ is when i decided to kick your ass.”

followed later by a debate scene that will make anyone with enough brain cells weep for the future of US democracy.

28.10.2025 18:21 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0