I don’t know if this is a real pattern, or if I’m only noticing the hits and ignoring the misses… but it seems that whenever I’m thinking hard about a problem or project or otherwise obsessing over something, random solutions turn up.
One of my projects with the website is to add a list of my recently-played tunes. I turned to Last.fm, which would seem to be ideal… but was disappointed by their stock solution.
I poked around with RSS feeds a bit, which is on the edges of what I want to do with my recently-played music, but became a little bored with it all.
Today, surfing around, Jason Kotke has a post about exactly this issue. Of course, he’s an actual programmer, not an over-achieving nerd like myself, so it was easy enough for him to whip something up. But he didn’t re-invent the wheel; he links to a PHP script from Andrew Kirwin.
So, now I have a different starting place… like on the shoulders of giants. Or at least taller people. OK, maybe this metaphor isn’t the best.
Do great minds run in the same channels? Or are we just stuck in the same ruts?