Purpose of this blog

I noticed recently that I google for programming/utility/OS/etc-related information all the time. I mean, I've known this for a while... I think I probably do at least 10-50 google searches a day on average. If they changed to a pay service at some point (can't see that happening, but I've pondered it), I'd probably get depressed and resort to (gasp) books and real people for information.

But what finally dawned on me is that the reason I google so much is because I always assume that someone, somewhere has had the same question or problem as me, someone else has had a solution for them, and that conversation is out there somewhere, waiting for me to find, as soon as I can perfect my search terms and wade through enough results. Sometimes finding that information is quick and easy, other times it may take hours and still not turn up exactly what I need. Sometimes I might find the solution elsewhere in the end. Okay, so my problem is solved. Now what?

Sure, I often add a personal bookmark (which promptly gets lost in a sea of unsorted bookmarks, never to be seen again until some day when it ends up being a bookmark to a 404 page). I've even been making small notes in an ongoing text file for the past couple years. Sometimes I'll even IM a buddy to share something I find particularly enlightening.

But what about the next person who makes the same assumption that I made, that somewhere out there on the web, that information can be found? I'd like to make their search as quick and simple as other people have often made mine, by sharing the information I find, however obscure it might be.

So, I'm going to start posting some of this stuff here instead.

It's not meant to be particularly pretty or grammatically correct, and it might not make sense or be useful to anyone else in the world. But I have a feeling some of it will be of use to someone, someday.

I will not claim to be an expert on anything in particular, in fact most of what I post here will probably be things I just learned about for the first time, so I welcome and encourage corrections, comments, alternative solutions, additional sources of information, questions, etc.

-spugbrap