You're kidding, right? They didn't reverse anything - that "reversal" is PR chaff at its finest. Their congressional support for SOPA (the only thing that actually matters) has not been withdrawn.

Hey man. I'm a programmer who's done a similar thing twice, both times sticking to just Europe. I didn't go the "write a book" route but rather just programmed here and there while CouchSurfing, hosteling, seeing new places, had a couple flings with gorgeous European girls, etc.

I, also, never ran into another programmer doing this. I live in SF now (moved from the midwestern USA) and work for a startup. Let's grab a beer sometime! Or maybe I'll see you at one of the weekly CouchSurfing meetups. They're pretty big here- 50 people a week is not unusual.

Can you elaborate on "programmed here and there"? Does everyone who talks about doing this mostly do freelance web design?

Awesome, yes see you at a CS meetup - I'm planning on going to them.

I think for me this manifests itself in wasting time on reddit and twitter. Whenever I have a blank chrome tab, my unconscious reaction is to punch in one of these time-wasters.

All these negative comments are a good thing. You've made something that polarizes people. I'd take that any day over something that makes people say "meh".

Another Michigan ex-pat here to completely agree. Grew up in mid-Michigan, went to a big university there for CS, and I wasn't interested in writing .NET or Java for an insurance company. That led to moving to SF to hack on Python and JavaScript with other hipster hackers.

The only thing I really miss is Michigan's summer heat (it's mid 60's and windy here - in July).

Ummm....move to the East Bay. Past the Oakland/Berkeley hills it's between 80 and 100 through the summer, and you can always Bart into SF. Rent is going to be a lot less too.

Of course it will never be as HUMID as in Michigan, but...do you really want that?

Sunnyvale & Co are consistently in the 70s

Hey UCSD, see this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Don%27t_stuff_beans_u...

I know you're not responsible for other people's actions, but releasing this story may do more harm than good.

Amusingly enough, according to Wikipedia, the concept of full disclosure (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_disclosure) originated with locksmiths in the 1800s.

And even back then, they got it right:

    > It cannot be too earnestly urged that an acquaintance 
    > with real facts will, in the end, be better for all parties. 

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_disclosure#History)

So you think really hard and you rise up?

'except from a handful of key people'

Agreed. If I was only facebook friends with the 10 people I really am interested in, I'd hardly notice the difference. I don't want to go through and remove all the loose friends I met in college one-by-one, though.

Twitter is much more relevant to me; I'm only following around 50 people, all of which I deliberately chose.