Zed Shaw has always been a rather curmudgeonly figure. I find him smart and hilarious, but of course many are rather insulted by his “tell it like he $%#@! well sees it” style. To me, Zed is like the Hunter S. Thompson of our community. The more your believe your own BS, the more he pisses you off.
Like Hunter S., Zed is a put up or shut up kind of person. Admit it, if you are reading this blog, you probably are running your vast empire on top of his code, while gleefully taking all credit yourself. But hey, Zed is just that kind of guy.
He also reminds me of a guy I used to work with long ago, who among other things had a masterfully inventive style of invective that could, like Zed, “blister the paint off of a bulkhead”. They both have sharp minds, with a very low tolerance for mental laxity. They also both play guitar.
But one would be greatly mistaken to ignore the rant of such a mind, too easy to dismiss it as mere ravings. Zed chose to end his year with a wide-ranging assault against the “Rails Ghetto”. It is a pretty interesting read… Are you afraid now to look? Perhaps you should be. But look anyhow. Then decide what you think.
