I've spent a lot of time in Paris and NYC but have found it very hard to find a randomly good croissant; less so a randomly good slice. I've tried many of the foodie favorites for both and been largely unimpressed. There have a few truly excellent. Maybe they ruined me for others.
Maybe you are having a problem with managing your energy. What time do you get to work. I found that I can no longer work well into the night like I used to but that starting first thing in the morning is a very productive habit.
Do you have a lot of attention draining responsibilities? Do them after your programming time.
Are you a coffee drinker? If so, consider adding green tea to your routine. It will help smooth out the peaks and valleys of coffee.
Are you anxious and stressed? That will be very distracting and lead to feeling overwhelmed. Very counterproductive.
As we age, we become more aware of the limited time left to us to realize our goals in life. Suddenly, projects we take on can't be just about learning something new or advancing our careers, they start to be in competition with other values and dreams. Maybe what you're working on isn't able to supply a sense of purpose. That feeling can be very draining.
When all else fails, focus on what you can do, not what you can't. Get the system running and spend some time with it. Find things in the old code that are interesting to you. There are stories hidden in legacy code. Think about yourself relative to the craft and those that came before you. Ask to sit with the productive members of your team for a bit, just to ride shotgun and spend some time with a colleague. Rediscovering some of the sociability of coding can be very restorative. A spirit of comraderie can be the difference between apathy and enjoyment.
This is just cynical and wrong. School is about ideological indoctrination and conditioning the political subject via propaganda during childhood development away from the prying eyes of disobedient parents. Read your Plato and Dewey.
You're right, they've suffered a terrible injustice. They are the real victims. We should probably free all violent criminals at once. What could go wrong?
That doesn't explain why you would write your final words to the person imprisoning you rather than the supposed family and friends mentioned in the last words. Why not more than one letter, if you have family AND friends.
Seems to me like the warden is the only significant real person in their life and they lack the ability to distinguish relationships. I'm not a psychologist so just an observation.
Could be, but I hesitate to say that suggests he's deeply mentally ill. It seems pretty natural that one would develop a relationship with the warden. His position is somewhat paternalistic, if you think about it. Long-time wardens may not be a thing so much any more but they used to be a trope in American mythology. Death row inmates don't tend to be as violent as gen pop in prisons; that would obviate reasons for the wardens to be severe with them.
+1 for retribution and social benefits mentioned. Should be obvious. People don't watch enough gangster movies. Or, hell, visit one of the regions of the globe with blood feuds. Not great.
The opening scene of The Godfather is about this. An otherwise law abiding man, let down by the criminal justice system, asking the mob boss to deliver vigilante justice.
