I tend to need to apply it to something. I can't just read new techniques, nod, and say "oh yes that has been an excellent addition to my Global Knowledge". And, more importantly, I really like to apply it to something real, as opposed to some made-up problem. That's why it's kind of nice to have projects like holman/boom and holman/spark — even though I might not follow through and rewrite them publicly, I can rewrite them locally, build something real, and see how the new language/idea/approach works on a real problem.
I tend to need to apply it to something. I can't just read new techniques, nod, and say "oh yes that has been an excellent addition to my Global Knowledge". And, more importantly, I really like to apply it to something real, as opposed to some made-up problem. That's why it's kind of nice to have projects like holman/boom and holman/spark — even though I might not follow through and rewrite them publicly, I can rewrite them locally, build something real, and see how the new language/idea/approach works on a real problem.