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Rooms can be as bright as the outdoors
focusing after dark • corn cob bulbs • before + after photos • saving ½–2h/day • my setup • why don’t more people do this?! • FAQs
Ben Kuhn
Ben Kuhn's personal website.
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Visit benkuhn.net → RSS feedOn Hacker News Nov 2016 – Feb 2026
Career & Management 9Life, Learning & Writing 8Software Engineering 3Web & Frontend 2Society, Policy & Culture 2Tech Industry & Business 2
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Attention is your scarcest resource
how to ration your shower thoughts • care viscerally • monotask • evade obligations • timebox bullshit
3
Essays on programming I think about a lot
Computers can be understood • Choose Boring Technology • The Wrong Abstraction • Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names • The Hiring Post • The Product-Minded Engineer • Write code that is easy to delete, not easy to extend • The Law of Leaky Abstractions • Reflections on software performance • Notes on…
4
You don’t need to work on hard problems (2020)
A lot of smart college students end up with the idea that “solving hard technical problems” is the best thing they can do with their life—probably because that’s the only thing they’ve ever been rewarded for so far.
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Staring into the abyss as a core life skill
thinking about scary things • examples from Wave • examples from elsewhere • finding a buddy • getting the timing right • a list of abyss questions
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Tips for immersive video calls
I spent way too long figuring out the how to make video calls feel natural. Here’s the best advice I came up with.
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To listen well, get curious
When I’ve listened the most effectively to people, it’s because I was intensely curious—I was trying to build a detailed, precise understanding of what was going on in their head.
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My favorite essays of life advice (2020)
Life is short • There is no speed limit • How to Be Successful • You and your research • Becoming a Magician • 95th percentile isn’t that good