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My First 80 Days of VR for Exercise
Three months ago, during my first Think Week, I realized that consistently working out would meaningfully improve my long term health and happiness.
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The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 816 posts.
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Why babies cry in the first three months, how to tell them apart, and what to do
I have twin daughters that just turned three months old. I decided to write up the list that I wish I had before they were born. Just reasons why they cry, how to tell the cries apart, and what to …
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My Notebook System
This year is going to see my journal/log’s 10th anniversary and 100th notebook. (Update: 10 years reached 2022-03-31, 100th notebook 2022-07-28.) After many attempts to write this up, I’m just going to disgorge it all. This article is long and rambling and I make no apology for it. Feel free to skip around to any part…
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An example of why RSS is useful and important
Let’s say I want to be an informed, engaged local citizen. Let’s say my town has a website set up where they post local updates and alerts that I might care about. Specifically, let’s say there was a water main break a few days ago that led to everyone in the town being asked to … Continue reading An example of why…
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What I learned during my three days offline
As most of you know, I just took three days completely of...
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How to commit murder inside a locked room
Few genres are more preposterous than the locked room mystery. The premises are absurd and plot solutions ridiculous—but still I keep on reading.
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I collect and read old computer manuals
It’s my ritual: every time I enter a secondhand bookshop, I go straight to the Sciences section and search for old computer …
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Imitate, Then Innovate
Imitate, then Innovate is my motto for improving at any skill. It’s counterintuitive, but the more we imitate others, the faster we can discover our unique style.
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Don’t point out something wrong immediately
This is not a post on a technical topic, but rather on a common pitfall for engineers – we like to point out something wrong the moment we see it. Understandably, we are very good at it. We are basically trained for it. When it comes to code reviews, or design reviews for complicated distributed system protocols, we…
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No one cared about my spreadsheets
The most painful part of writing The Case Against Education was calculating the return to education. I spent fifteen months working on the spreadsheets. I came up with the baseline case, did scores of “variations on a theme,” noticed a small mistake or blind alley, then started over. Several programmer friends advised…
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The Fun Scale (2014)
What is your idea of fun? Kelly Cordes details The Fun Scale, measuring the degrees of fun activities in the outdoors.
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The “misinformation problem” seems like misinformation
If anything people have become better informed
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Time to run or time to walk? Your body knows the answer
If you walk too fast, your body will choose to run. Here's what biomechanics tell about our average walking speed and how you can enhance it.
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A simple system I’m using to stay in touch with hundreds of people
Staying in touch with people is one of these asymmetric habits that require little effort, time and resources but has an unlimited upside.
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Those writing extensively on note-writing rarely have a serious context of use
Much of the day-to-day thinking involved in creative work is simply lost, like sand castles in the tide. Ephemerality can actually be useful in low-fidelity thought, but it’s simply an accidental property in many cases. We should do our serious thinking in the form of Evergreen notes so that the thinking accumulates.
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How to Drop Out (2004)
People who work get bored when they don't work. People who don't work never get bored.
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What we lost
Who is this? Princess Leia, right? End of Rogue One. Wrong, this is not Princess Leia. This is. A photograph of Carrie Fisher in her role of Princ
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Brainwashing is sorcery
Can’t bring yourself to slaughter a nearby village, or a long-time associate?
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If you’re so smart, why aren’t you happy?
“Happiness is for stupid people.” That’s a common complaint I hear from smart overachievers. They think only dumb or lazy people can be happy. Entrepreneurs will say, “I don’t want to be happy because I want to be successful.” They worry that if they get too happy they’ll lose their desire and won’t work hard anymore…
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What have we got to lose? (1998)
Some of the most revolutionary new ideas come from spotting something old to leave out rather than thinking of something new to put in. The Sony Walkman , for instance, added nothing significantly new to the cassette player, it just left out the amplifier and speakers, thus creating a whole new way of listening to…
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The Factorio Mindset
Plus! The Carbon Rally; The Bridge; Housing and Rates; Full Stack Media; Buying Out Contracts; Diff Jobs
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The Scientific Virtues: Stupidity, Arrogance, Laziness
Science education usually starts with teaching students different tools and techniques, methods for conducting research. This is wrong. Science education should begin with the scientific virt…
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Life, school, and the 80:20 rule (2019)
Most people sense that school today is poor preparation for the world of work. I think there is a fundamental reason why: linearity. School is a
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On iPhone sideloading: it’s ok, I’m changing my mind
An explanation on why I’m ok now with the sideloading of apps on the iPhone, plus, a quick interview with one of the most vocal App Store critic — Kosta Eleftheriou.