Top posts
Every blog post that took off on Hacker News, ranked by the votes of its best submission. 7,742 posts.
Life, Learning & Writing
Any year
The goal of standards is to improve our future actions
A common failure mode is to consistently set your standards for yourself too high, and to always feel guilty for falling short. I diagnose why I think this is a major problem, and outline some of my tools for overcoming this
"The Social Network" synth sounds
Deconstructing the anxious, brooding sounds behind the 2010 masterpiece, The Social Network.
The Hacker Way: How I taught my nephew to program
Over the last year, my 13 year old nephew developed a love for hacking. From anime chat , to snake , a minimal twitter , a blog , to an anime music startup , he’s built some cool stuff (1). What I’m most proud of though, is that he’s done this with self directed play, rather than with a rigid curriculum.
Gordon Freeman at the Olympic Games
Since the dawn of October 1st 2022 , the world has been plagued by the question:
Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user
I've used Macs as my primary computing devices my entire life. And though I continue to use a Mac for my primary workstation for both work and personal projects, my use of computers has evolved in the past few years quite a bit. With more of my stuff moving into the cloud and fewer software applications being…
Getting arrested in Japan
This is what happens when you get arrested in Japan and where you're sent off to will leave you speechless.
Climbing the Wealth Ladder
On the 6 levels of wealth and why affluence increases in steps.
I program on the subway
Ever since moving to New York City, I've found my time to be in more demand than ever. Between work, meetups, and social events, I have noticeably less time for side projects than I had before moving here. At the same time, my commute is a massive time suck. It's 30 minutes each way, which doesn't sound that bad, but…
So you want to buy a farm?
I get a few calls every week these days from folks wanting to buy a small farm, start growing food, and even maybe settle down there now…
HOWTO: Be more productive (2005)
“With all the time you spend watching TV,” he tells me, “you could have written a novel by now.” It’s hard to disagree with the sentiment — writing a novel is undoubtedly a better use of time than watching TV — but what about the hidden assumption? Such comments imply that time is “fungible” — that time spent watching…
The Joy of Computer History Books
When I was a child, growing up in the 80s, I read pretty much anything I could find about computers. There was not a lot translated to French. I even read the MS-DOS Version 5 Reference Guide. The cover was dry and the content was not very tasty either.
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…
Anger Management
I was molested and raped as a child. I spent my teens and twenties filled with anger. My therapist once said something like "How did I know ...
An RNG that runs in your brain
Humans are notoriously bad at coming up with random numbers. I wanted to be able to quickly generate “random enough” numbers. I’m not looking for anything that great, I just want to be able to come up with the random digits in half a minute. Some looking around brought me to an old usenet post by George Marsaglia…
Fogus: Things and Stuff of 2024
Great things and people that I discovered, learned, read, met, etc. in 2024. No particular ordering is implied. Not everything is new.
The best things and stuff of 2013
Great things and people that I discovered, learned, read, met, etc. in 2013. No particular ordering is implied. Not everything is new.
Why don't more people use throat mics?
Yes, *that* kind of microphone -- the kind that are most commonly known to be used by employees of the military industrial complex.
Using the internet like it's 1999
A blog, notes, gallery, lifestyle and fully conglomerated posts from Joshua.
Why I Left Medium
A few months ago, I decided to move all of my content over to Medium. If you aren't aware, Medium is a new content platform designed for readers and...
My Code made it to a Hollywood Movie
One of the first things I do every morning is check the Twitter chatter about my website ( @SecurityTube ) . I was pleasantly surprised to ...
Against Against Pseudoaddiction
I. “Pseudoaddiction” is one of the standard beats every article on the opioid crisis has to hit. Pharma companies (the story goes) invented a concept called “pseudoaddiction”…
Always Do Extra
A simple rule that every good, veteran programmer seems to follow with respect to managing their time.
An Inferno on the Head of a Pin
Today’s processors contain billions of heat-generating transistors in an ever shrinking space. The power budget might go from: * 1000 watts on a specialized server * 100 watts on desktops * 30 watts on laptops * 5 watts on tablets * 1 or 2 watts on a phone * 100 milliwatts on an embedded
Leaving Mozilla
Robert O'Callahan. Christian. Kiwi. Software guy. All content human-authored unless otherwise noted.