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I Miss Terry Pratchett
On reading Terry Pratchett at sixteen, in the back of a French classroom, and a sentence that has been kicking over the furniture in my head ever since.
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
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Software should convey a sense of calm
Software should convey a sense of calm. How do you get there?
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Life Is Made of Unfair Coin Flips
It’s time we did a non-pandemic related newsletter issue. So this week we’ll do something more fun. Today we’re going to talk about an interesting journal article that came out two weeks ago,…
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30 minutes a day
The simple act of reserving a tiny part of your day. Perhaps just 30 minutes. Of pure, uninterrupted focus. On the idea you want to make become reality. Will ensure at least some extent of progress. I guarantee you.
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Taking Children Seriously
Read Elliot Temple's essay about Taking Children Seriously.
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TODO apps are meant for robots
What if I'm a left-handed person in the world of right-handed tools?
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For thirty years I programmed with Phish on, every day
For thirty years I programmed with Phish on, every day. In 2026, the music is out of phase with the work.
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Why you should take your 20's seriously
“Don’t take life too seriously, you’ll never get out alive.” – Van Wilder It seems like the prevailing advice today for anyone in their twenties is to live their lives…
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3½ years on my custom emperor mattress – a retrospective
I made a 7'x7' mattress that I've been sleeping on since mid 2018. It's October 2021 now, so I've been sleeping in it for about three and a half years. This retrospective will cover my findings from worst to best:
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Blogger Finger
Great to see you back Steve! I'm sorry to hear about your hand troubles, and glad that there's a 95% approval rating. The interweb just got slightly better again. Welcome back.
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How much usage can a Lego piece take before it loses its 'clutch power'?
Have you ever asked yourself this question: "How many times can I assemble LEGO bricks before they wear out?" Well... probably never but I...
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Is this a good book for me, now?
I used to believe that every book has an objective value. And I used to believe that this value is fixed and universal.
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Cancer and Startups
About a year and a half ago, my mother’s partner was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given less than six months to live. Since then it has been treatments, pain, and truly miraculous victories - but the word “terminal” is pretty clear; at some point you will lose. I flew home as soon as things started to take a…
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You don't have to be local
Derek Sivers official site. Thoughts on philosophy, culture, self-improvement. Author of Useful Not True, How to Live, Hell Yeah or No, Anything You Want.
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Why I'm Doing It All Wrong
Discuss this post on Hacker News. Conventional wisdom for doing a startup as a young entrepreneur these days is something like the following: 1.Drop out of
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Why do people leave comments on OpenBenches?
I'm still a believer in the promise of Web 2.0. The idea that giving people a curated space to chat produces tiny sparks of magic. My wife Liz and I have been running the OpenBenches project for about 8 years - it's a crowd-sourced repository of memorial benches. People take a geotagged photo of a bench's plaque…
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Richard Feynman's Extraordinary Letter to His Departed Wife
Where the hard edge of physics meets the vulnerable metaphysics of the human heart.
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No one expects young men to do anything and they respond by doing nothing (2022)
Garbage in garbage out
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Apple doesn't care about album cover art
Album covers have never been smaller.
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Blue light filters don't work – controlling total luminance is a better bet
Why controlling total luminance is a better bet
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I Became a Citizen of Japan
I became a citizen of Japan. Let me share about it. Some is my anecdotal experience, some my opinion, and some facts. Parsing which of these is what in each sentence is not going to happen. EDIT: I have seen some online reaction to this, and appreciate your kind comments. If you are thinking abou
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A Brief History of Fish Sauce
A brief history of fish sauce, from Ancient Asian recipes, Roman times, and through to today's many (delicious) uses.