Top posts
Every blog post that took off on Hacker News, ranked by the votes of its best submission. 640 posts.
My multi-decade quest for rural broadband
No corporate parables or historical insights this week, just the odd and sometimes amusing tale of the author's multi-decade quest for internet connectivity.
I booked my cheapest one-month trip
In this post, you'll discover how I was able to find the cheapest airfare and car rental for a one-month trip to the American Southwest.
A practical guide to reducing loneliness
11 easy, dorky, & life-affirming ways to connect to others — according to an introvert.
Write More, but Shorter
After the "keep it simple" in programming, the "keep it short" for writing.
How I motivate myself to write
Since leaving Uber a year ago, in October 2020, I've been making a living from writing - one with comparable income [https://twitter.com/GergelyOrosz/status/1449075825329020932] to when I was employed. None of this would have happened if I did not start to write this blog several years ago.
The reMarkable as a notebook and eBook reader
The reMarkable is a premium e-ink notebook. Imagine a Kindle, but you can write on it. It has become my daily notebook. I take all my meeting notes on it, dump my ideas and designs, and carry it with me everywhere. As a bonus, it also has replaced
Software engineering is a learning process, working code is a side effect
I have come to the conclusion that Software Engineering is primarily a learning endeavour, the working code is rather a side effect. This quote is actually not mine but I am paraphrasing Alberto Brandolini who is making this very point in Event Storming (he was actually talking about Software Development, but I do not…
Software should convey a sense of calm
Software should convey a sense of calm. How do you get there?
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:
Apple doesn't care about album cover art
Album covers have never been smaller.
No Easter Eggs in Curl
Easter egg; noun: An unexpected or undocumented feature in a piece of computer software, included as a joke or a bonus. There are no Easter eggs in curl. For the good. I've been asked about this many times. Among the enthusiast community, people seem to generally like the concept of Easter eggs and hidden treasures, ……
Your Thinking Rate Is Fixed
You can’t force yourself to think faster. If you try, you’re likely to end up making much worse decisions. Here’s how to improve the actual quality of your decisions instead of chasing hacks to speed them up.
Five Minute Journal – Daily Journal Techniques and Tips
A quick daily practice with prompts for gratitude, intentions, and reflection. I've always struggled to journal consistently by opening a blank page and…
Study Reveals Immune Driver of Brain Aging
Scientists have identified a key factor in mental aging and shown that it might be prevented or reversed by fixing a glitch in the immune system's front-line soldiers.
Steps Towards Happiness (2015)
Kind people already sent donations that will make my childrens' lives easier, when I'm not there any more. Thank you enormously! :-)
Insurance is like gambling, don't overdo it
Insurance companies, like betting companies, need high margins to keep operating. You are paying that margin.
How to get yourself to do things (2015)
I have a special sympathy for sufferers of a particular human problem, and I get more emails about it than just about any other topic. There are normal people, who
A Guide to Twitter
We hope that this guide to Twitter will be useful to you, wherever you are in your Twitter journey.
One Year of TILs
Just over a year ago I started tracking TILs, inspired by Josh Branchaud’s collection. I’ve since published 148 TILs across 43 different topics. It’s a great format! TIL stands for …
The M1 MacBook Air is the best computer I've ever owned
I started a new job recently so I had the opportunity to get one of the new M1 MacBooks, I decided to go with the Air. The reviews have been very positive and I’m here to tell you: it is indeed an amazing device. The performance feels a lot better than my MacBook Pro 16”, which is only a year old and about 3x the…
How I got wealthy without working too hard
Specialize, Don't live in big cities, Go full-remote
Worst Case
Suppose you’re running your organization’s crucial apps in the cloud. Specifically, suppose you’re running them them on AWS, and in particular in the “us-east-1” region? Could us-east-1 go away? What might you do about it? Let’s catastrophize!
Keep a Log
One of the most underrated things in the industry, especially when you’re working as a full-time developer, is the power of keeping a “knowledge stash” handy. There’s this perception that knowledge comes through experience, time, or simply osmosis, and, while that can be true over a long enough period of time and for…