Top posts
Every blog post that took off on Hacker News, ranked by the votes of its best submission. 276 posts.
A simple explanation of Chinese characters
This was originally posted as an answer to a Quora question about how long it takes Chinese kids to learn their “alphabet”. I’m editing it…
Beautiful stop-motion engine rebuild [video]
Chris Herridge spent eleven months painstakingly rebuilding the engine of his Triumph Spitfire Mk3 , and photographing the process. Over 3,000 photos later, and he created this amazing video of an engine being disassembled and rebuilt.
How to Write with Style (1985)
Newspaper reporters and technical writers are trained to reveal almost nothing about themselves in their writings. This makes them freaks in the world of writers, since almost all of the other ink-stained wretches in that world reveal a lot about themselves to readers. We call these revelations, accidental and…
First 26 pages of Neal Stephenson's new novel Seveneves
The personal website of author Neal Stephenson, unless it's been hacked.
What Can You Put in a Refrigerator?
It's not about technology for its own sake. It's about being able to implement your ideas.
Notes on 416 Days of Treadmill Desk Usage
The personal website of author Neal Stephenson, unless it's been hacked.
Life Lessons from Machine Learning
What comes to mind when you hear the term “Machine Learning”? A bunch of programmers hunched over their computers in a dark room, working on something completely virtual & divorced from reality…
Any Sufficiently Advanced Technology Is Indistinguishable from Cthulhu
Hugh Hancock here. Charlie is currently in a space beyond place and time, folded into manifold dimensions that ring like bone-carved bells. Or to put it another way, he's on public transport. So I'm filling in for the day - he'll be back shortly!
All the Technology but None of the Love
This post has been re-written several times, so please forgive me if it does not come across as coherent as I would like to. The main reason for the re-write was this post by Martin Wedge . Originally I planned to scrap the whole thing but maybe having a different perspective will help, I’ve deleted those parts that…
How I optimised my life to make my job redundant
If you’re a regular reader, you may have noticed a rather major job change on my behalf [https://www.troyhunt.com/2015/05/so-dust-has-finally-settled.html] recently. The day to day office grind has gone and corporate life is now well and truly behind me, where
The Math I Learned After I Thought Had Already Learned Math
True story: it’s possible to fly through your own secondary math education — honor roll bumper sticker on your mom’s minivan and all —Â but miss some of the Very Big Ideas of secondary …
Confidence Through Feedback, or Why Imposter Syndrome Is the Wrong Metaphor
Imposter syndrome is often presented as a personal failing. A lack of confidence, our wrong-headed beliefs not matching the reality of how competent we are, or worst of a flaw of our gender. Just...
A Bestseller Book That Didn't Exist
You know Jean Shepherd as author of the beloved A Christmas Story. But before that, he conspired to get a book that didn't exist onto The New York Times Best Seller List. Read how he pulled off the Hoax of the Century.
How I stay happy making open source software
Over the past month I have become aware of multiple people either stepping away from open source or trying to figure out how not to burn out from it [1 [http://www.drmaciver.com/2015/08/throwing-in-the-towel/], 2 [http://ryanbigg.com/2015/11/open-source-work/], 3
Tales of coding from a beginner
How I learned to stop worrying and love the code Photo by MipsyRetro/Flickr remix by Jason Reed I’m learning to code. I’ve been on again off again with it for about two years now. But I've only …
Sick time is logarithmic
Sick time among employees appears to follow a logarithmic distribution. You can use this to evaluate your policies and detect anomalies.
Please Do Not Be a One Trick Pony
Paul Simon has a song called ‘One Trick Pony’ with a bit in it that goes like this:
Obtaining a Thorough CS Background Online
An eclectic online curriculum that covers the core requirements of a typical undergraduate CS program.
Interview Humiliation
(All these great ideas, but no one is listening? Check out my book: Convincing Coworkers )