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Life, Learning & Writing
The most popular blog posts about life, learning & writing on Hacker News. 560 posts.
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Why did bar ends go away from mountain bikes?
For a little over a decade, they enjoyed strong popularity among mountain bikers, but then the feelings got cold.
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The only skin care that works? science video response (2020)
Recently ASAP Science released a video called "The ONLY face cream that works! – according to science". A lot of people asked me to do a response, so here it is on YouTube (keep scrolling for the text…
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How I Use Notion
This post is a fairly comprehensive discussion of how I use Notion (a free personal knowledge management app) to organise various aspects of my life: project management, reading, academics, plans/goals, investing, and more. The post is not designed to be read linearly – pick and choose the bits that are relevant to…
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Useful Spy Books
Reading a good book is a great joy. And recommending a good book is almost as enjoyable. I’ve long been fascinated by books on espionage, and this contributed in no small part to me eventually joining the Dutch intelligence world, and later, rejoining it in some fashion. If you have favorite books that should be on…
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I wish I'd self-published sooner
It took until this year to write my first eBook and now it generates revenue while I sleep. What's holding you back? Learn from my experience so far.
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You Don’t Need Permission
I was pleasantly surprised to hear from Suresh, an ex-student I’ve known for a long time. A U.S. citizen he was now the head of sales and marketing for a company in London selling medical devices t…
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Why bugs might feel “impossible”
Reasons why bugs might feel "impossible"
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If Richard Feynman applied for a job at Microsoft (2002)
Interviewer: Now comes the part of the interview where we ask a question to test your creative thinking ability. Don’t think too hard about it, just
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Learning how to think (2015)
Thinking better isn't about learning more; it's about doing a few simple things that really help create unstoppable progress.
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Find the Hard Work You're Willing to Do (2018)
I like this passage from John Urschel Goes Pro , about the former NFL player who is pursuing a Ph.D. in math:
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Towards a more Elvish vision for Technology
This essay is telescopic . It can shrink or expand, depending on how much attention you are willing to give. This is the original version (3344 words). Show other sizes .
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Avoid buying in HOA neighborhoods (2014)
Let's focus on a factor that puts even more extreme limits on home ownership - HOAs. And more specifically why you should avoid buying in HOA neighborhoods.
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Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs): What Are They? and How to Play
Before the days of 40-man raids, flashy cosmetics, and server firsts, the MMO players of the world embarked on quests in another way.
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The Four Desires Driving All Human Behavior
“Nothing in the world is more exciting than a moment of sudden discovery or invention, and many more people are capable of experiencing such moments than is sometimes thought.”
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Notes on My Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy after colon cancer at age 34
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The OODA Loop: How Fighter Pilots Make Fast and Accurate Decisions
The OODA Loop is a four-step process for making effective decisions in high-stakes situations. It involves collecting relevant information, recognizing potential biases, deciding, and acting, then repeating the process with new information. Read on to learn how to use the OODA Loop.
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Do nothing (2020)
The unreasonable effectiveness of doing nothing.
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How to survive a toxic workplace and how to avoid creating one
Inspired by a two minute video about how the Navy Seals does it
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Follow boring advice
Most of the advice leading to great results in life is boring. Also, it’s free and has forever been so. In my twenties, I believed that successful people hold secret knowledge leading to their success. I obsessed over “self-help porn”: books, videos, and blogs promising to reveal little secrets that would make me…