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Topics /
Life, Learning & Writing
The most popular blog posts about life, learning & writing on Hacker News. 225 posts.
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Computer science courses that don't exist, but should
It's not about technology for its own sake. It's about being able to implement your ideas.
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Fifty
So, it has finally happened. I just turned 50 and I can’t say it was something I was looking forward to. First the good news: today seems to be a day like any other so if you’re younger than I am, from the far side of the great divide, I’m happy to inform you that there is nothing that feels abruptly different. The…
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Jury Duty
There are twelve of us left. The first thing the prosecutor did during voir dire was ask all the men of color whether we trusted cops…
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The Clock
Simply named " The Clock ", this piece of art is not only doing what is supposed to do "keeping time" But also is visually extraordinary. What you see, is not only the time that it shows, but all of the electronic parts that you would find inside the microchip of a wrist watch if you would normally be looking through…
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Math for eight-year-olds: graph theory for kids
This morning I had the pleasure to be a mathematical guest in my daughter’s third-grade class, full of inquisitive eight- and nine-year-old girls, and we had a wonderful interaction. Followin…
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Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports
Like many of my friends, I have treated professional sports with cultivated indifference. But a year and a half ago, I decided to become a football fan. Several years ago, I was at a talk by Michae…
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Thoughtcrime
Back to: The Ultimate Tech Frontier: Your Brain | Forward to: The Evil Business Plan of Evil (and misery for all)
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Life in a Studio Apartment with My Wife and Two Sons
Between July 2011 and August 2015 I lived in a ~400sqft studio apartment in San Francisco. I moved in a bachelor but by the time I moved out, I was one member of a four person family. Here are some things I learned along the way. Lesson 1) Rent control has strange side effects San Francisco has a rent control policy…
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How I do my computing
As of 2022 I use a Thinkpad x200 computer, which has a free initialization program (called Libreboot when it was installed, but now called GNU Boot) and a free operating system (Trisquel GNU/Linux). It was not sold that way by Lenovo, however; small businesses buy them used, recondition them, and install the free…
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How to know if where you live is “up and coming”: fried chicken vs. coffee shops
Whilst searching for a flat in London, I lamented to hear my estate agent described the area we were in as “up and coming”.
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Coding is not the new literacy
Despite the good intentions behind the movement to get people to code, both the basic premise and approach are flawed. The movement sits on the idea that “coding is the new literacy,” but that takes a narrow view of what literacy really is.
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No Brainer
For decades now, I have been haunted by the grainy, black-and-white x-ray of a human skull.
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Sex, Circuits and Deep House
Cari with the Institute Blinky Badge at Burning Man 2015. Photo credit: Nagutron.
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The Tough Decision to Leave the Classroom
Why do teachers quit? As I make the tough decision to leave the classroom, I highlight some of the issues that force quality teachers to leave public education.
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How to Get Tenure
Even before I got tenure, folks have told me they’re “looking forward to an academic advice post on tenure.”
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