151
Write to Escape Your Default Setting
Writing serves as a foundation for clarity in thought. It can help you engage more deeply with your ideas.
Topics /
Life, Learning & Writing
The most popular blog posts about life, learning & writing on Hacker News. 602 posts.
152
Troubleshooting: A skill that never goes obsolete
Much of what I do, in multiple fields, could be reduced to one skill: troubleshooting. I’ll define troubleshooting as systematically determining the cause of unwanted behaviour in a system, and fixing it. Troubleshooting is often learned tacitly, in the process of explicitly learning “the skill”. Troubleshooting is…
153
Lessons in creating family photos that people want to keep (2018)
As a consequence of scanning thousands of slides, I learned quite a bit about taking photos that capture a family’s life. Here’s a personal…
154
Hashcards: A plain-text spaced repetition system
Announcing my latest open-source project.
155
I deleted my social media accounts
Retrogames revised.
156
The Moat of Low Status
It hurts, but less than you think
157
A Love Letter to People Who Believe in People
Tina on the transformative power of enthusiasm When I was eight, I made a big, hand-drawn poster that said, “Do you want to join my fan club?” and put it up in the small Swiss town where I grew up.…
158
How big a solar battery do I need to store all my home's electricity?
I have a modest set of solar panels on an entirely ordinary house in suburban London. On average they generate about 3,800kWh per year. We also use about 3,800kWh of electricity each year. Obviously, we can't use all the power produced over summer and we need to buy power in winter. So here's my question: How big a…
159
I wrote a book called “Crap Towns”. It seemed funny at the time
In 2003, I wrote a book called Crap Towns. It seemed funny at the time. But plenty of people say it would not be possible to publish it today. Is that a problem?
160
The untold impact of cancellation
Warning: towards the end of this post are references to suicide, which may be distressing to some readers. Discretion is advised.
161
When flat rate movers won't answer your calls
Back in 2023 I went through an inter-state move with Flat Rate Movers, LTD. , a.k.a. Flat Rate Moving, US DOT 488466, MC 254356. They bungled the job, damaged my stuff and my house, and then refused to talk to me or their own insurance company. I placed dozens of calls, wrote letters, emails, nothing worked. I finally…
162
Endometriosis is an interesting disease
5k words, 23 minutes reading time
163
Finding Shawn Mendes (2019)
In this day and age, celebrities have a lot of influence over our politics. Garthwaite and Moore estimated that Oprah Winfrey’s endorsement of Barack Obama in 2008 netted him an extra 1 milli…
164
Attacking My Landlord's Boiler
How it took several months for me to get warm...
165
As an experienced LLM user, I don't use generative LLMs often
But for what I do use LLMs for, it’s invaluable.
166
Owning my own data, part 1: Integrating a self-hosted calendar solution
The first part of what I hope to be an ongoing series about repatriating and owning my own data and tech. In this post, I describe how I integrated my own self-
167
You Have to Feel It
You see a series of checkboxes checked. Schedules met. Requirements satisfied. Demos delivered. It's a good day. Good job, you, good job! A promotion is in sight.
168
Confessions of a Software Developer: No More Self-Censorship
I haven't published since April because I've been afraid. What was I afraid of? In this post I detail every single thing I've avoided admitting on this blog.
169
Facts don't change minds, structure does
Why do facts bounce off some people? It’s not about logic; it’s about structure. Your worldview isn’t a list of opinions—it's a living network. And right now, it's at war.
170
Rules for writing software tutorials
It's easier than you think to write an exceptional software tutorial. You can stand out in a sea of mediocre guides by following a few simple rules.
171
Malicious compliance by booking an available meeting room
In 2011, Larry Page became CEO of Google and tried to fix meetings. But his new policies were no match for Google Calendar pedants.
172
How to Network as an Introvert
A calm guide to networking as an introvert—learn how posture, presence, and small signals can help you connect meaningfully without faking extroversion.
173
Why I left my tech job to work on chronic pain
From chronically sore to chronically curious about the mind 🧠
174
I hacked my washing machine
I ran out of characters for microblogging so this is where the big words go
175
All clocks are 30 seconds late
OK, this is going to sound crazy: I believe all clocks are 30 seconds late. Let's get a few things out of the way: this is neither about time zones, nor l...
176
I only use Google Sheets
To cut things short, always use the easiest solution to solve a particular problem and once that solution does not work for the business anymore reassess wha...
177
Getting a Cease and Desist from Waffle House
I reverse-engineered Waffle House's website to build a live version of the (unofficial) Waffle House Index, and got a cease and desist for it.
178
This blog is running on a recycled Google Pixel 5 (2024)
An absolute mammoth post about how I am running this blog site from a Google Pixel 5 Android phone using only Termux. It includes what inspired me, what I'm using for the setup, and my longform notes on the entire project.
179
After months of coding with LLMs, I'm going back to using my brain
I've been building MVPs and SaaS products for 15 years. Let's work together on your next project.
180
The realities of being a pop star
According to my experience...