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Topics /
Life, Learning & Writing
The most popular blog posts about life, learning & writing on Hacker News. 8,937 posts.
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How to grow a cacao tree at home (2024)
Growing chocolate at home might sound like a wild idea, right? Chocolate originates from cacao trees, which demand a tropical climate, specific growing conditions, and several years to reach maturity in order to flower and fruit to produce cacao pods. However, our CocoTerra founder, Nate Saal, took on the challenge…
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Permission to Suck
My friend is one of those people who swears she “can’t” meditate. She can’t sit still that long. She can’t think of “nothing.” The times that she tried meditating, she kept thinking of things, and got frustrated. It probably doesn’t help that my friend was once a soloist in one of the top ballet companies
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A fortuitous decade as an indie software developer
Ten years and one day ago, on August 9, 2016, I abruptly quit my job. I mark this occasion as the beginning of my indie software developer career. Happy anniversary to me and to my customers!
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I had a dream
As I slept fitfully, still recovering from COVID, I had one of the more interesting dreams of my life: I was desperately trying to finish some PowerPoint slides in time to give a talk. Uncharacteri…
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It's not bad to leave your laptop plugged in
Never leave the machine plugged in all the time. Laptops are meant to be portable. Using it as a desktop that never runs on the battery will destroy your battery life.
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Remembering things that haven't happened yet
How will I know what I need to hear in a future I can't anticipate? Who will I be, and what will she want?
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Farewell to Aaron Swartz
Yesterday Aaron Swartz, a close friend and collaborator of ours, committed suicide. This is a tragic end to a brief and extraordinary life. Aaron did more than almost anyone to make the Internet a thriving ecosystem for open knowledge, and to keep it that way. His contributions were numerous, and...
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Heroin addicts often seem normal
At least, they did to me ten years ago
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Estrogen: A Trip Report
I have gender dysphoria . I find labels overly reifying; I feel reluctant to call myself transgender , per se: when prompted to state my gender identity or preferred pronouns, I fold my hands into the dhyana mudra and state that I practice emptiness on the concept of gender . Mostly people seem to vibe it, but…
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How to Read Books When You Have ADHD
Do you have lots of unfinished books? Here is a new ADHD friendly approach to reading books
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The three year myth
I got let go from my job - elimination of role, they're claiming - so I'm understandably a bit raw. So was my boss from what it looked like, though he still has a paycheck and benefits whereas I do not. Still, rawness is an excellent time to reflect on
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A day using money in Cuba
Cuba is a puzzling country, especially when it comes to money. It is the only country in the world with a dual currency system.
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Are sprouted potatoes safe?
You are better off tossing potatoes that have turned green or grown sprouts. Eating them puts you at risk for toxicity from solanine and chaconine, two natural toxins found in green or sprouted potatoes.
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How I went from 100 to 0 things (or how I was robbed of all my stuff)
It took 6 months for me to get from 300 to 100 things. It took just 5 minutes for me to get from 100 to 0 things. I just spent the last 9 months traveling and …
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I Am Not Satoshi Nakamoto
This isn’t the first time I’ve received an e-mail like this: Hey! I’ve done my research and looked at a lot of facts and old forgotten archives. I know that you are Satoshi, I do not want to tell anyone about this. I just wanted to say that you created weapons of mass destruction where niches remained poor and the…
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What we lost
Who is this? Princess Leia, right? End of Rogue One. Wrong, this is not Princess Leia. This is. A photograph of Carrie Fisher in her role of Princ
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What methylene blue can (and can’t) do for the brain
Methylene blue is touted as yet another universal boost-all, fix-all drug, the ultimate biohacking tool. Find out why that's not exactly true.
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Who Writes Wikipedia?
Part 1: Wikimedia at the Crossroads Part 2: Who Writes Wikipedia? Part 3: Who Runs Wikipedia? Part 4: Making More Wikipedians Part 5: Making More Wikipedias Part 6: Code, and Other Laws
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I got paid to live in Antarctica
Sharing how I got paid to live in Antarctica, how to get a job on the ice, and everything you need to know about life at McMurdo Station.
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Your Most Improbable Life
Your life’s goal should be to become the most improbable person you can be.