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Dating: A mysterious constellation of facts
Are speed dating and network effects contradictory?
Topics /
Life, Learning & Writing
The most popular blog posts about life, learning & writing on Hacker News. 668 posts.
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Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US?
It’s unfortunately not uncommon for pedestrians to be killed by cars in the US.
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I wish people were more public
On sharing more of yourself.
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Find Your 2%Ers (2023)
then do life with them.
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You Are in a Box
your data is trapped inside the box that is your program. you can only see what the program author exposes.
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How to draw construction equipment for kids
What makes "Road Builders," written by B.G. Hennessy and illustrated by Simms Taback, so charming
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Why We Think
Special thanks to John Schulman for a lot of super valuable feedback and direct edits on this post. Test time compute (Graves et al. 2016, Ling, et al. 2017, Cobbe et al. 2021) and Chain-of-thought (CoT) (Wei et al. 2022, Nye et al. 2021), have led to significant improvements in model performance, while raising many…
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Medical aid in dying, my health, and so on
I’ll start at the end, because that’s the most important part. Later this month, I’m obtaining medical aid in dying AKA death with dignity. Barring unforeseen circumstances or unexpected changes, my last day on earth will be June 13th, 2025. Realize that I’m just over 46 years old. So how the hell did we get here?…
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I will never need to buy a new computer again
If you're in your early thirties or older, you remember the breakneck pace at which computers were improving in the 90s and 2000s. If you brought home a shiny new 400MHz Pentium 2 system in 1998, it was literally outdated and replaced by a faster model with higher clock speed and more RAM/bigger harddrive by the time…
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You could just choose optimism
You Could Just Choose Optimism There’s something strange and a little awe-inspiring about hearing someone ask for champagne on a two-hour domestic flight....
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Reading RSS content is a skilled activity
I've long had a fraught relationship with ToDo lists, because they're very much a double edged sword, but I'm convinced that much of the problem is t ...
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Three ways to solve problems
Deciding not to solve a problem, or solving a different one, can also be a viable solution.
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Sailing from Berkeley to Hawaii in a 19ft Sailboat
As a consulting exploration geologist, my work life tends to consist of periods of intense work punctuated by periods of intense unemployment. True to form, I completed my last work assignment on July 8th and I found myself with a month and a half of enforced leisure before my next gig. Since the coming job was…
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Spaced repetition for efficient learning (2019)
Efficient memorization using the spacing effect: literature review of widespread applicability, tips on use & what it’s good for.
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Overconsumption is a spiritual problem
Overconsumption is a spiritual problem, not a money problem. Lessons about desire from "Spirited Away".
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Paperbacks and TikTok
In 1939, Simon & Schuster revolutionized the American publishing industry with the launch of Pocket Books, a line of diminutive volumes (measuring 4 by 6 ... Read more
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We need more optimistic science fiction
We cannot create a better world if we cannot imagine it.
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ChatGPT Saved My Life (no, seriously, I'm writing this from the ER)
How using AI as a bridge when doctors aren't available can improve patient-to-doctor communications in real time emergencies
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I miss using em dashes
I really miss using em dashes in my writing. Ever since content creators started using ChatGPT to help (or supplement) their writing, em dashes have become indicators of AI use. Students are routinely caught with their pants down as professors flag an essay as AI-generated based on the presence of lists…
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Don't Be Frupid
Frupidity is stupid frugality that wrecks engineering teams. Misguided cost-cutting kills productivity, morale, and innovation. You can fight it.
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The port I couldn't ship
Porting a venerable library on vibes. What started as a quick WebPerl success spiraled into weeks of failed attempts, mangled ASCII diagrams, and a hard lesson about respecting the craft embedded in battle-tested code.
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Boring work needs tension
We can make our work exciting by chasing the every day tension.