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Regrets of the Dying (2010)
For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.
Topics /
Life, Learning & Writing
The most popular blog posts about life, learning & writing on Hacker News. 816 posts.
572
Washed Up
Even if every technology jockeying for a spot under the 'web3' banner evolves beyond proof-of-work blockchains, these systems will still not be part of the web because they designed not to be. 'web3' ain't the web, and VCs talking their own book don't get the last word, no matter how much dirty money they throw at it.
573
Why does anything exist?
Why does anything exist? Why is there something rather than nothing? Would it not have been easier for there to be nothing at all?
574
Job hunting while day-jobbing (2021)
Interviewing is stressful enough, but interviewing while doing your day job?1 Yikes! Well, I just did it,2 and I’m here to tell you that it’s totally …
575
From Prison to Programming
I believe that getting underrepresented groups into software development is a good thing. This is not a controversial opinion until you start talking about felons. Today's guest is Rick Wolter. He's an iOS developer who served 18 years in prison for second degree murder. Rick killed somebody and for some that's all…
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On Tolkien and Orwell
On first looking at J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) and George Orwell (1903-1950) they appear to have little in common, as men or writers, other than being peculiarly English authors with evergreen book sales. The year 1937 was a seminal one for both men and useful for highlighting their different lifestyles, politics and…
578
Olaf's New Menu Item
From the highly eclectic blog of Mark Dominus
579
My customized Wim Hof breathing method
The Official Homepage of Nyan Cat!
580
How to commit murder inside a locked room
Few genres are more preposterous than the locked room mystery. The premises are absurd and plot solutions ridiculous—but still I keep on reading.
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Ups and downs of a side project
Reflections from a 4-year side project journey.
583
My Personal Note Taking Journey
quickly capture your thoughts, as a service
584
On a road to Prizren with a Free Software Phone
Since people are sometimes slightly surprised that you can go onto a multi week trip with a smartphone running free sofware so only I wanted to share some impressions from my recent trip to Prizren/Kosovo to attend Debconf 22 using a Librem 5 . It's a mix of things that happend and bits that got improved to hopefully…
585
If you’re so smart, why aren’t you happy?
“Happiness is for stupid people.” That’s a common complaint I hear from smart overachievers. They think only dumb or lazy people can be happy. Entrepreneurs will say, “I don’t want to be happy because I want to be successful.” They worry that if they get too happy they’ll lose their desire and won’t work hard anymore…
586
Advice for academic refugees
Recently I met a new coworker, a now-former professor who left academia.
587
The IKEA Effect – Why managers fall in love with their own ideas
When and why the IKEA effect causes people to overvalue their own ideas. Examples of organisational pitfalls of the IKEA effect. 4 ways you can defend against the IKEA effect: 1) Acknowledge your unconscious bias; 2) Spike rough prototypes; 3) Talk to customers; 4) Run growth experiments
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Observations on 6 Years of Journaling
My thoughts and experiences on how writing a daily journal improved my memory and understanding of myself.
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Yet another hot take on “folders versus tags”
I like folders due to their cross compatibility, future proofing, interoperability, flexibility, focus, clarity, automation management &etc.
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A brief reflection on Mac software stagnation
I’ve been feeling a certain stagnation in Mac software these past few years. In this piece I try to understand why.
594
People took some potassium and lost some weight
In November 2021, we finished our series A Chemical Hunger, where we argue that the obesity epidemic is the result of environmental contaminants, and that one of those contaminants might be lithium…
595
Life, school, and the 80:20 rule (2019)
Most people sense that school today is poor preparation for the world of work. I think there is a fundamental reason why: linearity. School is a
596
Taste vs. Skills
A simple mental model that can help you navigate your career.
597
Privacy Friendly Apps – improved privacy protection on the smartphone
We use our smartphone for private conversations, store our contacts and organise our meetings with it. The access to all this sensitive data is handled with the so-called permissions. It means, for example, that each app that requires the smartphone camera needs to get the corresponding permission first. Many of the…
598
The Math Myth (2016)
Math professor David Edwards sent me this short essay on mathematical education. Printed with his permission. The Math Myth Themath myth is the myth that the future of the American economy is dependent upon the masses having higher mathematics skills. This myth goes back to at least Sputnik, when the Russians were…
599
So you want to be a writer?
if it doesn't come bursting out of you
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