Topics /

Life, Learning & Writing

The most popular blog posts about life, learning & writing on Hacker News. 668 posts.

2025
632

Notes on Tunisia

I spent almost three weeks in Tunisia, visiting the cities of Tunis, Bizerte, El Kef, Tozeur, Tataouine, El Jem, Sfax, Sousse, Monastir, Kairouan, and a few smaller towns in between. At first, I th…

633

Be Worried

Author's note: I wrote this in March 2023, but just published in October 2025. I held back from publishing this originally for fear that I was being sensationalist. But with the launch of Sora 2, I couldn't not share these thoughts. I only regret I didn't publish it 2 years ago.

634

My favourite German word

If creators of documentation are prepared to sacrifice its human purpose in order that LLMs can more effectively slurp it up and regurgitate it on demand, then they have meekly accepted values that more properly belong in a dystopian horror story.

639

Welcome to hell; please drive carefully

A while back we watched a video on the topic of British road crossings (which I strongly recommend, as well as Chris's shorter video specifically about Zebra crossings ) and since then Tess has been calling out the different crossings by their proper animal names. This explains why, with tickets to a Halloween event…

641

We Need to Die

There's this genuine repulsion I feel when people talk about a future where death by old age is no longer a thing. Something very deep within me just says "no, absolutely not", and I've been trying to figure out why.

642

We've lost our respect for complexity

I was talking recently to a friend about a video essayist I like, (Dan Olson of Folding Ideas) and when asked why I thought he was any good I pondered it for a moment and said “he has a lot of respect for complexity”. On reflection, I think that is one of the virtues I […]

643

Indie, alone, and figuring it out

Going indie looks like freedom from the outside. But once you’re in it, you face loneliness, pressure, constant decisions, user feedback, and all the invisible work no one warns you about. This is what the journey feels like, and why it’s still worth it.

646

The Eggstraordinary Fortress

It began, as many thought exercises do, with a discussion in the kitchen. My wife and I were debating whether a cooked egg was still safe to eat after spending the night on the kitchen counter. I am certainly not the type to throw away food lightly at the lightest hint of an issue. Confidently, I told her the egg…

649

I'll only buy devices with GrapheneOS

Authoritarianism is on the rise throughout the globe. Governments wants to monitor your social media accounts so they can make you disappear if you engage in wrongthink such as opposing wars or genocide. This is worsened by misguided laws like Chat control that would mandate scanning of all digital communication…

654

Lobsters Interview

I recently had an engaging conversation with Alex ( @veqq ) from the Lobsters community about computing, mathematics and a range of related topics. Our conversation was later published on the community website as Lobsters Interview with Susam .

655

High Altitude Living – 8,000 ft and above (2021)

Living at high altitude reduces risk of dying from heart disease: Low oxygen may spur genes to create blood vessels. Summary: Researchers have found that people living at higher altitudes have a lower chance of dying from heart disease and live longer. Jeanne and I live at 8,400 feet (2.560 meters)