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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.
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Life, Learning & Writing
The most popular blog posts about life, learning & writing on Hacker News. 668 posts.
182
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.
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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.
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Why I left my tech job to work on chronic pain
From chronically sore to chronically curious about the mind 🧠
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I hacked my washing machine
I ran out of characters for microblogging so this is where the big words go
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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...
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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...
188
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.
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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.
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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.
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The ADHD body double: A unique tool for getting things done
Body doubling is a productivity technique where an individual works on their tasks alongside someone else. Find out how ADHDers can use this strategy to their advantage.
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The realities of being a pop star
According to my experience...
193
Why I Chose Common Lisp
After ~7 years, I was done with Clojure . I was writing a some CLI apps , and I hated how long they took to start up. The community at large seemed not to care about this problem, except for the babashka folks. However, I spent long, hard hours banging my head against native-image and it just wasn't working out. It…
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The electric fence stopped working years ago
"Don't worry, he won't leave the porch. The electric fence hasn't worked in years, but he still won't go past it."
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Moving on from 18F
I had a wonderful job, until I didn’t. This is about what happened—and what is still happening.
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Kermit: A typeface for kids
Using design to empower children by making reading easier, improving comprehension, and helping dyslexics.
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Taking a $15 Casio F91W 5km underwater
Brands like Rolex and Omega will often tout their deepsea capabilities with the Rolex Deepsea Challenge rated to 11,000 meters (36,090 feet) and the Omega Ultra Deep coming in at a lesser but still ridiculous 6,000 meters (20,000 feet) of theoretical water resistance. But what about a cheap Casio often associated with…
200
If nothing is curated, how do we find things
Bjork is currently promoting a new concert film being released called Cornucopia. She's been releasing new photoshoots and interviews almost every day for th...
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Minimum Viable Blog
A place for me to vent about my current obsessions.
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In Praise of RSS and Controlled Feeds of Information
The way we consume content on the internet is increasingly driven by walled-garden platforms and black-box feed algorithms. This shift is making our media diets miserable. Ironically, a solution to the problem predates algorithmic feeds, social media and other forms of informational junk food. It is called RSS (Really…
203
10 years of writing a blog nobody reads
flow2 | Blog post: 'On 10 Years of Writing a Blog Nobody Reads' in Personal
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You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving
“Those who have a ‘Why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘How’.” ― Viktor Frankl quoting Friedrich Nietzsche, Man’s Search for Meaning Let me guess: Viktor Frankl calls this feeling the “existential vacuum” in his famous book Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl was a psychologist who survived the Holocaust, and in this…
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Kurt Got Got
The night we spent without control of our Twitter account.
206
I made a chair
I made possibly the simplest chair from an instructable I found. Uses one 8-foot 2"x12" and some very basic cuts.
207
Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org
This was a tough decision, having used Gmail since 2007/2008. However, I had to draw the line and stop giving Google my data for free. The problem with email is …
208
Why Self-Host?
Let me make the argument why you should start self-hosting more of your personal services.
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Apple Notes Will Gain Markdown Export at WWDC, and, I Have Thoughts
It’s quite gratifying that Markdown has not only become so popular, but after 21 years, continues to grow in popularity, to the point now where there clearly are a lot of people who seemingly enjoy writing in Markdown more than even I do. But I think it would be a huge mistake for Apple to make Apple Notes a “Markdown…
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The side hustle from hell
11 months in The Side Hustle From Hell