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The most popular blog posts about life, learning & writing on Hacker News. 640 posts.
A common failure mode is to consistently set your standards for yourself too high, and to always feel guilty for falling short. I diagnose why I think this is a major problem, and outline some of my tools for overcoming this
“With all the time you spend watching TV,” he tells me, “you could have written a novel by now.” It’s hard to disagree with the sentiment — writing a novel is undoubtedly a better use of time than watching TV — but what about the hidden assumption? Such comments imply that time is “fungible” — that time spent watching…
A simple rule that every good, veteran programmer seems to follow with respect to managing their time.
After years working as a Software Engineer I wanted to make my dreams come true, so I quit my desk job to spend my life adventuring around the world. I gambled that I would be able to scrape together a meagre living while enjoying a life I had dreamed of. After driving 40,000 miles through 17 countries from Alaska to…
The trigger
After talking to two team members who recalled our staff meeting at the 2018 Racket Summer School better than I did, I think I can put myself into your shoes now.
In case you hadn’t heard, the universe is governed by four fundamental forces. But when it comes to understanding nature at almost any level larger than a nucleus and smaller than a planet, …
This page doesn’t apply to all estranged parents, only to estranged parents who are members of estranged parents’ forums. Read why.
I talked about the importance of reading foundational papers last week. To followup, here is my compilation of foundational papers in the d...
Selling your soul has never been easier. Today, there are plenty of demonology books that teach you how to bargain with Lucifer, written by authors who have probably done this themselves on multiple occasions.
I love coding. Ever since I bought my first computer (a VIC-20), I’ve been fascinated by computer programming. For many years I never thought of why I enjoyed it so much – I just knew I…
Internet links small groups, helping dissolve big groups; good, bad? But a bit sad.
My first job was both a blessing and a nightmare. It taught me more about the world than about software development, but those lessons were invaluable.
This is what my photos looked like after I moved them to NAS With 50MB RAWs, hard drives fill up in no time. In the last five years I collected enough important photos to start thinking about a reliable storage solution that works well with Lightroom. I opted for Synology DS218 with two Seagate IronWolf drives.
[Update 2021-06-22] If you’re more interested in the Tiddlywiki aspect of this post you can also check this Tiddlywiki Google Groups thread. [Update 2021-06-18] This post caught some attention on this Hackernews thread. You might want to check the comments. Based on the recommendations in the thread I’ve put together…
I shouldn't care, but I do.
How exactly can one become a Chess Grandmaster? And who is the youngest ever Grandmaster? These and more questions I answer in this article.
Dreams are newsletters from the deep
Have you ever lost important data? I have. I learned doing backups the hard way after I lost a entire book I had just finished writing!
I don't think I've ever had more distrust and as a consequence distate for software than in recent years. I don't think its just me as a tech-nerd with artisanal tech-carpentry aspirations. I want people to build well, treat their users right and generally exercise some actual restraint. I see it very clearly and I…
Ten years ago I would have considered myself someone who was excited about new technology. I always had the latest smartphone, I would read the reviews of new…
My idea of a vacation might be weird to some. Sure, I like sunshine, I like beaches – but more than all that, I like making stuff with computers.
I met John Paragon, Jambi the genie on Pee-wee’s Playhouse, at the improvisational comedy group The Groundlings, where both our careers started. He was sly and wickedly funny. We became best friends instantly. In a group of exceptionally talented and […]
The scientific reason, explained
What happens when 70 million people visit your joke site?
