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My New Sony NW-A55 Walkman
A fun, small, affordable, and beautifully-crafted media player that’s easy to transfer files to, and sounds excellent.
Topics /
Life, Learning & Writing
The most popular blog posts about life, learning & writing on Hacker News. 8,931 posts.
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Master’s Degree in Computer Science
I’m currently applying for a master’s degree in computer science (MSCS). I thought I might share my experience here for other people in the same boat as me. My boat is that I’m a …
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An ode to that “coffee friend”
I love when a friend is into something like coffee. We all know someone like that— they grind their own beans, brew their own fancy coffees, and have their o...
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I’m an ER doctor. Here’s how I’m already using ChatGPT to help treat patients
There are many futuristic possibilities for how AI might transform healthcare. But it can help doctors do a better job in small, safe ways…
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Lie still in bed
One of the most impactful pieces of advice I ever got was just to lie still in bed.
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Compression culture is making you stupid and uninteresting
why the death of nuance should scare you -your fav gen z philosopher xx
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Steelmanning: Discover the truth by helping your opponent
Tackle the steelmanning challenge, a three-step method to win arguments by helping your opponent. Its only downside: Nobody will ever take it.
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Aboard Amtrak
For some months, Amtrak was my home. It began simply somewhat unintentionally. A friend was getting married in Spokane, Washington, I was in New York, and the 45 day Amtrak pass was cheaper than rent.
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Lessons from a never-ending personal project
I learned things
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The Document Which Was Formerly Called The MIT Guide to Lockpicking
Which is too bad in a way. I thought it was a cool piece of urban folklore no matter where it came from, and it contributed to giving college students everywhere a reputation for healthy rebeliousness.
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I Was Wrong About Speed Reading (2015)
7 years ago I wrote an article about speed reading. Turns out I made a lot of mistakes. Discover why speed reading might not be as useful as expected.
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Aaron Swartz: The Book That Changed My Life
Two years ago this summer I read a book that changed the entire way I see the world. I had been researching various topics — law, politics, the media — and become more and more convinced that something was seriously wrong. Politicians, I was shocked to discover, weren’t actually doing what the people wanted. And the…
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My Passion Was My Weak Spot
For many years in the beginning of my career I’d been more than happy to work for free or even at a loss as long as the work was interesting. I was so totally in love with computer programming and the feeling I got from making something work and then seeing that creation be used by other people that I completely lost…
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Melatonin: Much More Than You Wanted to Know (2018)
[I am not a sleep specialist. Please consult with one before making any drastic changes or trying to treat anything serious.] Van Geiklswijk et al describe supplemental melatonin as “a chrono…
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Altoids by the Fistful
"In evolution, a maladaptation is a trait that is (or has become) more harmful than helpful, in contrast with an adaptation, which is more helpful than harmful." I went to Wikipedia to look that up, not a large language model.
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This is Why I'll Never be an Adult
I have repeatedly discovered that it is important for me not to surpass my capacity for responsibility. Over the years, this capacity has g...
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Algorithms to Live By – The Computer Science of Human Decisions
What does the math tell us about how many job applicants we should look at before hiring one? While onboarding our new employees, how can ideas from the TCP networking protocol help us to identify the optimal workload for them? Why would giving employees unlimited vacation days most likely lead to less vacation being…
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Marginalia: 3 Years
It’s been three years since the inception of Marginalia Search, then a dinky experiment to find where the heck the cool Internet has gone, now my full time job. While there’s always things that can be improved, it’s fair to say the search engine has never worked as well as it does right now. A great number of…
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Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)
A new way to think about brainpower.
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Multiple Displays on a Mac Sucks
So many people I’ve worked with have used multiple displays – typically a matched pair side-by-side – and sworn by them. It’s always mystified me, to be honest.
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The contagion of fear
I have a difficult confession to make — a shameful incident that I have never spoken of, even to those closest to me.
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How to Take a Walk
It was cool and mildly breezy around 8 PM today. So I went for a walk, and I noticed something. Though I passed a couple of hundred people, nobody else was…
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