I sent a balloon up to capture 360x180 degree imagery/video from 100K feet
It turns out that launching, losing, finding, and recovering a balloon is way easier than getting the imagery ready. Let's find out why! (If you see an image in this post, click it. If you regret i...
Take pride or fuck it
The blank, unblemished untitled.txt shimmering in your code editor can mean only one thing. It’s new feature time.
Brilliant or insane code?
I came upon a very interesting and cryptic snippet of code somewhere nameless , and I can’t decide if it is brilliant or completely insane. It is a very obscure way of accomplishing the required task, but it’s around four times faster than the alternatives I’ve tried, so I have to admit that it’s not completely…
Design Books Every Hacker Should Read
Maybe you're an engineer, or maybe you work with a designer. Maybe you think that design is what you do in Photoshop. Or maybe you just care about design. If any of these are true, then there's a lot you can learn by reading and understanding these books. They'll help you understand how to
Keeping People
Written pieces, talks, and other bits by Zach Holman.
How to travel around the world for a year
While my last post covered my previous year traveling, writing and programming [http://old.alexmaccaw.com/posts/traveling_writing_programming], this article will go into the specifics of planning your own round the world trip, including flights, costs, activities and accommodation. I'll show you how affordable…
Play by Your Own Rules
Play by your own rules. A little over a year ago I joined Facebook as a Product Manager. I work with the Pages, Location, and Events teams. As I’ve spent a decade of being the founder of three …
Hacker News comments I'm tired of seeing
As a long-time reader of Hacker News, I keep seeing some comments they don't really contribute to the conversation. Since the discussions a...
The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime
We know of tangled sleep schedules, and we have all had your struggles with them. But sometimes sleep schedules can become so twisted, that they just happen to morph into something quite ordered. The...
How much usage can a Lego piece take before it loses its 'clutch power'?
Have you ever asked yourself this question: "How many times can I assemble LEGO bricks before they wear out?" Well... probably never but I...
Cancer and Startups
About a year and a half ago, my mother’s partner was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given less than six months to live. Since then it has been treatments, pain, and truly miraculous victories - but the word “terminal” is pretty clear; at some point you will lose. I flew home as soon as things started to take a…
Memorizing a programing language using spaced repetition software
Derek Sivers official site. Thoughts on philosophy, culture, self-improvement. Author of Useful Not True, How to Live, Hell Yeah or No, Anything You Want.
Do things, write about it
One of my favorite phrases is “Do things, tell people”. I came across it in Carl Lange’s eponymous post and could instantly relate.
Drug addiction: The complex truth
We’re told studies have proven that drugs like heroin and cocaine instantly hook a user. But it isn’t that simple – little-known experiments over 30 years ago tell a very different tale. Drugs are …
A year without caffeine (part 2)
(continued from part 1) Diagnosis and prescription The family doctor stared at me sternly, then issued his diagnosis and prescription. He explained that my guts were mostly like in a bad state of …