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The Most Abandoned Books on GoodReads (2019)
Which books on GoodReads are most difficult to finish? Estimating proportions in December 2019 gives an entirely different result than absolute counts.
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Into the Personal-Website-Verse (2019)
Discover why personal websites are the backbone of the independent web. Learn how to build, connect, and maintain your own space on the internet.
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The secret of academic success, or fun filled failure if you prefer
In my research career I’ve discovered many things, including the secret of academic success (too late to help my own career). I’m going to share the secret with you.
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How I read books: a guide on how to learn
Disclaimer: I’ve spend hours researching this topic and simplifying things for you.It gets a bit nerdy, but if you apply these techniques…
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How I stay motivated working on my long-term project
Becoming successful online doesn't happen overnight. If you want to make it, you need to commit to your goal for at least a few years. See how the three year rule can help you stay motivated on your long-term project.
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Trying out the Pinebook Pro – a $200 ARM Laptop
The Pinebook Pro is a $200 laptop with ARM processors that promises a lot. Does it deliver?
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Life Is Made of Unfair Coin Flips
It’s time we did a non-pandemic related newsletter issue. So this week we’ll do something more fun. Today we’re going to talk about an interesting journal article that came out two weeks ago,…
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GPT-3 Creative Fiction
Creative writing by OpenAI’s GPT-3 model, demonstrating poetry, dialogue, puns, literary parodies, and storytelling. Plus advice on effective GPT-3 prompt programming & avoiding common errors.
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Why does writing matter in remote work?
In remote work, we communicate primarily through writing. We send messages in Slack. We document projects in Notion. We send meeting invites with a written description of the purpose. We’re writing all the time. Many organizations are working from home at the moment. Thus, writing is even
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Calculate the day of the week for any date in your head
The Doomsday Algorithm gives the day of the week for any date (and you can do it in your head)
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A theory of Zoom fatigue
The Convivial Society: Dispatch No. 5
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Why you should write
Be a creator, not just a consumer.
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I Ripped Out a £6k Lighting System
I took me 7 years to admit I'd made a mistake in choosing a Z-Wave Wireless Lighting System. Finally I've taken stock and replaced it!
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What Shape Are You?
This post is a guest post from my friend Brian Sharp My post before this was a kind of therapy / Buddhism / personal growth kind of deal, but I also spend a lot of time thinking ab...
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Appearances vs. Experiences: What Makes Us Happy
In the search for happiness, we often confuse how something looks with how it’s likely to make us feel. This is especially true when it comes to our homes. If we want to maximize happiness, we need to prioritize experiences over appearances.
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How to play board games online with your friends
BGA, TTS, Steam?! This guide is for anyone who wants to play board games online with your friends but isn’t sure where to start.
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Pianojacq, an easy way to learn to play the piano
I’m pretty sure that the hardest choice in my life to date has been the one between my two loves: music on the hand and computer programming on the other. The programming won out, I figured it would be a much more lucrative field to pursue a career in, besides it was a much better match for my talents. From the age of…
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This Blog Is Now Running on Solar Power
I've put a solar panel on my balcony, which is connected to a solar charge controller. This device charges an old worn-out car battery and provides power to a Raspberry Pi ~~3b+~~ 4B, which in turn powers this (static) website.
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How I wrote, crowdfunded, and independently published a book
The start-to-finish story of how I authored, funded, and self-published my fourth book, Why Are You Still Sending Your Kids to School?
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Working from home – things no one talks about
Timo Zimmermann talking about software engineering, leading teams, consulting and start ups.
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What I learned from writing for The Onion for a month (2015)
I wrote for The Onion News Network for exactly four weeks. Here's what I learned.
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Beware the Casual Polymath
We live in times of great disaggregation, and yet, seem to learn increasingly from generalists. In the past, an expert in one field of Psychology might have been forced to teach a broad survey class.
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The Amish health care system
I. Amish people spend only a fifth as much as you do on health care, and their health is fine. What can we learn from them? A reminder: the Amish are a German religious sect who immigrated to colon…
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What’s the best non-smart TV sold today?
With the industry-wide transition to smart TVs many of us have felt like there is no option but to get one. And the walls are closing in -- it seems like almost every TV sold today is a smart one, which means a lack of control of what's happening on our device, the possibility of
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A Failure, but Not of Prediction
I. Vox asks What Went Wrong With The Media’s Coronavirus Coverage? They conclude that the media needs to be better at “not just saying what we do know, but what we don’t know”. This rai…
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Why the iPhone Timer app displays a fake time
While building a timer app I came across a peculiarity with displaying time and found out that the iPhone timer addresses it by showing you a fake time.
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On the destruction of America’s best high school
[C]hildren with special abilities and skills need to be nourished and encouraged. They are a national treasure. Challenging programs for the “gifted” are sometimes decried as “eli…
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Things I Learnt in 2020
For the past six months I have been sending out a weekly newsletter with things I learnt and read during the week. Some of those trivia are not trivial at all, so I decided to share the condensed crème de la crème of the Internet in this New Year special edition.