Hacker News with Generative AI: Personal Experience

What It Feels Like to Get Stronger (troynikov.io)
I am now the strongest I’ve ever been. I’ve lifted weights on and off for about a decade, making incremental progress several months at a time, with this latest stretch being about six months long. Over the last several weeks I’ve gone beyond my previous peak, and continue to improve.
Fitness, Strength Training, Personal Experience
4 points by jxmorris12 10 days ago | 0 comments
What my stroke taught me (2017) (nautil.us)
In my memories of the Scottish hospital, the sky is always blue, though I know that can’t be completely accurate.
Personal Experience, Health, Memory
118 points by blegh 12 days ago | 72 comments
An iPhone, Swiped (spyglass.org)
The iPhone was right there in my hand and then it was gone...
Theft, Personal Experience, Technology
11 points by u8 13 days ago | 2 comments
Is Technology Terrible or Am I Just a Grumpy Old Man? (cnet.com)
At 37 years of age, I've come to realize some things about the gadgets I use every day. But maybe I'm the problem.
Technology, Opinion, Personal Experience, Aging
8 points by donnachangstein 22 days ago | 3 comments
I outsourced my memory to an AI pin and all I got was fanfiction (theverge.com)
There’s a glimmer of a good idea here. But after a month of testing, I’ve never felt more gaslit.
Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Personal Experience, Memory
25 points by petemir 43 days ago | 16 comments
What are smartphones stealing from us? When mine was taken away, I found out (theguardian.com)
A few Thursdays ago was a wrap. For my brief acting career, that is. One of the benefits of having a writer’s schedule in a city like Paris is the ability to say yes to the flurry of random opportunities that pop up.
Technology, Personal Experience, Social Impact
5 points by pseudolus 47 days ago | 0 comments
Why did I move to New Zealand? (sive.rs)
I get this question a lot, so here’s my honest answer.
New Zealand, Personal Experience, Migration
9 points by saikatsg 56 days ago | 1 comments
I'm starting to suspect my work is incompatible with a full-time academic job (humprog.org)
It's time to admit that I'm in a mess too.
Academia, Work-Life Balance, Personal Experience
75 points by luu 57 days ago | 87 comments
50 Years of Travel Tips (kk.org)
I’ve been seriously traveling for more than 50 years, and I’ve learned a lot.
Travel, Life Hacks, Personal Experience
295 points by marban 69 days ago | 210 comments
The True Costs of Being on YouTube (carlalallimusic.substack.com)
I started my YouTube channel in earnest in October, 2021, shortly before That Sounds So Good, my second cookbook, came out. A little over three years later, on January 29, 2025, I uploaded the 177th episode of Carla’s Cooking Show. That video, for a cheddar burger named after my mom, is my last for now, and possibly forever.
YouTube, Content Creation, Social Media, Costs, Personal Experience
84 points by exolymph 70 days ago | 69 comments
Why I'd never apply for a job online again (hottakes.space)
Job Search, Career Advice, Personal Experience
30 points by rwmj 70 days ago | 8 comments
My Seventh Year as a Bootstrapped Founder (mtlynch.io)
Seven years ago, I quit my job as a developer at Google to create my own bootstrapped software company. Every year, I post an update about how that’s going and what my life is like as an indie founder.
Entrepreneurship, Startups, Software, Indie Development, Personal Experience
45 points by mtlynch 81 days ago | 8 comments
A layoff fundamentally changed how I perceive work (mertbulan.com)
It happened on the afternoon of May 4th. A message from a colleague—who has since become a good friend—popped up on my screen, urging me to check my emails. When I opened my inbox, there it was: an email from the COO. The email announced an impending company-wide layoff and mentioned that, within a few minutes, I’d receive another email letting me know whether I was impacted. A short while later, the second email arrived.
Layoffs, Work Culture, Personal Experience, Technology Industry
1041 points by mertbio 89 days ago | 960 comments
I am a better therapist since I let go of therapeutic theory Essays (aeon.co)
After decades of practising psychotherapy, I believe it has little foundation in science and often causes harm
Therapy, Psychology, Science, Personal Experience
4 points by rbanffy 94 days ago | 1 comments
Programming Languages I've Used (rubenerd.com)
I’m not sure what the spark was for this post; maybe it was my recent adventures with Python. I haven’t been a full-time developer for a while, and I’ll be there are more languages I’ve forgotten. I started writing these in order of when I first used them, but then went a bit all over place.
Programming Languages, Software Development, Personal Experience
4 points by rbanffy 94 days ago | 0 comments
The day Garmin saved my life (reddit.com)
It was a normal day. After lunch I went to bed, but after an hour of sleep my watch woke me up with a notification. High heart rate. What? I look, 140bpm?! I start measuring my heart rate manually on my wrist. Excellent, 3 beats per second…. I get up, heart rate 190bpm. I call an ambulance. For the next three days my resting heart rate averaged 95bpm instead of my usual 52bpm. Tachycardia. I am 36 years old.
Health, Technology, Personal Experience
7 points by wslh 98 days ago | 0 comments
The Los Angeles wildfires are self-inflicted (wordpress.com)
I don’t ordinarily write about events “in the moment” but for this I will make an exception, as I was personally affected. Caveats aside, my family and I are safe, we evacuated for several days, and due to heroic efforts by professional firefighters and psychotically brave neighbors, my house and most of my neighborhood escaped destruction. We were the lucky ones – by far.
Wildfires, California, Climate Change, Personal Experience
67 points by surprisetalk 98 days ago | 25 comments
Tell HN: I'm a programmer who bought a typewriter (ycombinator.com)
I have been programming for the last 7 years professionally. I like computers from my early age. My father bought me Sinclair ZX Spectrum+ when I was in the first grade. Since then, computers were part of my life, significantly. I stare at my screen almost whole day. One day there was some voice in me saying "Buy a typewriter". I listened to the voice and bought Smith Corona Silent from 1946.
Programming, Retro Tech, Personal Experience
59 points by sasha_fishter 106 days ago | 56 comments
Do It in Jeans First (gkogan.co)
It was six months after my trek through the cloud forests of Peru when I learned I'm not supposed to hike in jeans.
Hiking, Personal Experience, Travel
7 points by aberoham 112 days ago | 0 comments
My takeaways from 12 months of therapy (cauldron.life)
Therapy had been a buzzword amongst some people I know and on the web. Honestly, I believed it to be a waste of time and money. I gave therapy a try first in 2021, but it was short-lived and not so great. In 2024, I again got curious about the mental health space and started paying more attention to the issues I was facing in my daily life.
Mental Health, Therapy, Personal Experience
46 points by whitefang 113 days ago | 88 comments
I think I may be putting my schizophrenia into remission (feelingbuggy.com)
About 4 months ago I started my journey with the ketogenic diet to improve the symptoms resulting from suffering from schizophrenia since I was young. For my surprise my focus and clarity of mind improved, my energy levels throughout the day increased a lot and on top of that I lost 30kg (66 pounds). See Finding Hope After Decades of Struggle.
Mental Health, Ketogenic Diet, Personal Experience
3 points by arijo 126 days ago | 0 comments
I Stopped Using OpenBSD (dataswamp.org)
Last month, I decided to leave the OpenBSD team as I have not been using OpenBSD myself for a while. A lot of people asked me why I stopped using OpenBSD, although I have been advocating it for a while. Let me share my thoughts.
Operating Systems, OpenBSD, Personal Experience
54 points by patrakov 154 days ago | 78 comments
I Stopped Using OpenBSD (dataswamp.org)
Last month, I decided to leave the OpenBSD team as I have not been using OpenBSD myself for a while. A lot of people asked me why I stopped using OpenBSD, although I have been advocating it for a while. Let me share my thoughts.
OpenBSD, Operating Systems, Personal Experience
9 points by signa11 156 days ago | 14 comments
Leaving Amazon (2023) (lbrito.ca)
I’d like to preface this by stating that Amazon is obviously a huge company, and my opinions are just that, one person’s opinions. There will probably be some people that share my frustrations while others have had a completely different experience.
Amazon, Personal Experience, Opinions
33 points by lbrito 157 days ago | 5 comments
Blogging Through the Decades (dtrace.org)
Over the summer, I hit an anniversary of sorts: I’ve been blogging for two decades (!).
Blogging, History, Personal Experience
63 points by mooreds 159 days ago | 18 comments
Buddhist Retreat: Why I gave up on finding my religion (2003) (slate.com)
For a 2,500-year-old religion, Buddhism seems remarkably compatible with our scientifically oriented culture, which may explain its surging popularity here in America.
Buddhism, Religion, Personal Experience, Culture, Science
35 points by whereistimbo 160 days ago | 76 comments
What I learned from 130 hours in a Waymo (mattbell.us)
Over the last year I’ve spent over 130 hours in a Waymo.  I have used it for my daily commute for much of that year, and I also generally favor it for personal use whenever the wait times are not too long.  It’s a revolution in personal transit, and not just for technological reasons.  Here’s what I’ve learned.
Transportation, Autonomous Vehicles, Personal Experience
4 points by rwmj 161 days ago | 1 comments
Looking for a Job Is Tough (kaplich.me)
Since the beginning of September, I’ve been searching for a job after being laid off from my previous role at the end of June.
Job Search, Personal Experience
184 points by skaplich 163 days ago | 275 comments
Ask HN: How to deal with a serious mental health breakdown? (ycombinator.com)
I am dealing with a delicate problem concerning my housemate who has recently had a very serious mental health breakdown.
Mental Health, Advice, Relationships, Personal Experience
162 points by _qjno 164 days ago | 100 comments
Things I learned from my own cancer – Cory Doctorow (pluralistic.net)
I've got cancer but it's probably (almost certainly, really) okay. Within a very short period I will no longer have cancer (at least for now). This is the best kind of cancer to have – the kind that is caught early and treated easily – but I've learned a few things on the way that I want to share with you.
Cancer, Health, Personal Experience, Learning, Life
9 points by sundarurfriend 165 days ago | 0 comments