Hacker News with Generative AI: Personal Stories

Sailing from Berkeley to Hawaii in a 19ft Sailboat (potter-yachters.org)
As a consulting exploration geologist, my work life tends to consist of periods of intense work punctuated by periods of intense unemployment.
Sailing, Travel, Adventure, Personal Stories
99 points by protonbob 10 hours ago | 57 comments
The April Fools joke that might have got me fired (blogspot.com)
Everyone should pull one great practical joke in their lifetimes. This one was mine, and I think it's past the statute of limitations. The story is true. Only the names are redacted to protect the guilty.
Humor, Work, Personal Stories
502 points by goldenskye 2 days ago | 244 comments
43-year-old Family Canoe Trip (paddlingmag.com)
On June 14, 1974, my grandma Glady dropped her two sons off at a marina in the Puget Sound. They loaded gear into homemade woodstrip canoes and pushed off into the cold, black water. Decades later, Grandma told me as she watched them disappear into the fog, she wondered if she would ever see her boys again.
Family, Canoeing, Puget Sound, Nostalgia, Personal Stories
103 points by cameron_b 16 days ago | 24 comments
My Scammer Girlfriend: Baiting a Romance Fraudster (bentasker.co.uk)
Romance Scams, Cybersecurity, Personal Stories
455 points by acdha 22 days ago | 156 comments
The millionaire who lost it all and became a castaway (2024) (thehustle.co)
When David Glasheen lost his fortune in the 1980s stock crash, he packed a small suitcase and moved to a remote island.
Finance, Personal Stories, Australia
24 points by wallflower 33 days ago | 2 comments
No Evidence of Disease (idlewords.com)
My girlfriend Diane met Stephanie last October at a free makeup event for women with cancer called Look Good Feel Better.
Health, Relationships, Personal Stories
3 points by PaulHoule 40 days ago | 0 comments
I spent five years building a webapp and got my first $1 (2022) (codingcafe.jp)
This is the story of five years spent wandering around the JavaScript tech stack, wasting time, getting lost, and finally taking off.
Web Development, Personal Stories, JavaScript, Entrepreneurship, Startups
280 points by sillysaurusx 61 days ago | 98 comments
How I Got Here (pthorpe92.dev)
My name is Preston Thorpe, I’m 31 years old and I’ve spent just under 10 years of my life in Prison (all for non-violent drug crimes.)
Personal Stories, Prison Reform, Criminal Justice
34 points by jrhey 73 days ago | 3 comments
"Twelfth Night Till Candlemas" – A 40-year book-quest (davidallengreen.com)
This post is about finally finding a book from one’s youth forty years later – and after nearly thirty years of searching.
Books, Nostalgia, Personal Stories
183 points by ColinWright 83 days ago | 55 comments
The Unisys Icon: One Canadian Xennial's Memories of Ontario's Obscure Computer (postgamecontent.com)
One topic that often comes up in retro gaming circles is how aspects of gaming history not part of the American story don’t get enough attention. I personally feel it’s mostly up to the people to whom the stories belong to tell them. So I am going to follow my own advice today and tell the tale of a computer that statistically speaking almost no one has used, and some of that computer’s software.
Retro Gaming, Canadian History, Personal Stories, Computer History, Software
80 points by ecolonsmak 89 days ago | 35 comments
It's okay to code on nights and weekends (tej.as)
I’ve been wrestling with this for a long time (my entire life): I love coding and building software. A lot. I started when I was 8 years old. My nervous system developed wrapped around a computer.
Software Development, Personal Stories, Passion
84 points by tejaskumar_ 93 days ago | 80 comments
The Story of Stent (om.co)
Today is my 17th re-birthday. If you’ve been a longtime reader, you know why I call it my re-birthday. If you are new around here, well, here is a short recap. Just after I turned 41—17 years ago—a life of poor habits and family genetics caught up with me. I had a heart attack and was in the hospital for a few days. The doctors discovered all sorts of problems, and I ended up on the operating table.
Health, Personal Stories, Heart Disease
69 points by rmason 94 days ago | 5 comments
Perfect Desk (wordpress.com)
Early in my computer related life – that means being 15+ years old – especially at parents house – I had a prefabricated desk with stand for monitor and for all other possible things. Printer on top. CD/DVD all over the place. Things like that.
Personal Stories, Workspaces, Technology
4 points by vermaden 97 days ago | 2 comments
I Was a Health Insurance Executive. What I Saw Made Me Quit. (nytimes.com)
I left my job as a health insurance executive at Cigna after a crisis of conscience.
Health Insurance, Personal Stories, Business
30 points by bookofjoe 101 days ago | 13 comments
My Colleague Julius (ploum.net)
Do you know Julius? You certainly know who I’m talking about!
Humor, Personal Stories, Work
599 points by dabacaba 101 days ago | 129 comments
Talking over a wall changed my direction as a programmer (thecodist.com)
I started my programming career in October 1981 at a large defense contractor (GD). At the time, my goal was to work for a couple of years and then continue my education with a Ph.D. in Chemistry (I had already been accepted).
Programming, Career Advice, Personal Stories
147 points by fagnerbrack 104 days ago | 72 comments
I Was a Health Insurance Executive. What I Saw Made Me Quit (nytimes.com)
I left my job as a health insurance executive at Cigna after a crisis of conscience.
Health Insurance, Business, Ethics, Personal Stories
10 points by johnny313 105 days ago | 0 comments
A Decade Without a Drink (eieio.games)
Alcoholism, Personal Stories, Health, Addiction, Games
34 points by LorenDB 106 days ago | 11 comments
How a young Dutch woman's life began when she was allowed to die (theguardian.com)
At the last minute, Zoë decided to call off her euthanasia. But how do you start over after you’ve said all of your goodbyes?
Euthanasia, Life Choices, Personal Stories, Death, Netherlands
8 points by kawera 107 days ago | 4 comments
The Order of Anarchy (aeon.co)
In the summer of 1999, with nowhere to go between my second and third year in college, I decided to stay with my sister who was living with a couple of roommates in an apartment in Berkeley, California.
Anarchy, Personal Stories, Philosophy, California
4 points by paulpauper 112 days ago | 0 comments
DSQL Vignette: Aurora DSQL, and a Personal Story (brooker.co.za)
It's happening.
Databases, Aurora, Personal Stories
17 points by daigoba66 120 days ago | 0 comments
I Did Not Go to Jail (2014) (a16z.com)
A lot of people have been asking me what my upcoming book, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, will be like. Here’s a piece that I wrote for the book that did not make the cut. I still think it’s a pretty good story and gives you a flavor.
Entrepreneurship, Books, Personal Stories
33 points by Tomte 125 days ago | 5 comments
Bryan Johnson – The World's Most Expensive Eating Disorder (desmolysium.com)
In my early twenties, I had a two-year-long period during which my body fat was ultra-low (4.8% on the only DEXA scan I had done during that time). I became very obsessive and tolerated an unbelievable amount of self-torture to reach my goals. I also developed very weird eating habits and was rigid about my meal timing – I could not stand breaking my fasts by even a few minutes.
Health, Eating Disorders, Personal Stories, Biohacking
18 points by collected 125 days ago | 9 comments
A new start after 60: I became a 'hummingbird' for people with dementia (theguardian.com)
At 63, Ann Thomas-Carter stepped into Framland care home for the first time and was immediately taken aback. “It wasn’t like a care home at all; it was this beautiful old manor house overlooking the Oxfordshire countryside and there were only 21 residents,” she says. “It felt like a big family, especially since everyone calls the residents ‘family members’. I fitted in right away.”
Dementia, Care Homes, Aging, Personal Stories, Human Interest
161 points by bookofjoe 128 days ago | 44 comments
Ayfkm: Painful bureaucratic journeys of a multicultural family (ayfkm.blog)
So it has come to this. We already had the idea of starting a blog like this back in 2020, when it was becoming clear that getting married for us would have been an ordeal, but we didn’t consider it interesting or complicated enough back in the time (obviously we were wrong).
Life Experiences, Immigration, Relationships, Personal Stories
6 points by lollobomb 132 days ago | 0 comments
Teach yourself to echolocate (2018) (atlasobscura.com)
After losing his vision as an infant, Kish taught himself to move around with the help of echolocation.
Blindness, Echolocation, Disability, Personal Stories, Human Abilities
247 points by Anon84 137 days ago | 75 comments
ReiserFS and the Art and Artist Problem (corecursive.com)
Have you ever known someone whose technical brilliance was overshadowed by personal failings? This is the story of Hans Reiser, a software developer driven to create a superior Linux filesystem, but whose difficult personality got in the way.
Software, Linux, Biography, Personal Stories
74 points by quick_brown_fox 143 days ago | 101 comments
Experience: I graduated from art school at the age of 90 (theguardian.com)
I have always been passionate about art, but I had no money, and with 13 children to feed and educate, being an artist wasn’t an option. I was 83 when I finally enrolled at art school.
Art, Education, Personal Stories
18 points by aguaviva 152 days ago | 0 comments
Get me out of data hell (mataroa.blog)
It is 9:59 AM in Melbourne, 9th October, 2024. Sunlight filters through my windows, illuminating swirling motes of dust across my living room. There is a cup of tea in my hand. I take a sip and savor it.
Data Management, Personal Stories, Technology
698 points by pavel_lishin 153 days ago | 300 comments
I wanted to live cheaply, I bought a boat, moved in to travel the world (theguardian.com)
After his 92-year-old mother died in 2019, Stephen Payne decided it was time for a change. But having spent the previous six months at her home in Torquay, where he is from, and the 27 years before that living in Los Angeles, Payne, a 60-year-old photographer, wasn’t sure where to go next.
Travel, Lifestyle, Personal Stories, Retirement
5 points by tosh 157 days ago | 0 comments