Hacker News with Generative AI: Personal Stories

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

242 points by Anon84 5 days ago | 74 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 11 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 20 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 21 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 24 days ago | 0 comments

An interview with someone who left Effective Altruism (mathbabe.org)
C: Tell me a little bit about your college experience. How did you get interested in this work originally?

Effective Altruism, Interviews, Philosophy, Personal Stories

5 points by kreyenborgi 28 days ago | 0 comments

Goodbye to an old spreadsheet (rubenerd.com)
This is a silly story to tell for one lowly spreadsheet workbook, but it’s been such a dependable and significant part of my life for so many years that I feel like it deserves a send off.

Software, Personal Stories, Technology

15 points by Tomte 40 days ago | 10 comments

The Wes Cook Archive (wescook.art)
Hi, I’m Cabel. I was driving to Seattle and got hungry, so I stopped at a McDonalds in Centralia, WA. And when I went inside, I saw something incredible.Here, let me tell you my story:

Personal Stories, Art, Photography

78 points by zdw 40 days ago | 8 comments

The lengthy story of how I left the Tech industry and started washing miso jars (write.as)
Workers these days are quitting the Tech industry in droves. They are quitting their programmer or sysadmin job, or maybe just the startup world and its craziness. Some are quitting because of market conditions. Others because they are exhausted. Many more feel disillusioned by the empty promises of the Tech oligarchs, blasting their propaganda on Twitter and LinkedIn. Each one of us has different motivations and each story is different, so I wanted to add mine to the pile.

Tech Industry, Career Change, Personal Stories, Work Culture

20 points by chobeat 43 days ago | 25 comments

Cassie LaBelle: "eBay completely destroyed my life" (twitter.com)

Social Media, Personal Stories, eBay

89 points by vintagedave 43 days ago | 78 comments

Woman gets reply about job application – 48 years on (bbc.com)
A woman who spent 48 years wondering why an application for her dream job was never answered has finally found out why.

Job Applications, Career, Long-term, Personal Stories

24 points by adrian_mrd 45 days ago | 7 comments

Teeth as time capsules: Soviet secrets and my dentist grandmother (theguardian.com)

History, Personal Stories, Soviet Union, Dentistry

63 points by Petiver 48 days ago | 38 comments

You Won't Believe My Morning (waitbutwhy.com)
You won’t believe my morning.

Personal Stories, Blog Posts, Humor

4 points by ashleynewman 60 days ago | 0 comments

How I Failed (2013) (oreilly.com)
When you start out as an entrepreneur, it’s just you and your idea, or you and your co-founder’s and your idea.

Entrepreneurship, Startups, Failure, Personal Stories

23 points by bookofjoe 61 days ago | 5 comments

18,000 Miles Later, an American Woman Has Cycled the World (nytimes.com)
It took Lael Wilcox 108 days to circumnavigate the globe. Improbably, she said it was “the most fun ride of my life.”

Cycling, Travel, Personal Stories, Endurance

98 points by Fricken 68 days ago | 49 comments

Bionicle – my actual part in its origins (2015) (alastairswinnerton.com)
The Wikipedia page about me says that I’m known mostly for my involvement with Lego Bionicle.

Lego, Toys, History, Personal Stories

87 points by speckx 70 days ago | 28 comments

My Cloud Billing Screw-Up (beehiiv.com)
You know that one time that you screwed up and did something that ended up skyrocketing your cloud bill?

Cloud Computing, Billing, Personal Stories, Mistakes

11 points by mooreds 72 days ago | 19 comments

The Early Days of Valve from a Woman Inside (medium.com)
Almost 30 years ago, a small company was founded near Seattle WA. Gabe Newell and my now ex Mike Harrington were the official cofounders.

Gaming, Video Games, History, Company Culture, Personal Stories

240 points by krajzeg 77 days ago | 51 comments

The Most Dangerous Email (to my career) I've Sent (notyourlanguage.com)

Email, Career, Personal Stories

91 points by dnoberon 83 days ago | 79 comments

How I Became the EEVBlog Guy [video] (youtube.com)

YouTube, Electronics, Personal Stories

83 points by brudgers 94 days ago | 16 comments

A Letter from Orkut Büyükkökten (orkut.com)

Social Media, Technology, Personal Stories

28 points by vector_spaces 95 days ago | 7 comments

He Made a Game About a Joyous Journey. He Also Got a Bit Lost (nytimes.com)