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Ask HN: What is your favorite internet rabbit hole?

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Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite internet rabbit hole?

#54
I enjoy watching conference videos.

https://www.infoq.com/

Also search youtube for conference video playlists.

I have my mythtv set up so downloaded conference videos show up as a channel just like a recording on my mythtv system, so I can just sit on the couch and watch a clojure conf or whatever just as if it were a recorded PBS program. Very convenient.

As a side issue I raided archive.org for hilarious black and white silent films of Buster Keaton who was quite a comedian about a century ago.

Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite internet rabbit hole?

#56
post #19

Currently my favourite time wasters are learning channels on youtube. Especially not the "weird" ones like VSauce because I think those are pretty unwatchable. I like SciShow / SciShow space even though that's borderline weird :) My current fav is Sixty Symbols, endless very interesting videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvBqzzvUBLCs8Y7Axb-jZew Also PBS Space Time, MinutePhysics, MinuteEarth.

You might also like: cpgrey - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2C_jShtL725hvbm1arSV9w

Kurzgesagt - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsXVk37bltHxD1rDPwtNM8Q

(not as educational, but funny): exurb1a - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCimiUgDLbi6P17BdaCZpVbg

Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite internet rabbit hole?

#57

For me, it's definitely Ribbonfarm: http://www.ribbonfarm.com/ I stumbled into Venkat's blog about two and half years ago and I'm still trying to find my way out. The rabbit hole gets even deeper when you look at his list of recommended reading. The material on John Boyd and OODA loops in particular has been bouncing around my head for about a year. Ribbonfarm quickly turns into a choose-your-own-adventure type of ex…

Agreed. ribbonfarm is terrific. I support his work by paying monthly for the kindle version of the website publications.

Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite internet rabbit hole?

#58

TV Tropes is always good: http://tvtropes.org/

TV Tropes is amazing. I have some experience writing short stories but diving into the tropes has been a real mind-expanding experience. I can't watch TV shows or movies now without automatically deconstructing the screenwriting. This, ultimately, has become a real time-saver, because since gaining that super-power, I find most TV too boring to watch, and so don't feel at all bad about saving my time for better thing…

Likewise, but I also find that it leads me to the occasional book, TV, or movie that I enjoy. I'm a sucker for a few particular tropes, and I'll go down the list for those and seek out everything on them.

TV Tropes has had funding issues in the past. I can't help but think that they could make a significant amount through 1) affiliation with Netflix, Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, or other providers of media, and 2) integration with Amazon X-Ray or Google Play's equivalent.

Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite internet rabbit hole?

#59

For me, it's definitely Ribbonfarm: http://www.ribbonfarm.com/ I stumbled into Venkat's blog about two and half years ago and I'm still trying to find my way out. The rabbit hole gets even deeper when you look at his list of recommended reading. The material on John Boyd and OODA loops in particular has been bouncing around my head for about a year. Ribbonfarm quickly turns into a choose-your-own-adventure type of ex…

I discovered ribbonfarm after being pointed to Rao's outstanding series about office politics, through the lens of the Office which is here: http://www.ribbonfarm.com/the-gervais-principle/ Then I decided to read much more material from the blog, but for the most part I have been disappointed. I feel like the authors there love intellectualism to the point that they create fancy constructs even when there isn't much…

It's good in general to be careful of the "this is what I think people are like" genre of blogging. Especially when it's presented with such certainty. See also: slate star codex, TLP. At least those two are working psychiatrists. Venkat Rao is just a guy with some opinions that he has retrospectively derived from his own career progress, as far as I can tell. It smacks of rationalisation.

Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite internet rabbit hole?

#60

https://www.brainpickings.org/ The title truly says "A meaningful inventory of Life". I get lost in the labryinths in that blog covering science, philosophy, literature & art.

I highly recommend the newsletter: the founder sends out a carefully curated and thoughtful summary of the previous weeks articles so you can pick out the one's that interest you. It's my default Sunday reading.
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