121–130 of 149 posts
Side topic: Does anyone know any good podcasts that fit his genre of “Podcasts About Mundane Stuff That Are Actually Fascinating"?
"Lots of things in the world seem ordinary. But when you dig deeper, it turns out, they’re fascinating. Surprisingly Awesome tells those stories."
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The very next sentence was: > I find this topic fascinating is because my first job, in high school, was writing software for the entity that controls the power grid in the Northwest I wonder if somewhere in bowels of a northwest utility company there is a machine silently chugging away, running code written by a teenage Bill Gates, helping deliver electricity to the masses.
Possibly! https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2015/10/bill-gates-first-r... > My first job—other than being a page in Congress, which isn’t a real job—was doing a computer-software project for Bonneville Power Administration, which is a quasi-governmental entity that controls the power grid in the Northwest. We were computerizing the power grid. And the company that BPA had contracted with, TRW, was behind, so the peop…
I wonder, did he read this much when he was founding Microsoft? I ask because, as someone who would love to read, I feel like I never have the time. And strangely, I feel morally guilty for prioritizing other things like career growth etc.
I take public transport to work instead of driving so I have more time for reading.
On my last job, I had 30-40 minutes on the bus back and to work every day and got a lot of reading done. Now I live about 8 minutes from my job which unfortunately is not worth it to start reading.
"Honorable mention: The Grid, by Gretchen Bakke. This book, about our aging electrical grid, fits in one of my favorite genres: “Books About Mundane Stuff That Are Actually Fascinating.” " The author of this book was on NPR/Fresh Air in August. It was a great listen/read if you are interested in the subject. http://www.npr.org/2016/08/22/490932307/aging-and-unstable-t... I heard it a couple of days after a weather re…
I think the word "mundane" is out of place. Whoever isn't fascinated by the modern power grid is slightly dead inside. The same applies to a ton of other "mundane" things, like road and rail networks, sewage systems, garbage disposal and recycling, and so on. I think a better term would be "rarely noticed".
One of my still-on-the-shelf projects is to photograph, geo-locate and categorize all the manholes from my city that have been installed prior to WW2 in order to document how the city evolved over time (surprisingly enough my city still has manholes from the early 1900s), because a city with no working sewage system cannot be called a "city".
Awesome to see DFW on HN. Infinite Jest's tennis scenes helped shape the way I view the world. There's one particularly great one where a father is giving some life lessons to his son via tennis. And it is excellent Here's a link to (most of) the scene: https://books.google.com/books?id=Nhe2yvx6hP8C&pg=PT200&lpg=...
"Honorable mention: The Grid, by Gretchen Bakke. This book, about our aging electrical grid, fits in one of my favorite genres: “Books About Mundane Stuff That Are Actually Fascinating.” " The author of this book was on NPR/Fresh Air in August. It was a great listen/read if you are interested in the subject. http://www.npr.org/2016/08/22/490932307/aging-and-unstable-t... I heard it a couple of days after a weather re…
According to the Amazon customers, the mentioned book was written by a non-technical person (actually, I've checked, a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology) and was apparently also without the careful editor. Alternatively, if somebody has read this book, maybe he can say that it's not that bad? I wouldn't like to buy it just to discover it's written like this https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13103538
While these all do look like excellent books, none of them really seem to be of particular interest to me. Except maybe "The Grid". Technical infrastructure is always fascinating and awe-inspiring. ...Which brings me to one of the two books that I reccomend on HN every time the subject comes up, because they're just that good. Exploding the Phone , a fascinating dive into the world of phone phreaking that really need…
I agree. I've been impressed by his selection in previous years. This year seems drab with the exception of The Grid. Also, doesn't he read fiction? My fav book of the year was Ready Player One :)
Right now, I'm working my way through Neuromancer.
Awesome to see DFW on HN. Infinite Jest's tennis scenes helped shape the way I view the world. There's one particularly great one where a father is giving some life lessons to his son via tennis. And it is excellent Here's a link to (most of) the scene: https://books.google.com/books?id=Nhe2yvx6hP8C&pg=PT200&lpg=...
The link doesn't open to a particular page for me - do you have a page number or chapter title?
Another great list from billg. I consider Bill Gates to be a modern eugenicist, and quite possibly one of the most damaging influences on technology, vaccines (I'm pro-vax), and education. But here I am, reading another list of his favorite books of the year. They're always interesting.
That's a lot of very strong claims. Could you clarify them?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUXNiVW3oc4
He literally suggests vaccines will help with depopulation.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The very next sentence was: > I find this topic fascinating is because my first job, in high school, was writing software for the entity that controls the power grid in the Northwest I wonder if somewhere in bowels of a northwest utility company there is a machine silently chugging away, running code written by a teenage Bill Gates, helping deliver electricity to the masses.
Possibly! https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2015/10/bill-gates-first-r... > My first job—other than being a page in Congress, which isn’t a real job—was doing a computer-software project for Bonneville Power Administration, which is a quasi-governmental entity that controls the power grid in the Northwest. We were computerizing the power grid. And the company that BPA had contracted with, TRW, was behind, so the peop…