
Ask HN: What niche blogs are worthwhile to follow? - notomorrow
I enjoyed reading Gwern and slate star codex&#x27;s essays. I wonder if you can suggest another one.<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gwern.net&#x2F;
https:&#x2F;&#x2F;slatestarcodex.com&#x2F;
https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gwern.net&#x2F;
======
IfOnlyYouKnew
Read [https://pedestrianobservations.com](https://pedestrianobservations.com)
and learn more about public transit than you ever wanted.

You might enjoy seeing the complexity of optimising these systems that you
know so well but only superficially. There may be articles about your region,
and it will point out some huge mistake with the subway interchange at <x>
that is totally obvious once you read about it. At that point you'll be
sharpening some pitchfork and trying to find where that totally corrupt mayor
from the 90s now lives. But on the way over to his nursing home you miss the
connection at <x> and have enough time to finish the article, which gives a
reasonable-but-not-totally-satisfying reason the problem couldn't be avoided.

You turn around, and pretty soon you're back in a happy mood. Because at least
you don't have to suffer some US transit system.

(Sorry, I got slightly carried away in the narrative fiction there)

------
weinzierl
For programming and tech topics:

Dan Luu's Blog [https://danluu.com/](https://danluu.com/)

Drew DeVault's Blog [https://drewdevault.com/](https://drewdevault.com/)

For a broader scope:

Derek Sivers' Blog [https://sivers.org/blog](https://sivers.org/blog)

If you love books, Maria Popova's Blog
[https://www.brainpickings.org/](https://www.brainpickings.org/)

------
BossingAround
Wait but why is pretty neat... For example, [1] was quite nice.

[1] [https://waitbutwhy.com/2018/04/picking-
career.html](https://waitbutwhy.com/2018/04/picking-career.html)

~~~
zigzaggy
Thanks for the rabbit hole! Spend a few hours on this blog and his
recommendations... and then theirs.

------
flipactual
ribbonfarm - a longform blog devoted to unusual takes on both familiar and new
themes. What we call “refactored perception.”
[https://www.ribbonfarm.com/](https://www.ribbonfarm.com/)

meaningness - Better ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—around problems of
meaning and meaninglessness; self and society; ethics, purpose, and value.
[https://meaningness.com/](https://meaningness.com/)

Whereas sites like SSC and LessWrong are rationalist, both of these
suggestions are predominately post-rationalist, but perhaps you’re like I was
– reading the rationalist sites because I didn’t know there were post-
rationalist sites

~~~
bayonetz
Meaningness is great. Thanks for that. Such deep concepts expressed so clearly
with so few words.

~~~
eric_cc
> It is easy to fall into nihilism..... but, fortunately, it is difficult to
> maintain, and hardly anyone holds it for long.

I guess I'm one of the few :\

------
gwern
If you like my website, you may find my RSS subscriptions of interest:
[https://www.gwern.net/docs/personal/rss-
subscriptions.opml](https://www.gwern.net/docs/personal/rss-
subscriptions.opml)

------
bpodgursky
If you're familiar with SSC, you may be familiar with Scott Aaronson:
[https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/](https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/)

The Quantum Mechanics itself is generally over my head, but it's super well-
written and interesting nonetheless.

------
sterlind
For the pharma industry, Derek Lowe's blog _In the Pipeline_ :

[https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/](https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/)

------
jaxonrice
Idlewords [https://idlewords.com/](https://idlewords.com/) \- Maciej Ceglowski
of Pinboard's blog. His essays are always worth reading

------
icebraining
Two tech blogs of which I read every post:

[http://www.windytan.com/](http://www.windytan.com/) \- Oona Räisänen - great
hacker of signal-related stuff (audio, video, wireless, etc), graphics, and
more.

[https://syonyk.blogspot.com/](https://syonyk.blogspot.com/) \- a lot of
hacking around batteries, off-grid energy, and teardowns and repairs of
various devices.

Non-tech related, Ken White at
[https://www.popehat.com/](https://www.popehat.com/) can be quite funny,
though he hasn't been posting as much lately.

~~~
monoideism
Agreed that windytan is awesome.

Another highly-technical blogger that I’ve enjoyed has been Ken Shirriff’s:
[https://www.righto.com/](https://www.righto.com/) Mostly focused on
microcontrollers and vintage computing, but with other stuff mixed in (he did
a great series in understanding the technical side of Bitcoin, although he’s
definitely not a “cryptocurrency enthusiast”).

I’ll have to checkout out syonyk.

~~~
kens
Thanks for the nice comment about my blog!

------
johnmorrison
These are my two favorite blogs of Q4`19:

Pat Collison [1] (Co-founder, CEO Stripe) doesn't blog often, but is one of
the most interesting and insightful people I have ever read

I don't know much about Alexey Guzey [2] yet, but he also has some very good
posts (he writes more often and more long form, and is more similar to Gwern
and SSC, in part because I think those two blogs have influenced him heavily)

[1] [https://patrickcollison.com/](https://patrickcollison.com/)

[2] [https://guzey.com/](https://guzey.com/)

~~~
btrettel
Thanks, I'm not familiar with Alexey Guzey, but just scanning the list of
pages I see quite a bit I'd find interesting or challenging.

~~~
johnmorrison
He's very good, I recommend the following:

Follow up: [https://guzey.com/follow-up/](https://guzey.com/follow-up/)

What to do with your life: [https://guzey.com/personal/what-should-you-do-
with-your-life...](https://guzey.com/personal/what-should-you-do-with-your-
life/)

How to make friends online: [https://guzey.com/how-to-make-friends-over-the-
internet/](https://guzey.com/how-to-make-friends-over-the-internet/)

You should start a blog: [https://guzey.com/personal/why-have-a-
blog/](https://guzey.com/personal/why-have-a-blog/)

(In fact, the latter has convinced me to begin posting more of my writing
publicly on my own blog)

------
cobby
[https://beepb00p.xyz/](https://beepb00p.xyz/) \- Dmitrii writes a lot about
quantified self and building personal knowledge bases.

------
v3gas
Marginal revolution!
[https://marginalrevolution.com](https://marginalrevolution.com)

------
hispanic
[https://www.marksdailyapple.com/](https://www.marksdailyapple.com/) \-
Ancestral health and lifestyle

[https://earlyretirementextreme.com/](https://earlyretirementextreme.com/) \-
Financial independence. No longer adding new posts.

[https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/](https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/)
\- Travel "hacking" and the miles and points "game".

[https://jamesclear.com/newsletter](https://jamesclear.com/newsletter) \-
Habits and human potential. Email newsletter - not a blog, per se.

[https://blog.asmartbear.com/](https://blog.asmartbear.com/) \- Startups and
marketing

[https://recraigslist.com/](https://recraigslist.com/) \- Appliance repair and
entrepreneurship. No longer adding new posts.

------
tvaughan
[https://www.emptywheel.net/](https://www.emptywheel.net/), though just the
posts written by Marcy Wheeler, a.k.a. emptywheel, herself.

> Marcy Wheeler is an independent journalist writing about national security
> and civil liberties. She writes as emptywheel at her eponymous blog,
> publishes at outlets including Vice, Motherboard, the Nation, the Atlantic,
> Al Jazeera, and appears frequently on television and radio. She is the
> author of Anatomy of Deceit, a primer on the CIA leak investigation, and
> liveblogged the Scooter Libby trial.

> Marcy has a PhD from the University of Michigan, where she researched the
> “feuilleton,” a short conversational newspaper form that has proven
> important in times of heightened censorship. Before and after her time in
> academics, Marcy provided documentation consulting for corporations in the
> auto, tech, and energy industries. She lives with her spouse in Grand
> Rapids, MI.

------
squeakynick
If we are allowed to self promote, then I'll put forward my blog
[http://datagenetics.com/blog.html](http://datagenetics.com/blog.html)

There's currently about 360 articles about math, science, programming, data-
mining, geekery ... in style similar to a hero of mine, the late Martin
Gardner.

------
jefftk
Some I follow:

[https://apenwarr.ca/log/](https://apenwarr.ca/log/) \- programming, high
level perspective

[https://www.benkuhn.net/](https://www.benkuhn.net/) \- programming, startups,
effective altruism

[https://danluu.com/](https://danluu.com/) \- programming, hardware

[https://pedestrianobservations.com/](https://pedestrianobservations.com/) \-
public transit

[https://sideways-view.com/](https://sideways-view.com/) \- lots of
interesting ideas, very eclectic

And plugging my own blog: [https://www.jefftk.com](https://www.jefftk.com) \-
effective altruism, contra dance, diy, not very focused

------
michaelbuckbee
I love reading Granola Shotgun, it's a blog focused on how to navigate the
current macro trends in urban/suburban real estate design but from a very
interesting and personal viewpoint.

[https://granolashotgun.com/](https://granolashotgun.com/)

------
iandinwoodie
I find Joel Spolsky's (CEO of Stack Exchange and Co-founder of Trello and Fog
Creek Software) blog to be informative for software engineering and management
(link: [https://www.joelonsoftware.com](https://www.joelonsoftware.com)).

I revisit his article "Things You Should Never Do, Part I" (link:
[https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-
should-...](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-never-
do-part-i/)) every time I get the itch to rewrite code from scratch.

------
reaperducer
Not tech-related, but if you're into city issues, I enjoy these:

Vital Vegas: [https://vitalvegas.com](https://vitalvegas.com)

Chicago Architecture:
[https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org](https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org)

Even though I don't live in either place, their cheeky writing styles can be a
nice change from the pretense we see so often in blogs.

------
hola_mundo
In the beginning of 2019, I felt overwhelmed with information overload across
Twitter, HN, and the dozen or so newsletters I subscribed to.

I ended up unsubscribing from just about everything and now follow a handful
of great curators instead. It's probably the best thing I did last year to
find more signal online.

My favorite is Stew's Letter:
[https://stewfortier.com/subscribe](https://stewfortier.com/subscribe)

It's a short email that comes out every week or so and includes a
funny/entertaining collection of ideas across a broad range of topics (AI,
communication skills, evolutionary biology, etc.).

David Perell sends out a similar email that I also enjoy:
[https://www.perell.com/newsletter](https://www.perell.com/newsletter)

------
nestorherre
[https://dariusforoux.com/](https://dariusforoux.com/) on productivity, self
improvement.

[https://fs.blog/](https://fs.blog/) mental models, critical thinking.

------
TheAsprngHacker
A blog that I recently discovered is the Sakuga Blog, which analyzes the
process of anime production, the works of individual animators, and the state
of the anime industry. The blog is very nuanced and has led me to better
appreciate the artistic qualities of anime.

The Sakuga Blog is a publication of Sakugabooru, a booru (image board,
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imageboard#Danbooru-
style_boar...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imageboard#Danbooru-
style_boards)) that collects the works of animators.

[https://blog.sakugabooru.com/](https://blog.sakugabooru.com/)

------
ceohockey60
COSS Media ([https://coss.media/](https://coss.media/)) is a new blog that's
focused on the niche of building companies out of open source software.

Disclosure: I write for the blog from time to time.

------
nrau
For solid data points and analysis on how the US economy is performing I
follow:

[https://www.calculatedriskblog.com/](https://www.calculatedriskblog.com/)

The blog is authored by Bill McBride who correctly called the 2008 downturn
and housing market blow-up. I find his data points and corresponding analysis
to be much better than any coverage in major media organizations, and it has
majorly influenced the financial decisions that I have made over the past
decade.

At the moment he is posting about a series of 10 questions about how the US
economy will perform in 2020 that are worth checking out.

------
gregdoesit
Tech blogs I follow (and one I write): \- Irrational Exuberance![1] by Will
Larson (ex Digg, Uber, Stripe) - focuses on engineering management

\- Hillel Wayne’s blog [2] - software engineering and formal methods

\- The Pragmatic Engineer [3] - software engineering & tech lead topics,
written by myself

[1] [https://lethain.com/](https://lethain.com/)

[2] [https://www.hillelwayne.com/post/](https://www.hillelwayne.com/post/)

[3] [https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/](https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/)

------
jonasvp
For understanding the world we're living in and expanding your horizons
(substantially): [https://www.ecosophia.net](https://www.ecosophia.net)

------
wk0
Ribbonfarm? A bit more flowery

------
harg
I found Do the Math really good, especially the posts assessing various energy
sources' abilities to provide mankind with its energy needs. There hasn't been
a new post in quite a while but the ones there are well worth a read.

[https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/](https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/)

------
lowdose
[https://stratechery.com/](https://stratechery.com/)

Ben writes about technology companies from a business model perspective. He
also has a good podcast where he weekly summarizes his blog posts about
company specific platform and aggregator data/revenue models. Very insightful.

------
Mikajis
I'm biased, though...

[https://bassi.li/blog](https://bassi.li/blog) has short-form programming-
related content.

[https://mikesgamingtrove.ca/archives/](https://mikesgamingtrove.ca/archives/)
has long-form video game-related content.

------
nathancahill
Longform: [https://longform.org/](https://longform.org/)

------
hansmrtn
If you're a resident of the Pacific Northwest, Cliff Mass -- an atmospheric
scientist at the University of Washington -- has an excellent regional climate
and weather blog.
[https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/](https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/)

------
quanticle
If you're at all interested in ships, history, or the intersection of ships
and history, I can wholeheartedly recommend Naval Gazing:
[https://www.navalgazing.net/](https://www.navalgazing.net/)

------
paulorlando
If you're interested to learn about systems and complexity in a humanities
style:
[https://unintendedconsequenc.es/blog/](https://unintendedconsequenc.es/blog/)

------
mNovak
[https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone](https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone)
has good coverage of geopolitics, defense acquisitions, and occasionally
military history

------
ojkelly
I’ve collated a bunch from various sources into a website I can go and check.
It’s updated from the feeds throughout the day.

[https://goodengineering.dev](https://goodengineering.dev)

------
vinrob92
On productized services:
([https://www.productizedstartups.com](https://www.productizedstartups.com))
with interviews of productized service entrepreneurs.

------
tfehring
[https://www.interfluidity.com/](https://www.interfluidity.com/), on economics
and economic philosophy

------
mannycalavera
[https://www.filfre.net/](https://www.filfre.net/) for an amazing trip trough
the history of gaming!

------
fr0do
Meaningness by David Chapman, LessWrong.

------
lanecwagner
Mine is [https://qvault.io/blog](https://qvault.io/blog) I guess I'm quite
biased though :P

------
killbot5000
rachelbythebay.com

------
ikeboy
Here's my list of Feedly subscriptions that update reasonably often I put
together. Should all be easy to find on Google.

Shtetls optimised, slate star codex, xkcd, smbc, existential comics, put a num
on it, don't worry about the vase, fake nous, overcoming bias, backreaction,
preposterous universe, Krebs on security, the old new thing, torrent freak,
Matt Levine Bloomberg, random critical analysis, Scott Sumner econlog, the
money illusion, stratechery, freakonomics, Greg mankiw blogspot, the grumpy
economist, crimestory.com, likelihood of confusion, Fred Wilson AVC

------
wk0
ribbonfarm? A bit more flowery

------
smallcharleston
I refuse to read any blogs.

~~~
jauke
Why?

~~~
smallcharleston
Some vague feeling that if it were useful, correct, refined, and thought-out
enough it would be in a book or periodical.

~~~
MperorM
Hmm, I see it somewhat oppositely. I find that most books are bloated and
spend most pages regurgitating information I already know, where blog posts
tend to present only the novel information, using hyperlinks to link to
information required to understand the given post.

If I know nothing about a topic I find books to be really valuable, but for
topics I'm already knowledgeable on, they are terribly inefficient.

------
npr11
Dominic Cummings [https://dominiccummings.com/an-index-of-blogs-articles-
paper...](https://dominiccummings.com/an-index-of-blogs-articles-papers/)

~~~
rosetrees
Hello Dominic You are looking for new ideas and I have several for the NHS
which will save a lot of money and improve the service.

I run Rosetrees a private family charity that has funded cutting edge medical
research for 30 years using venture philanthropy - £40m of seed corn money has
taken us more than half way to our target of £1bn of major Grants.

Experts describe us as unique and every day we work on new ideas,available
free to co-donors who now exceed £20m.

Happy to meet/speak

Richard Ross Rosetrees Trust Richard@rosetreestrust.co.uk Tel 0208 952 1414

