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That's fair, and this is the thing I worry about the most with my blog. Part of the problem is that a bunch of my readers aren't technical, so I sometimes wonde

That's fair, and this is the thing I worry about the most with my blog. Part of the problem is that a bunch of my readers aren't technical, so I sometimes wonder how deep I should go on technical posts. As far as HN goes, I submit a lot of the stuff I write, but only because a fairly large percentage seems to find some traction here, so I guess people enjoy it. That's not necessarily proof that it's quality content, but as I've written about in the past, it's really hard for me to gauge whether I'm ultimately creating value through my writing. Popularity isn't really as useful a metric as one might think :) Anyway, thanks for the comment, and let me know what kinds of posts of mine you've enjoyed, and what I can do to make all my posts more valuable to you. EDIT: I should add that my recent post on finding a good IDE found little traction, despite being more in-depth and technical. Perhaps it was just a fluke though... EDIT 2: I've updated the blog post with a more in-depth review of the Arduino and the Sparkfun kit.

replicatorblog 16y ago
I thought this was a good post: http://ryanwaggoner.com/2010/08/why-free-online-education-wont-replace-traditional-college-anytime-soon/ http://ryanwaggoner.com/2010/08/why-free-online-education-wo... Presents an interesting case against a lot of technical Utopian ideas about tech/ed, highlighted the resistance to change in a lot of entrenched interest groups e.g. parent pressure isn't stressed nearly enough by most. It is a well thought out articulation of an interesting POV. I really wasn't trying to be content police, just concerned that a post that essentially says "I Bought Something" was the most interesting technical news of the day ;-)
davidw 16y ago
Not your fault people vote it up. It's certainly far more on topic than a lot of things that get submitted, so you can't be faulted for submitting it.
cromulent 16y ago
As someone who grew up on Dick Smith's Fun Way Into Electronics kits [1], I love the Arduino. I can see three Arduinos on my desk as I type. I'm not so smart with electronics, but it is a lot of fun, and it's a golden age for this kind of thing. [1] Dick Smith is a successful Aussie entrepreneur who created a chain of hobby electronics stores and sold the chain when it had (I think) 200 employees and he couldn't remember all their names, so it wasn't so much fun anymore. When Redhead matches was bought by overseas interests, he created Dickhead matches in protest and sold them in Aussie supermarkets. He jumped a double-decker bus over 15 motorbikes when I was a kid, parodying Evel Knievel. He was my hero. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Smith_(entrepreneur) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Smith_(entrepreneur) He recently created the Wilberforce award - "$1 million to go to a young person under 30 who can impress me by becoming famous through his or her ability to show leadership in communicating an alternative to our population and consumption growth-obsessed economy." http://dicksmithpopulation.com/wilberforce-award/ http://dicksmithpopulation.com/wilberforce-award/ "It has become obvious to me that my generation has over exploited our wonderful world – and it’s younger people who will pay the price." Edit: He's also a founder and patron of the Australian Skeptics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Skeptics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Skeptics Edit 2: Picture of the bus jumping the motorcycles http://www.dropbears.com/m/models/specials/busjump.htm http://www.dropbears.com/m/models/specials/busjump.htm
- follower 16y ago
  You might enjoy this nostalgic look back at the Fun Way kits: http://tronixstuff.wordpress.com/2010/10/13/australian-electronics-nostalgia-funway-kits/ http://tronixstuff.wordpress.com/2010/10/13/australian-elect... :)

replicatorblog 16y ago

I thought this was a good post: http://ryanwaggoner.com/2010/08/why-free-online-education-wont-replace-traditional-college-anytime-soon/ http://ryanwaggoner.com/2010/08/why-free-online-education-wo... Presents an interesting case against a lot of technical Utopian ideas about tech/ed, highlighted the resistance to change in a lot of entrenched interest groups e.g. parent pressure isn't stressed nearly enough by most. It is a well thought out articulation of an interesting POV. I really wasn't trying to be content police, just concerned that a post that essentially says "I Bought Something" was the most interesting technical news of the day ;-)

davidw 16y ago

Not your fault people vote it up. It's certainly far more on topic than a lot of things that get submitted, so you can't be faulted for submitting it.

cromulent 16y ago

As someone who grew up on Dick Smith's Fun Way Into Electronics kits [1], I love the Arduino. I can see three Arduinos on my desk as I type. I'm not so smart with electronics, but it is a lot of fun, and it's a golden age for this kind of thing. [1] Dick Smith is a successful Aussie entrepreneur who created a chain of hobby electronics stores and sold the chain when it had (I think) 200 employees and he couldn't remember all their names, so it wasn't so much fun anymore. When Redhead matches was bought by overseas interests, he created Dickhead matches in protest and sold them in Aussie supermarkets. He jumped a double-decker bus over 15 motorbikes when I was a kid, parodying Evel Knievel. He was my hero. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Smith_(entrepreneur) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Smith_(entrepreneur) He recently created the Wilberforce award - "$1 million to go to a young person under 30 who can impress me by becoming famous through his or her ability to show leadership in communicating an alternative to our population and consumption growth-obsessed economy." http://dicksmithpopulation.com/wilberforce-award/ http://dicksmithpopulation.com/wilberforce-award/ "It has become obvious to me that my generation has over exploited our wonderful world – and it’s younger people who will pay the price." Edit: He's also a founder and patron of the Australian Skeptics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Skeptics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Skeptics Edit 2: Picture of the bus jumping the motorcycles http://www.dropbears.com/m/models/specials/busjump.htm http://www.dropbears.com/m/models/specials/busjump.htm

follower 16y ago
You might enjoy this nostalgic look back at the Fun Way kits: http://tronixstuff.wordpress.com/2010/10/13/australian-electronics-nostalgia-funway-kits/ http://tronixstuff.wordpress.com/2010/10/13/australian-elect... :)