5 ms·

The Best Things and Stuff of 2021

262 points by bvaldivielso 5y ago

mixedmath 5y ago
I like this list. In a time when there are many listicals and claimed "curated" collections that are little more than lists of affiliate links, I find value in actual curated lists with actual opinions. It helps that I think many things mentioned are interesting, but I haven't heard of.
- mikejulietbravo 5y ago
  “10 times lists drove me absolutely insane, number 7 will blow your mind!”
- kbenson 5y ago
  If you haven't seen them, you'll probably like past years lists as well as the discussions here about them as well. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=%22the%20best%20things%20and%20stuff%20of%22%20blog.fogus.me&sort=byPopularity&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
uxp100 5y ago
Last year this post tipped me off to 18xx.games, which I had a lot of fun exploring. (Also I suspect they listen to the weird studies podcast, what with the Ishmael Reed and Doris Lessing)
- fogus 5y ago
  I'm glad that you find the joys of 18XX games through my list. I had a regular game group pre-pandemic and spent a lot of time with them. There's nothing like them in tabletop gaming. Your insight about Weird Studies is spot on. In hindsight I should have a Favorite Podcasts section too since I've spent more time listening to them in the past year than ever. WS would definitely be at the top. https://www.weirdstudies.com https://www.weirdstudies.com
lambic 5y ago
I loved The Detectorists, a nice peaceful show to relax to.
yawn 5y ago
I love it when this comes up in the rss feed. I wish more folks did these!
poulsbohemian 5y ago
Those Inside Macintosh books were the best! I was a very lucky teen to have had a few, which unfortunately completely tainted my perspective on quality documentation.
amrox 5y ago
Can anyone elaborate on “Stop: Modern C++” under 2021 Tech Radar?
- fogus 5y ago
  I can elaborate. I used to do a lot of C++ early in my career -- pre-Boost days. I recently explored the post-Boost landscape to see if there was something worth pursuing (for me) and decided that I wasn't satisfied with that as an option.
ohg 5y ago
I don't think Fisher would be particularly happy with his writing being described as neo-liberal! The rest of the list was interesting though.
- fogus 5y ago
  Rereading that sentence I can see how it could be read as applying to Fisher’s book but it was the world passed through a neoliberal filter that I attempted to describe.
cinntaile 5y ago
I have heard some conflicting opinions on one of the books you mentioned. Software Design for Flexibility How to Avoid Programming Yourself into a Corner. Most seem to dislike it, but you have the complete opposite opinion. Why do you think that is?
- fogus 5y ago
  I can’t speak for others but for myself I love that the techniques described are very unconventional.
  - xqoiu 5y ago
    Can you get rid of the font size property on your <body>? The text is very hard to read. (A viewport meta tag would be great too ). Thanks for the blues album suggestion!
  - cinntaile 5y ago
    Do you think they help from a practical perspective or is it mostly at the might come in handy someday level? Who would get the most out of this book you think?
litmus 5y ago
Great to see Herzog on the list. Highly recommend "Werner Herzog, A Guide for the Perplexed", which is a great collection of musings in his own words about life and art, including various anecdotes related to both. Probably one of my favorite books in recent times.
christophilus 5y ago
It’s not from 2021, but I re-read it in 2021: Lyonesse book one: Suldrun’s Garden. It is excellent. I’m just starting on book two tonight. I found the series via Hacker News years ago, and thought I’d pay it forward.
foobarbecue 5y ago
Let's take a moment to pray for all the stuff. (from Don't Look Up)
jjwiseman 5y ago
Inside Macintosh was a great series. I used them mostly as a Lisp (Macintosh Common Lisp) programmer, totally new to Macs, trying to translate everything to the MCL FFI. Part of me thinks I'd love to have a copy, but I'm sure I have a lot of nostalgia coloring my feelings.
kobyconrad 5y ago
Software design for flexibility is amazing, just dove into it because of this post thank you.
sidcool 5y ago
I am in awe how it's possible to get so much done in a year! I could hardly manage to learn a new programming language, do my day job, read fiction, spend time with family, exercise regularly, socialize, give talks, write blogs etc.
- bakoo 5y ago
  I thought so too, but then I started keeping a diary. I also stopped, as the past 20 months really have been extraordinarily busy. Anyway, if you write stuff down, it turns out you mostly just forget most of what you did, and tend to misremember or mix up times and dates. tl;dr - you're probably more awesome than you remember.

262 points by bvaldivielso 5y ago

I like this list. In a time when there are many listicals and claimed "curated" collections that are little more than lists of affiliate links, I find value in actual curated lists with actual opinions. It helps that I think many things mentioned are interesting, but I haven't heard of.

mikejulietbravo 5y ago
“10 times lists drove me absolutely insane, number 7 will blow your mind!”
kbenson 5y ago
If you haven't seen them, you'll probably like past years lists as well as the discussions here about them as well. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=%22the%20best%20things%20and%20stuff%20of%22%20blog.fogus.me&sort=byPopularity&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

uxp100 5y ago

Last year this post tipped me off to 18xx.games, which I had a lot of fun exploring. (Also I suspect they listen to the weird studies podcast, what with the Ishmael Reed and Doris Lessing)

fogus 5y ago
I'm glad that you find the joys of 18XX games through my list. I had a regular game group pre-pandemic and spent a lot of time with them. There's nothing like them in tabletop gaming. Your insight about Weird Studies is spot on. In hindsight I should have a Favorite Podcasts section too since I've spent more time listening to them in the past year than ever. WS would definitely be at the top. https://www.weirdstudies.com https://www.weirdstudies.com

lambic 5y ago

I loved The Detectorists, a nice peaceful show to relax to.

yawn 5y ago

I love it when this comes up in the rss feed. I wish more folks did these!

poulsbohemian 5y ago

Those Inside Macintosh books were the best! I was a very lucky teen to have had a few, which unfortunately completely tainted my perspective on quality documentation.

amrox 5y ago

Can anyone elaborate on “Stop: Modern C++” under 2021 Tech Radar?

fogus 5y ago
I can elaborate. I used to do a lot of C++ early in my career -- pre-Boost days. I recently explored the post-Boost landscape to see if there was something worth pursuing (for me) and decided that I wasn't satisfied with that as an option.

ohg 5y ago

I don't think Fisher would be particularly happy with his writing being described as neo-liberal! The rest of the list was interesting though.

fogus 5y ago
Rereading that sentence I can see how it could be read as applying to Fisher’s book but it was the world passed through a neoliberal filter that I attempted to describe.

cinntaile 5y ago

I have heard some conflicting opinions on one of the books you mentioned. Software Design for Flexibility How to Avoid Programming Yourself into a Corner. Most seem to dislike it, but you have the complete opposite opinion. Why do you think that is?

fogus 5y ago
I can’t speak for others but for myself I love that the techniques described are very unconventional.
- xqoiu 5y ago
  Can you get rid of the font size property on your <body>? The text is very hard to read. (A viewport meta tag would be great too ). Thanks for the blues album suggestion!
- cinntaile 5y ago
  Do you think they help from a practical perspective or is it mostly at the might come in handy someday level? Who would get the most out of this book you think?

litmus 5y ago

Great to see Herzog on the list. Highly recommend "Werner Herzog, A Guide for the Perplexed", which is a great collection of musings in his own words about life and art, including various anecdotes related to both. Probably one of my favorite books in recent times.

christophilus 5y ago

It’s not from 2021, but I re-read it in 2021: Lyonesse book one: Suldrun’s Garden. It is excellent. I’m just starting on book two tonight. I found the series via Hacker News years ago, and thought I’d pay it forward.

foobarbecue 5y ago

Let's take a moment to pray for all the stuff. (from Don't Look Up)

jjwiseman 5y ago

Inside Macintosh was a great series. I used them mostly as a Lisp (Macintosh Common Lisp) programmer, totally new to Macs, trying to translate everything to the MCL FFI. Part of me thinks I'd love to have a copy, but I'm sure I have a lot of nostalgia coloring my feelings.

kobyconrad 5y ago

Software design for flexibility is amazing, just dove into it because of this post thank you.

sidcool 5y ago

I am in awe how it's possible to get so much done in a year! I could hardly manage to learn a new programming language, do my day job, read fiction, spend time with family, exercise regularly, socialize, give talks, write blogs etc.

bakoo 5y ago
I thought so too, but then I started keeping a diary. I also stopped, as the past 20 months really have been extraordinarily busy. Anyway, if you write stuff down, it turns out you mostly just forget most of what you did, and tend to misremember or mix up times and dates. tl;dr - you're probably more awesome than you remember.