I sometimes have a hard time justifying how much time I spend on HN, but this quote about creativity really put it in perspective for me:
"A current favorite is Hacker News. Look, someone is describing how they did the effects for Tron Legacy. They really did go out of their way to make those Unix screens authentic. You know, I have an article about the beauty of the command line. I should write…"
I definitely consider it less of a side-track considering the blog posts and side projects that have been inspired by HN.
I've always wondered what kind of ambient value HN adds to Y Combinator. As an advertising tool for PG's operation, it's exceptional. But as a serendipity generator, it's also pretty remarkable. Curious to know how many people who have gotten stuck while working on Y Combinator projects managed to get unstuck thanks to finding the right link at the right time.
Theoretically, any number of filters could do this (RSS, twitter, etc.), but none of them have quite the same feedback loop as the comments sections here. Personally, it's becoming rare for me to open a link without simultaneously opening the discussion link. In terms of that serendipity, I wonder if it isn't (just) the suitably interesting variety of topic which produces it, but the way that a particularly astute set of replies prompts thinking from a variety of angles.
That, more than anything, seems to be the real cause of prompts with regard to whatever problems you may be struggling with.
My mornings are similar to Rands. Wake up, shower, read HN/reddit(limited subreddits), go to class, go to work, and do homework. My already planned day usually ends around 6pm and for me this is where Rands and I diverge completely. At this point I am exhausted, bored to death and usually both from the days activities. This is where I need to make a huge decision, either sit down and start working on something I care about or Watch TV/read reddit all/go on facebook. If I even take one minute to do any of the later group my entire night is finished. I've come with terms that some nights you need to unwind and just let the brain relax and enjoy some mindless activities. The nights that I sit down and work I feel amazing, time flies by and the next thing I know its 3am and I've got class in 5 hours.
I really need to get that back into my schedule, at the end of the day I'm exhausted and this always seems to be the first thing to go. I need to work on improving that.
