Ask HN: What did you do or read this weekend that wasn't related to the OpenAI?

Empire of the Summer Moon (S.C. Gwynne)

It's the story of the rise + fall of the Comanches in the late 1800s. So far, it's an unbelievable story, and if you're generally interested in the post Civil War era as the U.S. expanded into the west, you'll enjoy it.

Lonesome Dove (Larry McMurthy) is possibly my favorite fiction book of all time, and that got me increasingly interested in this time period.

I also started reading some of Cormac McCarthy's work after Lonesome Dove. Blood Meridian also takes place during this general time period, and it's possibly the weirdest book I've ever read.

I finished reading Bullshit Jobs (1) and then went to work in one on Monday

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs

How shambolic the British government has been during the pandemic.

Oh, that would be SpaceX Starship Launch :), same huge company, tons of smart people, super spicy gossips

I'm re-reading Mythical Man Month and recommend everyone re-read it at least every other decade. Also Geddy Lee's bio and finishing my re-read of Burrough's Soft Machine. It's still as random as I remember from my childhood, though more realistic. I think that means reality is getting more Burroughsian as I get older.

Watched The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix. One of the best TV shows in recent memory if you ask me!

I played Zelda BOTW, installed the sound system for our home cinema, prepared the room for our future twins, spent time with my wife, made a pear chocolate cake together, had a friend over. It might not be very interesting to you but it was a pretty good weekend for me.

I took the weekend off (recommended, would do it again) and read the first two parts of "The Last Policeman" trilogy by Ben H. Winters. A simple but captivating detective story in a pre-apocalyptic setting.

A. Laaksonen, Guide to Competitive Programming.

Overall a good book, enormous amount of graph to explain algorithms compared to those lazy math books.

C++ code are shown but have some serious bugs there. Also actually not that much snippets are shown, author can simply write Python that everyone can read and work interactively.

Some mysterious decisions in algorithms are not being evaporated why or how that work. I might extend this book if it is licensed in CC4.0 or something.

I've been reading a book called 7 Figure Fiction by T. Taylor. It is about using "universal fantasy" to craft stories in a way that is appealing to readers of the target genre on a sort of primal/base instinct level.

I started writing a static analysis tool for the BNF metasyntax. Basically one half of a parser generator, which I do not intend to implement as it's all just for fun!

I read a few stories from Arthur C. Clarke's The Sentinel.

I bought a new hairdryer. I'm a little disappointed in it's performance, but it has good ergonomics.

Finished replacing the front wheel bearings in my 350Z.

Unloaded a hay trailer (150 small squares) and stacked hay.

Watched the second season of Six Feet Under.

Spent time with my partner and finished reading The End and the Death, Volume II by Dan Abnett.

Managed to find myself a Sol Price biography signed by Jim Sinegal.