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Roman Kogan
Personal blog · romankogan.net · on HN as romwellmathhealth
Roman Kogan writes Roman's Thoughts, a personal blog at romankogan.net about math and health. Since 2018, 5 different Hacker News readers have linked it 117 times. The last post was in 2024, but the archive is still widely read.
117mentions?
5HN people?
2018–2026first – last linked?
Too few sampled comments (14) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link romankogan.net mainly for its ADHD resource collection (romankogan.net/adhd), which commenters describe as a real-life collection and a wiki. The site also has essays on teaching, language and math.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 14 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
What Hacker News says?
>Is that autism thing? My therapist suspect I'm autistic, and I have always noticed things like this - or trying to align everything in my mind when I look at things, or trying to split the into two halves of equal volume. Very much in line with being neurodivergent. Sounds more like autism than ADHD, but it's hard for me to tell, 'cause I'm both[1]. [1] https://romankogan.net/adhd
Comment linking /adhd
on “Hardest problem in computer science: centering things”Submitted Show HN: Inkbrot, a dynamic Mandelbrot set explorer as a story · 1 points
HN discussion>I’ve noticed these things all my life. I was about to write: As someone late-diagnosed[1] with ADHD[2] and discovering they're autistic, ... - >Once I was diagnosed with autism, this tendency of mine made a lot more sense. ...yup. This is what I was a about to write. >I’m curious if other people detect interrupted or irregular patterns so readily. It’s like there’s a part of my brain just looking for anomalies and…
Comment linking /adhd/
on “Hardest problem in computer science: centering things”>I even agree with a lot of the stuff you're saying about teachers! But your tone in these comments leaves a lot to be desired. OK, so we agree on the substance. Excellent. As for the tone (and discussing it) - we're getting into discussing the emotional response you're having to my writing. And I firmly posit that most of that emotional response comes from your internal state, rather than my writing. To give a spec…
Comment linking /adhd
on “Electron band structure in germanium, my ass (2001)”>Meta That's one way to say "I'll add nothing of substance to the current conversation, and comment on the perceived tone" I.e., we're back to reacting emotionally instead of talking about the subject of what to do with teachers who willfully abuse their authority. To quote a wise person, "Fun stuff". >longest comment >emotions You seem to be confusing the two (and/or are conflating the emotions you are experiencing…
Comment linking /math/
on “Electron band structure in germanium, my ass (2001)”>As a simple example, building my personal website atop Markdown ensures that, even if the formatting can't be preserved That's why I built my personal ADHD blog[1] on TiddlyWiki[2]. It's a self-contained HTML page that has everything . I could have even embedded the images. You can archive it with *File -> Save As...* (single-file .mht works). [1] https://romankogan.net/adhd [2] https://tiddlywiki.com
Comment linking /adhd
on “John Carmack pushes out unlocked OS for defunct Oculus Go headset”Pretty big. The key word is "comorbidity"; having one of them means you are more likely to have the other than a random person. There's also an overlap in traits. I'm AuDHD (autism + ADHD). You can read about my ADHD side if the experience (with memes!) here: https://romankogan.net/adhd
Comment linking /adhd
on “Show HN: Autism Simulator”Well, TiddlyWiki[1] has been going it for 17(!) years. It's a very mature, polished, and extensible engine for wikis, blogs, and personal knwledge bases. The entire thing (including the editor!) is a single .html file. By default, even images are embedded. For my ADHD Wiki[2], a resource that talks about ADHD with a copious amounts of relatable memes intertwined with the text, I chose to just use images in the same…
Comment linking /adhd
on “Entire website in a single HTML file”Medication doesn't have the same effect for everyone. I was lucky in the way it worked for me, perhaps. The point is, just experiencing this month of calm and ability to do things helped me overcome a lifetime of learned helplessness. I am more effective now without Adderall than I was before I've had it, simply because I can catch myself getting into the brain fog and using e.g. the help of my partner to break out…
Comment linking /adhd/
on “Procrastinatory Doom Loops”>While I have never taken that specific stimulant, nor been diagnosed with ADHD ...you are not qualified to make statements of the sort, and I urge you to listen to people who have been diagnosed with ADHD and do take Adderall. Another, fascinating thing to consider is that you may have ADHD . I was one of those people who said things similar to what you just did, because I had no idea that everyone, in fact, did no…
Comment linking /adhd/
on “Procrastinatory Doom Loops”> you had issues focus, did music help? ADHD is not an issue focusing. I don't have a problem focusing per se [1]. The disorder's name is misleading [2]. In fact, I often have an excess of focus: focusing on something to the detriment of everything else [3]. Like, coding (or making music) till 5AM, forgetting to eat and sleep. The problem I have is directing where the focus goes . Let me make a camera analogy: * Mos…
Comment linking /adhd/
on “Procrastinatory Doom Loops”The trick you describe is known in the ADHD community as "climbing the Wall of Awful"[1]. It's effective for people with ADHD because ADHD makes it difficult to see that first step, preventing one from getting started[2]. Visualizing the steps helps build the ladder over the wall of awful that you need to climb to start Doing The Thing. Telling yourself that you're not going to Do The Thing now, you're just going to…
Comment linking /adhd/
on “Procrastinatory Doom Loops”I feel like the "after a shamefully massive delay" is a distinguishing factor for executive dysfunction caused by ADHD. With other conditions, people seem to be at least capable of giving up on tasks that they have put aside for years . Not so with ADHD. It took me 11 years to mail a package[1] one time, and I wish I was saying this figuratively. The distinguishing thing here is that I did mail that gift to my frien…
Comment linking /adhd/
on “Procrastinatory Doom Loops”I could've written your comment word-for-word, to the extent that I did a double take and checked to make sure I didn't write it. Personally, I say that ADHD stands for Awfully Described Human Disorder for that exact reason. Many more thoughts on why it's poorly named here: https://romankogan.net/adhd/#Awfully%20Described%20Human%20D... (Someone complained I'm linking to my blog too much, but I haven't posted this l…
Comment linking /adhd/
on “Procrastinatory Doom Loops”Yup. I call them "small tasks"[1]. They're hell. [1] https://romankogan.net/adhd/#Small%20Tasks
Comment linking /adhd/
on “Procrastinatory Doom Loops”FYI, you are describing ADHD symptoms: >I have the same but it feels more like a type of paralysis rather than a loop See: "ADHD Paralysis"[1] >I can only do one task deeply at a time but while doing that, I will think and worry about other tasks that need to be done. This stops me from what I am working on, leaving it half way and starting something else. When I reach a point when two or more tasks compete for my a…
Comment linking /adhd/
on “Procrastinatory Doom Loops”I feel like you are being downvoted by people without ADHD who aren't getting what you are saying. For anyone wanting to learn more - welcome to my world: https://romankogan.net/adhd/
Comment linking /adhd/
on “Procrastinatory Doom Loops”That's me too; and I've also been diagnosed with ADHD last year. Medication[2] does help me quite a bit, but it's not a silver bullet. Have you tried Body Doubling[1]? It works wonders for me. The idea is working alongside others, when everyone is doing their own thing. There are online Zoom and Discord groups that facilitate it (look up Discord Study sessions; and also more at [1]). [1] https://romankogan.net/adhd/…
Comment linking /adhd/
on “Procrastinatory Doom Loops”I found myself relating to these particular three articles a lot . Then, last year, I have learned about ADHD - and, to my surprise, realized I'm a textbook example. There are a lot of resources available for us, and ways to do things differently. If you relate to WaitButWhy, check this out: https://romankogan.net/adhd/ And if you find yourself scrolling and relating - there's a good change your life will drasticall…
Comment linking /adhd/
on “Procrastinatory Doom Loops”> He sometimes likes coming over specifically to work. He says my focus on work during the day helps him focus and stop procrastinating, too. In the end, we compromise FYI: That's an ADHD trait, and what you are describing is a common technique to combat executive dysfunction called body doubling[1]. One trait isn't an indication of anything, but a dozen could be; maybe show him this- I wrote up my experience here:…
Comment linking /adhd/
on “Procrastinatory Doom Loops”>I do tasks on three timescales: they either get done immediately, after a shamefully massive delay, or not at all. There’s little in-between. To anyone relating: that's an ADHD symptom. It falls under the umbrella of Executive Dysfunction[1]. I have been beating myself up for it all my life, and turns out there are many things that work differently for people with ADHD - and many things that help (from medication[2…
Comment linking /adhd/
on “Procrastinatory Doom Loops”1. The download link is not the project link (which I have provided, and the website has not). 2. No matter how much this conflict is being mislabeled as "genocide" by the interested parties, it doesn't change the reality that it isn't one by any measure¹. I'm not afraid to sign my name under this statement either; see: https://romankogan.net/2024/06/26/israel-palestine-vocabular... The double-think rewriting of dic…
Comment linking /2024/06/26/israel-palestine-vocabulary/
on “Bitchat for Gaza – messaging without internet”When I worked in an open floor layout, I used to set my working hours to 2PM-10PM, while most of my coworkers were on 9AM-5PM or so. This gave me an overlap of 3 hours to exchange information with my colleagues, and 5 hours to actually work when the office emptied out. If you are wondering whether you have ADHD or not, I made a website where symptoms are described from a first-person POV[1]. It's 200+ memes/comics I…
Comment linking /adhd
on “On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking”There's that, there's also a better understanding of mental illness, so less if it goes unrecognized, undiagnosed, and unrated. Growing up, I was an intelligent kid (if a bit shy) who just needed to be more organized . Today, I'm an AuDHD[1] adult who just needs to have others to have different expectations in some cases, and just benefits from having access to Adderall for some of the others. In college, I was just…
Comment linking /adhd
on “The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)”>Why? Why is that the question to ask? Why must be considered in this specific way, rather than any other? Have you asked the same question about your definitions? You might as well ask why words have certain meanings rather than any other. A short answer: art is commonly understood as an expression of thoughts, feelings, emotions, ideas, etc. in some form. Creating art is converting human thoughts and emotions into…
Comment linking /math
on “Andy Warhol's lost Amiga art found”I've been diagnosed last year, at 34, and my life has started making so much more sense . Wish I got diagnosed earlier — getting a mathematics PhD with untreated ADHD was double plus ungood. I didn't know anything about ADHD, and was sure I don't have it because it's described as "deficit of attention" (spoiler: it's not). I realized I need to look into it after relating to one too many ADHD memes. In the aftermath,…
Comment linking /adhd
on “My ADHD founder toolbox”Indeed. The following (informally described) symptoms are well-known consequences of ADHD: - Delayed Sleep Phase [1] - Staying Up Late [2] - Revenge Bedtime Procrastination [3] Newsflash, getting a full night's sleep helps alleviate ADHD symptoms, while being perpetually sleep-deprived wrecks us. But there are reasons why we stay up late. Simply forcing us to sleep doesn't address those reasons . Which is why I wrot…
Comment linking /adhd/
on “ADHD as a circadian rhythm disorder: evidence and implications for chronotherapy (2025)”From the book: >I To deliver you from the Preliminary Terrors >The preliminary terror [..] can be abolished once for all by simply stating what is the meaning–in common-sense terms–of the two principal symbols: (1) d, which merely means “a little bit of.” Thus dx means a little bit of x; or du means a little bit of u. (2) ∫, which is merely a long S, and may be called (if you like) “the sum of.” As someone who taugh…
Comment linking /math/A_paper_of_interest/A_Paper_of_Interest.pdf
on “Calculus Made Easy (1910)”Awesome software! On the note of self-promotion, here's a simple Mandelbrot explorer to get started with - but this time, it's animated! Not comparable to anything above, but good to start playing with / coding fractals. (Web, desktop only.) http://romankogan.net/math/processing_js/mandelbrot.html
Comment linking /math/processing_js/mandelbrot.html
on “My Journey into Fractals”Then you may like playing with this too (if you're on the desktop): Press 1-6 on the keyboard for cubes to go all spinny https://romankogan.net/math/arcball_js/index.html
Comment linking /math/arcball_js/index.html
on “Exponentially Better Rotations (2022)”