Topics here don't have to be technical in nature. From the guidelines [0]:

On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. [...] anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I believe that HN readers also have a special place in their heart for Japanese snacks after those articles got trending:

https://www.candyjapan.com/behind-the-scenes/algorithmic-fit...

https://www.candyjapan.com/behind-the-scenes/how-many-lines-...

You don't eat Kit Kats while hacking?

Time for a survey: what is your go-to hacking snack or drink?

Hacking for fun is one of those activities that engulf me and make me forget to eat for many hours.

Used to be fun-sized Kit Kats. Now it's 3 Musketeers minis.

I'm pretty sure by washing them down with diet Mt. Dew they have negative calories.

The roast beef classic [1]: salt & vinegar potato chips, coca cola

[1]: http://rbeef.blogspot.com/2005/12/i-could-not-eat-chips-i-wa...

Black coffee with a touch of honey.

Raisins.

Bland but doesn't upset my stomach.

Coffee, black.

Or if it's after 5 PM or so, beer. But my code quality drops dramatically after a couple of those...

Club Mate and Cheez Crunchers

Lots of green tea, 1,5 - 2 litres per day. Not sure if thats healthy or not.

Same here, often jasmin blended with some Lapsang Souchong ("smoked tea") to give it a bit more punch. I've been doing this for decades and haven't noticed anything other than that it makes you pee quite a lot - a good thing as it serves as a natural screen/keyboard break.

As someone who also drinks litres of tea every day while at work, I have never tried blending two different types of tea.

Do you blend them 50/50 or have you found a better ratio? (I'd assume you don't need much lapsang)

A pinch of Lapsang is enough, I never actually measured the ratio. I do blend tea all the time, sometimes with Rooibos, sometimes with spices ('Yogi tea', cinnamon, cloves etc).

Java Monster Mean Bean and Ms. Vickies' Salt and Vinegar crisps.

Work hacking: Coffee before lunch, roibos tea after lunch.

Fun hacking: red wine.

Diet Dr Pepper or Iced Green tea

Licorice and coke.

Dried fruit

Moroccan mint tea

Sometimes a boring but previously popular product finds a new niche in a different country/culture and booms. That boom could reach all the way back to the home country, because they innovated elsewhere (while protecting their base cash flow).

Is it less boring because they added few flavors? Not to mention that Kit Kat in Japan is really just another kind of cheap sweets among hundreds of others. Is there anything to learn here? Is the article thoughts provoking? I thought those are key points not to get flagged in the first place.

They are doing something new and it is spreading across cultures... https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/10/cryogenic-candy-in-ja...

People voted it up, therefore it belongs here.

It's the modern version of orientalism. Somehow you can make anything sound intriguing if you add "... in Japan" at the end.

These types of “why is this article on HN” posts need to be made a bannable offense.

Sorry but you aren’t entitled to seeing only the submissions you want to read.

Agree, semi-clickbait articles from mainstream sources like theverge, theguardian , nytimes (this one especially) seem to be thriving recently(?). I suppose that HN got widely recognized as source of high quality traffic and content is artificially pushed to fp now.

No, the situation has been the same for many years, as you can easily tell from looking at old submission histories.