Check HN.

+1 to brown/white noise. As much as I love listening to music, glorified static calms down my brain while I work. It's also great for quieting down the office... no cubicle wall is high or thick enough to drown out the guy with bronchitis who won't work from home OR the other guy who conducts remote trainings from his desk.

Whew, that got specific.

"Always Be Coding" -- people who spend their time on work/passion project/open source projects are somehow valued more than those who spend their time on work/non-technical pursuits.

It's truly awful that this is expected in tech.

This is true and its truly awful. You'll have people who question your credentials because you don't have projects on github.