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Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

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Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

#181

I used to assume the religious people were missing something and missing out on the latest and greatest. Now I am seeing that often it's us the non-religious that have lost something of value and are trying to replace it with things that don't work as well.

Not all non-religious people suffer from some kind of spiritual or ethical deficiency.

I get saddened when religious storytelling fills people with fairy tales and arbitrary hate and makes them incapable of seeing things about existence that are truly beautiful.

Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

#182
post #76
post #33

Staying warm. In the winter, I used to stay warm by turning up the thermostat. Then I discovered (via HN) the Low-Tech Magazine article, "Insulation: first the body, then the home." [0] The article argued that it's much more efficient to focus on heating yourself rather than your whole living space. I invested in high-quality wool clothes that I wear in layers and warm slippers. Now, I keep my home about 5 degrees F…

This completely fails for me. I will end up with freezing cold hands and a warm body. Put me in a 65f room and after an hour of being idle my hands will start to go numb from the cold.

Have you tried wristers? They’re basically tubes for your upper hand, wrist and lower forearm, with a little slit for your thumb. By keeping the blood at the wrist warm they keep your hands much warmer than they’d otherwise be, while letting you retain full freedom of motion for your fingers. They’re even better than fingerless gloves in that regard.

Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

#183

I've been playing guitar on and off for 30 years. I'm holding the pick completely wrong and it probably negatively impacts my playing - but I've struggled to correct it (I hold it with thumb, index and middle finger; if I try to hold it with just two fingers, it inevitably slides out after a few strums; I don't know how people do it). I've also been trying to snap my fingers wrong for 20 years until somebody finally…

> I've been playing guitar on and off for 30 years. I'm holding the pick completely wrong and it hugely negatively impacts my playing - but I've struggled to correct it (I hold it with thumb, index and middle finger; if I try to hold it with just two fingers, it inevitably slides out after a few strums; I don't know how people do it).

Try orienting the pick slightly so that when you strum the strings, it plucks the string with the leading edge, rather than with the flat side of the pick, so you don't need to press as hard.

> I've also been trying to snap my fingers wrong for 20 years until somebody finally explained to me that it wasn't my fingers rubbing / clicking / pouncing against each other that made the sound, it was the finger snapping/clapping on the meaty part of your wrist. Doh!

I've found snapping to be louder and fuller sounding if I don't use my thumb to "tension" the middle finger at all, but instead just smack the the middle finger against the "meaty part". Plus you can get a lot more snaps done in much less time if snaps-per-minute is an important metric.

Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

#184

A common one is the tying of one's shoelaces. It's pretty common to tie the knot in an unbalanced way. https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/grannyknot.htm

It wasn't until I had to teach knots to Cub Scouts that I realized my life was a lie, at least when it came to tying shoes. I was the object of ridicule for 50 years but now I walk with confidence, and always-tied shoes.

Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

#185
post #33

Staying warm. In the winter, I used to stay warm by turning up the thermostat. Then I discovered (via HN) the Low-Tech Magazine article, "Insulation: first the body, then the home." [0] The article argued that it's much more efficient to focus on heating yourself rather than your whole living space. I invested in high-quality wool clothes that I wear in layers and warm slippers. Now, I keep my home about 5 degrees F…

Another thing that can really help with this is a hot water bottle. You can put it on your lap, or under your feet and it really helps you keep warm if you are sitting for long periods of time. Helps if you put a small blanket over your lap as well. Usually lasts for a couple of hours before you need to refresh the water in the bottle.

Between your thighs...max blood flow and contact area.

Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

#186

Not using an electric toothbrush. First time I used one it felt like I'd had a proper dental cleaning. An extremely half-assed effort with that kind of brush beats a thorough one with a manual brush. I thought they were a gimmick, but no, they're amazing.

I just discovered this recently as well. I agree it was better than I thought.

Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

#187
post #160

Buying alcohol based mouthwash. For years the burning sensation was always terrible and I'd often cheat, either not using as much or not swishing as long as recommended. Accidentally grabbed alcohol free mouthwash one time and it was wonderful.

I'm not sure it's alcohol, but the worse offender on "mouthwash that burns" is Listerine.

Alcohol or no, there's no need to get an aggressive one

Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

#188

Not using an electric toothbrush. First time I used one it felt like I'd had a proper dental cleaning. An extremely half-assed effort with that kind of brush beats a thorough one with a manual brush. I thought they were a gimmick, but no, they're amazing.

On a similar dental hygiene note, I was told I should brush before having breakfast, coffee etc. It always stood to reason to me that it makes more sense to just eat my first meal and drink, then brush, to keep a cleaner state of my teeth for longer but supposedly according to a few dentists I spoke with, the protection you get from the first brush is more significant than removing those first food particles. Chances…

If I brush before eating the food tastes bad

Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

#189
post #152

When my then-gf/now-wife and I first moved in together, I got really mad at her because she kept "hiding" my stuff when I left it out for more than a day. I couldn't find anything! At some point, I yelled, "It's like you don't even want to see any of my things when I'm not using them!" Then I stopped for a second. For the first time in my life, it made sense. The whole point of putting things away is to hide them! No…

This is so absolutely hilarious to me because this is 100% something I'd do. I had a friend come over once and then he came over again a week later and all of my kitchen cabinet doors were open and in the exact same position as they had been a week prior. He was like "dude did you not shut your cabinet doors? Wtf"

Its just not even on my radar

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