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Ask HN: Your Favourite HN Comment?

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Re: Ask HN: Your Favourite HN Comment?

#191

Post by combatentropy »

tootie wrote: post #129
combatentropy wrote: post #11

One of my favorites is a super-long one by a user named bane, about three solutions to speeding up computing: (1) "high" (more RAM, CPU), (2) "wide" (more machines), and (3) "deep" (refactoring), which is what he recommends first. More than once he has rewritten something that was running slowly even on the latest and greatest architectures (perhaps partially because of that), to running on a single machine, even an…

We've used the terms horizontal and vertical scaling to mean those same things for a while.

He does not claim to introduce the concepts of horizontal and vertical scaling. He mentions them only to immediately discourage them: "Lots of people make the mistake of thinking there's only two vectors you can go to improve performance, high or wide. [...] There's a third direction you can go, I call it 'going deep'." Like I said, it's a long post, so I tried my best to summarize it and then linked to it.

Re: Ask HN: Your Favourite HN Comment?

#192

Post by pixelface »

whymauri wrote: post #180
pixelface wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something that bugs me about this metaphor is the foregone conclusion that the thing on the ground is identifiably a $100 bill. Clearly anyone seeing a great idea for the taking will do so, but the discussion is really more comparable to seeing a bit of trash on the ground and pondering whether it might be money or not. The issue is having ideas but not the ability to determine whether they are good ideas nobody has…

FWIW, the quote about money on the ground initially comes from a critique on the efficient market hypothesis, not commentary on the nature of ideas. So it's expected for there to be analogical disconnect here. For it to work as intended, you'd have to construct (or buy into) some framework for an "efficient marketplace of ideas."

Absolutely and I am aware of its origins, but I've seen the analogy brought out at least a few times here on HN when discussing the merits and potential of an idea that seems obvious but has gone unexplored or uncommercialized. I get the sense that there may be some beliefs around the evaluating of ideas, at least in this crowd, that lead some to see it as being comparable to noticing a sum of money on the ground. I'd love to understand that.

Re: Ask HN: Your Favourite HN Comment?

#193

Post by Semiapies »

Waterluvian wrote: post #147
SwiftyBug wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Testicles are naturally lumpy. How can you tell the regular lumps apart from a potentially harmful one?

I was once told, “as long as you check regularly you’ll know it when you find it.” I’ve also been told it’s very hard and dense feeing. Sometimes rough feeling. I think this helps a lot but it sure feels like insufficient training. This also gave me an app idea. I have very mole-y skin. Doctor said to keep an eye on new ones of significant size. I have a terrible memory. Maybe I need an app that I can snap photos of…

In my case, the limo was hard, dense, and the tissue around it was sore.

Re: Ask HN: Your Favourite HN Comment?

#194

Post by throw_this_one »

narwally wrote: post #163
throw_this_one wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should prob just completely take a break during the 3 weeks. Go hiking, biking, etc and let your brain rewire so that you're not in a flight or fight mode. Something like "just walking hard for 5 hours gets me to the top of the mountain" and then you'll be so fresh after 3 weeks of that. Work won't seem as stressful or important in life.

It's amazing what a bit of exercise and a head clear of problems to solve can do for you. In my experience, it's unfortunately the case(for me at least) that the harder and longer you push before you burnout scales linearly with the length of the break you'll need to take in order to recover. I learned this lesson the hard way and ended having to take a multiple year hiatus from even looking at a text editor. I would…

Damn crazy. Why did that happen? Moderate burnout situation that went on for way too long? Or intense burnout in a few months?

Yeah I mean going off of the great burnout comment before, it's that the negative mental pathways are being carved super deep every day by your continued effort -> failure (or perceived failure by you or manager).

I wonder if mushrooms/acid/mdma can help cure professional burnout faster?

How's being a bike mechanic money-wise? If you have a solid amount of capital built up from grinding as a soft engr, that could be a nice segway for a time.

Re: Ask HN: Your Favourite HN Comment?

#195

Post by singhrac »

whymauri wrote: post #180
pixelface wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something that bugs me about this metaphor is the foregone conclusion that the thing on the ground is identifiably a $100 bill. Clearly anyone seeing a great idea for the taking will do so, but the discussion is really more comparable to seeing a bit of trash on the ground and pondering whether it might be money or not. The issue is having ideas but not the ability to determine whether they are good ideas nobody has…

FWIW, the quote about money on the ground initially comes from a critique on the efficient market hypothesis, not commentary on the nature of ideas. So it's expected for there to be analogical disconnect here. For it to work as intended, you'd have to construct (or buy into) some framework for an "efficient marketplace of ideas."

Furthermore, I've seen it used in the context of hidden transaction costs in the markets. For example, you see security A trading at $100 on exchange X but $105 on exchange Y. You think "free money!" but on closer examination exchange Y charges $5.01 to transact. These are totally nonsensical numbers, but they do extend to the analogy on ideas.

Re: Ask HN: Your Favourite HN Comment?

#196

Post by saboot »

tluyben2 wrote: post #81
saboot wrote: post #10

A commenter talked about his experience with testicular cancer and encouraged other 20-34 year old men to check themselves. So I did, found a lump, and because I found it early it was removed with no further issue. So that's definitely one of my favorite comments! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7120102

Ha! Same here. But don’t stop at 34. I had it at 40. Found it because of that post. They say I could have walked with it for much longer as it was the extremely slow one (there are at least two types). No side effects further; just a tiny lump.

Woah, the same post? That's really crazy, good to hear.

Re: Ask HN: Your Favourite HN Comment?

#197

Post by jtsiskin »

pier25 wrote: post #17
ivars wrote: post #13

User mikekchar on the value of ideas: My advice is to lower the value of ideas. A lot of time people think, "If only I had a good idea I would be successful". You will see other people saying things like, "Buy my good idea!". But really, good ideas are a dime a dozen. Good ideas, bad ideas... it actually doesn't make much difference. What makes the difference is execution and timing. For things that take a long time,…

Good comment. Also I don't think most people can really tell when an idea is good. Seemingly good ideas fail all the time and if it was easy to determine which ideas are good everyone would be successful.

Yes. If my friend had pitched Airbnb or Uber many years ago, I’m sure I would have dismissed them as impossibly risky. Or Snapchat as only useful in niches. Or Peloton as way overpriced compared to exercise videos on YouTube.

Re: Ask HN: Your Favourite HN Comment?

#198

Post by Kosirich »

StavrosK wrote: post #127
Kosirich wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if you have seen this one: https://bellus3d.com/solutions/facemask.html *I have no affiliation to the site or map, just remembered a colleague showed me

Isn't this a bit useless? Surgical masks aren't meant to fit well, they're meant to keep your spittle from leaving your face. N95 masks are meant to filter incoming air, and those are made to fit well.

I kind of agree with you. Actually I think it looks more discomforting than just wearing a surgical mask with straps.

Re: Ask HN: Your Favourite HN Comment?

#200

Post by leafboi »

surround wrote: post #181
cercatrova wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like the sibling comment also by leafboi shows that HN automatically makes dead, accounts with negative karma.

leafboi’s account was shadow banned, meaning that any new comments are automatically, immediately marked as [dead].

I think this is a consequence of negative karma as well. Not sure. If I am shadow banned deliberately by Dang then the commenter above is right.
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