Cutting onion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwRttSfnfcc
Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
221–230 of 1001 posts
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#222Thinking that most people have good intentions.
you should always assume this, otherwise you just sign yourself up to play a losing game for the rest of your life
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#223I 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.
Most of us suffer a kind of nihilism that mankind has never really faced before due to modern science. Materialistic understanding of the world has broken our ability to recognize patterns of being that were once obvious to our ancestors. They would find a modern atheist and fundamentalist equally blind in these areas as they saw the reality of the world much more alive and predictable over vast time periods than we do now and they had the language to understand it.
John Vervaeke and the Pageau Brothers are working hard on this front. I'd highly recommend John's Meaning Crisis Videos, Mathieu Pageau's book on Cosmic Symbolism and Johnathan's educational videos.
If you are new to this, it can be a bit mind bending, but it's duly needed in our time.
https://www.meaningcrisis.co/all-transcripts/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIJuIN6kUcU
https://www.amazon.com/Language-Creation-Symbolism-Genesis-C...
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#224Not telling my friends that I love them. I was 28 the first time a friend told me "I love you" in a pure friendship way (and while sober), and without being a part of a special situation. I've also done it afterwards, and because I had never told my friend i love them, it made the message even stronger. It feels wrong that we don't do this more often.
This is truly wonderful. I do the same (even if it's sometimes just "love ya man").
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#225Not really "wrong" but at some point in the last couple years I was using my microwave, putting something in for a minute, and for that I've always input 1:00 but suddenly I realized how obvious it was that I can just be inputting 60. As long as you can easily modulo the time, this works for the range 1 minute (60) to 1 minute 39 seconds (99). Technically you could also do this for times like 2:65 instead of 3:05 but…
Alongside this point, just discovered using the “sensor cook” mode on my microwave a few days ago. Apparently it measures the humidity coming off the food and adjusts the cooking power and time accordingly. One button push and you can walk away, confident the food will be heated through but not overcooked. Game changer.
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#226Staying 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…
I don't like wearing big layers of clothing. I like being in a very light t-shirt. I'm happy to pay the extra cost to heat the room I'm in with a space heater in the winter time.
I sweat a lot (medical problems), and have no body fat; so keeping warm is a real challenge. I can't wear much clothing.
"radiant IR" (red glowing elements) type heaters are wonderful tools for heating the body instead of the air.
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#227Not 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.
> Not using an electric toothbrush. First time I used one it felt like I'd had a proper dental cleaning. Same here. It's completely changed my life. For mini-me, the built-in timer helps them be sure to brush enough.
I wish there was a way to change the timer because I find it ridiculously short, I'm usually barely halfway through when the entire cycle is finished.
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#228Typing. I've always been a self-taught hunt-picker, but for some reason, as a teenager I picked up a terrible technique that involves using thumbs for keys to the side of the spacebar. Later in life I trained myself into touch-typing (and then to use Colemak), but for some reason I can't seem to shake off this annoying thumb bit.
How did you train yourself into it?
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#229Not really "wrong" but at some point in the last couple years I was using my microwave, putting something in for a minute, and for that I've always input 1:00 but suddenly I realized how obvious it was that I can just be inputting 60. As long as you can easily modulo the time, this works for the range 1 minute (60) to 1 minute 39 seconds (99). Technically you could also do this for times like 2:65 instead of 3:05 but…
Even easier than typing 60 for one minute is to type 55.
I often type 33, 111, 222, etc for the time saving benefit
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#230When 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…
You know you’re in a long term relationship when your better half starts throwing away your stuff without asking.