Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

#321

Post by vijay_nair » Mon, Oct 19, 2020, 2:55 AM UTC

CodinM wrote: post #115

vijay_nair wrote: post #99

Supplements, especially L-DOPA (amazing mood improvement and libido boost), L-citrulline (libido and energy boost) and niacin. There are other supplements¹ in my stack but these three stand out as the effects are near immediate, measured in mere minutes/hours. ¹zinc methionine, L-taurine, Ashwagandha, Boswellia serrata, fish oil, cod liver oil, vitamins B1, B2, B6, B9, B12, C , D, K, calcium, resveratrol.

L-DOPA as well as L-Citrulline are Rx only, so you're either outside of US/EU or you suffer from some condition that requires that medication.

No condition and no medical diagnosis. For the past few years I've been afflicted by periods of existential crisis and L-DOPA short circuits this. Much better mood, focus and most importantly — drive (which is what helps most with the EC). Feels almost as good as how I felt when in my teens¹.

As others have mentioned I simply buy them off of Amazon.

¹completed my 37th trip around the sun yesterday, the 17th.

Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

#322

Post by notmadnomad » Mon, Oct 19, 2020, 2:55 AM UTC

---- Home ----

---- Home - water ----

- Reverse Osmosis water filter with pre UV filtration, 50 GPD membrane, and permeate pump (TDS - Whole house carbon block water filter - removes some concerns about junk in the city water, cold tap water is - Water softener - makes showering tolerable

- Tankless gas water heater - lasts longer than a tank water heater

---- Home - air/HVAC ----

- 3M 2500 smart air filters (reduces indoor PM1.0, PM2.5 and PM10 - Indoor air quality monitor (DIY using Arduino and Plantower PMS5003)

- Outdoor air quality monitor (DIY using Arduino and Plantower PMS5003)

- Sensi Smart Thermostat (Nest is not as reliable) - has automatic fan cycling to keep air moving, schedules, and automatic mode. Works with Alexa.

- Ceiling fan remote control kit: Eogifee Universal Ceiling Fan Remote Control and Receiver Kit

---- Home - safety ----

- Earthquake detector (detects P waves)

- Tornado / severe lightning / lightning detector (detects characteristic patterns in EMF)

- AED (if you have the $$$)

- First-aid kit

- Fire extinguishers

---- Home - kitchen ----

- Professional gas cook-top with 5 burners

- FoodSaver vacuum sealer for food

---- Home - storage ----

- Spacesaver vacuum bags for clothing storage

- Hanging Vacuum Space Saver Bags for jackets and coats

---- Home - cleaning ----

- iRobot Braava Jet m6 mop robot works flawlessly (Roomba S9+ useless lemon for carpet, gave it 10 months. Replaced it and all of its parts 3x. Battery runs out suddenly, it won't RTB, gets stuck, and forgets where it's at.) Works with Alexa.

- Kirby Gen 3 vacuum cleaner - lasts forever

---- Home - bathroom ----

- Arboleaf Digital Scale w/ app & Apple HealthKit support

---- Home - outdoors ----

- 30m/100' expandable garden hose with a reel (replaces vinyl hoses)

- 8 NetVue Vigil cameras w/ 256 GiB high endurance SD cards - local recording, WiFi/ethernet and zone-based motion detection

---- Home - electrical ----

- Leviton T5635 USB Dual Type-C with Power Delivery (PD)

- Leviton USB4P 4.2-Amp High Speed 4-Port USB-A Charger

- Leviton GFNL1 Self-Test SmartlockPro Slim GFCI Tamper-Resistant Receptacle with Guidelight and LED Indicator

- Leviton T5632 USB Charger/Tamper-Resistant Duplex Receptacle

- Fluke contactless live wire detector pen

- 3-prong wiring tester

- Circuit panel learning circuit finder - didn't work

---- House - garage ----

- Compressor with water/oil separator/drier

- 2-4 overhead retractable air reel

- Long power strips at waist level

- 4-6 overhead retractable 100' power cords

- Breadracks and bins for storage

- Sealed cement floor

- Anti-fatigue mats

---- Consumer electronics ----

- GPS tracker embedded in a USB cable

- WASD keyboard

- Wireless (non-BT), laser, rechargeable mouse: Logitech MX Revolution - no pairing issues, lasts for weeks, best designed mouse

- Hi-cap portable power bank: Anker PowerCore+ 26800mAh PD 45W with 60W PD Charger

- Waterproof BT speaker: Anker SoundCore Sport XL - loud enough and tunes anywhere

- Solar generator: Goal Zero Yeti 400 - old lead-acid solar/usb/12v/wall

- Spare/guest computer: MacMini Late 2012 upg. w/ 16 GiB & 512 GiB SSD -

- Surge protector: Tripp Lite AV2FP Isobar 5100J rating

- Qi charger: Samsung 15W Fast Charge 2.0 Wireless Charger Stand

---- Server electronics ----

- UPS: SMX1500RM2UNC 1500VA - 2U, floor/rack, options installed - 1 temp sensor & 1 temp/humidity sensor, optional SMX48RMBP2U for daisy-chaining

- Servers: used servers from unixsurplus, eBay, craigslist, etc.

- GbE switch: Netgear 48 ports w/ 4 1Gb 10km LX uplinks

---- Automotive ----

- Breaker bar: Vintage Mac Tools 1/2" drive breaker bar - when you need to use a jack handle cheater to get 600 ft-lbs to loosen lug-nuts

- Snow chains/cables: "S"-rated Z Cables - chains are a PITA and damage vehicles)

- Main battery replacement: XS Power D6500 XS Series 12V 3.9kA AGM High Output deep-cycle battery -

- Car seat-back MOLLE cover: Car Seat Back Organizer with Gun Rack Feature Tactical Seat Cover

- Radio: Kenwood eXcelon KMM-X704 Digital Media Receiver with Alexa, Bluetooth and HD Radio Compatibility + no-longer available (NLA) remote

- Gauge: Innovate Motorsports 3903 Ecf-1 Advanced 4-in-1 (serial chainable)

- Gauge: Innovate Motorsports 3853 MTX Dual Water Temp / Battery Voltage (serial chainable)

- Gauge: Innovate Motorsports 3913 MTX Dual Oil Pressure / Temp (serial chainable)

- Oil quick drain fitting: Eaton Aeroquip pair + hose

---- Automotive - chemicals / consumables ----

- Headlight restoration kit: Sylvania HRK.BX

- Washer fluid: vinegar, isopropyl alcohol, distilled/RO water, and clear dish soap (ratios: I don't remember)

---- Tools ----

- Index drill bit set: never look for another drill bit again

- Hydraulic Battery Lug Crimper Tool: 8 AWG - 0000 AWG(4/0) - installing battery terminals any other way is futile

- DMM: Fluke 289 w/ most of the options

- Power meter: Poniie PN2000 Plug-in Kill-a-watt clone

- Stackable PSU: Agilent single-source

- Oscilloscope: SDS1104X-E cracked to 200 MHz and all options (wifi, sig gen & logic analyzer)

- Soldering station: Sugon T26 - JBC tip-compatible instant-on, standby (epoxy a JBC tip stand to the top)

- Fume extractor: FES150

- 3.5X-90X Double Boom Stand trinocular microscope w/ ring polarizer light and 38MP HDMI camera

- Prusa MK3S w/ multi-material 3D-printer

- Wide, imperial&metric measuring tape

- Thread gauage

- Chip pin-pitch ruler

---- Generic parts ----

- Marine heat-shrink terminals - much better than the uninsulated, cheap ones

- Stainless steel fasteners - galvanic & seizing issues mitigated with washers & antiseize, but they're light-years better than zinc-plated

---- Chemicals ----

- Temporary light oil/antirust/weak antiseize: WD40 1 gal/3.8 L

- Penetrant fluid: Acetone + ATF 50/50

- 99.5% isopropyl alcohol

- Reusable chemical cans: Stainless steel, Schrader-valve compreseed air

- Non-copper anti-seize

- For most permanent lubrication applications: Valvoline full-synthetic moly grease - very thick

- For light oil lubrication: sewing machine oil

- For dishwasher string/pulleys: petroleum jelly

- Green low threadlocker

- Blue medium threadlocker gel

- Red high threadlocker gel

- Orange high removable threadlocker

- Cyanoacrolayte

- cyanoacrylate accelerator (n-Hexane)

- Cyanoacrolayte remover (acetone)

- Plastic polish kit: novus 1,2,3

Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

#323

Post by Gollapalli » Mon, Oct 19, 2020, 2:58 AM UTC

wollef wrote: post #267

rozab wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those who don't want to fund youtube, Youtube Vanced is a hacked version of the official client that provides all the features for free (no root required), and there are also various open source clients available.

Isn't youtube without ads exactly the business model we should be encouraging?

I was a youtube premium subscriber. They kept banning political youtubers, which is out of line with my values, so I quit being a subscriber.

I absolutely agree with the paying for no ads model, as I really, really like that model. The premium subscription was totally worth it, and the app with ads can be truly unbearable in comparison (but not so unbearable that I'm going to start paying them again).

Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

#324

Post by vijay_nair » Mon, Oct 19, 2020, 3:02 AM UTC

meesterdude wrote: post #204

vijay_nair wrote: post #99

Supplements, especially L-DOPA (amazing mood improvement and libido boost), L-citrulline (libido and energy boost) and niacin. There are other supplements¹ in my stack but these three stand out as the effects are near immediate, measured in mere minutes/hours. ¹zinc methionine, L-taurine, Ashwagandha, Boswellia serrata, fish oil, cod liver oil, vitamins B1, B2, B6, B9, B12, C , D, K, calcium, resveratrol.

Do you just eat a plate of supplements? That seems like a lot to take every day.

Only some of them are on a daily schedule so actual pill count/day is low. Niacin (vitamin B3) for example leads to diabetes and liver damage when taken upwards of 4g/day. So I take 0.5 mg (nearly a tenth of the therapeutic dose, that too on alternate days, to reduce the potential for side effects even further). High dose vitamin B6 (>20mg/day, I take 3mg once every 5 days for 30x reduction compared to therapeutic dose) can lead to lung cancer in men. So the b-complex pill¹ is taken once every 5 days. Vitamin D overdose can lead to hypercalcemia so that's taken once a week (60000 IU) and some months I stay off it entirely as fat-soluble vitamins like vit. D tend to build up in the system. There are similar rules for other supplements as well.

¹The B-vitamins (1 to 12) + zinc + calcium are a single pill called "Recobex-Z". These are generally called "b-complex", it's a combination drug.

Essentially the daily pill count is 2 in the morning + 1 in the afternoon + 2 at night, so 5 pills/day. I also do supplement fasting days with no pills taken on that day.

Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

#325

Post by joeyjojo » Mon, Oct 19, 2020, 3:03 AM UTC

rozab wrote: post #255

smaslennikov wrote: post #18

Automated cat infrastructure: automatic USB water fountain[0], food dispenser[1], Litter Robot 3[2] (as of recently, with a homebrew controller[3]). These allow me a good four days of absence from the house - for camping or whatever else. Doesn't happen often that both the wife and I are MIA, but when it does, these things are indespensable. [0]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WGLYV22/ [1]: https://www.amazon.c…

I wonder if you've noticed any change in your cats behaviour towards you as a result of this? People often claim that cats only like their humans because they're the ones who feed them etc

Now I know why my girlfriend's cat was such a little prick, swiping me in the face and drawing blood. She had an automatic feeder.

Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

#326

Post by pedalpete » Mon, Oct 19, 2020, 3:27 AM UTC

moltar wrote: post #316

pedalpete wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're interested in sleep, we're building a headband that monitors sleep and alters sleep state using sound. Here's a chart showing the effect over 8 consecutive nights (4 without, 4 with). https://imgur.com/z4vqS3w We're preparing for a larger study. If you're keen to find our more, or get on the waitlist at https://soundmind.co

Can I beta test? I’ve tested many sleep gadgets already :)

We've got a pretty good list going already. I'd be keen to hear what you've tried in the past, what you've liked, and what you didn't. I can be reached at pete[at]soundmind.co

Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

#327

Post by Nextgrid » Mon, Oct 19, 2020, 3:31 AM UTC

wollef wrote: post #267

rozab wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those who don't want to fund youtube, Youtube Vanced is a hacked version of the official client that provides all the features for free (no root required), and there are also various open source clients available.

Isn't youtube without ads exactly the business model we should be encouraging?

YouTube Premium still requires you to create a Google account and accept their ToS & privacy policy and provide them with validated personal & billing information.

I am personally not comfortable with this and would rather have absolutely no business relationship with such a company. I’m using an Invidious (https://github.com/iv-org/invidious) instance instead.

Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

#328

Post by technofiend » Mon, Oct 19, 2020, 3:34 AM UTC

znpy wrote: post #276

Two additional displays and a three-arms stand, to be able to use three displays with my company issued 13" dell latitude 7390 running GNU/Linux. They're all 24" @ 1929x1200. It's magical, I can keep so many things open at the same time with a reasonable window size. The integrated intel graphics can drive all three of them, but I wasn't able to also drive the laptop display, that would have been perfect.

Prior to Covid I noticed that our in-house purchasing guide had Dell WQHD 34" monitors so I purchased one each for my interns and they were a big hit. Turned out to be hugely useful both at their desks from the screen real estate (3440x1440) and using them for mid-year and year-end demos.

When my interns rolled off me and my employees naturally repurposed the monitors and within a couple of months everyone had gotten so used to them we had to have one at home for remote work days.

My desk is an old english game table that is 36" wide so two 20+" monitors is a little crowded. But one 34" monitor is perfect for me. Same idea: lots of screen real estate. The fact that everyone on the team has one with the same resolution at home makes screen sharing between us perfect. The other team members still have multi-monitor setups, so they can always screen share off of their second monitors when presenting to people with lower resolution displays. I have to scooch my browser to the far left and blow up to 150% before people can read anything. Minor downside, but still worth it.

Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

#329

Post by kyriakos » Mon, Oct 19, 2020, 3:35 AM UTC

stevekemp wrote: post #97

kyriakos wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar experience here. Also cause I have it on schedule it also indirectly forces me to keep things tidy so it can clean the floor without too many obstacles.

I'd say the first few years of owning a Roomba were magical, but recently a combination of too many children's toys on the floor, and working from home has meant that I don't use the daily-schedule any more. I have to remember to turn it on when I head out for a beer, go shopping, or do something else outside the home. There were a few days I was working from home, on a video-call, when the robot started cleaning awa…

I agree about the children, Lego pieces on the floor are a big issue. Working from home the only issue is the noise it makes but because its constant my noise cancelling headphones filter it out completely.

Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

#330

Post by andreskytt » Mon, Oct 19, 2020, 3:46 AM UTC

Any investment made into sporting gear (cycling, running) and services (personal trainer, Strava) has improved my life in a measureable way. Weight is down, depression mostly gone, physical fitness is up. And the fitness part is precisely measureable via FTP and VO2 figures. Got to do stuff with the gear, of course, but that feels awesome, too