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Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

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Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#351

Post by [deleted] »

drstewart wrote: post #338
tenfourwookie wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find a spot in a national forest and make it my home for a week or seven. If it has decent cellular reception, I can stay there indefinitely, until I run out of supplies, usually water. No one messes with you in the forest. We woodsies know every Honda minivan also has 12-gauge shotgun inside, for squirrels, tasty, tasty squirrels, and errant humans crazy enough to walk up to your van at night. :) Just stay out of…

> If it has decent cellular reception How much are you paying the cell companies to live their American dream on your dime?

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#352

Post by Arete314159 »

CRConrad wrote: post #342
Arete314159 wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went with an Erin Condren vertical layout coiled planner, which is very colorful and pretty, so I don't think that is what you are looking for ;-). However, the same brand has a line of neutral & undecorated planners with blue/black/grey covers. This one seems like it would raise no eyebrows at work: https://www.erincondren.com/camel-customizable-vegan-leather... . However, they offer fewer layout options in this l…

They sell "writing tools". I'm old enough to remember when those were called pens.

A quick glance at the Levenger website leads me to conclude that if you call it a "writing tool," you can add $30 to the price.

Similarly, if you call the planner cover "vegan leather" instead of "plastic"...

Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#353

Post by amin »

Dracophoenix wrote: post #212
amin wrote: post #8

My second hand Netgear Nighthawk router is the best $100 I've ever spend. Never had connectivity issues ever again.

Which model? Did you get it from eBay?

I have the netgear nighthawk r7000. It's a legendary model and has passed the test of time.

Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#354

Post by ncmncm »

mft_ wrote: post #335
ncmncm wrote: post #207

Dextrose. You can't buy it in grocery stores, but it is available online. Don't pay more than $2/lb. It is sold most cheaply labeled "corn sugar", marketed mainly to home beer brewers. There is only one actual supplier in the US, who ships 50 lb bags. Others break it up and sell 10, 5, and 2 lb bags. Some relabel it "dextrose" or "glucose" and jack up the price. I get mine 10 lb at a time from "Homebrew". Regular sug…

Do you have any references to support your assertions around the differences between glucose (aka dextrose) and fructose, please?

Robert Lustig lecture videos are a good place to start. Anything 60 or 90 minutes will not waste your time. (I run them with captions at 1.5x-2x speed, so 30-60 minutes.) His books have complete references.

Robert Lustig is the very best kind of scientist: he never claims anything without a dozen peer-reviewed double-blind controlled trials to back him up, many of which he supervised personally.

To be an endocrinologist, you have to be twice as smart and careful as any other sort of medical doctor just to be able to do your work. Another is Robert Sapolsky, who also writes exhaustively supported books. Anybody who says they understand some metabolic process and is not an endocrinologist with 30+ years work behind them is a liar.

Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#355

Post by ncmncm »

cbanek wrote: post #267

I don't know if I'd call it cheap, but more a great value. My Aeron chair. Had it for 7 years now, bought it new for about $1000. Best chair ever and has helped with a lot of posture problems.

Remember Billy Bob Thornton's character, in Pushing Tin? He was onto something.

I used Aeron chairs for decades. Now I use a lightweight, rigid metal chair, with no cushion, and am happier. I get up and walk around at least once an hour, which is Good. It is easy to get stuck in an Aeron chair all day, which is Bad.

Sometimes I just use a stool.

Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#356

Post by ncmncm »

cartoonfoxes wrote: post #237
colanderman wrote: post #198

A bottle of isopropyl alcohol. I did not own any until I was well into adulthood, and am continually amazed by how well alcohol cleans almost everything. (Barkeeper's Friend and copper scrubbing pads are a close second, for kitchen cleaning duties.) For woodworking -- a pocket hole jig. Around $50, with only that, a drill, a saw, and (optionally) wood glue, you can make a ton of useful and sturdy stuff, with minimal…

It's also great for killing wasps. You can squirt the high-concentration stuff all over as you flinch in terror of the winged interlopers, and it evaporates safely off any expensive electronics that get caught in the crossfire.

You know what else is even better for wasps? A shop vac!

They don't survive the trip through the hose. Often you can get the nest, too, although some might survive inside.

If you have ground wasps (which are the worst because they chase you until they get you!), you just lay the big end of the pipe next to their hole for a few minutes, morning and evening, until you have got them all.

So, in answer to the original question: a shop vac!

Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#357

Post by Arete314159 »

chansiky wrote: post #339
Arete314159 wrote: post #200

A really nice paper planner that works for the way I think. For years I was around developers a lot and so they tend to push the mentality that the best tool for organization must be digital. So I tried Trello, google calendar, various habit tracking apps, etc. None of them really had everything I wanted... Finally I am happy with a paper planner, sticky notes, wet-erase markers that make the laminate cover into a go…

I'm a convert into paper as well, I used to use google calendar, trello, various todo list applications. Paper just seems to win out because of its flexibility. The best thing is you discover/invent more ways to use it as you use it more. You can't really add new features to an app so easily, but with paper its just a matter of writing it down. You can also break rules everywhere and your paper planner will not crash…

Yes! You don't have to wait for your planner to boot up, you don't have to have a special pen, you don't have to worry about charging a battery....plus you can doodle.

Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#358

Post by ryan_lane »

aeternum wrote: post #240
raspyberr wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember hearing a long time ago that brushing before eating is better. Sugar reacts with plaque to form acids and brushing temporarily removes plaque. So eating straight after brushing doesn't really do anything.

I've heard this also but it doesn't make much sense to me. If you brush after you eat, wouldn't it remove the plaque, sugar, and any possible acid? Any plaque that remains will have little to nothing to eat. If you brush before eating, there will still be some plaque left and once you eat there should be copious amounts of sugar and food for it to snack on and quickly multiply + produce acid.

Brushing after you eat is not recommended because you're a lot more likely to damage your enamel that way, especially if you've eaten anything acidic.

Acidic foods temporarily weaken your enamel to the point that even light brushing can damage it.

Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#359

Post by [deleted] »

scollet wrote: post #290
toomuchtodo wrote: post #10

Mail processor. I spend $20/month, they receive all of my mail, open it, and digitize it. They discard the junk mail if I want. I never have to visit a mailbox again. I can even register it as my address on my driver's license and for my vehicles. EDIT: The service I use is https://www.sbimailservice.com/ .

That's interesting. Seems like an expensive /dev/null

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#360

Post by giardini »

TrevorJ wrote: post #175

Opinel #8 pocketknife. Inexpensive. Timeless design that was last tweaked circa 1960's. Entry-level hardtail mountain bike. I understand more of my geographic area than ever before, and am in moderately better shape, to boot. Old comfy secondhand leather chair. Have my personal PC hooked up to a cheap old flatpanel TV. I've had many productive weekend hours working on personal projects in comfort. There's something a…

TrevorJ says>"Opinel #8 pocketknife. Inexpensive. Timeless design that was last tweaked circa 1960's."It shows! The Opinel has a lousy locking mechanism, is clumsy to open (especially if you're left-handed) and the wood swells if wet making it stiffer to open/close. This is a knife worth passing up unless you want to cut yourself.
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