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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?

#351

Post by blahedo »

mtlynch wrote: 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…

I've known this one for years and years but it always surprises a few of my students (who come from warmer climates) when I mention it:

The scarf goes on the inside of the coat.

If you put the scarf on the outside, like you think you've seen in TV and movies, it's just decoration. Put it on the inside and it's an insulation layer and it blocks the cold air from blowing down your front. Absolutely game-changing. (Also, have a good coat, but that one seems more obvious to people.)

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

#352

Post by kzrdude »

nerdponx wrote: post #235
rjmill wrote: 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…

Think of it as hiding it from household dust.

Yes, anything that's out gets grimy and dusty eventually.

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

#353

Post by bckr »

mooreds wrote: post #305
yamtaddle wrote: post #79

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 wanted to be sold on an electric toothbrush, but I've only used one off and on. How did you get into the habit?

> an electric toothbrush, but I've only used one off and on

There’s a good little joke in here.

FWIW, I’ve gone back and forth on electric toothbrushes and settled on non-electric. I’ve found that a medium-firmness bristle and a rigorous and thorough brushing is what leaves me feeling cleanest. Plus it’s simple, easy to replace, and easier to properly dispose of.

Then again, maybe a super high end electric would change my mind.

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

#354

Post by ericol »

yamtaddle wrote: post #79

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.

Some 15+ years ago (Don't quite remember the year, probably 2005) I bought myself an electric brush. My gf at the time mocked me for wasting money on "such an useless thing".

A few months later she went together with her sister to their annual dentist checkup. The dentist praised her sister for how clean her teeth were, while he told my gf hers were "OK". What was it that her sister was doing differently? She was using an electric toothbrush.

I'm pretty certain you can guess what was the very first thing my then gf did coming out of the dentist.

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

#355

Post by scythe »

adastra22 wrote: post #329

I apparently hold chopsticks incorrectly. I am a white guy so it’s not like this is my culture—I just started holding them the way I do as a kid in sushi restaurants and no one ever corrected me. I found out when I married my wife, who is from Taiwan. Here’s the kicker though: I’m more dexterous with chopsticks than even she is. I can pick and place a single grain of rice, or hold the most slippery noodles with ease.…

Do you hold the moving one like a pencil and let the other one rest on your ring finger? I had always done this and was eventually told that you're really supposed to use only three fingers. But after trying it that way for a while, I found it limited my dexterity quite a bit, and went back to the pencil method.

Surprisingly, I did it in China for a month-long work trip and nobody batted an eye.

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

#356

Post by scotty79 »

GoToRO wrote: post #260
rjmill wrote: 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…

One way this was said by one lady in a tv show was to not use your home as storage. By home she meant hallways, on top of furniture and so on. It makes your home look more like a storage unit and less like a house. It helped me to start putting things away in drawers and so on, but also to think about how often I use them, or if I still need them. The tv show was about "proffesional organizers".

Living is what you do between kitchen, bed, desk and bath and front door. The rest is literally the storage unit.

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

#357

Post by maliker »

muzani wrote: post #29

Pasta and sauce are not meant to be separate. Once you cook the pasta, drain it, and immediately toss with the sauce. This is part of the reason it was meant to be al dente, to absorb and deliver the flavor of the sauce better. Unlike rice, it's fine to "soak" pasta in the sauce; it expands when freshly cooked but not when cool. Also most sauce recipes are probably overcomplicated. Most need less than 5 ingredients.…

Someone introduced me to making red sauce by basically just cooking tomatoes for as much time as I have, and it's now my go-to red sauce. Really amazing how good just well-cooked tomatoes are. https://www.seriouseats.com/frankies-tomato-sauce-recipe

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

#358

Post by bruce343434 »

j_m_b wrote: post #113

Not sure if I was doing it wrong, but I recently started putting the pizza out of the oven and into the frozen pizza box it came in. It's much cleaner!

I can't understand what you're saying, do you not bake the pizza and keep it packaged(??) Or do you bake it then put it back into packaging(how do you eat it?)

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

#359

Post by rbt5009 »

abetusk wrote: post #20
jethkl wrote: post #8

I thought colorblindness tests were designed to be tricky and subtle, so I always passed them through very close inspection. I'm just colorblind.

Have you tried using those colorblind glasses? Maybe something like Enchroma [0] or dichroic filters? [0] https://enchroma.com/

I'm highly red/green colorblind. I got a pair of these as a gift and they allow me to differentiate between reds/greens much more clearly and to see red where I wouldn't notice without them. I know for some people they don't do much, but it makes hikes and such much more colorful for me!

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

#360

Post by ansible »

micheljansen wrote: post #307

I think I was in my late twenties when I found out I had been tying my shoes wrong all my life. There is a correct and an incorrect way to do it. This affects not just how the knot looks (straight vs crooked), but also how easily it becomes untied: https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/theres-a-better-way-to-tie-...

The linked article mentions that the "strong" knot is unlikely to come undone.

This knot will not come undone:

https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm

And you can still untie by pulling on one of the ends. Though you have to make sure that while untying, you don't allow the loop to go over the other end of the shoelace.

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