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

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

#361

Post by raz32dust »

nelsonic wrote: post #46

The best mattress you can afford is the single best investment you can make in your life. You spend 1/3 of your life asleep. Getting more high quality sleep has a direct impact on your mood, general health and personal productivity/effectiveness.

This is a very successful marketing gimmick. Mattress industry in the US is a scam. Yes, you should invest in a good mattress. But a good mattress doesn't need to cost $8000. Just get a simple, relatively firm mattress. Mine is a simple $120 spring mattress from Amazon, and those are the best I've had. (Also reviews from other people who slept on it and used more expensive ones).

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

#362

Post by crossroadsguy »

Nextgrid wrote: post #331
crossroadsguy wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Know any effective and simple ad blocker for Safari? Mainly for Mac but wouldn't mind for iOS as well.

AdGuard is what I’d recommend; it supports the default uBlock Origin lists such as EasyList, Fanboy’s lists, etc. I’ve tried other blockers before (including paid ones) and I found that most come with their own lists (typically derived from the aforementioned ones) and those are not always kept up to date.

I just checked it and it turns out AdGuard is open source. Interesting. I always had an impression (assumption) AdGuard would be closed source. It's also free (that's even more surprising). So, it's more like uBlock Origin, isn't it?

There's another famous OSS ad blocker - AdBlock Plus and it's quite shady as it goes. AdGuard isn't like that, is it?

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

#363

Post by morberg »

mleonhard wrote: post #355

Shave your dry and oily (unwashed) face with an electric shaver. I have sensitive skin. I used disposable razors for years and had got painful and disgusting blisters on my neck. I switched to a $40 Philips 3-head shaver and the blisters reduced. Then someone told me the secret to irritation-free shaving: shave dry, before washing. The oils on the skin protect it from damage by the shaver. I started to shave before m…

Old school wetshaving with a brush, shaving soap, and a DE razor have worked wonders for my skin.

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

#364

Post by AjithAntony »

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.

What about L-arginine?

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

#365

Post by mlvljr »

Yetanfou wrote: post #237

A farm. Room to roam, largely self-supporting due to our own forest for heating and building, own water well, own waste water facilities, no building permit needed for farm buildings, own land to grow whatever we please. My children get to grow up in the countryside, where city-dwellers have empty syringes and crack heads on their doorstep we have elk, deer and wolves. Where they hear police sirens at night we hear o…

Any sasquatch visits yet?

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

#366

Post by Void01 »

cjauvin wrote: post #53
mdisc wrote: post #6

Apple Airpod Pros -- long battery life, near instant bluetooth tethering. Even other expensive headphones/earbuds (Bose) for instance could not compete with the ease of use, noise cancellation, and comfort. I don't think about headphones anymore, they just work the way they're supposed to.

Anyone would have a recommendation for a good choice of wireless earbuds (with a mic) for a Pixel phone?

Check this blog out: https://www.scarbir.com/

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

#367

Post by bloody-crow »

todaysAI wrote: post #195

Squat cage, good bar, 220kg weights, bench press, farmer walk bar. 12 years ago. Best $2,500 I've ever spent.

Where do you keep it?

I've been thinking about getting a squat rack into my garage, but it's gonna be a very tight fit, and I'm not sure I'll be comfortable having 45 lbs plates around my Tesla.

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

#368

Post by makeset »

williamstein wrote: post #79

A bidet to save on toilet paper and improvement the quality of your life. I learned about bidets from a HN post a few years ago. Any bidet is pretty good compared to nothing and they are surprisingly easy to install.

The seat attachment types are excellent. I installed a $50 Luxe model in one of our office bathrooms, it really was a breeze to put in, and works just great.

For reference, I have high-end Japanese units at home, and here's what an extra $1,200 buys you:

- Remote control (slower than manual)

- Heated seat (I don't care)

- Heated water ($55 models have hot connection, if you care)

- Dryer (useless, as you will wipe anyway)

- Remote-controlled jet positioning (easier to move your ass by half an inch)

- Disinfecting UV light, purified water, etc. (marketing BS)

- Nightlight (...)

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

#369

Post by Yetanfou »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #258
Yetanfou wrote: post #237

A farm. Room to roam, largely self-supporting due to our own forest for heating and building, own water well, own waste water facilities, no building permit needed for farm buildings, own land to grow whatever we please. My children get to grow up in the countryside, where city-dwellers have empty syringes and crack heads on their doorstep we have elk, deer and wolves. Where they hear police sirens at night we hear o…

How do you deal with lack of social life and having to drive everywhere - especially for children? My partner hates the idea - she likes to take stroller out and walking around area, going to coffee groups, etc. Living in a farm means at least 10 minute drive and not being able to safely walk anywhere but your farm.

Social life changes but it does not disappear. Those coffee groups make way for meetings with friends and neighbours (which might become equivalent, when there are fewer neighbours you tend to get to know them better). We live 3 km outside of a small village where our youngest goes to school so we can cycle (or ski in winter) there, she can also take the school bus. Our children can walk and cycle to their friends, they won't have to cycle more than ~4km which is perfectly doable. They often meet halfway in the woods to go either to our or some friends place. I think moving to the country is actually one of the best things you can do for your children since they can get so much more real freedom than in some congested car-studded crime-ridden city or a suburb which can only be escaped by car.

The bit about only being able to walk safely on the farm is strange to me, we can walk far more safely on the more or less traffic-free roads around here than we would in any city. Maybe things are different in rectangular-plot-straight-road USA farm country but here in Sweden rural roads meander through the landscape. We walked with stroller (not anymore since our youngest is 9), dog, cat and horses, toboggan (which is called 'pulka' here) or cross-country skis in winter, etc.

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

#370

Post by pingiun »

crossroadsguy wrote: post #309
mdisc wrote: post #6

Apple Airpod Pros -- long battery life, near instant bluetooth tethering. Even other expensive headphones/earbuds (Bose) for instance could not compete with the ease of use, noise cancellation, and comfort. I don't think about headphones anymore, they just work the way they're supposed to.

You all might want to read about long term irreversible health effects (read: hearing loss) of in-ear speakers (irrespective of which company makes/markets them).

Do you have any research that talks about in-ear speakers in particular? With my very lazy Goolge search I only found articles about loud volume being bad
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