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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?

#371

Post by gwbas1c »

donatj wrote: post #54
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.…

I really thought I hated spaghetti growing up. My parents would boil the noodles and then pour room temp sauce from a jar at the table individually. It was inedible. I was visiting a friend and had it all cooked together in the pan for the first time and it was eye opening.

One of the things I did my whole life was never criticize my mother's cooking. (She was a much better cook than me, especially her pasta sauce.)

BUT: Once I started cooking I started coaching her back. Specifically, I taught her to defrost her burgers before grilling.

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

#372

Post by Zecc »

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-...

Since someone is going to point this out, it might as well be me:

Ian's Knot [1] not only is super-fast (once you've learned it properly), it also ensures you are tying a strong knot.

Also, a heel lock [2] is a independent thing which is also good to learn.

  [1] https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm

  [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBbc6TackDQ

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

#373

Post by hypertele-Xii »

Breathing.

I was sucking my gut in on inhale, and expanding it on exhale. Once I tried it the other way around, it locked and I've breathed this new way ever since.

It's obvious to give your lungs more room, couldn't believe to have been doing something so basic wrong.

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

#374

Post by imglorp »

matwood wrote: post #210
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.

Not just electric, but a SonicCare style brush. It's like leaving the dentist every time I brush.

This. It's not really an electric toothbrush but you get far cleaner than one. My dentist is insistent.

I've had the same base model for 10+ years going strong.

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

#375

Post by broguinn »

hacker_junky wrote: post #148
ralmidani wrote: post #125

Putting off an annual checkup with a PCP (I’m 42, and the last PCP I had was a pediatrician). I had long suspected my cholesterol and triglycerides were high due to family history and my excessive love for cheese, and last week that suspicion was confirmed. I’m now more resolute than ever on lifestyle changes (exercise, less red meat, getting most of my calcium from 2% milk). On the bright side, I also got reassuranc…

That's great news that your cholesterol and triglycerides were high and that everything else looks normal! Are there any other tips that you would suggest for making lifestyle changes to help lower cholesterol and triglycerides?

High cholesterol runs in the family (my grandfather exercises 7 days a week, is thin as a rail, and had a heart attack at 60). I'm 31 and learned that I have high LDL two years ago.

I can only speak to my case, so YMMV. Through a liver blood panel, I learned that I had high bilirubin, SHBG, and GGH - which indicate compromised gallbladder and liver function. One doctor suggested I have my gallbladder removed.

Instead, through research on pubmed and examine.com, I was pointed to TUDCA - a bile salt that helps clear cholesterol and biliary sludge. After two months of supplementation, I've seen a severe reduction in intestinal discomfort - and I suspect a follow-up blood test will show a reduction in my high liver panel and LDL.

If you have abnormally high LDL for your body type and lifestyle, I would encourage you to get a liver panel and look into TUDCA.

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

#376

Post by Waterluvian »

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…

My wife and I have a rule, "everything needs to have a home." Because if it doesn't have a home, it becomes clutter, and after enough clutter, it finds a home... usually a sub-optimal one, like a junk drawer.

The kids (4 and 5) have adapted to this wonderfully. It really helps them. It makes cleanup a trivial task because everything is known to belong somewhere specific.

Related to this: the recognition that everything is harder in a messy home. If you have stuff everywhere, you are paying a small tax any time you want to find or do something. Even cluttering your cupboards and drawers means you're tediously sifting through too much stuff or constantly worried about knocking something over while getting something else out. It's been especially good to avoid the dance of removing items to get the items underneath, then putting them back.

Finally: the lesson that when you keep stuff, you are paying a "tax" on keeping it. Throw away stuff you don't think you'll ever need again. It's cheaper to re-buy 1 or 2 things than to keep 100 of them for years and years. That storage space could be better used.

Bonus: If everything has a home, and you run out of homes, you quickly recognize that you have too much stuff and it might be time to make trade-offs. This puts an upper bound on the amount of stuff in our home.

Note that this could all easily sound super hardcore but it's not. It's just a general guide we have. We aren't forcing our kids to throw excess toys away and we're not writing a book about it. A flexible tool to guide behaviour, not enforce it.

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

#377

Post by account42 »

Dowwie wrote: post #293

One of the worst thing I did for many decades was drink bottled water and/or tap water. For many years I bought bottled water for home consumption. I eventually learned about under-sink reverse-osmosis water filtration systems and invested in one. For the last ~15 years, I've used such systems, following scheduled filter replacements. The water tastes and feels better than bottled water. Last year, my county water ut…

This depends a lot on where you live. In a lot of places, tap water is just fine. In others you might as well be drinking from a public swimming pool.

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

#378

Post by robofanatic »

DontchaKnowit wrote: post #189
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…

This is so absolutely hilarious to me because this is 100% something I'd do. I had a friend come over once and then he came over again a week later and all of my kitchen cabinet doors were open and in the exact same position as they had been a week prior. He was like "dude did you not shut your cabinet doors? Wtf" Its just not even on my radar

on a similar note. about a decade ago, I was sharing apartment with a good friend. It was 2 bed/1.5 bath apartment. He had a bad habit of leaving the shower-tub knob on 'shower' after he's done. I was a late person so usually ended up showering last. My bad habit was that I didn't pay attention to the knob before starting the shower. For first week every single day I got a blast of freezing water on my face, until one day I confronted him! obviously that didn't work. So one day I woke up early and did the same thing to him. From that day our habits changed. I always check the shower knob before turning it on.

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

#379

Post by [deleted] »

colordrops wrote: post #318
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-...

This has been a huge game changer for me since I switched as well

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