inductive combinatorics
Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
521–530 of 1001 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
#522Earlier quoted context omitted.
Alright, I'll bite. This is such a victimhood mentality and a ridiculous statement. I wasn't wealthy when I started investing. Hell, the first dollar I put into my long term portfolio was when I was living in my car! I started with ~$200 that I made from doing a collection of odd jobs (mowing lawns, computer repair, moving dirt, etc.). Every extra penny I made went into investing into a moderate portfolio focusing on…
>> "It is possible with the right mindset. In an investing group that I'm part of, my story is the norm - not the exception." Two words: selection bias. That your path worked for you does not mean it's the only wise path for every circumstance. The path of most people around me is their savings get destroyed by surprise medical or repair bills because they were born into poverty and never get a chance to build meanin…
1) You have your own selection bias as we all do. I'm not ignorant to that. However, many of the folks that have gone through similar transformations don't come from "easy" backgrounds. They had their own tragedies (financially, emotionally, etc.) that they had to overcome. Being born into poverty is an excuse to sidestep responsibility of your own life.
2) An outside can't sabotage your own idea. Only you can sabotage it. Sure, it doesn't make it any easier, but if someone can change your mind on your definition of "success" then you will never achieve it.
3) Yes, people spend money on dumb shit. I was in the same environment. Keeping up with the "jones" was a thing. Succeeding was also looked down upon. You know what is consistent with folks who came into success from those areas? They said f-that, I'm going to make my own path, regardless of what others say. They had mental fortitude.
4) My first car cost $2,000. My second car cost $1,000. Both I saved up and purchased. If police are harrassing you about being homeless in a car, then leave that location. That sounds like a police state (Cali anyone?). And before you say "It's not that simple to just leave!" Yes, yes it is. In order to change my situation, I literally "YOLO'ed" across the country (no job, nothing) in order to get out. Much like many in this investment group, in order to get out of hell, you have to make huge bets.
I live in the USA in 2019. I lived in the USA when I was homeless during the height of the recession. It is easier now than it was then.
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
#523Logical fallacies - how not to think. Kelly criterion - what can you afford to invest. Polya's problem solving method. Salary negotiation skills. Rich Hickey's Hammock driven development (for non programmers too). No Limit Holdem Poker flop and turn odds calculation.
If you play blackjack for money, you can improve your EV significantly by devoting an hour to learning (most of) basic strategy. If you already know basic strategy, you can learn the basics of card counting in an hour. (Actual card counting requires significant practice after you "know" it in order to maintain a correct count under stressful conditions.)
Agreed on learning blackjack. I went to Las Vegas about a month ago and spent the four-hour plane ride trying to memorize some of the pattern in a blackjack strategy chart. I didn't memorize all of the actions for every possible hand combination, but I learned enough to be dangerous (read: enough not to make dumb/obvious mistakes). I ended up quadrupling my money (only a few hundred dollars) and have been playing really well on a blackjack app on my phone.
Practice makes perfect is really the maxim here.
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
#524Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
#525If it is the last hour of your life, learning music is the certainly wise choice given by Socrates. I don't see how it can be different for any other spare hour.
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
#526Earlier quoted context omitted.
As much as I dislike seemingly knee-jerk contrary statements against “known-good” knowledge, I feel that there is an important point here: aggressively attempting to compound interest is a poor use of time when you only have, say, hundreds of dollars. Better to focus on compound interest “in the background” while optimizing for growing capital or income-generating skills.
So, essentially: compound interest is something wealthy people are good at because it's useful when you are wealthy. Not because learning about compund interest will make you rich?
Yes, it’s vastly easier even Buffet says so. He only started really using compounding has his core strategy when he already had his first billion (he was 60). Then his fortune doubled a few times in the space of 20 years. People can search YouTube for the interview.
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
#527How to cook for yourself, really, really good food. I no longer crave restaurant food, and all of the really important things I learned about cooking take just the time to read it, hear about it and then try it. All without any special hardware. A few examples: 1. Cooking jasmine rice: rinse it first, 1 c. water to 1 c. rice ratio. Bring to boil, turn down heat to lowest setting. Leave lid /the entire time/. Fluff th…
I've cooked all kinds of rice with different utensils under many different circumstances. The one trick I've learned is, yes follow the regular rules (rinse, boil, cook on low), except at the 10 minute mark lift the lid and take a quick peek. If it's too dry add a little water. If it's too wet cook with the lid off until it drys out then put the lid back on. (Of course, a good rice cooker does all that for you.)
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
#528Writing a functional component in React, and some uses of it.
Hey downvoter, I learnt that little bit in one hour, and it was pretty useful from the get go in my area of interest.
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
#529Learn how to use Google Search effectively. It's a "language" we use every day. Mastering its few features can make any search so much more effective and precise: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2466433
wow that's handy!
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
#530meditation