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Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

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Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#531

Post by sangd »

chrissnell wrote: post #100

Some suggestions: - Build something. A new workbench for your office. Fix up an old car. Build a pull-up bar in your garage. Use your hands, cut some wood and metal, and treat yourself to a new tool or two. Do this with every project and you will have a nice tool collection before you know it. - Learn to take pictures on a manual camera. You can do this with a modern automatic camera if it has a manual mode. Learn ab…

I have done all of the above except the classical music. I find spending time to do meditation is more useful.

All of the above, I find cooking is an incredible skill that many people underestimate greatly.

Here are the things that I do for my cooking for every week or every two weeks.

+ 30-45 minutes grocery shopping including driving.

+ 30-60 minutes per day to cook daily dinner and prepare breakfast.

+ 10-15 minutes to clean up.

And what I think it solves/helps/improve our family daily life:

+ Food quality is definitely way better than outside. We have good amount of vegetable, fruits, fresh meat/fish/poultry and other dairy products.

+ Lots of time saving for not going out, spending time waiting, driving, moving the whole family around.

+ The cost is very low, probably around 1/3 of eating out.

We do spend a day or two to eat out or eat carry-out food.

While this takes time (months/years) to get a good skill at cooking and minimizing the time, this is so far one of the best skills I have had and I do think people should invest in it.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#532

Post by agumonkey »

localhost wrote: post #291

I would say focus on building a solid, functional body vs. say focusing on goals like "how much can I lift?" or "how much do I weigh?" or "how fast can I go?". Those goals, while laudable, can also cause you to break down your body in your quest to achieve them. An example from literally yesterday. Over the past few months, I struggled with medial knee pain that was limiting my ability to walk up stairs and do other…

I'd love to know more about biomechanical readjustment

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#533

Post by 8ytecoder »

chrissnell wrote: post #100

Some suggestions: - Build something. A new workbench for your office. Fix up an old car. Build a pull-up bar in your garage. Use your hands, cut some wood and metal, and treat yourself to a new tool or two. Do this with every project and you will have a nice tool collection before you know it. - Learn to take pictures on a manual camera. You can do this with a modern automatic camera if it has a manual mode. Learn ab…

+1 on all of the above. I just want to add one thing

- Learn an instrument. Just for fun. You don't have to play in an orchestra or a band.

I came to this thread expecting it to be about tech skills, glad to see this comment at the top. Overall, I'm more grounded and happier for it (and less depressed).

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#534

Post by Kiro »

This thread reads like something straight out of a lifestyle magazine, with the first technical advice being on page two.

I miss the days when true hackers were proud to sit in their dark basements and drink Jolt Cola, at most caring about their Unix beards.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#535

Post by riffraff »

gozzoo wrote: post #244
billfruit wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Learn to enjoy poetry. There is so much of great poetry in English, but I think it is not being read and appreciated enough. It is a kind of mental challenge like doing a puzzle, to unlock the full vivid meaning. Also reading fiction, though how exactly it helps one is beyond me, but it offers glimpses into other worlds. For example I read recently 'The French Lieutenant's Woman', I doubt its richness of detail, and…

I've been trying the same and each time I failed miserably. I just don't get it and certainly can't enjoy it. Can someone recomend good poetry sutable for highly analytical mind or a book about apreciating poetry?

I am not very fond of poetry (except some specific poems), but there is one book of english poetry which I think you may enjoy: the Spoon River Anthology[0].

It's a collection of epitaphs for the cemetery of a fictional town, and each one basically tells a story. Fiddler Jones[1] and Blind Jack[2] (coincidentally, both about fiddlers) contain a few of my favourite verses in all literature.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_River_Anthology [1] https://www.bartleby.com/84/60.html [2] https://www.bartleby.com/84/74.html

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#536

Post by reaperducer »

a_bonobo wrote: post #115
inform880 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cooking thing really hits home. I work in a high stress, banking environment at a fortune 500 company, and I eat out most days. I know theoretically how to cook, but between the time it takes to shop, cook, and clean, AND I'm doing well financially it's so hard to convince myself to cook. Living alone doesn't help either.

If you have the money (and it sounds like you have), there are quite a few recipe box companies which send you boxes of ingredients and recipes every few days. It's a nice stepping stone towards fully cooking for yourself as it cuts out the shopping/deciding part.

And if you don't want to invest in a subscription until you're sure that meal kits are right for you, most supermarkets sell their own.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#537

Post by conductr »

Hitton wrote: post #473
dfansteel wrote: post #446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cook or eat left overs 6 nights a week at this point. Beyond saving a massive amount of money it's shocking how much better the steak I make myself is than one I can get out. Most cities have kitchen equipment stores (not just Bed Bath) that actually have cooking courses you can take. Now "home made pasta" starts with flour and eggs.

Saving massive amount of money? Judging just from demographic that uses hackernews (mostly tech workers), I think it's actually cheaper to eat out if you measure price of your time by how much money would you earn in that time while working compared to shopping for the ingredients, cooking and doing dishes.

I hate that metric. Most people don’t earn money in their off time. So it’s just an added expense.

That said, I eat out 80%+ of the time. Because I’m lazy.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#538

Post by 8ytecoder »

sangd wrote: post #531
chrissnell wrote: post #100

Some suggestions: - Build something. A new workbench for your office. Fix up an old car. Build a pull-up bar in your garage. Use your hands, cut some wood and metal, and treat yourself to a new tool or two. Do this with every project and you will have a nice tool collection before you know it. - Learn to take pictures on a manual camera. You can do this with a modern automatic camera if it has a manual mode. Learn ab…

I have done all of the above except the classical music. I find spending time to do meditation is more useful. All of the above, I find cooking is an incredible skill that many people underestimate greatly. Here are the things that I do for my cooking for every week or every two weeks. + 30-45 minutes grocery shopping including driving. + 30-60 minutes per day to cook daily dinner and prepare breakfast. + 10-15 minut…

Agreed, no one in my friend circle cook any more. I learnt it out of necessity - I missed home cooking and then became vegan which made me realise the lack of creativity of the chefs when it comes to vegan food. Now I love cooking just for the sake of it.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#539

Post by astura »

quincy_daniels wrote: post #524
the_gastropod wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a suspicion this kind of living, in part, explains why so many people are miserable. I feel like removing every inconvenient thing from your life, and "having someone else do it for you" must make your ability to handle discomfort atrophy to the point where the tiniest unpleasantness feels like a catastrophe. Like muscles, your brain, your immune system, etc., we need a little discomfort / struggle once in a w…

I agree with your general sentiment. However, in my anecdotal sampling of people who frequently cook vs frequently eat out, tolerance for discomfort is greater in those that frequently eat out. Especially in relation to food, where those who frequently cook almost can't tolerate food cooked by others. Further on the food front, people who cook seem to be more heavily affected by fasting, or less willing to tolerate i…

>Especially in relation to food, where those who frequently cook almost can't tolerate food cooked by others.

OMG, this was definitely SO true of my grandma when she was alive. She would frequently go gambling and the casino gave her free food and she wouldn't eat it. She'd claim she didn't like it, all of it, couldn't stomach it, not even a bite. So she'd pack a lunch.

It kinda bothered me because as far as I'm concerned if food is free as long as it's not rotten/unsanitary or meat (I'm a vegetarian) and I'm hungry, I'll happily eat it, even if it doesn't taste good.

(The casino's food is/was just fine, btw)

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#540

Post by bluGill »

Hitton wrote: post #473
dfansteel wrote: post #446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cook or eat left overs 6 nights a week at this point. Beyond saving a massive amount of money it's shocking how much better the steak I make myself is than one I can get out. Most cities have kitchen equipment stores (not just Bed Bath) that actually have cooking courses you can take. Now "home made pasta" starts with flour and eggs.

Saving massive amount of money? Judging just from demographic that uses hackernews (mostly tech workers), I think it's actually cheaper to eat out if you measure price of your time by how much money would you earn in that time while working compared to shopping for the ingredients, cooking and doing dishes.

My doctor tells me the secret to long life includes not eating out too often. Which is short for restaurants tend to cook in ways you wouldn't at home: deep fried food is much more common. They tend to use more salt than I would. Sugar is added to things that don't need it. Cheap oils instead of the better quality ones...
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