Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Teach me something new

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

691–700 of 782 posts

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#691

Post by beanlog »

mkl wrote: post #390
beanlog wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ever since I learned that the frequency ratio between adjacent keys on a piano is always a constant twelfth root of 2 regardless of whether you're going black-white or white-white, I've been sort of frustrated with the way pianos are designed. Transposing a song to a different key could have been effortless if keys were structured differently, such as with uniformly alternating white and black keys, rather than the 2…

The Janko layout does this and has been around since the 1800s: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janko_keyboard I have one, in the form of a Chromatone keyboard ( https://chromatone.jp/chromatone/index.html , no longer available). The uniformity does make it harder to play by touch, but it otherwise has a lot of advantages. I have been experimenting with different colours and tactile markers (little rubber feet intended…

This is really interesting, thank you for sharing! I wonder if it would have been more successful if it had just two rows instead. The duplicate rows add more power, but at the cost of adding ambiguity when sightreading, as you have to impromptu figure out what fingering you want to use. And it also makes it more expensive and intimidating looking. I feel like two rows would provide the core benefits while being more accessible. But I could be totally off, as I've never touched this thing.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#692

Post by beanlog »

sideshowb wrote: post #398
beanlog wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ever since I learned that the frequency ratio between adjacent keys on a piano is always a constant twelfth root of 2 regardless of whether you're going black-white or white-white, I've been sort of frustrated with the way pianos are designed. Transposing a song to a different key could have been effortless if keys were structured differently, such as with uniformly alternating white and black keys, rather than the 2…

Pianist here. I see where you're coming from, but I definitely do also rely on the different shapes of keys to know where I am without looking. I've been learning to play the button end of an accordion and personally I find the uniformity makes it harder. But maybe that's just what I'm used to. As an aside, I find c major a horrible key to play in, again I think the uniformity makes it harder and less ergonomic, but…

This is pretty eye opening to me, I would have never thought anyone found C major more difficult to play in than other keys. To me, difficulty is directly proportional to the amount of stuff in the key signature, but that may be because I've never had proper education (~5 years of lessons as a child from a very casual teacher).

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#693

Post by legends2k »

Engineering-MD wrote: post #249
vasco wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My teacher used to say the most important martial arts skill for real life is predicting a fight and turning around and running away.

I always thought this, but only works if you are alone, or the person you want to protect can run too. Fighting is most useful to defend someone else who can’t run or fight.

I think the advice is more meta than actually about fighting. It’s about being aware of one’s circumstances/environment and choosing your battles.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#694

Post by derangedHorse »

mikelevins wrote: post #48
krasotkin wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have experienced this several times and almost never have a headache. I definitely can't read what's beyond/obscured by the scotoma. The first time it happened was during a test in high school and the splotch grew until I was forced to read the questions in my peripheral. I have an anecdote that corroborates your observation that cognitive experiences are more complicated then assumed: I was once very, very sleep d…

One of the other weird things I referred to is best described as discovering that I could be awake and asleep at the same time. I think it might be another case of our naive ideas about cognitive processes being a little oversimplified. It sounds like nonsense, of course, but that's because we naively assume that sleep and wakefulness are opposites--that they are mutually exclusive. What if we're wrong about that? Wh…

You should try and play an audiobook before you lay down to rest and see if you can hear and remember what's being played. Echoing another comment describing this as similar to sleep paralysis, playing things while I'm "asleep" and recalling them once awake has led to successful results

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#695

Post by andrei_says_ »

rawoke083600 wrote: post #305
andrei_says_ wrote: post #212

What we call “free will” consists of a multitude of forces we have no control over. Look at your choices and try to find an independent entity making a decision. You will likely notice your conditioning and preferences, beliefs, emotions, thoughts, physiological and psychological state in the moment, your environment, habits, trauma patterns, all collaborating toward one thing or another. “Free will” is a shortcut fo…

>What we call “free will” consists of a multitude of forces we have no control over. Yea I also noted that, I always thought, I like red meat, but it was not my decision to like red meat. Sure I can control the urge or desire to have it or not have it. But I never "decided" to like red meat !

Yes, and! What makes you want to control the urge?

It’s like that all the way down, as far as I’ve been able to see. That, and automations/patterns/habits.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#696

Post by andrei_says_ »

viceroyalbean wrote: post #269
Engineering-MD wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think of it as we have free will, bound by the entity that we are.

We can do what we want, but we can't arbitrarily change what we want.

Yes, even wanting to change it is also a want. It loops.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#697

Post by andrei_says_ »

iamacyborg wrote: post #336
andrei_says_ wrote: post #212

What we call “free will” consists of a multitude of forces we have no control over. Look at your choices and try to find an independent entity making a decision. You will likely notice your conditioning and preferences, beliefs, emotions, thoughts, physiological and psychological state in the moment, your environment, habits, trauma patterns, all collaborating toward one thing or another. “Free will” is a shortcut fo…

It thinks therefore I am

It’s funny, another pointer of Nonduality is to focus on the feeling of “I am-ness”

Beyond story or thoughts.

Suggesting that there’s more to it to the thinking mind.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#699

Post by leephillips »

sjhuang26 wrote: post #698
leephillips wrote: post #99

Most rape victims in the United States are men: https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/prison/report.html Caution: that’s hard, explicit, distressing reading.

@leephillips Do you have a source for the statistic?

It’s in the link.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#700

Post by themeiguoren »

snyena wrote: post #38

The Boltzmann brain hypothesis suggests that it would be more likely for a single brain to spontaneously and briefly form in a void (complete with a memory of having existed in our universe) rather than for the universe to come about in the manner cosmologists think it actually did. In this physics thought experiment, a Boltzmann brain is a fully formed brain, complete with memories of a full human life in our univer…

The anthropic principle is my favorite mind-hole to spelunk down.
Post reply on HN