Standing. Turns out you shouldn’t be standing with locked knees. I learned it in my twentees. People with hyperlordosis have tendency to do that it seems.
Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
741–750 of 1001 posts
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#742Staying warm. In the winter, I used to stay warm by turning up the thermostat. Then I discovered (via HN) the Low-Tech Magazine article, "Insulation: first the body, then the home." [0] The article argued that it's much more efficient to focus on heating yourself rather than your whole living space. I invested in high-quality wool clothes that I wear in layers and warm slippers. Now, I keep my home about 5 degrees F…
austerity
Efficiency.
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#743So many haha ...
1) Working for someone else instead of starting my own company.
2) Trusting people to do right thing instead of accepting that people are selfish.
3) Giving up on interesting tech projects because my friends didn't understand its value.
4) Write a lot of code before testing it haha
5) Avoiding tech bubbles instead of figuring out how to get in and out quickly.
6) Not keeping close contact with my tech friends (many of whom are super successful now).
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#744Staying warm. In the winter, I used to stay warm by turning up the thermostat. Then I discovered (via HN) the Low-Tech Magazine article, "Insulation: first the body, then the home." [0] The article argued that it's much more efficient to focus on heating yourself rather than your whole living space. I invested in high-quality wool clothes that I wear in layers and warm slippers. Now, I keep my home about 5 degrees F…
I have a chihuahua. I'm willing to accept the slightly higher cost in winters for her being comfy.
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#745What’s with the proliferation of Ask HN post? Take this back to Reddit.
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#746I always thought I need to exercise [more] to lose weight. Wrong. For all practical purposes, to lose weight you must change what you eat.
Great one. Not many people know this, or will even think it's nonsense. Exercise is overrated. What you eat is really, really important.
It is just calories in calories out. Exercise may help with that. Depends how much you eat.
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#747Being arrogant for 47~ish years, did nothing good for me. Now I work hard on being friendly, curious and kind towards others.
As my grandfather lay dying in a hospital bed he said, "I wish I had been a nicer person". I'm glad you figured this out with time to make adjustments and I hope that it brings you a smile in your final days.
I did lol @ Final Days. He's 47!
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#748Not waking up earlier to the fact that the meat section in the supermarket is a product of systemic, gruesome torture of intelligent beings. Like probably many of you who read this, I usually felt a bit guilty when I was confronted with the ugly facts we are all vaguely familiar with. I justified my meat consumption with specieist arguments (humans are so much better than pigs, cows, etc). My wife challenged me to wa…
A few minutes of skipping around Dominion for me too.
> I now think that the extreme abuse of animals by the food industry on behalf of ignorant consumers is probably the worst evil of the 21st century.
I agree, there's no comparison, billions of land animals a year, trillions including sea life. I can't count that high.
The pain has gotten worse year after year. You watch otherwise smart people give bad arguments, or complete ignorance. To maintain any kind of social life you have to deal with being uncomfortable with those around you.
Hopefully we can have small impactful moments upon other's lives.
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#749I used to be a NIMBY. I thought small neighborhoods that have nice characteristics should never evolve or change, I thought places with tons of people were unpleasant to live in, I looked down on people who could afford market-rate new housing ("evil techies"), I thought new development increased rents (it doesn't). 20ish years later, seeing the homelessness, property crime, and housing crisis in the Bay Area, I am c…
Our homeless crisis is determined by factors unrelated to the amount of housing (though it used to be, and it’s important to build new housing in general) - nowadays we actually import homeless people to places like SF.
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#750You aren't supposed to rinse your mouth with water after brushing your teeth. You're supposed to spit excess, but leave the toothpaste on to absorb.
This is one where I KNOW I do it wrong. The dentist prescribed me a hardcore sensitivity toothpaste for an issue, but emphasized that it will only work if I don't rinse after brushing. But... I just can't not rinse after 30 years of muscle memory. I generally remember this right as I'm rinsing. The sensitivity toothpaste has not worked, of course.
Maybe mark the cup with something that will remind you. Clip a paperclip over the edge? Store it upside down? (If you're using a cup.) This could help interrupt the habit.