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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?

#761

Post by quickthrower2 »

relativeadv wrote: post #586
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…

There is beauty to the simple goal of "I want to lift x amount one day." Instead of worrying yourself to death over whether you are "functional" or not. I've seen so many regulars at my gym over the years still doing the same stuff, still looking the same, still lifting the same, still doing kettlebell goblet squats and farmers walks and step-ups and whatever else have you. I realize what an elitist knob this makes m…

Are you saying it’s a mistake to keep training without a goal to lift more?

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

#762

Post by quickthrower2 »

nske wrote: post #435
pranit10 wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you had a medical issue and instead of going to doctor you went on the Internet? hmm not sure I am going to take any advice you give

The reality I've seen is that most doctors can only help with small/very specific issues of this kind if it's something they happened to had encountered before. Otherwise they will send you on a trip for multiple exams and in the end tell you there's nothing particularly wrong and should just bear with it till it becomes worse. Doing our own research or reaching out to others -none of which is mutually exclusive to c…

You need a physio for this. Hopefully a doctor would just recommend physio.

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

#764

Post by asdff »

dnautics wrote: post #727
asiachick wrote: post #724

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried to save money once by making lunch and bringing it to work. My SO at the time who was much more frugal than me pointed out that eating lunch out (socializing) was much more important to them than the savings which over the course of a month was not that much, especially if you factor in the cost of time and that there were way more effective ways of saving money than giving up socializing time. It was also bo…

In many cities in the us eating out is as cheap as cooking. I'm not 100% certain but someone told me it's because you have to consider economies of scale for an eatery and real estate prices and commodity level revenue streams for the supermarket.

Provided the workers scoop deep, a chipotle bowl is generally two meals for me, especially if I get a tortilla on the side to build a burrito with the remnants later. Lunch and dinner for ~$7, breakfast can be a cliff bar for another buck. So ~$56 a week to eat out every day, not too bad if a $50 weekly grocery bill is the rule of thumb.

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

#765

Post by jpamata »

LaGrange wrote: post #410
jpamata wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...why is this guy randomly talking to me? Are they selling something? People assume that even at networking, social gatherings, or speed dating events. Doesn't matter what their initial impression is as you can change their later impression. > ...oh god, this is boring... That can be said for anything. The point is to make them contribute and prevent a one-sided conversation. > ...this is wildly veering _super_ bo…

> People assume that even at networking, social gatherings, or speed dating events. Doesn't matter what their initial impression is as you can change their later impression. They literally wrote "cold approach," so no, this does imply approaching strangers in random situations. > That can be said for anything. The point is to make them contribute and prevent a one-sided conversation. It implies tying people in an unw…

> They literally wrote "cold approach," so no, this does imply approaching strangers in random situations.

You make conversations with strangers all the time. The taxi driver, while waiting at a long queue, a friend brings over a new face, someone on the street shows you interest (they smile first, greet, etc), you see a familiar face out there and you check out if they're showing interest such as a longer eye contact and then you go "Hey we go to the same gym, how's X? blah blah. Oh really? By the way I'm Brad"

> It implies tying people in an unwanted conversation and then trying to leverage inevitable anxiety to get them to say something personal.

Jeez, as long as you're not being a creep it's just friendly banter. There'll of course be people like you who think the world is after them so just have the decency to get out and leave them be.

> Jesus christ, who talks like that.

I'm sure you do it one way or another. Light-hearted teasing and joking: "is that code I see? i'm betting you're a CS student." Heck that's actually how I got my last job referral, sat next to a dude and noticed that he's reading notes that has a diagram of a (segment) tree. Turns out that he's got a position at a company's R&D lab and at that time was prepping for a competition at codeforces. He invited me to his company and we're friends to this day.

> I sure would.

You can't satisfy everyone. Just don't be a creep and pick up on social cues.

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

#766

Post by asdff »

neuroticfish wrote: post #294
tnel77 wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What blows my mind is how much I took my ability to cook for granted. So many people my age (millennial) can barely cook anything. I have friends who eat out every single meal of every single day. People give me weird looks when every single workday I have the same answer to “you wanna go out and get some lunch?” “Nope. I have leftovers!”

I've been trying to learn to cook off and on for years now and I get so discouraged all the time because I'm still either overcooking or undercooking something, still not getting the flavors right, not using the right amount of oil despite the recipe's prescription. I can't be alone in feeling that way.

Equipment matters, too. I thought I was cooking until I got a place with a gas stove and a great pan to match. Electric equipment just oscillates on/off at different rates and produces (un)predictably different results than modulating a constant intensity with fine control.

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

#767

Post by erklik »

dwild wrote: post #623
sharadov wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are becoming one trick ponies, only defined by the work that we do. There is something about cooking, doing things with your hands that is fundamental to the human experience. I cook, but I also like to order in, sometimes I just microwave stuff. It depends on your mood.

> There is something about cooking, doing things with your hands that is fundamental to the human experience. I agree that doing more has plenty of avantage, but is there something specifically about cooking? Have you ever sew piece of clothes that you regularly wear? Most people never did... yet for something that will be used for hundreds of hours, we pay 20$+ for it instead of taking a few hours to do it. Why are…

> is there something specifically about cooking?

I mean sustenance and cooking is one of the fundamental activities required to continue living. Defintely ranks higher than any other skill i.e. sewing etc. Although, still quite important to do that as well.

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

#768

Post by asdff »

tnel77 wrote: post #225
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…

What blows my mind is how much I took my ability to cook for granted. So many people my age (millennial) can barely cook anything. I have friends who eat out every single meal of every single day. People give me weird looks when every single workday I have the same answer to “you wanna go out and get some lunch?” “Nope. I have leftovers!”

I rarely have time to cook which sucks, but I make the effort when I can and I've just bought fresh ingredients.

I get home around 6:30 and go to the gym in my apt until around 7:30, then after I've showered and had my protein shake it's now 8:00 and I'm tired. Prep to eating to cleaning up can take an hour or more for me, and I try to go to bed around 10 if I can to wake up for the next day at 6. If I have to go to the grocery store that can take another hour out of my free time after work. Morale is low, freetime for hobbies are low, and the only way to maximize this time without cutting into fitness or sleep is to go with a premade meal from trader joes and be done with it.

Homecooked meals made a lot of sense when you showed up at home at 5:30 with that pot roast your wife started at 2:30 steaming and plated for you on the table, but that's not the world we live in anymore.

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

#769

Post by notyourwork »

asdff wrote: post #768
tnel77 wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What blows my mind is how much I took my ability to cook for granted. So many people my age (millennial) can barely cook anything. I have friends who eat out every single meal of every single day. People give me weird looks when every single workday I have the same answer to “you wanna go out and get some lunch?” “Nope. I have leftovers!”

I rarely have time to cook which sucks, but I make the effort when I can and I've just bought fresh ingredients. I get home around 6:30 and go to the gym in my apt until around 7:30, then after I've showered and had my protein shake it's now 8:00 and I'm tired. Prep to eating to cleaning up can take an hour or more for me, and I try to go to bed around 10 if I can to wake up for the next day at 6. If I have to go to…

You don’t need to shop or cook daily. I do all of the above and have time to cook my family homemade dinners and breakfasts.

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

#770

Post by jelliclesfarm »

tnel77 wrote: post #225
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…

What blows my mind is how much I took my ability to cook for granted. So many people my age (millennial) can barely cook anything. I have friends who eat out every single meal of every single day. People give me weird looks when every single workday I have the same answer to “you wanna go out and get some lunch?” “Nope. I have leftovers!”

Instant Pot. Game changer.
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