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Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

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Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#951

Post by loco5niner »

joshspankit wrote: post #444
muzani wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Compound anything is powerful. Interest is... really slow these days though. Seems to be around 3% return after inflation. And with all the countries taking really high national debt, who's to say it will get better? The whole compound concept applies very well to startups though. 3% a week adds up.

3% is the high-end of the “consumer” (aka “chump”) interest rates. In fact, since inflation is about 3%, over time your money doesn’t grow. (Though, if you’re earning less than inflation your money is actually decreasing in value, so maintaining is better than that )

I got a 2.9% rate for my car loan and a 3.625 for my house. both pretty close to 3. Are my banks chumps?

Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#952

Post by boring_twenties »

puranjay wrote: post #606
RobertRoberts wrote: post #176

How 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…

My no. 1 recommendation to any young person learning to cook is to master three things: 1. A good fried rice 2. A good stir fry 3. A good omelet These three things alone will mean that you'll have substantial, delicious food at the ready. They're incredibly flexible in terms of ingredients and need minimal skill. A stir fry or fried rice can take any vegetables or meats you have at hand, and an omelet can take everyt…

Strongly second the first two, strongly oppose the third. Omelettes are far too difficult for a beginning cook. Fritattas on the other hand are trivial (you just pour the eggs/milk into the pan after you've cooked the filling a bit).

Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#953

Post by boring_twenties »

jodrellblank wrote: post #818
RobertRoberts wrote: post #176

How 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…

> Leave lid /the entire time/. Leave lid what the entire time? On? Off? Untouched? Steamed-up? Half-on? Cracked? Ajar? Weighed-down? I'm assuming "on", since I have cooked food before, but then how is there 12-15 min of cooking, 25% variation, if you're emphasizing "the entire time"? If you can't look at it or touch it until after it's done, and you can't tell when it's done by the time because the time varies, then…

Lids can and should be transparent.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#954

Post by boring_twenties »

wenc wrote: post #646
kasey_junk wrote: post #542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m always amazed when the “change your own oil” option comes up in these discussions as it’s a very classic example where having specialized tools s and doing it a lot really speeds you up. And it’s a dirty job without a lot of intellectual interest. Further you can get it done for you in 10 minutes for approaching minimum wage. Unless you work on your car for fun and have things like a lift sitting around it seems…

Agreed. Which brings me to something I learned in an hour (from Ricky Yean's insightful piece on "mindset inequality" [1]) and which I'm still learning recognize in myself -- i.e. the disadvantaging qualities of a poverty mindset. Quote from article: "Being poor makes you suck at using money as a resource. My time was always cheaper growing up, so I got used to opting to spend time rather than money. I had to fix thi…

I'd be careful with those "impeccable" $25 oil changes. The only time I've ever tried one, they threw out the filter housing along with the old filter, and just "installed" the new filter without the housing. This was immediately before a 400 mile road trip through the middle of nowhere. Good times. Never again.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#955

Post by boring_twenties »

dragonsngoblins wrote: post #896
RobertRoberts wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would add a few things I learned to improve your memory: 1. Care about the subject 2. Focus on memorizing it: This may seem dumb, but how many times have you forgot where you placed your keys? If all you do is momentarily state to yourself "I set my keys here" when you put them down, it's almost hard to forget. 3. Don't eat white sugar or white flour processed, or other foods that may cause you to loose concentrati…

I've always been confused by people talking about losing things like keys/wallet a lot. I take them out of my pockets and put them on a flat surface when I get home which means they are always in one of like 4 different places tops, but in two of them the vast majority of the time (dining table or desk). Surely there are natural places those things end up?

> I take them out of my pockets and put them on a flat surface when I get home which means they are always in one of like 4 different places tops

Must be nice :)

Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#956

Post by jmmcd »

loco5niner wrote: post #949
jmmcd wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's not compounding in the sense of compound interest.

Sure it is, if you think about how much harder it is to run at 225 pounds vs at 200 pounds.

Yeah, it's easier to run, but nah, because diminishing returns.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#957

Post by TooSmugToFail »

krosaen wrote: post #561

Setup and learn how to use Anki to practice spaced repetition. Going forward you can now decide what you would like to remember (so long as you are willing to spend 5-15 mins a day reviewing)! People's names, that command you always look up, your credit card number, interesting statistics (e.g number of passenger miles per death for bicycles vs cars vs planes) foundational facts in your field that will allow you to p…

I just realised that, years ago, I have used a paper-based version of Anki technique to massively increase my vocabulary in a foreign language in a very short time span.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#958

Post by bitminer »

tempestn wrote: post #144

How, and why, to invest in a simple portfolio of index funds. Split between equity and fixed income based on your risk tolerance, and diversify equities globally. This will give you a low-cost, set-and-forget investment portfolio that you can add to over time without ever having to worry about what you should buy or what the market might do. Just add to it regularly over time, and end up with solid retirement savings…

I would simplify this to: understand the principle of portfolios. And the benefits of them.

Too many people buy just one investment, not understanding they can reduce their financial risks buying several unrelated things. For example, only owning a house. And refusing to buy stocks because of risks.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#959

Post by alanbernstein »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #92

How to shuffle cards, especially without needing a surface to do it. This video did it for me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdCia_d1u5c

Don't get me wrong, that's neat, but do people often find themselves needing to shuffle cards without having a surface?

Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#960

Post by UnFleshedOne »

dokem wrote: post #60
quickthrower2 wrote: post #57

Go through your expenses and identify waste. Even if you’d don’t keep a budget check your credit card statements etc. cancel unrequited subscriptions, haggle utility bills, refinance loans, etc.

But looking at my credit card statement gives me anxiety.

That means you spend too much. It is good to know such things in advance. Not knowing never makes anything better in the long run.
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