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Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

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Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

#991

Post by Bird22 »

Tying my shoelaces. It turns out, most of us have been doing this wrong for years. When you get to the stage where you have a loop in your right hand and are taking the left lace around that loop, it's actually better to go behind the right loop, not in front.

If you do this properly, you never need to double knot your shoes.

One thing to keep in mind, it will be harder at first and that might lead to your initial knot being looser which will lead to unties. Keep at it, and I guarantee it is better. It still blows me away that the other method is so prevalent when this one is better and no harder. How does that happen!?

Source and graphics: https://www.realmenrealstyle.com/tie-shoes-right-way/

Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

#992

Post by SeqDesign »

ddorian43 wrote: post #513

Diet. I think everyone should do keto diet or carnivore. There is no "everbody has his own diet". It is a little bit strong, but I believe it to be true. Everything else is either addictive and harmful or doesn't have nutrients.

awful opinion! carnivore diet?? just awful

Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

#993

Post by gardenhedge »

yamtaddle wrote: post #479

Oh! Another! Car side mirrors. I spent more than a decade of driving adjusting them wrong. You want them so you don't see cars behind you at all in your side mirrors until they're transitioning off the edge of your center rear-view mirror. This gives you far more coverage of your sides, and every car is still visible in at least one mirror at all times. For me, where I put my seat, this usually means setting them as…

So you're telling me that people have their car mirrors adjusted so that when they look into their mirrors they mainly see their own car?

Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

#994

Post by ornornor »

eastbound wrote: post #987
exogen wrote: post #736

OK here's a dumb one. You know how the label on EVERY toilet bowl cleaner bottle always says "Step 1: flush toilet"? I always dutifully followed those instructions, thinking "hmm, the extra splashing water must be pretty important and help it mix or something." But no. One day I realized it's just that my toilet always started from a flushed state... like a normal person. But they knew somewhere out there, someone wo…

Europeans often keep shit in their toilets for two reasons: Living in a multistory building and not annoying the neighbors downstairs during the night; and saving water. It’s absolutely disgusting, but such people also don’t usually wash their hair (and I mean, engineer-type people, not necessarily unemployed kind).

What? I’ve lived in Europe most of my life and have never seen any of that. People flush toilets and wash their hair here too.

Besides “Europe” is a big place, how can you generalize.

Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

#996

Post by ornornor »

ariekachler wrote: post #312

Dismissing people as undesirable without any thought of why they became the way they are. It's very easy to quickly make up your mind about someone who you don't like without asking yourself "why did this person became such an a-hole or someone you just don't want to have any relation with". I have realized that most of these people have had lives that have made them whatever negative adjectives I would give them.

Everyone has reasons for being the way they are, but I don’t see why I should suffer assholes even if they’re the product of their circumstances? It feels like it would be a huge energy leech with no benefit. What am I not seeing?

Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

#997

Post by andersthue »

codazoda wrote: post #411
andersthue wrote: post #366

Being 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.

It brings me nothing but good experiences already, and I for sure will smile at the end of my days here on earth knowing I at least for some time had a positive impact on others.

Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

#998

Post by dublinben »

armatav wrote: post #749
gongdzhauh wrote: post #690

I 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.

If you'd like to learn more about this, here's an entire book that investigates the various factors involved: https://homelessnesshousingproblem.com/

Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

#999

Post by AndrewOMartin »

rjmunro wrote: post #940
throwawaysalome wrote: post #214

Monopoly. If the player elects not to buy the property he lands on, it gets auctioned to the other players. This oft unfollowed rule makes the game 100x more fun when followed.

How can you have an auction when there is only one other player? The aim of monopoly is not to gather money / property, it is to bankrupt your opponents as quickly as possible. Any rule that increases money supply in the game (paying extra for landing on free parking or Go, for example) makes the game longer and worse. It's a pretty terrible game - something about the psychology of it makes you hate everyone else pla…

- A: I've landed on Mayfair that's $400, I don't want to buy it at that price, so we go to auction. I bid $1.

- B: I bid $100

At this point A has to decide whether to keep bidding and risk bidding higher than the price they didn't want to pay anyway, just to stop their opponent getting it, or to hold on to their funds and potentially let their opponent get Mayfair for below list price.

Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?

#1000

Post by rngname22 »

eastbound wrote: post #987
exogen wrote: post #736

OK here's a dumb one. You know how the label on EVERY toilet bowl cleaner bottle always says "Step 1: flush toilet"? I always dutifully followed those instructions, thinking "hmm, the extra splashing water must be pretty important and help it mix or something." But no. One day I realized it's just that my toilet always started from a flushed state... like a normal person. But they knew somewhere out there, someone wo…

Europeans often keep shit in their toilets for two reasons: Living in a multistory building and not annoying the neighbors downstairs during the night; and saving water. It’s absolutely disgusting, but such people also don’t usually wash their hair (and I mean, engineer-type people, not necessarily unemployed kind).

The saying is 'if it's yellow let it mellow" (aka don't flush), "if it's brown, flush it down". And I haven't heard that as a European thing.
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