Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#171

Post by jongraehl » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 3:46 PM UTC

MarkPNeyer wrote: post #11

jeb wrote: post #4

I'm planning to identify a suitable candidate to get married to, and who is genetically appropriate enough to give me good quality kids, then convince this person to marry me and carry my child, within the next year. Difficult, but I assume interesting.

My Advice: 1) Accept the person that you are, and learn to love that person. If you don't accept who you are and love yourself, others will have a hard time following suit. 2) Do the things you love. In doing so, you're likely to meet others who share the same interests. 3) Stop worrying about whether you'll ever find someone. When you do this, you project a sense of desperation, and others can pick up on this.

As a supplement to 2: make sure you are regularly meeting and talking to women, if you are not already perfectly comfortable doing so. As for worrying, definitely avoid it as long as you're doing the above.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#172

Post by mrtron » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 3:48 PM UTC

davidw wrote: post #134

mrtron wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who is currently riding a moped in 100 degree weather in Asia right now - I really don't mind the helmet. You really don't notice it. Hopping on a moped and heading anywhere, parking anywhere really is quite enjoyable. It is unfortunate north american cities are not well suited to it.

San Francisco is pretty good: doesn't rain often, relatively compact, lots of traffic.

True. How about safety and parking there? Both are important factors. Rain isn't much of an issue.

Being from Toronto, the cold and snow are big deterrents. But safety is the biggest concern for me, even riding a bike in a bike lane is really dangerous. Cars don't look for you when making turns, they just go.

I was hit once cycling when someone made an abrupt right turn without signalling. My handlebar dug into the side of their van and somehow I was able to stay on my bike. They screeched to a halt and started yelling at me about how I hit them. They turned directly into me and I was in a bike lane!

Riding a scooter here feels so much safer - drivers are aware of them and are cautious at the appropriate times.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#173

Post by nzmsv » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 3:50 PM UTC

Random_Person wrote: post #153

I am currently trying to get back into programming. I haven't touched code in 10 years and way back then I was still writing little-- applets I guess we would call them today-- in QBasic and cracking out some crappy VBasic stuff. I was completely self-taught which meant that my code was as sloppy and inefficient as you could possibly imagine while still successfully getting the job done. I had been writing BASIC for…

Python. Easy to get started, but also very capable.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#174

Post by epochwolf » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 3:51 PM UTC

Random_Person wrote: post #153

I am currently trying to get back into programming. I haven't touched code in 10 years and way back then I was still writing little-- applets I guess we would call them today-- in QBasic and cracking out some crappy VBasic stuff. I was completely self-taught which meant that my code was as sloppy and inefficient as you could possibly imagine while still successfully getting the job done. I had been writing BASIC for…

May I recommend learning either python or ruby? They are both fairly easy to pick up.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#175

Post by Random_Person » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 3:52 PM UTC

Poleris wrote: post #160

Random_Person wrote: post #153

I am currently trying to get back into programming. I haven't touched code in 10 years and way back then I was still writing little-- applets I guess we would call them today-- in QBasic and cracking out some crappy VBasic stuff. I was completely self-taught which meant that my code was as sloppy and inefficient as you could possibly imagine while still successfully getting the job done. I had been writing BASIC for…

It might be interesting to just learn how to be a great information architect and product manager. Head a team of offshore developers to make your ideas happen. Just an idea...

I honestly think I would be good that that. I am a very mechanical person-- a large portion of my friends and family refer to me as "the fixer." I feel that I generally am able to develop innovative solutions to problems, but I currently lack the coding skills.

The problems with the few things I want to accomplish currently is that they are not really money-making solutions. They are personal things that I would like to implement across a variety of platforms to include Windows, Linux and my cell. Another would be simplifying work-related tasks that could benefit my co-workers as well, but are not something that the company (nor myself) would be interested in spending largish sums of money on developing.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#176

Post by mrtron » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 3:52 PM UTC

chollida1 wrote: post #106

ronnier wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I visited Vietnam three times over a 3 year period. Is it your first time? Since my last visit, laws have changed that require you to wear a helmet while on a moped. One of the things I enjoyed the most was the freedom in riding a moped around a huge crowded city for hours, not knowing where I was going, or where I'd end up. It's somewhat ruined now with the helmet law. Nearly 100 degree weather wearing a helmet isn'…

I had a close friend die from a crash on a moped due to him not wearing a helmet. I suggest you suck it up and wear one regardless of the heat if you either: use your head for a living, or just value your life.

That is unfortunate about your friend.

Helmets seem to be all or nothing. If there is a law forcing them, 95% of people wear helmets. If there isn't, 95% of people don't wear a helmet.

You would expect people to carefully consider it and make a decision on their own. For some reason people can easily rationalize not wearing a helmet in two seconds and roll with that for years.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#177

Post by ErrantX » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 3:53 PM UTC

tocomment wrote: post #167

ErrantX wrote: post #66

Build a house; specifically a wood/earth "natural house" and fit it out to be self sufficient (for monetary rather than eco reasons :)). Current road blocks: finding time to build, finding a site without NIMBY neighbours, planning permission (grrr)

Where do you buy the land? How do you find it? What do you look for in land? How do you even start to do something like this? I'd love to do this too but I'm overwhelmed by thousands of questions.

I am at the early stages of this; so I can only part answer your questions. But, basically, land is fairly easy to come buy. There will be various land agents nearby (particularly in the countryside) you just have to track them down.b (I've also used this site before: http://www.uklanddirectory.org.uk/index.asp)

Alternatively find a nice spot and find out who owns it; make an offer. You might get a good deal this way - I had my eye on a pretty nice third of an acre plot which I agreed for under £15,000 (which is a steal). Unfortunately there was a couple of NIMBYs over the other side of a small copse (in huge houses I should say) who had me in mind as an eco warrior and, I guess, expected hippies, and drugs and whatever other stereotypes they could come up with. And so planning permission was looking like an expensive process.

What do I look for in land (it is a personal thing of course!). I want a small amount of woodland - or access to woodland next door. I'd like a hillside so I can sink a house successfully. South facing plot (for build purposes). Road access. I'd like it to have a running watercourse. High water table so I can sink a well (that is a minefield of health and safety btw). Enough space to run a septic drain. Enough wind/sun to provide power [in the long term]. Close enough to have mains in the short term.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#178

Post by nadam » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 3:54 PM UTC

roel_v wrote: post #143

nadam wrote: post #48

To do research in building a consumer behaviour simulator, or more generally a 'society simulator' (simulating a whole city with people in it who have jobs, who are going to restaurants, go shopping, pay taxes, etc...) Meanwhile trying to figure out whether I can create some kind of startup/business out of this. Bottleneck: My boring day job, which is needed because I have a family to support.

If you're serious about building a business around this (i.e., if you're into the business side of this rather than the pure research side), post a way for me to contact you - we should talk.

Yes I am serious about building a business around this. My strategy is to simulate as much aspect of a virtual person's life as possible, because the simulation of different aspects strengthen each-other, makes the simulation more precise, enables more and more emergent behaviour. On the other hand in the beginning I will mostly try to aim for those aspects which have immediate business value: to simulate consumer behaviour in shops, restaurants, etc...

I happily talk about this with you. My email is:

nadam60 at gmail dot com

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#179

Post by thaumaturgy » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 3:57 PM UTC

Mc_Big_G wrote: post #127

abstractbill wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Banging pots and pans together will usually scare bears away. If not, just remember you don't have to outrun the bear - you just have to outrun your slowest friend.

I bought an air horn. If I don't need it for bears, it should be a funny alarm clock for my buddies. ;)

As you move through the wilderness, the wildlife around you runs away depending on how loud or out-of-place you are. Think of it as being a really effective animal-chasing flashlight.

In the vast, vast majority of cases, a confrontation with an animal of any size will lead to the animal trying to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible. I've been within 20 feet of big black bears and had coyotes sniff my toes; all I had to do was move a little and they took off. People just like to imagine "confronting" a bear and scaring it away because those few cases get a lot of media attention, and they're exciting.

So try instead to shrink your circle as much as possible and see what you can encounter out there. I like to sometimes find the right sort of spot and sit really quietly for a few hours, to see what comes along.

Tom Brown's books on tracking &etc. are pretty OK and talk about this a bit.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#180

Post by gcheong » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 3:57 PM UTC

WesleyJohnson wrote: post #65

I suppose the most interesting goal, to me, is getting my teeth fixed. I didn't take care of them all through my twenties and it's had serious repercussions on my social and professional life as well as taking a drastic toll on my confidence. Roadblocks and/or bottlenecks are easy: finances. Dental work isn't cheap, especially when you're looking at as much work as I need done. The "fear" of the dentist was also an i…

You might try this to help improve and maintain your teeth and gum health (in addition to regular flossing and the steps your dentist recommends of course ):

http://www.30smile.com/

I know it looks hokey and informercially, and I was very skeptical but my father (a retired orthodontist and now an investor in the company) was insistent I try it so I said I would give it a try and see what happens at my next checkup which was a couple months away. At my next checkup my dental hygienist was really impressed with my gum health, something she never mentioned before and I didn't mention anything about the tooth brush. Same thing with my wife at her last checkup and I've heard similar from other siblings. It takes some getting used to as your gums will likely bleed some in the beginning but I think it's worth it as you don't worry about trying to hit all the spots. One other thing I've noticed since my last cleaning is that I haven't seen a buildup of calculus in certain areas that I usually got before even though I would try hard to brush and floss those areas.