Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?

news.ycombinator.com

141–150 of 253 posts

Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?

#141
post #132
post #131

Hard Sci-fi. Holy crap it just overdelivers. In addition to entertainment, a way to take my mind off things, it also delivers context to daily life and keeps me focussed on trying to deliver something truly worthwhile.

Any recommendations? I’ve read a ton of Arthur C. Clarke in my teens, I’d love to branch out.

I immensely enjoyed Children of Time by Tchaikovsky, coincidentally winner of the 2016 Arthur C. Clarke award :)

Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?

#143
post #132
post #131

Hard Sci-fi. Holy crap it just overdelivers. In addition to entertainment, a way to take my mind off things, it also delivers context to daily life and keeps me focussed on trying to deliver something truly worthwhile.

Any recommendations? I’ve read a ton of Arthur C. Clarke in my teens, I’d love to branch out.

Andy Weir - The Martian. Possibly the most well researched science fiction book I've ever read. Well worth reading even if you've seen the movie, since that leaves out about half the things that go wrong and the large majority of the technical details.

Andy Weir - Artemis. Weir managed to figure out a way for a city on the moon to make economic sense, while physics makes it almost impossible.

Neal Stephenson - Seveneves. First sentence: "The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason." What follows is the brutally, unforgivingly hard consequences.

Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have specific suggestions re: peripherals. I've been using the Logitech MX Vertical Wireless lately and it's been a huge improvement from my previous bulky Logitech G600. I'm wondering if there are keyboard set-ups people really like? I'm enjoying my Gigabyte mechanical keyboard, but would be willing to give it up for something that'll let me get more mileage out of my hands/arms.

Kinesis Advantage. I bought one because my advisor had one. I got sticker shock. Spent a big chunk of my then salary on one. Spent a week getting used to it. After 10 years, it is safe to say I will use a Kinesis until I die. It's the perfect keyboard.

I’m surprised they aren’t more popular. I’ve been using mine for 10 years as well and I doubt a better keyboard exists. Also, they are built to last. I’m still using my original Kinesis and it’s held up perfectly, besides the finger grime.

Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?

#146
post #89

I've spent a ton of time as a developer trying to make money from various side projects and businesses. So most of my top "wish I'd discovered this earlier" list revolves around tech+business stuff: * Strategy #1: Charge more. patio11 has been shouting this from the rooftops for years, but it didn't sink in until after I started Indie Hackers[0]. If you charge something like $300/customer instead of $5/customer, you…

how does one find business ideas that you can charge 300/customer? is it 300 per month or per year?

Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?

#147

#1 How to run. I hated and avoided running for 30 years, then I got to the point where I hated going to a club and I hated having a machine in my home (and not getting any aerobic exercise at all was of course intolerable) so I decided to give running a try. At first it sucked, but then I figured out I'd been doing it wrong so I fixed my stride etc. It sucked less. I still don't enjoy the activity itself, but I'm sur…

> I still don't enjoy the activity itself, but I'm sure glad for the results. I don't think that's a sustainable or worthwhile approach. Exercise and training can be found in many forms and countless different activities - pick those you actually enjoy.

> I don't think that's a sustainable or worthwhile approach.

I have several thousand miles of evidence to the contrary. There's a lot of "exercise" not worthy of the name. For many people, especially at my age, the very heart/lung exertion that characterizes true exercise is at least mildly unpleasant regardless of how it's attained. Fortunately, one can harness competitive or goal-oriented impulses to make up for it. I count miles, I track my pace, I compare myself to other runners my age, I look at the scale, etc. Thinking about these results helps me keep going when I exercise just like it does when I'm hacking on some grotty piece of code at work, and I've been doing that continuously for longer than most here have been alive.

If I only ever did things that were fun in the moment, I'd be a bit of a failure, so I suppose learning the value of deferred gratification is another potential answer to the original question.

Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?

#148
post #89

I've spent a ton of time as a developer trying to make money from various side projects and businesses. So most of my top "wish I'd discovered this earlier" list revolves around tech+business stuff: * Strategy #1: Charge more. patio11 has been shouting this from the rooftops for years, but it didn't sink in until after I started Indie Hackers[0]. If you charge something like $300/customer instead of $5/customer, you…

how does one find business ideas that you can charge 300/customer? is it 300 per month or per year?

Any B2B idea should run 300/mo easily. Finding those businesses to sell to is the challenge.

But perhaps it's easier selling 300/mo to X businesses than selling to 5/mo to 60X consumers? You decide.

Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?

#149
post #143
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any recommendations? I’ve read a ton of Arthur C. Clarke in my teens, I’d love to branch out.

Andy Weir - The Martian . Possibly the most well researched science fiction book I've ever read. Well worth reading even if you've seen the movie, since that leaves out about half the things that go wrong and the large majority of the technical details. Andy Weir - Artemis . Weir managed to figure out a way for a city on the moon to make economic sense, while physics makes it almost impossible. Neal Stephenson - Seve…

I’ve read the first two but will certainly check out the third. I loved The Martian, but Artemis wasn’t my jam. Felt too far fetched to me.

Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's any consolation, it's common that children labeled 'gifted' early, either don't live up to the label or are affected by the label negatively. Even in my own adolescence I watched the most 'gifted' child eat batteries and jump off the roof of the school.

I would actually prefer that label early on. I learned from my parents that back in preschool and early primary school i was math genius. Supposedly i astonished the ones administering preschool tests by doing stuff from two grades above effortlessly. Sadly later on I was stripped of my potential by math teacher in primary school. I solved all exercises by writing the result outright, and she forced me to write down…

I have a PhD in maths. Writing down every step is the only way to get things right and be able to verify that (essential for anything that actually matters). The best maths advice I ever got was a high school teacher (not even my teacher) looking at my work and telling me to write down more steps; suddenly my accuracy and speed got way better.

Maths ability varies widely, and I don't think being able to do things a couple of years earlier than your peers is that uncommon or really predicts your later achievements, except for the encouragement of early praise pushing you in that direction.

If you really want to be good at mental calculations, practice that. You haven't lost anything you can't regain. However, pen and paper is more accurate, more permanent, and can often be faster, though it feels slower because you're physically moving a lot. Your hatred is beyond futile, achieving nothing but hurting you and holding you back.

Post reply on HN