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

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

#181

Post by 2rsf »

mkl wrote: post #143
donatj wrote: 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 Martian in no time, I struggled with Artemis though

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

#182

Post by 2rsf »

lutorm wrote: post #47
ty2019 wrote: post #39

The absurdity of taking student loans for education

This is highly location dependent though. I just happened to notice that the interest on my Swedish student loan is 0.16% . That in combination with the income-indexed payback scheme and the fact that the loan balance is forgiven at age 65 makes it an absurdly good deal.

Swedish higher education is generally free, or at least very cheap.

If you insist you can find places that are not free, but generally loans are taken to finance housing and living

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

#183

Post by stallmanite »

donatj wrote: post #132
ian0 wrote: 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.

Ian Banks - The Use of Weapons

The "culture" series of books was the first coherent portrayal of a non-dystopian advanced society with AIs that I encountered. It’s a reasonable “good” future.

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

#184

Post by wufufufu »

kls wrote: post #80
nicoburns wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can personally attest to being at least 50-70% more creative / productive as an engineer when I'm using stimulants in low-doses and eating right. I'm not saying that ADD/ADHD aren't a thing (as it happens, I'm pretty on the fence about that), but I just wanted to point out that pretty much everyone will be more productive/creative when using stimulants and eating right.

The problem is it's not about the productivity, it's the clarity and it's profound for someone with ADD/ADHD. So I started abusing nicotine at a young age (a very common ADD self medication) and I quit several times over the years and every time I quite my mind would be in a fog and never come out. I am not talking about 5-30 days, I am talking about 5 years later and I wake up every day feeling foggy. I tried everyt…

What other stimulants did you try and which ones worked the best?

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

#185

Post by sannee »

once_inc wrote: post #153
Pepe1vo wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

So did I, but I wouldn't classify it as hard sci-fi. Too many things left unexplained for that.

If we consider Three Body Problem as hard sci-fi (see above), then Children of Time definitely clear that bar too.

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

#186

Post by sannee »

donatj wrote: post #132
ian0 wrote: 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.

Blindsight by Peter Watts. It's great at avoiding the "benevolent aliens that are basically just weird humans" concept that most other sci-fi books seen to enjoy.

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

#187

Post by AlchemistCamp »

nostrademons wrote: post #171
namanyayg wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They also require very different strengths & skillsets in founders. B2B products are usually sold, not bought. Sales skills in the founder are paramount, as well as a personality that can take rejection well and find win-wins and value-adds for the customer. B2C products live and die by viral growth and word-of-mouth, because margins are not usually enough to support a consultative sales process or any sort of intens…

> There are some time periods (now, dot-com bust, or the late 80s & early 90s) where there are basically no viable B2C ideas available.

What leads you to believe that? I know plenty of people with healthy B2C businesses started recently. Heck, my business is B2C and while niche, it's viable for me.

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

#189

Post by [deleted] »

mkl wrote: post #164
jfe1234 wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seveneves is great as are Snow Crash and Anathem by the same author. Anathem has a lovely epic feel. Tough read though!

I haven't read Anathem yet. Stephenson's Cryptonomicon and The Diamond Age are also excellent, but getting away from hard sci fi.

[deleted]

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

#190

Post by blaser-waffle »

juddlyon wrote: post #70

Here's a couple for web dev: * how DNS works and how to configure common record types * regular expressions - specifically for URL rewriting * setting up good logging and monitoring * asking for help earlier

> how DNS works and how to configure common record types

A DNS haiku:

It's not DNS There's no way it's DNS It was DNS

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