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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?

#191

Post by Symbiote »

keiferski wrote: post #61

The Cyrillic script is fairly easy to learn and will let you phonetically read a bunch of languages (Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Mongolian, and Serbian to name a few.) Each language has a few unique letters and pronunciation can vary slightly, but for the most part they are the same. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrillic_script

Half of Cyrillic is learned by the average HN reader if you tell them to think Greek rather than Latin.

"P" is an "r" sound (rho), "П" is a "p" (pi), etc.

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

#193

Post by mkl »

dokem wrote: post #53
arvinsim wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember learning these before but due to not finding any use case for them, I already forgot how to do them properly. Only thing I regularly tie nowadays are my shoelaces. EDIT: Grammar

I’ve also learned a number of knots. The only knot I ever really tie is the tautline hitch. The average person cannot string up a piece of rope and remove all slack because all they know is the granny or square knot. This knot is also incredibly simple and versatile. If you are reading this do yourself a favor and learn this over the next 5 minutes. The bolin should also be learned because the tautline hitch cannot b…

For the curious, it's bowline: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowline

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

#194

Post by bvda »

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…

This, and the earlier you start the better.

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

#196

Post by mkl »

jholman wrote: post #175
mkl wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Only thing I regularly tie nowadays are my shoelaces. For that, in much less than an hour, you can learn the Ian Knot: https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm It makes shoelace tying very fast and secure (the GIF at the top is how long it actually takes!).

https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/betterbowknot.htm for life

Hm, well that looks much slower, and the Ian Knot never comes undone for me.

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

#197

Post by dwoozle »

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…

Cooking is great but you cannot learn it in an hour.

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

#198

Post by switch007 »

eps wrote: post #163
kqr wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarly, Excusez-moi; parlez-vous Anglais? is how you get a French person to speak English.

The full handshake sequence is usually longer that this. They will first reply with "Non", often coupled with a wounded look. Then you have to start speaking in a very broken French, ideally with a monstrous accent (though this comes naturally). And only then they will suddenly re-discover their long forgotten English skills, which will turn out to be quite decent.

I agree. The French are clever (and very nice people). They know you’ve just learnt that one phrase in order to unlock their English: you have to work a bit harder. They want to see a bit of pain first.

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

#200

Post by caro_douglos »

taneq wrote: post #136
xouse wrote: post #121

People think touch typing takes a long time to learn, and getting good does take a while, but it only takes about an hour to memorize the alphanumerics and which finger types what well enough to break the hunt and peck looking at the keyboard cycle forever. Once the cycle is broken just typing casually is enough to eventually achieve mastery. It's only that one or two hours that really suck, and then that week or so…

If you use a computer in any way in the course of your job or daily life, touch typing is the single biggest improvement in productivity and quality of life that you can make. It is SO much faster and easier than hunt and peck.

I had a conversation with a friend who is an attorney and they blew me away with their off the cuff typing speed. It ended up inspiring me to get better at something I did all day....for someone who’s not sure where to start I’d start with gtypist typespeed or speedpad. Don’t forget about mavis beacon!
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