Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 1001 posts

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

#201

Post by sillysaurusx »

dwoozle wrote: post #197
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.

Sure you can. If you said 10 minutes I'd agree. But if you can learn a bit about programming in an hour, you can learn enough cooking in an hour to make a yummy meal.

The simplest example is a pork steak. Throw it on the skillet and wait awhile. Turn it over and wait awhile. You now have a pork steak. It's delicious.

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

#202

Post by scotty79 »

tempestn wrote: post #157
Plough_Jogger wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jack Bogle did not advocate for adding international equities to a portfolio as a means of diversification. [1] [1] https://www.morningstar.com/articles/885739/why-jack-bogle-d...

The fact that the Bogleheads forum is a useful source of information doesn't imply that Jack Bogle was right about everything.

... or that the Bogleheads forum is right about everything.

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

#204

Post by RobertRoberts »

harrisonjackson wrote: post #16

CPR/Choking/First Aid course is probably close to an hour. How to change your own oil - probably lots of other money-saving home and auto DIY things... Speed reading and memory tricks can be a multiplier on learning other skills. How to use automation tools like Zapier and IFTTT - again, a force multiplier. You might be interested in this book https://www.amazon.com/First-20-Hours-Learn-Anything/dp/1591... - the auth…

I would add a few things I learned to improve your memory:

1. Care about the subject

2. Focus on memorizing it: This may seem dumb, but how many times have you forgot where you placed your keys? If all you do is momentarily state to yourself "I set my keys here" when you put them down, it's almost hard to forget.

3. Don't eat white sugar or white flour processed, or other foods that may cause you to loose concentration. (I tested this theory when trying to memorize stuff. Crazy the effect it has)

4. Associate a picture (with an action or something outlandish) with the item. You can take a list of 20 items where most people get only a max of around 4 items, I can memorize the entire thing by making a story with the items. No practice needed, it works the first time for most people. Works for memorizing directions as well. (too long to explain the entire process in a comment)

These are just shortcuts though... (from a few memory courses I took in the past)

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

#205

Post by Pandabob »

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…

I second this as a worthy skill to have, but there aren't many dishes you can become really good at making just in an hour. At least anecdotally, just the process of learning to make a great french omelette is pretty brutal.

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

#206

Post by tempestn »

scotty79 wrote: post #202
tempestn wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that the Bogleheads forum is a useful source of information doesn't imply that Jack Bogle was right about everything.

... or that the Bogleheads forum is right about everything.

Naturally. Like any forum there are a range of opinions there. I think if most reasonable people take an hour to familiarize themselves with an investment plan based on diversification and cost minimization though, they'll see its merits.

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

#207

Post by gwd »

unlinked_dll wrote: post #28

How to properly wrap cables. A/V and cable techs are super anal about this and it takes just a few minutes to learn, it will change your life. Cables should never be coiled in the same direction. It creates kinks when unwound and make it extremely likely for knots to form (ever leave your headphones in your pocket?). If a cable isn't being installed permanently it should be "wrapped" using a technique called "over-un…

Haven't seen the videos, but I was taught the "proper" way of wrapping audio cables when I took an audio recording class, and now I obsessively wrap all my cables that way. So much more useful!

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

#208

Post by RobertRoberts »

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…

I would add an odd perspective on this. I learned to touch type in grade school because the programming teacher covered all the keys with white stickers. The home keys had different colored stickers. And she setup a sheet of the keys on stands at each machine.

Adding stickers to your keyboard takes very little time, and will force you to learn to touch type. Everyone in our class was a typist within a couple weeks, and doing great by the end of the class.

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

#209

Post by scandox »

Credibility of sources. I learned this in 40 minutes of a medieval history class. It is simply the constant habit of asking:

Who is speaking?

Why are they speaking?

What have they to gain or lose from speaking?

What have I to gain or lose from believing/disbelieving what is said?

I actually by instinct tend to believe people are mostly speaking in good faith so this is a great corrective for me. Also I have a habit of seeking reassurance instead of allowing bad news to register. So again a good corrective.

Post reply on HN