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Ask HN: Teach me something new

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161–170 of 782 posts

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#161

I've described this on HN before; forgive me if you've already seen it. I have chronic migraine. It sounds worse than it is; I rarely suffer attacks anymore, and when I do, they're usually mostly harmless, as in the case I'll describe below. Contrary to popular belief, migraine is not a headache. It's something a little more like an epileptic seizure. Intense headaches are one common symptom, but there are a lot of o…

Very interesting!

About 8 years ago, I had many migraines (a few per year but I would essentially be unable to do anything for a couple of hours). Many of those were the results of being in a noisy environment or high physical effort.

I knew whenever I was going to get a migraine because I got the auras (couldn't see in front of me, but if I remember correctly I still had my peripheral vision) and couldn't feel the very tip of my thumbs and my tongue (yes, apparently you can lose this, too). A few minutes after those feelings, sure enough I would get the migraine. When in that state, I have a big headache, can't see much, nausea.

Hopefully other people will relate!

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#162
post #132

In the 1800s, scholars who knew a lot of languages (including, often, several modern and ancient European languages, and increasingly also Sanskrit) started to notice some amazing patterns about similarities in words among all of these languages, including languages from very far apart and that had no visible connection at all from the point of view of their present-day speakers. As these patterns were explored, they…

And a search for the roots of said "shared" terms creates trees of relations which are crucial and incommensurately important to recognize clusters of meanings that link disparate "terminal" terms, and arrive to "patterns" in this compositional structure that are the "heart and soul" of those clusters.

(For example, I recently mentioned in these pages the terms for the "sky" as spawning from ideas of "covering", which also spawn terms for "colour" and "concealing".)

> The languages that turned out to be related this way included

...I see you have left out no less than Italian, the post-Latin at the epicenter!

OT: BTW, Seth, thank you for Let's Encrypt! (Maybe this is also something that OP did not know?)

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#164

Take a positive integer. If it's odd, multiply it by 3 and add 1. If it's even, divide it by 2. Example: 7-22-11-34-17-52-26-13-40-20-10-5-16-8-4-2-1-4-2-1-4-2-1... Any positive integer you take, you end up in a 1-4-2-1 loop. It's not proved yet but there's no number found yet that satisfies otherwise. That's the Collatz Conjecture or the 3n+1 problem. Probably the easiest conjecture to explain to someone. Good day/n…

Very interesting. whats the use case of this?

If it's proven then we can add a new pointless compiler optimization (some of them are already allowed to assume some things never terminate, even)

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#165
Shortcuts for dictionary in MacOS.

If you use Spotlight search to look up a word in dictionary, you need to hit down arrow repeatedly to select the word, or click on the word. Instead, you can:

- Command + L to jump to the word

- Command + D to open Dictionary app with that word

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#167

The study of unidentified aerial phenomena (UFOs) and the acknowledgement of the extraterrestrial hypothesis (or extra dimensional) will become mainstream. https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/news/press/release/gillibr... Soft disclosure has happened already via the USS Nimitz encounter. If UAPs are true, then the floodgates are open and will lead to a forced re-evaluation of other high strangeness phenomena (telepathy…

The SR-71 was designed in the 1950s, unless progress has stalled I don't see why these reports aren't just DARPA playing with their new toys.

And besides, the floodgates will not open, that isn't how the scientific method works. If the little green men arrive, the evidence we have showing everything is mumbo jumbo doesn't cease to exist.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#168
post #154

Most of the scientific problems (diseases, quantum gravity, etc) have been resolved, it's just that no one knows it. Because researchers are paid to produce new papers, but nobody is paid to extensively read the ocean of existing papers. Cancer? PNC-27 + thymalin Ageing? Skq1 + Epitalon Quantum gravity? https://arxiv.org/pdf/gr-qc/9706055.pdf

Isn't that what conferences and journals are for? Reviewing and selecting the most important papers? When something is really solved (a solution exists without negative side-effects; and this fact has been verified several times), they should indeed look for new problems.

In theory, not in practice. Revolutionary papers ignored by all are the rule, not the exception. I have seen hundreds. See e.g. This 410% reduction of ALL cause mortality. No side effects and in addition significant amelioration of quality of life (sleep, etc) It was twenty years ago and will keep being ignored for the rest of eternity. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12577695/ The human condition is miserable because even the scientists themselves are actually scientifically illiterate.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#169

I have tinnitus. Before I had tinnitus I could simply use earplugs. Problem when I sleep: when I use earplugs it presses in my ear and it aggrevates my tinnitus. Solution: - Bose QC 35 - Earplugs Now the earplugs don't get pushed in and don't aggrevate the tinnitus. The bose QC 35 gets pushed onto whatever is directly outside your ear, which is a bit uncomfortable but fine. This is my new earplugs setup and it works.

I really like the Ohropax wax or silicon earplugs. They don't penetrate your ear canal as much as the foam plugs, but still provide a good enough 23 db noise reduction. They definitely make my tinnitus more noticeable, but I'm kind of used to it anyway at this point.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#170

In "Magic the Gathering Old School 7 Points Singleton" you play the card game Magic the Gathering but only with cards printed in the first 2 years (93/94) and only maximum 1 copy of each in your deck. And power cards are limited to 7 points according to a table found here https://ligaoldschoolmadrid.wordpress.com/2021/03/25/7-point... A wonderful nostalgic way to play the game.

> and only maximum 1 copy of each in your deck

Excluding lands, of course.

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