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Ask HN: Teach me something new

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Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#621

Post by tomcam »

marcosdumay wrote: post #530
tomcam wrote: post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well then it’s equally likely that badgers the size of Earth could be forming from time to time, and since they’re the size of earth they would decay much more slowly than our puny local badgers… so shouldn’t we see the occasional Earth-sized badger through the Hubble? Or how about the much lower odds needed for a copy of Shakespeare’s plays translated to Klingon inscribed on a giant sheet of titanium to appear spont…

If by "equally likely" you mean "much, much less likely, but also more than 0 probability" than yes. > so shouldn’t we see the occasional Earth-sized badger through the Hubble? Take another look at the time-frame on the GP's comment and remember that the Universe is ~10^13 years old.

Gotta be honest it doesn’t look a day over 10^12 years old when it’s sober and had a good night’s sleep

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#622

Post by schoen »

mikelevins wrote: post #422
elric wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally speaking, scintillating scotomas don't fill the entire field of vision. They can do, and when they're caused by migraine auras they tend to grow and then shrink again within a 20-60 minute window. I can certainly read when I'm experiencing one. I can continue to work if I really want to, but I find that having a coffee and taking a break is much more comfortable. Migraine auras suck, but are pretty fascinat…

I didn't mention it, but I really like them. I mean, they're inconvenient, and they make me nervous because for most of my life they were followed by the horrible parts of a migraine, but the scotomas themselves are just so beautiful and interesting that I like them anyway. And in recent years I've been able to enjoy them without so much of the horrible parts afterward.

Is the scotoma similar to the effects that you get by applying pressure to your eyeball?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphene#Mechanical_stimulati...

Or is it quite different?

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#623

Post by SemanticStrengh »

stevenhuang wrote: post #604
SemanticStrengh wrote: post #575

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I forgot the names, don't remember wether nimitz is gimbal but anyway that explanation is a great example of what kind of analysis we should do https://youtu.be/qsEjV8DdSbs

Counter claims exist for alternative flight trajectories that fit the data https://mobile.twitter.com/the_cholla/status/151875157360987... https://youtu.be/N9lOQkxMkW8 I would provide credence to the above flight path as witness testimony from the pilots themselves attest to it, while West's claims of it being just glare are on the data alone. Nevermind West's continual assertions of it being glare when we have witne…

Interesting

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#624

Post by andrei_says_ »

TylerLives wrote: post #224
andrei_says_ wrote: post #212

What we call “free will” consists of a multitude of forces we have no control over. Look at your choices and try to find an independent entity making a decision. You will likely notice your conditioning and preferences, beliefs, emotions, thoughts, physiological and psychological state in the moment, your environment, habits, trauma patterns, all collaborating toward one thing or another. “Free will” is a shortcut fo…

> What we call “free will” consists of a multitude of forces we have no control over. What is "we" in this context?

This is the money question, isn’t it.

“Who am I?” Is one of the common pointers used to investigate.

Observing and unpacking one’s choices is another.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#625

Post by jonwest »

akudha wrote: post #567

There is a small but growing community of people who eat only raw fruits and raw vegetables. I tried it and it was awesome (though it was expensive and I had trouble getting quality produce). I find this community very knowledgeable, smart and down to earth. It was impressive to see a 40+ year old body builder (he is no Arnold, but has impressive physique for an amateur) doing so well on this diet. If someone is inte…

Isn’t that what Steve Jobs did before he died?

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#626

Post by jonwest »

andrei_says_ wrote: post #212

What we call “free will” consists of a multitude of forces we have no control over. Look at your choices and try to find an independent entity making a decision. You will likely notice your conditioning and preferences, beliefs, emotions, thoughts, physiological and psychological state in the moment, your environment, habits, trauma patterns, all collaborating toward one thing or another. “Free will” is a shortcut fo…

I think Sam Harris used something like this to argue that there is no self. Basically he said something along the lines of like “picture a movie in your head” and then “where did that choice come from? You had the ability to choose if the movie that appeared in your head was the movie you wanted to focus on, but you didn’t have a choice about which movie popped into your head first”. And then he talked about like, if you couldn’t control which movie popped into your head first, then “who” did? Is that the self? Or something along those lines anyway—I’m poorly paraphrasing here, but it blew my mind when I tried to think about it.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#627

Post by ajb »

flobosg wrote: post #589
someweirdperson wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not medical advice, but... Cyanoacrylate (also known as "Super glue"). I've been using it to cover some small clean cuts. I think today there's even variants approved for such use.

> I think today there's even variants approved for such use. Yeah, look up ‘Vetbond’ and ‘Dermabond’. They are not strictly superglue, but longer chain cyanoacrylates, which confer them some properties such as higher flexibility and bacterial growth inhibition.

Indeed. As I recall, supeeglue was actually developed for this purpose, but they decided it released to much heat (presumably when used in large quantities) and so divised these other chemicals.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#628

Post by iamacyborg »

kaba0 wrote: post #593
iamacyborg wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A thing I find interesting is that autopsies are finding that folks with tattoos end up with stained lymph nodes as the tattoo ink gets spread through the lymphatic system. As tattoos have become hugely popular in the last couple decades I wonder if we’ll start seeing more health problems associated with the chemicals used in inks.

Ink is known to be found in the blood for a bit of time after the tattoo (people can’t even donate for a year after where I live?). So it is not that surprising to find it in lymph nodes whose very purpose is to accumulate foreign things in the body and possibly make them “meet” with immune cells. Also, tattoos are not completely static structures, they are tiny ink droplets that do get collected by our body — we are…

It used to be 12 months in the UK for giving blood after getting a tattoo too, but they changed it fairly recently to be after 4 months.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#629

Post by oriettaxx »

The etymology of "Ciao"

The word derives from the Venetian phrase "s-ciào vostro" or "s-ciào" (schiavo/sciavo) literally meaning "(I am) your slave"

This greeting is analogous to the medieval Latin servus which is still used colloquially in parts of Central/Eastern Europe or the antiquated English valediction "Your Obedient Servant." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciao

In Italy you say ciao both when you meet somebody, and when you leave, while in other countries (e.g. Brazil), you say "Ciao" only when you go away: if you use it when you meet somebody sounds sooooo weird :) :)

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#630

Post by agumonkey »

d4mi3n wrote: post #136
SemanticStrengh wrote: post #122

Very few people know the potent facts about the brain: * your neurons are not in your "brain" 90% of your neurons are not in what you generally denote by brain. They are in your cerebellum. The cerebellum has a distinct neural architecture, that difference is in fact clearly visible with the najed eye. A very poor simplistification would be to call it our GPU. * the spinal cord is huge and is structurally a contiguou…

> also anyone know how is lymph pumped? I don't think the heart pump lymph so is it stagnant? I have a close friend who is working on getting certified as a massage therapist. Skeletal, muscular, and vascular anatomy make up a big part of the required knowledge for the certification. Two interesting things I learned from them: 1. The lymphatic system is massive and runs alongside our vascular system. For example, the…

Do they talk about enforcing good cardiovascular health and PE as a way to maintain lymphathic drain too ?
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