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Ask HN: What simple facts have you learned surprisingly late in life?

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Re: Ask HN: What simple facts have you learned surprisingly late in life?

#21

Post by fm2606 »

p0d wrote: post #9

You don't know what other people are thinking, and they don't know what you are thinking. If you make yourself fat and then lose weight you will have excess skin. Walking 3 miles a day is life changing. Paying your mortgage off can leave a sense of emptiness, like what next? If you have 3 people in your life actively looking out for your interests you are very fortunate It rains more in the afternoon When you ask peo…

> Paying your mortgage off can leave a sense of emptiness, like what next?

It didn't leave me with "what's next" but it was very anti-climatic for me. I worked a shit-ton of over time and a 2nd job to make extra payments. We were dumping everything into our mortgage. I looked forward each month tracking where we were and where we would be in 1-month, 6-months and a year out. I looked forward to writing that last check. And then the day came and there were no balloons or ticker-tape parades. The next day the sun rose in the east and set in the west. Weird!

Re: Ask HN: What simple facts have you learned surprisingly late in life?

#22

Post by fm2606 »

thibautg wrote: post #13

I've learnt that it's OK not to succeed on the first try. It's not about the destination, it's about the journey. As long as you're getting closer to your goal, you're on the right track. But you don't usually get there right away. I used to give up as soon as I failed.

Yep, came here to state this as well and was the 1st thing that popped in my head when I read the question.

Re: Ask HN: What simple facts have you learned surprisingly late in life?

#25

Post by vmilner »

suzzer99 wrote: post #11

That there was basically no spicy food in the Old World before Columbus. All the heat in South Asian and Southeast Asian cooking comes from chili peppers imported from the New World. The spiciest thing the Old World had to offer was something called long pepper which is like black pepper with a little more kick.

Horseradish may be a counterexample.

Re: Ask HN: What simple facts have you learned surprisingly late in life?

#26

Post by account-5 »

p0d wrote: post #9

You don't know what other people are thinking, and they don't know what you are thinking. If you make yourself fat and then lose weight you will have excess skin. Walking 3 miles a day is life changing. Paying your mortgage off can leave a sense of emptiness, like what next? If you have 3 people in your life actively looking out for your interests you are very fortunate It rains more in the afternoon When you ask peo…

> Paying your mortgage off can leave a sense of emptiness, like what next?

Months away from this. Obviously each to their own, but I think I'll have a sense of achievement, security, and relief once it's gone. Due to sacrifices I've made we've managed to pay off a 25y mortgage in a little under 12y. I can't wait to be debt free and not at the mercy of bank interest rates and economic disasters. I can then start putting more aside for my kids.

Re: Ask HN: What simple facts have you learned surprisingly late in life?

#27

Post by kashunstva »

SillyUsername wrote: post #15

Average intelligence is actually low intelligence - if it wasn't, we wouldn't have idiots needlessly starting wars, soldiers would recognise vanity or pride orders in the guise of nationalism instead of real threat and not risk their health (CF Russia, or passing out at Queen's funeral) advertising and the herd effect would be less effective, as would politicians' lies. Politicians seem to be generally worse for this…

> Average intelligence is actually low intelligence - if it wasn't, we wouldn't have idiots needlessly starting wars

My guess is that political decisions result less from either lack or surplus of intelligence but from the presence or absence of trait psychopathy and the presence or absence of a moral centre.

Re: Ask HN: What simple facts have you learned surprisingly late in life?

#28

Post by Cyuonut »

aspyct wrote: post #5

It took me around 25 years to figure out that the piece of clothing we call in french a "pullover" (yes, say that with a strong french accent) is actually an English word describing how you physically put on the piece of clothing. It's hard to describe how much this felt like a french word for all this time. To be honest, I even thought it was local jargon... We typically call it a "pull". Everyone does it, it's the…

We take many words for granted. For example, it took decades for me to realize the Finnish word "maailma" (the world) consists of words "maa" (earth) and "ilma" (air).

Re: Ask HN: What simple facts have you learned surprisingly late in life?

#29

Post by emmjay_ »

resonator wrote: post #20

Today I learnt that salt raises the boiling temperature of water. I knew it lowered the freezing point but I never considered it might also change the boiling point.

It does, but hardly worth noting.

"So yes, salt increases the boiling temperature, but not by very much. If you add 20 grams of salt to five litres of water, instead of boiling at 100° C, it’ll boil at 100.04° C."

Ref: https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2007/04/12/1894612.h...!

Re: Ask HN: What simple facts have you learned surprisingly late in life?

#30

Post by mablopoule »

aspyct wrote: post #5

It took me around 25 years to figure out that the piece of clothing we call in french a "pullover" (yes, say that with a strong french accent) is actually an English word describing how you physically put on the piece of clothing. It's hard to describe how much this felt like a french word for all this time. To be honest, I even thought it was local jargon... We typically call it a "pull". Everyone does it, it's the…

Oh, nice.

On french words I got way too late, there is the fact that "Gendarme" (a kind of policeman) is "gens d'arme" (people of weapon)

And also, thinking about the word "Breakfast", as in "Breaking the fast", I realize that the french "Déjeuner" is also literally "Dé - jeûner".

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