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Hacker fuel (can't live without it)

news.ycombinator.com

21–30 of 42 posts

Re: Hacker fuel (can't live without it)

#21
post #5

Green tea. I get the good stuff from a Chinese grocery store nearby.

Me too. Yamamoto Jasmine Green from the asian grocery on Castro street here in Mountain View. Two or three cups per day (more and I get jittery rather than alert).

Jasmine tea is delicious. You should try brewing it from real jasmine tea pearls (a small ball of green tea with a jasmine flower hand-wrapped around it). Most (all?) of the bagged jasmine tea is basic green tea with jasmine flavoring added.

Re: Hacker fuel (can't live without it)

#22
post #9

Balance (protein, carbs, vitamins) and variety. To save money (and keep the girlish figure) eat half of large-portioned dinners and have the leftovers for lunch the next day. Coffee in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, just to get revved up. A liberal nap-taking policy, because sleep is the best cure for fatigue. Exercise and sunlight, go running/cycling/tree-climbing outdoors for efficiency. And oatmeal! Plai…

I'm also a big fan of oatmeal with some fresh fruit or raisins/craisins, some crushed walnuts or almonds (raw, not smoked or roasted, as any kind of cooking breaks down the healthy fats in tree nuts), and a little brown sugar usually makes for a nice solid day of pleasant work.

Re: Hacker fuel (can't live without it)

#23
post #15

mountain dew (regular or code red). caffeine is like a legal performance enhancing drug for coding. Outside of that I try to keep hydrated by drinking lots of water (and keeping a restroom nearby).

Mountain Dew is probably one of the worst things you can put into your body that comes in a can and can be bought under the age of 18.

It's not even worse than any other carbonated soda. I would say it is marginally better, because it has fruit juice in it! I'm not joking, look at the label.

Re: Hacker fuel (can't live without it)

#24
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Me too. Yamamoto Jasmine Green from the asian grocery on Castro street here in Mountain View. Two or three cups per day (more and I get jittery rather than alert).

Jasmine tea is delicious. You should try brewing it from real jasmine tea pearls (a small ball of green tea with a jasmine flower hand-wrapped around it). Most (all?) of the bagged jasmine tea is basic green tea with jasmine flavoring added.

I've tried all of the gunpowder/pearl teas at the two asian markets on Castro, and have been underwhelmed. The tea tends to be too bitter and the Jasmine overpowering. The price also offends my delicate sensibilities--between 9 and 18 bucks for one tin, which makes twenty to thirty cups of tea. My girlfriend drinks Mighty Leaf Earl Grey, so I can become accustomed to spending crazy prices for tea, but only if I enjoy it more than the cheaper alternative.

Re: Hacker fuel (can't live without it)

#25
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jasmine tea is delicious. You should try brewing it from real jasmine tea pearls (a small ball of green tea with a jasmine flower hand-wrapped around it). Most (all?) of the bagged jasmine tea is basic green tea with jasmine flavoring added.

I've tried all of the gunpowder/pearl teas at the two asian markets on Castro, and have been underwhelmed. The tea tends to be too bitter and the Jasmine overpowering. The price also offends my delicate sensibilities--between 9 and 18 bucks for one tin, which makes twenty to thirty cups of tea. My girlfriend drinks Mighty Leaf Earl Grey, so I can become accustomed to spending crazy prices for tea, but only if I enjoy…

My supply of Jasmine pearls came from a trip to Beijing a while ago... the department store had two varieties of Jasmine pearls; I got the better ones. I don't remember exactly how much it was, but it was definitely a lot less than a dollar an ounce.

Especially when cost is a concern, you can reuse the leaves at least two or three times. The only problem is figuring out how to store the wet leaves. I never figured that out, in fact.

Enjoy your tea, the convenience of bags is enough that it's really rare for me to actually make it from leaves.

Re: Hacker fuel (can't live without it)

#27
post #10

Caffiene doesn't do it for me anymore, so I've been experimenting with energy drinks. They seem to work better, but generally taste awful (Red Bull is the prime offender).

I never understood why redbull tastes the way it does. It reminds me of bad bubble gum. Other energy drinks seem to have gone in the same direction? Is it required for energy drinks to taste the way they do?

Hm. Didn't know it struck anyone else the same way. What my father does is fills one of those giant AMPM Big Gulps (or what the fuck ever they're calling them) with a mix of all the different energy drinks they have. Guess what that giant plastic mug always smells like to me? Bad bubble gum.

Re: Hacker fuel (can't live without it)

#28
post #15

mountain dew (regular or code red). caffeine is like a legal performance enhancing drug for coding. Outside of that I try to keep hydrated by drinking lots of water (and keeping a restroom nearby).

Mountain Dew is probably one of the worst things you can put into your body that comes in a can and can be bought under the age of 18.

As a recovered Mountain Dew head, I agree. The sugar in Mountain Dew is the worst of it. I used to require five or so Mountain Dews every day. When I slowly stopped drinking it (I switched completely to coffee to avoid caffeine withdraw) I stopped getting really hyper then crashing five times a day. My concentration is much better without Mountain Dew. It took me about five weeks to switch (one less can per week).

Not too long afterward I got my caffeine intake down to whatever is in two to four cups (or shots of espresso) of coffee a day, where it's been ever since.

Now, a few years later, I'm in the process of limiting myself to two cups (or shots of espresso) a day. I'm down to three, but it's fairly difficult to go lower -- which sucks.

Don't drink all this shit! Drink water and sleep when you're tired; maybe have a cup of coffee a day. Your concentration will be much better. There's natural variance in energy levels throughout the day. Stimulants just make the highs higher and the low lower -- but they also make the highs shorter and the lows longer. Check up and really pay attention to yourself through the day -- you'll likely want to reclaim your energy back from all these supposed "energy drinks" and other garbage.

Re: Hacker fuel (can't live without it)

#29
post #10

Caffiene doesn't do it for me anymore, so I've been experimenting with energy drinks. They seem to work better, but generally taste awful (Red Bull is the prime offender).

Maybe it's my old age (32), but large doses of stimulants end up reducing my productivity over the span of a few days. I'm much better off with a trickle of caffeine via green tea, and getting a good nights rest, rather than going on work binges and crashing afterward.

It's not your "old" age. I'm 23 and I absolutely agree. See: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=55250

Re: Hacker fuel (can't live without it)

#30
DMAE - it's a plant extract they sell at health food stores which is apparently metabolized into stuff that feeds your brain more oxygen. Commonly used with autistics because they often start to talk more fluently when they've been taking the stuff.

Best cure for programmer's burn out ever invented.

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