Ask HN: Teach me something new • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#111

Post by tailung » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 6:07 AM UTC

catsarebetter wrote: post #56

You probably don't have free will, you have no more control of the thoughts that motivate you to take action as you do the thoughts that do not.

well, I think that if you are aware (mindfulness) about your thought patterns you can steer them, and usually what you think you become, because your thoughts drive actions.

In my personal experience practicing self awareness has helped with this. I understand that there are factors outside of our control, but what goes on within us can be controlled to some extent with effort and time.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#112

Post by primarydonkey » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 6:07 AM UTC

arnarbi wrote: post #104

darrelld wrote: post #10

In your terminal Ctrl+a will return you to the start of whatever line you have typed, and ctrl+e will return you to the end.

This also works in any native text input on macOS.

On macOS, I also use ctrl+x go to the beginning of the line.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#113

Post by tungle » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 6:08 AM UTC

amin wrote: post #2

Quantitative easing (sometimes mistaking called "money printing") isn't directly inflationary. Because when central banks buy bonds, they do not pay with normal money. Instead, they pay with a special type of money that can never enter the real economy (as to not create inflation). This special type of money are called "bank reserves". And bank reserves can only be used to 1) settle interbank transfers and 2) buy mor…

I doubt point 1), pls enlighten me. When a commercial bank receive interest from bonds from a central bank, it can then take out the proportion of 'real money' it put in before. Say, I'm BofA, I put in 10b as compulsory lock (my laymen term), I use some other money to buy bonds and receive interest, say, 200m. Then if that 200m goes to my reserve, I'd have 10.2b, which is 200m above the compulsory lock, then I can take that 200m out and use for business. Money doesn't have the label 'old money, can use' vs 'newly-printed money, can't use', does it?

Minor edit: adding missing 'take' (in 'take that')

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#114

Post by joseph » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 6:08 AM UTC

m4rc3lv wrote: post #64

Ctrl+D to quickly close a terminal window (Bash).

Ctrl+l clears the screen.

Ctrl+[ is the same as escape, which I like more than reaching for the esc key.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#115

Post by arnarbi » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 6:09 AM UTC

xp is a quick way in vi to swap two adjacent characters (a common typo correction)

Ctrl-T does the same in emacs, and also in readline based programs like bash, as well as everywhere on macOS.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#116

Post by andreskytt » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 6:10 AM UTC

Wombat is the only known animal whose poo is cubical. The reason for this appears to be, that this allows the poo to be easily stacked high to mark territory.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#117

Post by mgraczyk » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 6:10 AM UTC

mikelevins wrote: post #28

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…

I have migraines fairly often and had a similar experience during a job interview. It was bizarre and troubling because at first I thought it was a floater, then I realized it was in the same place in both eyes! It grew over the course of a few minutes until it completely surrounded my visual field, then it faded away.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#118

Post by tailung » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 6:12 AM UTC

subb wrote: post #80

Colors don't exist outside of your brain.

Well, our brains are only wired up to detect a limited spectrum of colors. There are insects and birds that can detect a greater variety of color. So, how can it just exist in our brains?

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#119

Post by idrios » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 6:17 AM UTC

In drug development, a lot of the engineering goes into making sure the pharmaceutical compound -- having been developed -- actually reaches the target area of the body. If the compound is a relatively large particle that needs to get into the blood stream, a nasal spray might result in the compound being deposited at the bottom of a person's lungs without ever getting absorbed. If stomach acids break the chemical down then digestion might not be a feasible approach. Intravenous might work but shots are scary, or worse the medication may need to be administered in low doses over a long period of time, requiring an IV catheter.

For a pill that can be digested, often it will be the case that the pharmaceutical compound needs a lot of buffer space, sugar or something else to prevent it from being absorbed too quickly. So if a pill says "Do not break in half" or "Do not chew", this is because doing these things increased the pill's surface area and the rate that the drug gets absorbed, when optimal rate of absorption has already been calculated.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#120

Post by vasco » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 6:19 AM UTC

leephillips wrote: post #101

By far the most important martial arts skill is the ability to function effectively after receiving a powerful blow to the face, solar plexus, etc. The only way to develop this skill is by practicing it; very few people do, for obvious reasons. If your martial arts training does not include this, it may have many benefits, but is severely lacking as training for actual fighting.

My teacher used to say the most important martial arts skill for real life is predicting a fight and turning around and running away.