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Resolutions for programmers (2012)

matt.might.net

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Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)

#221

Post by koide »

mysterypie wrote: post #118
mordocai wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lifting is actually very efficient and having more muscle can help for lots of everyday tasks. I think you are just hanging out with the wrong people if all (or even most) of the people you know who lift are doing it for "girls"

> having more muscle can help for lots of everyday tasks When I've discussed the motivation with weight-lifting friends, they bring up that very point. Then I ask them to give an example of something they did with their strength today or in the last month, that I couldn't have done just as easily (I'm average strength). After long thought they come up contrived examples like, I had to lift my motorbike to change a ti…

Yesterday dropped something behind a bookshelf I had never been able to move by myself, not even when empty.

Guess what? Could lift it up, picked the dropped item, found a couple more that had been lost months ago, and put it back into place.

Additionally, the feeling of accomplishment is awesome, being able to do things you could never do before is just incredible.

Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)

#222

Post by isolate »

koide wrote: post #221
mysterypie wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> having more muscle can help for lots of everyday tasks When I've discussed the motivation with weight-lifting friends, they bring up that very point. Then I ask them to give an example of something they did with their strength today or in the last month, that I couldn't have done just as easily (I'm average strength). After long thought they come up contrived examples like, I had to lift my motorbike to change a ti…

Yesterday dropped something behind a bookshelf I had never been able to move by myself, not even when empty. Guess what? Could lift it up, picked the dropped item, found a couple more that had been lost months ago, and put it back into place. Additionally, the feeling of accomplishment is awesome, being able to do things you could never do before is just incredible.

You can walk bookshelves if you tilt to one side and rotate, then tilt to the other side and rotate. Just in case you ever lose those muscles... hey, it happens!

Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)

#223

Post by koide »

isolate wrote: post #222
koide wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yesterday dropped something behind a bookshelf I had never been able to move by myself, not even when empty. Guess what? Could lift it up, picked the dropped item, found a couple more that had been lost months ago, and put it back into place. Additionally, the feeling of accomplishment is awesome, being able to do things you could never do before is just incredible.

You can walk bookshelves if you tilt to one side and rotate, then tilt to the other side and rotate. Just in case you ever lose those muscles... hey, it happens!

Sure, but even that doesn't work when there's the right combination of being too weak and the shelf being too heavy.

Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)

#224

Post by oAlbe »

clessg wrote: post #168
henrik_w wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get ergonomic keyboard and mouse (laptops are terrible ergonomically), and get a break program to remember to take breaks. I didn't, and was fine for over ten yeares, before I started to have bad RSI problems. I managed to get well, but it took a lot of effort and time: http://henrikwarne.com/2012/02/18/how-i-beat-rsi/

> get a break program to remember to take breaks. I really like Awareness[0]. Stand[1] is good too, but I prefer having 5 minute breaks every 15 minutes, which Stand doesn't allow. [0] http://iamfutureproof.com/tools/awareness/ [1] https://getstandapp.com/

What about EyesRelax[0]? It allows you to personalize your breaks the way you prefer, and also personalize what happens to your computer when it's breaktime.

[0] http://themech.net/eyesrelax/

Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)

#225

Post by yekim »

richmt wrote: post #48

On the health note, the single most beneficial thing I did for myself this year was to start lifting. 6 months ago I started committing 3 days a week to a strength training program which I've strictly followed since. Making gains in the gym has motivated me to sleep better and eat better which both have had huge effects on every aspect of my life. Not only that, but the exercise has helped a ton with anxiety I've had…

That's awesome! I think more SW engineers ought to be getting exercise for all the benefits mentioned in these comments.

Me personally - I climb, bike, run, and lift. I like variety, and I usually only do one of those activities a day. I find yoga to be too slow, with little mental engagement, and thus boring. My wife, however, loves yoga. And we run and climb together when we can.

It's all about finding some form(s) of exercise / physically-intense-activity that works for you. I found that I'm attracted to things that engage both my mind and body. Rock climbing is incredibly hard physically and mentally engaging; each boulder problem is like solving a puzzle. And for the progression minded, each route or climb is graded so one can measure progress and overall fitness improvement. Mountain biking is fast, furious, and mentally demanding because you have to pick the right line to stay rubber side down. I tend to ride as fast and as hard as I can, both up and down trails to keep it demanding and fun.

Cross-training is important as it forces you to work different muscle groups, which promotes overall better body awareness and health. I also find that when I take breaks in the middle of the day to do these kinds of activities, I find I'm able to focus better and get more done. I've also found that when I'm stuck on a particularly thorny challenge, be it a defect or algorithm / design problem, taking a break and getting some exercise usually opens up new avenues of thought and ideas I hadn't considered previously.

Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)

#226

Post by clessg »

oAlbe wrote: post #224
clessg wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> get a break program to remember to take breaks. I really like Awareness[0]. Stand[1] is good too, but I prefer having 5 minute breaks every 15 minutes, which Stand doesn't allow. [0] http://iamfutureproof.com/tools/awareness/ [1] https://getstandapp.com/

What about EyesRelax[0]? It allows you to personalize your breaks the way you prefer, and also personalize what happens to your computer when it's breaktime. [0] http://themech.net/eyesrelax/

Looks useful! Only problem is Windows. :(

Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)

#227

Post by ultrasounder »

magnetised wrote: post #161
richmt wrote: post #48

On the health note, the single most beneficial thing I did for myself this year was to start lifting. 6 months ago I started committing 3 days a week to a strength training program which I've strictly followed since. Making gains in the gym has motivated me to sleep better and eat better which both have had huge effects on every aspect of my life. Not only that, but the exercise has helped a ton with anxiety I've had…

From personal experience I would urge everyone to start with some form of Yoga. It's less easy to quantify your progress than with weight lifting (whose easy conversion into numeric growth I wonder isn't one of its attractions when you're a data-driven kind of person) but has further reaching benefits beyond basic physical strength. After 3 years of fairly regular yoga practise (3-4 sessions a week), even when combin…

There is an awful lot of pseudo religious bollocks that surrounds it but within that there's a really solid method for improving the quality of your life. Yet another opinionated englishman mis-representing facts about Yoga. Yoga's got nothing to with religion. Me dad's been practicing it for 30 years, does the basic asanas. None of those Boutique Iyengar yoga that you find at Uppity Yoga places such as this http://www.samyamayogacenter.com/custom_pages/weekly_class_s... I live literally across the street from this place and havent bothered. Not everyone who lives in Palo Alto drives a Tesla if you know what I mean. Now some straight facts. It is pureBollcks to say that Yoga directly contributes directly to your Good Health. My said father who has been practicing for 30 years and counting suffered a major heart attack and had to undergo angioplasty. He is vegetarian and in addition to yoga leads a fairly active life. It did help him manage the pain and subsequent recovery though.

Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)

#228

Post by khgvljhkb »

prolepunk wrote: post #104
khgvljhkb wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How wonderful would the world be if we had a base 10 clock instead of 24? Let's make a day be 86400 seconds (already a SI standard), and then you can divide that into tenths, hundreds or whatever. One thousand of a day is 84.4 seconds, which is close to a minute (which is (/ 60 (/ 24 one-day))). We have metric for measurements in space, but something as simple for day-to-day time measurement would be nice.

^ Typical HN comment. I'm sorry I'm making fun of you, but I just can't help myself as this happens all the time -- somebody comes up with a reasonable idea, and then the next commenter takes it so widely out of proportion, willing to re-engineer the whole society just to marginally improve his own comfort.

This is something I ponder every month, when I have to enter hours into a timesheet with decimal time...
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