Any DIY skills, may it be plastering a wall, hanging a mirror, painting a wall, unclogging a waste pipe. Youtube is filled of videos from people that gets your inspiration going, and many things that seemed like a drag are actually both relaxing and enjoyable as you broaden your skill-set, and it will save you tons of money as you become more independent as a human being.
Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
911–920 of 1001 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
#912Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is so important. I don't know if you can "learn to cook" in an hour, but you can probably drive to the store, buy some vegetables, come home, and make a great salad with an awesome homemade vinaigrette dressing in less than an hour. I try to eat fairly healthy, but having a salad that's easy to make that I actually crave (oh no, I've turned into an old person) most days at lunch is amazing. It's fast, and I have…
I regularly make my own dressing as well! I have a few basic recipes—most are pretty much the same as yours. One I like in the summer especially is a really simple one: + 2 parts olive oil + 1 part honey (try and make it good wildflower or clover honey) + 1 part squeezed lemon juice (add some zest as well if you're feeling energetic—I hate cleaning graters) + Salt & pepper to taste
Having a dishwasher makes using a grater so much less dreadful - perhaps more than any other single kitchen implement. When I had a dishwasher at home we even got a Microplane zester. It's amazing how much flavor and aroma exists in lemon (and other citrus) zest that's not in the juice.
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
#913Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think a seriously overlooked application of this principle is in nutrition and dieting. Over- or under- eating by a small percentage of your required intake might not have a discernible effect immediately but really adds up over time, both for weight loss and gain.
I am pretty sure that only applies to certain people. I stay fairly skinny no matter what, though I do move about a lot.
I think the same applies principles apply as with bigger people saying they can't lose weight. You need to change your habits, and that is hard.
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
#914Many people think that if they just become successful they will be more happy, but it's actually the other way around. First comes happiness, then comes success. A happy life will be a successful life.
In my experience, this is not true at all. When I had a solid job, I was the happiest person alive. When I was struggling to find a new job, I was the most depressed person alive.
It's not just me, there was a study saying that money correlates to income perfectly - up to $70 000, after which there is no correlation at all.
Unless your definition of "not successful" includes people who make enough money to paying living expenses.
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
#915How, and why, to invest in a simple portfolio of index funds. Split between equity and fixed income based on your risk tolerance, and diversify equities globally. This will give you a low-cost, set-and-forget investment portfolio that you can add to over time without ever having to worry about what you should buy or what the market might do. Just add to it regularly over time, and end up with solid retirement savings…
any advice on how to invest in ETFs while in Europe ? Vanguard is not available and local banks charge high management fees.
There are many ETFs which can be invested in in Europe. See the screener https://www.justetf.com/de-en/find-etf.html
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
#916Holotropic breathing. Someone in my town offers workshops on Conscious Connected Breathing. I would have never thought that just breathing for an hour would fundamentally change my life, yet here I am. My relationship with deep seated trauma has been completely transformed. Technically the breathing was 2 hours, but it felt like 45 minutes. It feels like I now have access to a powerful drug, and an accessible way of…
inducing euphoria via mild hypoxia is not a good idea. The people touting this in the west mostly don't have the qualifications for doing this practice safely.
It wasn't euphoria. It was the realization that the finest intricate details embedded in the way I breathe, reflect my experiences, and my emotional connection to those details is strongly influenced by what I experienced when I was too young to remember. If anything, the way we breathed -- wouldn't cause hypoxia. Despite years of mindfulness meditation, in which I focused on my breath, that experience changed how I fundamentally relate to my breath.
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
#917Earlier quoted context omitted.
any advice on how to invest in ETFs while in Europe ? Vanguard is not available and local banks charge high management fees.
There are many ETFs which can be invested in in Europe. See the screener https://www.justetf.com/de-en/find-etf.html
I don't think you can trade through that site. But apparently Robinhood is launching in UK soon
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
#918Earlier quoted context omitted.
You mentioned cooking jasmine rice using a 1:1 ratio of water to rice, but rice generally can't be cooked using a linear ratio like this. As you increase the amount of rice being cooked, and change the size/shape of the cooking vessel, more of the water will be lost as steam. It's easiest to use a rice cooker, which will allow you more flexibility with regards to how much water/rice you used, but if you don't have a…
As I understand, cooking rice usually has a constant amount of water lost to steam. You need to have a rough idea of how much water your rice actually needs to absorb and how much is lost to steam. In my experience with my setup, rice usually requires an equal volume of water and 1 lost 1 cup of water to steam. So 1 cup of water requires 2 cups of water, 2 cups of rice requires 3 cups of water, etc. So y = x + 1 wher…
Water lost to steam heavily depends on style of cooking, or more precisely, in a covered pot, is mostly a linear function of the excess heat beyond that required to bring contents to boiling temperature (steam re-condensation on the lid/sides provides a slight buffer) + a bit lost to empty space in the pot (when opening etc).
Some stoves are hard to regulate so the food is just barely boiling, so it can be hard not to notably lose water.
From experience, the boiling of water in itself is mostly meaningless when cooking, unless you want food extra shredded. You can happily cook at 90℃ or 80℃ if you want, but it will take longer.
Note if cooking risky food: beware of required time at a given temperature to kill pathogens, not forgetting heat transfer takes time especially in solid chunks.
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
#919First aid skills, e.g. Heimlich maneuver. You might end up saving someone's life by being able to act calmly and correctly.
I saved my grandmother's life with this. She was embarrassed and didn't want me to. Super weird. She looked all round soft but her diaphragm was surprisingly tough, and it took a couple tries. A year later I learned that I had broken one (maybe two?) of her ribs.
Thank you for the story! I helped my brother who was choking on a cough drop. Didn't use Heimlich, but nevertheless it was a scary experience.
I hesitated to which one is the correct move.
Edit: As far as I understand, one uses Heimlich if hitting on the back while bent doesn't work.
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?
#920hire a hacker : https://www.hackerslist.co/