HN user
I noticed hair thinning too. To be clear I don’t know that creatine caused it. But what feels like a longer period of thinning (I’m 43) coincides with creatine use. It’s not a well-documented side effect if is indeed real.
I am experimenting with less caffeine - not a total cut. Nothing conclusive to report but my goal is to cut somewhat to understand how much caffeine is driving anxious behaviors.
I take 5g/day, through better part of last 9-12 months (don't remember when I started).
No noticeable cognitive difference/improvement. And the more I've researched creatine the less convinced I am that there are reliable conclusions about cognitive impacts.
Significant physical changes! But other than the pure aesthetics, it's hard to say that my strength increases are tied to creatine or instead a solid routine, plan, diet, and progressive overload. Probably some all of above.
I also take whey protein isolate (20-25g at least once a day)
The Nootropic space fascinates me. A few observations:
- Not sure if caffeine is considered nootropic. Caffeine definitely makes a difference.
- Unclear if placebo effect or real, L-theanine seems to help with calm and focus.
- Otherwise, when it comes to what I'm sure alters my state/body/etc. - drugs! And I'm not suggesting anything specific but my point is the effects are obvious/real/etc. vs. much of the supplement space that suffers from very murky conclusions (imo).
7. Ground Your Emotions
Yup. But also - no shame and guilt for experiencing them.
And, your expectations of happiness. Something I’m recently internalizing more than I did in the past: happiness is not a constant state. There are happy moments and unhappy moments in life.
I think the search for a constant happiness is what drives feeling unhappy. It’s this blob-like goal.
For me, working on recognizing and being ok with the ups and downs has produced the happiest state of my life.
I like your take. Do you feel it also a lack of interest in genuine evaluation of hard options?
Not all policy is easy to understand, but I feel (anecdote) that lots of folks don’t want to understand what isn’t an obvious benefit to them, especially if benefits accrue over a longer period.
I wasn't familiar with either Oink or What.CD - fascinating to read about them.
I spent tons of time on Napster and LimeWire roughly between late 1990s and 2005 when I graduated from college.
A few things stood out as related topics:
1. I attended UMass-Amherst - a school not unfamiliar with and perhaps even popular for jam band culture. There was, at one point, a tool distributed that allowed any particular user to search the entirety of the network of users that also used that tool. So, what quickly evolved was this huge searchable library of songs, videos, etc. covering the thousands of students that chose to put something there. I don't recall the balance of my use of other services compared to that specific network tool, but it was an amazing place to discover music and also quite fast compared to everything else.
2. I wasn't sure if this post was lamenting the loss of discovery or the loss of stable revenue streams for artists. Maybe both. I think discovery is alive and well - both with Spotify, but elsewhere too. When I want more variety and access to the farther reaches of the music world, I use hypem.com. It's still great, after all these years, and a quite small operation despite the presence of Apple/Spotify. Also love Soundcloud, and as someone who makes electronic music/DJs on the side - Beatport.
3. What.CD reminded me of what I now hear about re: Lobste.rs. I'm not a member, and it's unclear to me if I want that? But it has some similar characteristics - invite only, ICQ chat, active moderation. What I wonder is whether folks here (members of Lobsters) see that community as possessing the same magic/thrill/quality of What.CD?
Thank you for this reply. I thought the parent comment was blunt, and perhaps honest. But perhaps it could have added some positive and constructive commentary rather than saying what not to do. I hardly think these things are so binary anyways.
Is help narrowly chemical here or is help in general? Someone else replied suggesting psychiatry - curious if that is what you meant.
You are spot on. I see all this in me, too. Very interesting to encounter your take.
I try to turn what-ifs into actions. Instead of a what if rumination it is a small task, or a small trial of something, or a move in general forward rather than not. Not even remotely close to doing this well all the time, but I notice an overall boost in mood and productivity when I reorient my mint to progress rather searching in the uncertainty space.
And Substack to that list too.
This is how you behave when you think you're so much smarter than everyone around you that consequences don't apply you.
Spot on perfect. I see this too often and not just in tech.
Few things annoy me more than the 5 minute convo followed by “let’s connect on LinkedIn”
I grew even more skeptical over the past year when a VC dude connected to me (during a conversation) and then later removed me. No harm done as we barely know each other. But it caused an even stronger distaste for that impulse.
What I still like instead? Take my card!
Is Kepler what you're looking for?
Not sure if I am pointing in the right direction but curious.
What an outrageously cool and informative website. Love it.
I'm back to mostly wearing analog watches. Had an Apple Watch on my wrist for quite a long time, but something about analog appeals once more. No smartwatch beats an analog in the style department, and I see analog everywhere around me ('burbs of NYC)
Right there with you on unexpected tear-stream moments, fears, but also all those happy moments you can't anticipate.
In past year I've watched my older (8) start competing on a cheerleading team. Immense tear-streaming joy watching her light up in front of a crowd and build confidence. I was immediately overcome the first time and always feel a strong swell of emotion.
Dad of 2 girls. 8 and 4. Not saying that life couldn’t have been equally great without them, but they are amazing. Rewired me in best way possible: to appreciate non-work life as much as anything else (perhaps more).
None of us really know what to do!
The podcast I listened to the most: Dithering. Primary reason? 15 mins. Sometimes listened to Stratechery Interviews if/when the guest intrigued me outside of the Stratechery ecosystem.
My problem is part style, and part content. Stratechery reads like it's written to be narrated - rather than exist first as writing. There's verbosity, pauses, long sentences, etc. And then you listen to the narration it makes sense.
But that complexity makes reading harder. Not saying everything needs to be 5th-grade-level, but complexity isn't required. Paste a Stratechery article into Hemingway Editor to visualize my point.
The stats below:
Readibility - Post-Graduate (aim for 9)
26 of 44 sentences very hard to read
8 of 88 sentences hard to read
31 weakeners
6 words with simpler alternatives
What a chore to cover, and that's without commenting on the ideas/concepts in the content.
I'm sure some folks like this writing style but I don't. And try hard to write my newsletter and other prose with far less complexity.
I recently canceled my Stratechery Plus subscription. Don’t miss it to be honest - once a week free is plenty.
I don't think of Show HN as quite the same. Nor Ask HN. I know that otherwise there is plenty of "advertising" within posts/comments/etc.
Where I think the argument that it's not social falls down is aligned with some of your comments. The feeds, upvotes, downvotes, etc. Let's not forget the spam.
Those mechanisms are pervasive across many social platforms, so why are they so different here? Don't think they are.
HN has plenty of social media components.
Think a better version is: HN is not an advertising-controlled social media website. That specific version makes most sense to me.
Stopped immediately by the Medium content wall. Sorry!
I assume parents. Not actual schools. Same situation here on East Coast. School uses ParentSquare but so much coordination is over iMesssage and WhatsApp.
I'm probably not alone in this: feel caught (somewhat) in a vicious cycle where I favorite many GenAI posts thinking I'll come back to comments and posts to learn and build more AI skills.
That happens, but the system is not balanced. Way more saving than practical use, similar to other platform like the socials where you save posts for ... what?
I'm also thinking that I could use AI to summarize all this AI stuff! How fitting.
That and my god the odors! The interaction is so much worse in my 40s than it used to be.
And for me - total stomach mess too.
Curious how many folks subscribe to external calendar feeds? My school system publishes a calendar feed. I don’t see any for her various other activities, all with their own apps and ways of organization (or not).
Right now I feed everything to one shared Google account and then have AI do work on invites, reminders, etc.
Totally fair. Hard to decipher from social media - I stand corrected and I’ll go anyways!
Fair points all around. I am now flashing back to jam/funk shows that occurred in smoke clouds.
I agree with your points.
That said, my view is now (not novel, or unique) that I am not the customer in so many cases. Any app or platform with the slightest hint of an advertising end-game restructures my usage as the product.
The customer is instead the sender (or advertiser). So, I can't expect ideal app behavior and usage based on my intentions because I'm sold (as the product) rather than the other way around.
Maybe a cynical view, and there are exceptions, but don't think I'm far off.
NYC (area). So - fortunately, plenty of folks come through here!