gw666

That's what I said about Bitcoin at $1 (groan).... I'm heavy into Urbit now, learning their programming language, Hoon (more mindbending than Brainfuck).

I just checked on opensea.io; you can get a planet for 0.04 ETH--around $50.

Urbit is the Next Big Thing--I haven't seen anything like it in 40 years; it's a "computing platform" blank slate! I don't think it'll ever go away because there are enough tech people to keep it going. I can also see academia using it.

Setting up your own planet is a real hassle. Soon, you will be able to "rent" your own planet for a monthly fee (like paying for an ISP), and the provider will take care of all hardware and software. On the other hand, you can put your planet on a server for $10-$20/month.

Look into it; it's going to be a wild ride!

I am beginning to use a zettelkasten. I think it's an excellent method for doing deep thinking, especially over a long period of time. See https://www.seanlawson.net/2018/02/use-zettelkasten-method-s... and https://zoia.org/2018/11/13/zettelkasten/ for good introductions.

Reading this will change your life: https://www.amazon.com/How-Take-Smart-Notes-Nonfiction/dp/15...

I'm committed to text-only information. No matter how many notes I'm writing, I can always use grep or write my own programs to find what I want.

If you're on a Mac, The Archive is great (https://zettelkasten.de/the-archive/). It's what I'm using

zettelkasten.de has lots of good reading (thanks, Sascha and Christian!), but look to the other sources I've listed to get a more thorough idea of what a zettelkasten is (I call mine a thinking-box) and how to use one.

I'm a fan of the bizarre. Here's what I listen to:

* The Magnus Archives

* Alice Isn't Dead

* Rabbits, The Black Tapes, Tanis (all from Pacific Northwest Stories, aka Public Radio Aliance; you'll either love or hate these)

* Knifepoint Horror

I just discovered this great nonfiction podcast, on design and architecture:

* 99% Invisible

@lutusp, I'm sorry for whatever experiences have led you to such a negative opinion of therapy; I'm sure you have very valid reasons to feel that way.

You're right, therapy is not a science, but it is doing its best to learn as much as possible about the human condition and to apply what it has learned to improve human lives.

In its defense, it's barely over 100 years old. Where was physics 100 years after its origins? Chemistry? Medicine? When therapy started, all Freud and Jung had to work with was observation of a person's visible and verbal behavior...and dreams. They did what they could with the tools that were available. Since then, we have roughly a century of observation, as well as research that has attempted to be as scientifically rigorous as it could be. And in the past 20 years or so, we've finally gained the first handful of technologies that have given us some basic data about what the brain is actually doing. We're still just beginning.

Here's what we're up against. The human brain is the most complex system in the universe, a crazy quilt of impulses that has accumulated from the blind forces of million years of evolution. Can you imagine how difficult it is to design an experiment that controls for unwanted factors? Now, add in the restrictions dictated by ethical concerns and the unimaginable range of human behavior. Is it any wonder that progress is so slow?

So, given how little we know, by what right do we presume to practice? You could ask the same of a physician from 200, or even 2,000, years ago. The answer would be the same: "Because people are suffering, and we have things we can do that have a good track record of reducing that suffering."

As a therapist, I am doing more than providing "benefit from ordinary conversation." See my reply to @nostrademons for details. It is well established, through numerous studies across the last 70 years, that measurable benefits are to be had from talking to a therapist who is non-judgemental, who communicates back to you an emotional understanding of your experience, and who is there to provide--as much as is humanly possible--unconditional support for you in your situation.

Changing human behavior is very, very difficult. But it can be done, and therapists of all sorts--psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, marriage and family therapists, and other licensed counselors--have valuable skills to offer.

Thank you for listening.

@nostrademons, thank you for your perceptive and reasoned response. In my opinion, you don't have to bring the unconscious into your formulation. In fact, most of the therapists practicing today never utter the word "unconscious." To invoke the difficulty of understanding human behavior, one needs to go no "deeper" (for example) than the influence of events in early childhood (attachment theory), the imperfect thought processes of a human brain that has evolved over time (cognitive distortions), the fact that behaviors that are practiced over time become easier (neuroplasticity), or what we know about how traumatic experiences affect one's later life.

I would complete your "You go to a therapist..." sentence with "...because you're smart enough to understand that you don't know everything about your own complicated life, and you want to get the assistance of someone who is professionally trained in understanding human experience and helping people make and implement healthier choices in their lives." It's not voodoo--it's someone who knows the territory helping you get to your chosen destination faster.

And what does it mean to be professionally trained? Well, read my article for details. But I'll summarize: at minimum, a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology (3-4 years) and 3,000 hours of "supervised practice." In my case, that was 1,700 hours actually working as a therapist (seeing clients), maybe 1,500 hours of professional supervision while doing that work, over 100 hours of my own therapy, plus attending trainings, workshops, etc.

Who am I? I have an ancient Masters degree in computer science, I wrote for BYTE magazine (the first major computer magazine), I worked for Apple and a pre-IPO startup in Silicon Valley, and I program (badly) in Clojure. Because of my own therapy, I went from being a maladjusted, terminally shy young adult to being a therapist. I know that therapy can work wonders--if you're willing to do the work.

Thanks for listening.

getprismatic.com

Is it okay to lie to sell your product?

No.

Even ignoring the issue of morality (which you shouldn't), what happens to your company when the lie is discovered?

https://twitter.com/Therapy4Change

On HN, I'm gw666, and I have a low but meaningful karma score of 209.

I tweet occasionally, mostly with worthwhile links on subjects like self-improvement, brain research, productivity hacks, etc.

Please check out the link above and follow me if you like what I've posted so far. Thanks!

--Gregg Williams (my Twitter summary is below)

Marriage & Family Therapist, formerly of Apple and BYTE magazine. Very interested in the brain, psychosomatic illness, how people change, technology.

I'd favor video lectures. What you're proposing is pretty ambitious for teen learners, so (posted) videos will allow them to rewatch them, pause to take notes, etc. Good luck!

Yes, ditto what @GuiA said. The results were interesting but nothing earth shattering. I paid $100, and I feel it was worth it.

Of course! I carry index cards with me and write things down as they occurred to me. Eventually they end up in Tinderbox, a Macintosh-only application (www.eastgate.com). It takes some learning, but it is very versatile!

I think this idea could work, and I don't see why an experiment couldn't be done on Github--after all, it'd all be just text files.

People could fork, say, a short story, rewrite parts, and submit a pull request; the original author would maintain control in this case. If the original author didn't like the change but someone else did, that person could fork the forked version (the one containing the change), add additional changes, then submit that as a pull request, etc.

It could get messy, but it also sounds like it could be really interesting, with the end result being a tree of competing stories.

Maybe somebody could submit a short story, publicize its availability, and see what happens.

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/machine-learning-algorith...

I am very sorry to hear about this news, which it sounds like is hitting you really hard. Such sudden devestations happen in every life, and I'm wondering if this is the first time you've ever felt so threatened. If so, the first time can feel really bad.

I'm a tech person, but I'm also a licensed therapist in California. Here, briefly, are some things you can do. First, take care of yourself--get extra rest, eat responsibly, etc. Second, find someone you can really talk to and tell them what you're going through. (You might want to start by saying, "I really need to talk right now. Could you listen without trying to fix things?") Finally, remember that you do have family around you, and if they can, they will help with whatever responsibilities need to be taken care of.

Of course (said the hammer to the nail), consider counseling. Every area has public counseling centers that provide affordable counseling.

Take whatever I've said that helps, and ignore the rest. Good luck--you will get through this.

Yes, but with risk. Index stock and bond funds yield in that range, with much less volatility. I've been using them since 2008 and have gotten an average of over 10% annually. I suggest the book I used, _The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You'll Ever Need_, by Larry Swedroe (endorsed by John C. Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group). Cheesy title, but it's ideas are supported by lots of data.

Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/quotestagram/id592666165?ls=...

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/quotestagram/id592666165?ls=... Quotestagram is an iphone app that let's you easily turn memorable quotes into beautiful images to share on popular social networks. From concept to launch this app took 5 months. It was fraught with difficulties. I didn't know iOS programming. But the app is finally out and I would really love the community's feedback.

The combination of Tinderbox (eastgate.com) for notetaking/brainstorming/storage/retrieval and DevonTHINK Pro (devontechnologies.com) for storage and (intelligent) retrieval of article-length text (mining it for ideas and specific content, which then goes into Tinderbox) is killer.

Unfortunately for some people, these are both Mac-only applications.

Great job--great app idea, very professional website. Congrats on all your hard work. I downloaded it, made a picture, then...I can't send it because neither I nor the recipient uses Facebook. Maybe consider actually letting people use their Address Book?!! Good luck!

For the Mac, the free Bean word processor (http://www.bean-osx.com/) works for me!

Looks very impressive and well thought-out--good luck!

Write the President, your two Senators, and your Representative, telling them what you want them to do. The simplest way to find their contact page: Google "contact <person's name>". That's what I did, and here's my message (if you want to crib from it):

-- begin -- I strongly support you doing whatever you feel best about to increase Americans' safety against gun violence. I would be in favor of:

* limiting access to guns (especially assault weapons)

* increasing access to mental health care

* increasing gun owners' legal liability for actions performed using guns registered to them

Thank you so much for your leadership and work on this.

Respectfully, <your name here

-- end --

licorize.com or pinboard.in

clickable link: http://www.class-central.com/

As a former magazine editor of 20+ years, I think the idea shows great promise. I agree with your statement in the comments that it might be better used as Expandable Blogging. But try stuff out--see what the market likes!

What if I'm Hindu? Who ya gonna call?

I have to put my vote in for Dan Bricklin's Note Taker HD (for iPad). I've taken close to 100 pages of notes with it. It's great for packing lots of info onto one page, and it's very versatile.

Looks like good material! Clickable link: http://karim-ouda.blogspot.com/2012/06/15-steps-to-promote-y...

It's a great idea--I hope you go far with it.

One thing that might encourage people to use it is to create some activity that measures fitness/capacity, then let them track it over time so they can see improvement.

I've been programming in Clojure for 2 years and still consider myself a beginner.

(Re. #2) Because of Clojure's immutability, you program differently than you would in a state-based language (most mainstream languages). So learning Clojure is not that helpful in preparing you for Common Lisp or Scheme. Just learn Common Lisp or Scheme, if that's your final goal.

(Re. #3) I've seen web pages detailing jobs in Common Lisp. Search, and you'll find them. Short answer: I don't think there are that many. Some independent programmers who have (or take) the liberty of using whatever language they want, get to use Lisps that way.

Re. "I'm not too deep into Java" and similar statements: FYI, Clojure is built on top of Java and depends on Java being used to get things done. Clojure doesn't implement various things because of this; the language assumes that you know Java well enough to "drop into" Java when Clojure itself doesn't provide. (Clojure makes it very easy to do this, most but not all of the time--and the exceptions aren't documented.)