jibbit

I'm now actively aware/vigilant of my blood pressure while coding in a way I never was before. That's a sentence I'd have found absurd five years ago.

This was genuinely one of the best bits of TV i've ever seen

there is and always has been a strong prohibition of anything political on HN. it is widely and frequently discussed as the main problem with HN. Usually, a post like this would be removed very quickly

seems a bit vague to me.. not saying i know better just that i'd like more info - there a small wildcats all over europe. presumably these are older than the domestic cats? but it's well known they can be tamed from kittens, and mate with domestic cats.. why assume domestication happened once in one place?

If you could see a photographic-quality image in your mind, you could answer questions about it the way you’d answer questions about a photograph in front of you. 'what’s written on the sign?' 'how many windows?' That's photographic memory. Since that’s not real, the 'normal visualization' everyone's comparing themselves to doesn’t exist either. Yet we keep treating as credible people who assert what others experience based on not experiencing it themselves. This is epistemically bankrupt.

this bugs me because what actually happened.. vi being the last survivor of a once universal interaction paradigm - is way more interesting than this unfathomably incorrect 'what a strange historical quirk' version.

it is less of an oversimplification than 'nothing like what existed either before or after'

unfortunately this is just not true though. there was nothing abstract or disconnected from real life about MVC in smalltalk. while we're here.. this claim that 'Smalltalk's OOP is nothing like what existed either before or after' - hmmmm

Despite decades of being told about the benefits of exercise, I had absolutely no idea what the actual time investment looked like to go from unfit to fit. I couldn't put a number on it, and part of me assumed it must be enormous otherwise, why wouldn't anyone just say the number? Then I discovered Couch to 5K: 30 minutes, 3 times a week. A concrete, achievable number that delivered (to me) mind blowing results.

How could it be so low? How could i not know this? How is anyone walking around ignorant (as i was) of this?

age verification starts tomorrow

it's intentionally ironic that this is written in the style of ai slop?

there was an 'arms race' in detergent strength throughout the 2000s. modern detergent contains more specialised enzymes, is more concentrated, and is more effective - but is (reportedly) much harder on the lifespan of garments

a really high percentage of the runners i see out i the street are forefoot striking in zero drops - clearly that's not barefoot but i'd also question whether you can call it 'short lived'

I used to think background noise was my enemy.. until a week in a stifling motel with a clunky window unit proved me wrong. It started with me having tantrums that i'd never sleep and ended with me having some of the best sleep ever. I've slept with a noise machine ever since

did you buy a house? when?

so in practice climate change is de-facto off limits

i was just reading the very active comments on a post about climate change, and it just.. disapeared. Is HN hostile to climate change posts?

i've never seen a post with so many upvotes disappear so quickly

this, for example, is a state grammar school

https://www.queenelizabeths.derbyshire.sch.uk

is this true? If everyone prepared their own food from scratch, but still had as many carbs, outcomes wouldn't improve?

People being an obstacle to positive change, because they believe a better change is possible.. when the changes wouldn't in any way prevent further positive changes from happening.. are the bane of my life. 'bikeshedding' probably covers it, but i feel like if someone could come up with a better metaphor that wasn't specifically about triviality or level of comprehension it could be a profound contribution to human behaviour

for the past few years i've been watching the salmon return to a spot in the uk they've not been to for over 200 years. i had no idea growing up there that these were salmon spawning grounds, then some wiers were removed. such a wonderful thing to see. i don't think it's memory!

one by one, steadily overcoming the social media addiction

tbh it still is kind of a feature given that we (collectively) also don't really know how to ventilate old houses and many many who have tried to tackle the insulation problem live with terrible mould problems

upper classes pour first the tea, while the lower classes poured the milk first

this is because of the fear that boiling water will crack your best tea cups?

fwiw the railway verges in london seem to be predominantly this - which also incidentally - i've never heard anyone call Summer Lilac before

A couple of things I noticed while teaching drawing to students (who were quite good) and i was a bit obsessed by Aphantasia..

It's always easy to distinguish a drawing done from life, a drawing done from a photograph, and a drawing done from imagination. i.e. drawings from photographs have an identifiable characteristic that isn’t present in drawings from imagination.

This distinction holds regardless of where students perceive themselves on the spectrum of ability to visualize. Students who describe themselves as having excellent visualization skills are often "better" at drawing from imagination (for a conventional idea of 'better'), but not any more able to draw like they could from life/photo than anyone else.

"unroll your loops" is not something i had on my bad advice bingo card for today

dissociative effects so powerful you'll never perceive the world the same again doesn't sound like a great selling point in the worlds best anaesthetic

now theres a list that "antibiotic resistant bacteria" fits into quite nicely