oyvindeh

It's only packaged for Ubuntu for now. But you can try to follow these instructions: https://gist.github.com/ruario/99522c94838d0680633c

The blog post does conclude with exactly what you say: "What can we learn from this study? Are vegetarians are more likely to be neurotic sick people looking for dietary cures for what ails them, thus come out of the study looking more skinny, unhappy, and unsatisfied? Or are vegetarian diets nutritionally bereft leading to health problems, mental health problems in particular? We will never be able to get that answer from a study of this design."

Indeed, I do. I've corrected the text. (I blame too little coffee, and I've corrected that as well.)

There seems to be a growing interest in this field, but there is a lot we don't know yet.

Human feces hasn't been an area with much prestige (and money to be made), so few used to care about it. But, if I remember correctly, the growing interest has partly been caused by geneticists who were initially studying the genome of e.g. humans, but who switched target as the original work was done much quicker than anybody though was possible.

From what I know about the research so far, it seems like our bacterial flora, especially in the gut, is tightly connected to quite a few diseases. However, for many of them, it is still unclear what is cause and effect: Does the altered flora cause the disease, or does the disease cause the altered flora? External factors like stress is known to alter gut flora. On the other hand, bacteria in your gut may affect your mood and personality. Figuring out what is what is tricky, and I suppose there can be feedback loops here as well.

There is much more research to be done. You should be careful with experimenting, as there is risk involved: You may get bacteria that you don't want, and you don't know what the changed flora will do to you. An acquaintance of mine is a researcher in this field, and he does not recommend taking probiotics for e.g. IBS, as he think we still know too little about what types of bacteria to take, dosage, and potential negative long term effects. "Good" strains can do bad things in some contexts, and interaction/symbiosis between different strains (and us) may complicate things. That being said, afaik, probiotics is generally thought to be safe (although I am not sure all manufacturers are trustworthy).

Personally, I think this field has the potential to really change the way we think about health, disease, and medicine. Another field, which I think is related, is diet and fasting: food, and lack of food, alters our gut flora too.

New Scientist has an article in this weeks number about sunshine and fresh air working as "antibiotics", and how the use of air and light could reduce the risk of infections in hospitals.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029470.700-fresh-air...

My guess is that he has a reasonably good overview, although not being a scientist: "He [...] later became the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. As such, Blix was the first Western representative to inspect the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster in the Soviet Union on site, and lead the agency response to them." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Blix

I wonder how this would affect learning in general. I.e. eating snacks while studying.

Then the question comes: Do they really save money, or does it just appear like they do?

Saving money on office space is money saved. People being distracted and doing poor work is money lost. I wonder how it sums up.

Good article!

However, I am curious about the research showing that users will leave a website after 3 seconds. Where was this measured? On desktop, or on a low-end/low-bandwidth device? With low-end devices and/or low bandwidth, most websites will load slowly, and my guess is that performance expectations will be different than on desktop.

Exercise is still good, but it doesn't do magic if you live unhealthy the rest of the time.

(That being said, I wonder if the extreme types of workout many people promote is actually good, or if it does more damage than good in the long run. I guess some people believe that one extreme can out-weight another extreme.)

Clearing your head is important. Unfortunately, many people seem to forget that it is necessary. "The physiological effects of tiredness are well-known. You can turn a smart person into an idiot just by overworking him"[1].

Also: Getting out the door is good: Five minutes of "green exercise" turns out to be good for your mental health[2].

[1] http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/16/news/ecanomy/annie/fortune_a...

[2] http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/201...

Recently, there was an article in New Scientist about this[1]. Basically, if you sit for more than 6 hours a day, one hour of exercise a day doesn't undo the damage.

The solution is to get up and move around often, i.e. every ~20 minutes or so.

Exercise is still good even if you stand/move around often. And standing all day also has its problems, like others have mentioned.

[1] http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21829233.200-dont-take...

(edit: wording)

I've found it helpful to learn not to fuel thought trains. ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy)[1] is helpful for that: It's basically about developing an understanding that thoughts and feelings are not real, and that they are not dangerous. A thought is the voice in your head, feelings are sensations in the body. Nothing more. It also has techniques that makes it easier to detect them.

By the way: Gut flora may play a role in anxiety[2], at least for some. It seems to play a role in many different mental, as well as physical, illnesses.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Happiness-Trap-Struggling-Living/d...

[2] http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/09/gut-feeling.aspx

For me, it's not even javascript anymore. Objective-C and Java rule 2013 since web apps are not as pleasant to use on mobile.

I think this is bad. Not because the technology isn't good, but because small companies (or idealistic organizations, or others with a small budget) will have to implement useful apps for several platforms. Perhaps they cannot afford it (or think it's too much hassle, or don't care).

E.g., say that there is a product made to make life easier for people with a certain disease. Perhaps some users will have to switch device in order to use it. And maybe there are other apps they need which are available only for their old device. (And don't forget that are other platforms than iOS and Android as well, including desktop.)

Web apps (either run on the web, or natively) solves this problem, even though I agree that JavaScript, with it's myriad of ways to shoot yourself in the foot, is not ideal.

Like another commenter pointed out, there are options for compiling to multiple platforms. But it often doesn't seem to happen that way, and perhaps it's not always possible or feasible.

It's gluten free, which is important for some people (a lot if you buy into wheat belly).

Gluten is most likely not the problem for most people with digestive problems, although there is a strong belief that gluten is bad.

The most likely reason why many people have problems digesting wheat, is because it contains fructans. Nobody can digest it, but it causes more problems for some than for others, e.g. if you have IBS (which about 1 in 7 people has). Spelt, an ancient variety of wheat, also contains gluten, but has low levels of fructans, and is thus more easily digested.

There is a pretty well-researched diet for people with IBS, called the Low FODMAP (Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols) diet. It tries to reduce the amount of complex carbohydrates (which are not easily digestible) from the diet to a level where they do not cause digestive problems.

Unfortunately, it is not widely known yet, so a lot of people buy into all kinds of wishful thinking (that often comes with a price tag).

"I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me."

The rest are here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-...

I think many people are seeking success for success' sake - at least it's a significant part of why they do what they do. The fact that they want to make a difference in the world may be true, but I think it's often a mix, and that people fool themselves to believe that their need to feed their ego is smaller than it actually is. The risk from this, is that although people are fighting for a good cause, their ego may interfere in bad ways in certain situations, leading to decisions and actions which hurts the good cause in short or long term (for example by pushing away other people who may do a better job than themselves).

(This, of course, doesn't go for everybody.)

Edit: Note that becoming rich and famous isn't the only way to feed your ego.

I attended a talk given by a Buddhist monk named Ajahn Brahm about a year ago. He said that 70% is always good enough. The reasoning goes that if you strive for 100% (or 110%, like some brag about doing) you will very often disappoint yourself (as well as those around you). If you go for 50%, you won't be motivated enough. So 70% seems about right. (There is a Youtube video of him talking about this subject [1].)

There is tendency today that everybody wants to accomplish so much. I know this from myself: Compared with many of my friends, I have accomplished quite a lot - but it doesn't satisfy me, I need more to be happy. I agree with the author that we should focus more on just being. Because, if you think of it, what happens when you have accomplished whatever you had aimed for? It feels great... for a little while. Then, life is back to normal. We often believe the fallacy that happiness is available somewhere in the future, not here and now, and once we get this or that - THEN we will be happy[2]. And so you risk rigging your life in order to always reach for the next mountain top you have in sight, thinking that it's the final one.

An Australian nurse interviewed people on their death bed about their regrets in life[3]. The second biggest regret was that people had worked too hard.

Think about the real motives for what you do: If you do something to prove yourself for others (e.g. fame and glory), you're fooling yourself. First of all because it will most likely not make you happy, second because you will be forgotten anyway (especially today when everybody claims their 15 minutes of fame). If you strive for something because you think it will make you more happy, you are fooling yourself to believe that happiness is somewhere in the future and not available now.

On the other hand, if the road is the goal, you are more likely rigging your life for lasting happiness. In the end, what is the use of accomplishing things if you are, and continue to be, unhappy?

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6k6DMp1TxQ

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixRISCK7pmE

[3] http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-...

This is a Norwegian classic: http://arngren.net/

I wonder how this translates to peoples understanding of medicine, and alternative medicine in particular. Those discussions tend to get very heated.

I totally agree with this. It's pretty much the only thing that bothers me about NewsBlur, and it bothers me a lot.

Here's an article about that, "Bring back the 40-hour work week": http://www.salon.com/2012/03/14/bring_back_the_40_hour_work_...

Social interaction is probably the most complicated thing we do. Even as engineers.

Also, it would require less materials to make them, and they would produce less garbage when they are to be thrown away. And (I guess) they will require less energy to produce.

Although there is no shortage of rooftop space, you could still fit them into places where there currently isn't so much space. Perhaps, at some point, we could put them on top of electric cars, making them less dependent on charging sockets.

You can add one to your sample set.

AFAIK, worry is the main reason for poor sleep. And encountering posts like this at HN and in newspapers all the time may add to the problem.

For example, I had almost gotten back my sleep a couple of months back. And then, every newspaper (and HN) was full of this new research saying that lack of sleep alters genes. I didn't even have to read the articles, the headlines were enough: "Too little sleep is bad for you, it alters genes! My, oh my!". Thanks! Welcome back, sleep problems.

But on what grounds can they conclude that altered genes is bad for your health? The research sure says that things is happening in your body, and that some processes related to e.g. the immune system has been altered. But how bad is it really? Will you die earlier?

There are many things altering your genes. If I look at a picture of a cute kitten, I am pretty sure you can see that in my genes. Also, meditation dramatically alters you genes. (There are stories about monks who hardly need to sleep at all, because they get the rest they need through meditation.)

So, are there big problems with sleeping too little, are there really reasons to worry? I don't know. But like in in many other fields (e.g. nutrition), results of early studies have been stated as "facts", while later studies show that things are a bit more complicated. Antioxidants comes to mind.

There are research suggesting that too little sleep causes heart disease. (Note the word "suggests".) But, if there is a link, is the reason lack of sleep? Or does other factors add to it or cause it, e.g. eating more junk food, that you get more easily annoyed (increasing blood pressure), etc.?

I am not suggesting that you should sleep less, and I believe sleep is important. But I am unsure about how much you should worry if you sleep poorly.

In general, I believe more and more in eating balanced, exercising moderately (walking is good!), and most importantly, taking a break when my body tells me it's time to rest (listening to your body is underrated, and we learn from early childhood to suppress what it tells us). And, very important, stop reading health news. Because adding to almost any problem, is how media (and others) report findings to sell more of their products. They skew reality, and you probably end up worrying more than you should.

There's a difference between not dreaming and not remembering your dreams. Everybody dream every night.

This is just speculation, but perhaps you sleep better on your side, so that you don't remember your dreams as easily? E.g. if you wake up several times a night, you will remember more dreams than if you don't wake up during the night.

I guess I could have been more clear.

When you toss a coin, you are already in a superior position. You toss the coin to be nice, and/or to affirm your position as superior (depending on your personality).

That's totally different from agreeing to work over the weekend to save somebody's ass. It's OK as a one-off, but if you do it more often than others, that's when you put yourself in an inferior position.

I don't think so. I don't feel so.

It's important to keep in mind that the other party may feel superior, even though you don't feel inferior.

However, for many people this whole thing will never become a problem, because they are good at protecting their integrity.

At least when things are reasonable. Rather to the contrary: I feel stronger for being able to help.

That may very well be the case. But people (and situations) are different, and if you have a problem saying no, things may get very unhealthy.

Of course, in an unhealthy situation where help is required but not appreciated, and the person who help is not respected, then it's different. Fortunately, not my case most of the time

I guess that is often the case in stories like this. If you never say no, at some point your help gets more expected than appreciated.

This is sad, but it's also plain old human psychology.

If you help someone out, you put yourself in an inferior position. If you're always the one sacrificing yourself, people around you will feel more and more superior to you. At some point, they will start expecting that you sacrifice yourself whenever shit hits the fan.

This doesn't mean it's bad to help out, or to sacrifice yourself once in a while. But in order to keep sanity and self dignity, it's extremely important to learn to say no as well.

I do Pomodoro, running tests etc. when I take breaks. And when having breaks, I try to get away from my computer, to just stare out the window, get a fruit, walk around a little, or just lay down for five minutes.