Comment by naming_the_user | Hacker News Reader

Comment by naming_the_user | Hacker News Reader

naming_the_user

> It’s hard to explain to people who aren’t programmers just how soul-destroying it is to work for someone else in this industry. Maddeningly hard, in fact.

It's hard for me to understand this _as a programmer_. I've been through burnouts and every single time it's been a matter of me pushing myself too hard, the external pressure was never actually real.

From your blog post it sounds as if realistically you're 40k in debt due to jaw surgery which really has nothing to do with programming at all?

I dunno man, with the greatest of respect (I appreciate that this is a serious health issue for you) the blog comes across as if you like mushrooms a bit too much.

> My sense is that the constricting effect of modern narrow footwear inhibits proper tongue posture via this connection.

Seriously? 99% of people wear shoes, have a mouth and have no issues at all with... tongue posture? I don't even know what my tongue posture is.

Maybe this is reference to the tongue of a shoe? IDK, still odd

No, there is actually a fascial connection that runs all the way from the tongue to the big toe I think. The idea is that tension or misconfiguration at one end of this connection could affect the other end. So in this case, maybe modern narrow footwear that causes the big toe to point inward has an effect on the tongue.

If you've ever tried walking long distances with even a slightly ill-fitting shoe, or carrying something of an awkward shape, you'll know the kind of thing I'm talking about - in order to function under load for long periods without incurring damage, everything kind of has to be coordinating perfectly. Maybe over months to years, especially in early development, confining the feet to an unnaturally-shaped space could have a measurable effect on oral posture.

Haha, yeah I can see why it would sound like that if you haven't experienced similar issues. I would disagree on 99% of people not having tongue posture issues though. If you look at the structure of a lot of modern people's faces, we have an "adenoid" face - narrow, long midface, lack of pronounced cheekbones and eye support. The hypothesis is that chewing is an essential part of proper jaw development, and modern soft diets don't make us do enough of it.

(The relationship with tongue posture is possibly two-way - lack of chewing and/or proper tongue posture causes the upper jaw to develop narrower, which eventually prevents the tongue from adopting its ideal position suctioned to the roof of the mouth. The tongue not being there causes further narrowing and downswing.)

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