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Interesting 0.02.

Recents for me: 2020 X5 xDrive40i, 2023 M340 xdrive, 2026 i4 xDrive40i.

When I bought the X5, I tried all sorts of other comparable models, both higher and lower price/quality.

I thought Lexus SUVs drove like 1990's era Mercury Grand Marquis -- "refined" is one way of putting it. Mazda claims their cars are solid handlers but my experience with three of them is, well, meh - very model dependent. Volvo SUV handling - refined, but the vehicles feel large.

Long way of saying - I feel when driving BMWs that they drive as the brand describes them: the ultimate driving machine. Refined is not the first word that comes to mind, but not far down the list.

2026 i4 is awesome. I won't argue the range. Pretty pathetic but that car isn't my range warrior anyways.

Just tried this as part of an ask about chronic inflammation. What an enormous difference your tip makes in the reply style and structure - wow. And thank you.

Both suck. I think the entire industry would dump Rekordbox, but it is the tool the matches the CDJs.

I drink Celsius. Not every day, but here and there. Also coffee.

So, a real answer instead of "it doesn't"

- It doesn't taste like coffee. Relatively flavorful, but obviously a bit on the artificial side

- I drink a Celsius when I am targeting minimal stomach disruption (e.g. before a run or before intensive cardio)

- I drink a Celsius when I don't want to wait for the coffee-maker during early morning hours.

- I drink Celsius if I run out of creamer (for coffee), something I don't need anyways but I like.

- Cold brew is acceptable substitute if I don't have a Celsius.

- Normal brewed coffee otherwise.

That’s fair and I’m not saying there isn’t room for improvement. It’s a more general feeling - JIRA just being one example that I hear people hate (and try to make better). My gut in using or looking at JIRA told me the biggest problem was organization within JIRA and sticking to that system.

I’m not an engineer (by trade) so I am not as deep as many of you in the tooling.

But this article mirrors my thinking on every new notes app, or new “second brain,” or somehow new or better version of Jira, etc. There are real productivity gains and losses and a lot of theatrics.

Neat. Bookmarking to revisit. Does your team do any headline writing and or manual section? Your site reminds me of Techmeme.

I don’t. But I will at least consider the thinking about my kids (8, 4) should look into alternative paths.

Do you do anything else for hair? Like Minoxidil, Finasteride, or other serums/etc.

Just curious for other folks experiences as they are on or off creatine in parallel with other hair interventions.

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.

https://kepler.gl

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!