less_penguiny

I'm blocked via their CloudFlare setup. Is it because I am based in Europe?

There is nothing difficult about monitoring network traffic in this way for desktop or native apps.

I recently realized (when pair-programming) that I spend a rather obnoxious amount of time dealing with the fallout from typos. I have known how to touch-type since school, but this was only good for the non-symbolic keys, omitting the parentheses, bars, etc. we programmers use for syntax. I started using this site (and another similar one: https://typing.io/) and after two weeks, I've already noticed a reduction in errors — and a big improvement in getting VIM to do my bidding. I feel this is one of those areas where a small investment in training (say 12 hours lifetime total) has a big pay-off, so I wanted to share.

FWIW Gwern has done some careful self-experiments on magnesium supplementation, finding it wasn't all rosy: https://www.gwern.net/nootropics/Magnesium

My curiosity is triggered! What was the most surprising thing you noticed about cat body language mirroring human body language?

I'm not sure about this at all, but I wonder if both parties feel they have to smile first for something to happen. A social protocol, a non-verbal handshake, carried out before moving to the verbal. Kinda like how all partners in a remote business sometimes feel they are doing more work than everyone else, even if they are not.

Independent of whether this "mutual sensation of making first moves" idea is true or false, the right answer, as an actor, is to smile.

hi baud147258 — I saw that you submitted this via Analytics and I really appreciate it.

I'm considering rebranding a bit. If you don't mind, could I email you privately to ask your opinion on some possible taglines?

As much as it hurts me to believe as much, I'm confident that there really are people for whom at least certain things are "basically effortless". I've seen this occur around my peers, especially with music, where some (who already play piano but only by notes) learn to play by ear in a summer, but others are still struggling after five years of daily practice.

Geometry: Seeing, Doing, Understanding by Harold R. Jacobs

Preview: https://books.google.de/books/about/Geometry.html?id=u5o6DwA...

You can purchase a complete solution manual separately, which is very handy.

My biggest realization about doing hard things is that I needed to let go of my intellectual entitlement. Just because something is (or seems) effortless to others, doesn't mean it will be the same for me.

Part of this entitlement stemmed from a (now eroded by bitter experience) belief that I'm somehow a faster learner than normal, that _I_ don't have to do the work.

For example, about seven years ago I wanted to learn Calc I-III on my own. I went down the usual, lazy, intellectually-entitled route of watching lectures and YouTube videos online without doing a single exercise.

A year later, guess what? I couldn't remember jack-shit. Moreover, I couldn't solve problems, which is basically the reason I was learning math anyway. Any bystander could have predicted this outcome, but I was blinded by my own entitlement.

Now, after being humbled (here and elsewhere, e.g. in learning to play music by ear), I realize that there's honor, even long-term efficiencies in following every step the great teachers of the past have laid out, in moving slowly albeit with rigor and confidence.

I resumed my math study with Geometry 101, the absolute basics, using a book of 5000 (short) exercises. It probably took me three times as long as Calc I-III lectures combined. But I realized something — I found more joy in doing the exercises, in doing things the _right_ way, than I ever had in watching lectures.

Going non-clickbaity is not only about sacrificing revenue: it's also about sacrificing readership. Even if your only goal is readership, living in a world where the competition employs click-bait means your hands are somewhat forced.

Although the article seems spammy at first, it's surprisingly deep, and I can tell, from my experience of content marketing my own projects, that a tasteful version of what they suggest would benefit most startups.

My college roommate always had an impressive recall of the (many) academic sociology/philosophy books he'd read. Some of this is down to him having a gifted memory, but also some is due to his use of a generally applicable technique where he summarized each book he read into a single page, forcing re-engagement and consolidation.

Inspired by this, I'm experimenting with writing and posting online reviews of books I've read.

"Spivak's Calculus" is a reference to the book "Calculus" by Michael Spivak. https://www.amazon.com/Calculus-4th-Michael-Spivak/dp/091409...

Many consider the book's presentation of the topic utterly beautiful, bordering even on the spiritual.

With my popup, I try to wait to show it until a moment when I feel the visitor is actually interested. At first approximation, that's when they have been on the page more than 60 seconds and scrolled down more than 70%.

Like you mentioned, I also use cookies to ensure people who have already subscribed (or hit X on a previous pop-up) don't see it again.

And thanks for subscribing! I love these random encounters on HN.

There's also this folk wisdom round when I grew up that young men with girlfriends are much less likely to get violent than those without.

So in short, fight crime with sex and entertainment.

I worry somewhat about being so saturated in outside opinions that I no longer generate my own. It's much easier to scroll down in the nth reddit thread than think on my own.

Just GA. Now that you mention it though, given all the pop-up blocking, my numbers are likely underestimated. I'll cross-reference with server logs next time.

re 6 vs. 150 subscribers. The trick to getting people to sign up is... (you are not going to like this)... a pop-up.

People on forums will complain about it.

People will sign up with fake and insulting email addresses to spite you. You may even get upset.

But my god will you gather emails from the people out there who actually care about the work you are doing.

Something I've found frustrating as of late is when a merchant isn't transparent about as much.

Case in point, I ordered an urgently needed textbook off Amazon and was disappointed to learn that the package ended up delayed at customs for numerous weeks. I felt somewhat violated.

As an extra data point, I've gotten ~300 votes twice and each time caused about 10-15k visits from HN over 24hrs and about 150 email subscribers.

The secondary downstream effects might have doubled that, e.g. due to tweets, reddit postings, discussion elsewhere etc.

Perhaps because the value of being in the valley, near customers, know-how, and investment, is worth the multiple (though I'd put the salary difference closer to 2.5x than 7x).

Reminds me of the Swedish system where one must queue for up to 20 years to get a contract for a rent-controlled apartment.[0]

i.e. like you said, if it isn't pricing keeping people out of the most desirable areas, it's some other mechanism, such as queues, migration barriers, etc. And analogously, waiting lists are used for operations in the public health system.

[0] http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20160517-this-is-one-city-w...

WSJ takes huge legal risks in order to provide honest, ground-breaking reporting that makes society better. They were responsible, for example, for the Theranos exposé.

AHHH thanks, you're a star. Able to reproduce.

I misunderstood your text description and now I know exactly what you mean. It never occurred to me that people click outside the modal rather than on the "x". In retrospect it seems obvious that they would. Will fix.

Thanks for the heads up, that sounds really annoying. Personally not getting the same, but definitely want to ensure other people aren't affected.

What browser are you using? What adblockers? Any special browser settings?

Edit: I see a potential cause of issues in the scroll handler, and I just deployed the change, so perhaps it's fixed on a refresh?

Zero knowledge about this, but I'd absolutely love to know more if you can suggest any sources. Or is it one of those unsaid things that one comes to know?

Glad you like the subject. I obviously think it's an underrated yet fascinating and rewarding area to focus one's attention, otherwise I wouldn't be writing these things.

Pick up without the stink is a mantra for the blog. I got the idea from a blog post with a catchy title on LessWrong: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/RZrw9wpEWEwWRTzLk/more-art-l...

What you say is quite a common complaint. I was looking at a moderator's thread on a self-help subreddit this morning and people there were annoyed that the only items that got heavily upvoted (and therefore ever appeared under "top") were memes and pictures instead of the sort of deep thinking that could help people on this subreddit.

Derp. Now it's too late for me to modify it. I'll email the mods to correct it.