Hacker News Reader

martopixon I'm skeptical about efforts to revolutionize schooling

There's a big missing point in this argument: it says "better" or "worse", "it works" or "it doesn't work", but does not specify how this is tested.

If we test students with standardized tests of their knowledge of facts and simple routines, I'm 100% convinced that direct instruction works better. I'd like to see if it's better also on aspects like student welfare, ability to reason and solve complex problems, creativity and innovation.

It _is_ possible that direct instruction also works better in these metrics, I just think this should be made explicit.

martopixon The happiest I've ever been

> There’s an entire generation of mostly childless adults who are shocked to find they enjoy contributing to others’ happiness.

This is very well put.

I think the culture today is what pushes us towards that: we have a very individualistic culture, which I think comes from the US. I'm from southern Europe, where family used to be very important, whereas now we've adopted a much more individual-centered view.

We have "freedom" as a value, but it's hard to tell what to do with it. You are privileged, therefore you can do whatever you want. But what is it that I want? What do I do with my freedom, privilege, options? We also need an objective, and "to be happy" is not a good objective, because we humans are very bad at predicting what will make us happy. Seeing stereotyped photos of happy people on tropical beaches on Instagram makes it even harder to remember what happiness is.

For happiness you need objectives, things you believe in, a sense of purpose.

martopixon The happiest I've ever been

I think this is an oversimplification of a much more general social phenomenon. In much of the world, the mainstream social message is still that kids are what you should get your life's purpose and fulfillment from. Maybe not so much for men, but very much so for women. There is a reaction to that social expectation, which is independent of Reddit (it's true even in China etc).

I'm myself very happy I don't have children. I'm gay and can't adopt in my country, so I'm also happy I don't have any desire to have children, because that would be a problem. However I do really like working with teens, and it's very important to me on a gut level.

martopixon The happiest I've ever been

I've quit my career in academia three years ago and teach high school kids instead. I can totally relate, I'm just so much happier: I love those four things he listed, except the fourth for me is physics instead of basketball.

martopixon The True Size Of

I recommend trying Antarctica! It's tiny compared to the Pacific. I didn't expect it to fit into the Indian ocean.

martopixon “Most promising signs yet” of alien life on a planet beyond our Solar System

No, for me knowing certain mind-blowing scientific facts is, personally, as cool as listening to Beethoven.

martopixon I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)

Writing the address on the envelope was awkward, as I haven’t used a pen in several years;

Really??

martopixon Mark Zuckerberg says social media is over

It depends on what you mean by "preference". If you show me a pic of a hot guy and the picture that a friend took while hiking, I'll probably look at the hot guy for longer, so one could claim I prefer it. But that doesn't mean I think it's better to spend my time like that.

martopixon Mark Zuckerberg says social media is over

Instagram actually used to be quite nice when it was pics of friends. Now I find it scary.

martopixon “Most promising signs yet” of alien life on a planet beyond our Solar System

What's the practical benefit of Beethoven?

martopixon “Most promising signs yet” of alien life on a planet beyond our Solar System

It depends what you mean by "civilization building". I think we gloss over that a bit too much. We're not the largest population, not the largest total mass, not the only one that builds large structures. We're the only one that sent stuff outside of Earth, yes, and a few other things. But discussing the definition is itself interesting

martopixon Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton [pdf]

Not the poster, but I don't understand the downvotes: this is exactly right. Higgs was awarded the Nobel after the mechanism he theorized was experimentally confirmed, and that is 100% the reason it took so long.

martopixon A $1k Wheelchair

Same here.

martopixon French prosecutors say Telegram CEO freed from custody, will appear in court

St Kitts and Nevis is notorious for giving out citizenships to those who can afford to 'invest'

martopixon How fast can a human possibly run 100 meters?

I would say the _majority_ of people would not reach that speed on a bike in normal situations

martopixon Ask HN: What is in C-00000291*.sys?

> Crowdstrike is finished

Boeing is still there... we'll see

martopixon Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing is a dystopian nightmare

Small government => big corporations (claim of the previous comment)

is not the same thing as

Big corporations => small goverment (the argument you're trying to disprove)

martopixon The case against morning yoga, daily routines, and endless meetings

This makes a point against the "CEO morning routine" kind of approach, but from my point of view, it is not that different from that perspective on life. It still talks about "proactively moving towards #1 or top 25%", "be so good they can't ignore you", "10x work", "something extraordinary" etc.

Take that direction if that's what makes you tick. I've decided that that's not how I want to live my life, quit a 'prestigious' position, left the competitive career, and I now work as a teacher with "10x personal satisfaction".

martopixon Ambitious but at peace

At some point I had a post-it that said "happily unsatisfied" next to my desk. My bf had told me to think of making the changes I needed, with a timespan of five years, not "asap". That helped a lot.

martopixon Bunk beds in aircraft cabins: the realistic prospects

The amount of cabin luggage we bring is too much anyway. You can impose small bags only, the rest in the hold.

martopixon Why did we wait so long for the bicycle? (2019)

If the problem was balance, why were tricycles not widespread, then? There must have been other factors.

martopixon Why are most sofas so bad?

I remember an app that was a calculator where you could pen-in your calculations, so it was called Ink-ulator.

They later changed the name profusely apologizing to Italian users.

martopixon VATSIM: The International Online Aviation Network

I'm neither a pilot nor even a player of flight simulators, however I have a deep geeky fascination for ATC and radio communication. I would have liked to get into vatsim, but the process seems a bit daunting. For what I could tell, not sure if it changed, you have to contact a local organization, many don't really explain how, etc. I ended up not putting the effort.

martopixon Air Canada Has to Honor a Refund Policy Its Chatbot Made Up

Or maybe it simply means that it's a service offered by another company

martopixon Lessons from a fountain pen addict

I spent 5 years of high school writing in a fountain pen as a leftie. For me, with good ink and good paper, it smudges LESS than a ballpen: the ballpen ink is thicker and takes a while to dry, so it doesn't quite smudge, but still leaves a slow-forming ink stain on the side of your hand. Fountain pen ink dries quickly and does not. However, different lefties write in different ways: I write from the bottom-ish.

martopixon Final Decision on Chromebook Case in Denmark

The world changes.

martopixon Final Decision on Chromebook Case in Denmark

It's not quite the same. I, a responsible adult, find myself fiddling with my phone when attending talks, even when I'm supposedly interested in the talk. Once I start, I missed the beginning and don't understand the rest of the talk even if I try to focus later. The level of temptation is quite different.

martopixon How Maasai agro-pastoralists form and use accidental social ties (2021)

One of the most surreal moments of my life was walking in the bush in Tanzania near a village, two maasais passed by on a motorbike, stopped, took out a mobile phone from the folds of their red garment, took a picture of me without saying a word, and left.

At the time, smartphones were not common and I was somewhat surprised that all maasais had cellphones (non-smartphones, usually). But of course I now understand that they're essential for a society that doesn't have any other form of connection (no landlines, so fast adoption of mobile, and also poor roads and no postal service).

And of course, it must have been much more surreal for them to see a random white young man walking alone in the middle of nowhere near their village.

martopixon Ask HN: What are you reading Feb 2024

"The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder"

martopixon Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?

I'm also left handed and don't usually have a problem with scissors, unless they're bad quality scissors.

I also use the mouse with my right hand and I'm always surprised by how many left-handers actually ended up using the mouse with the right. It's quite strange. Even stranger, was a right-handed colleague who decided to use the mouse with her left.