mike463

This is really stupid.

We get lots more exposure to sun on the left-hand side because of driving.

Think "truckers tan".

This explains the anomaly with the japanese, who sit on the right-hand side of their car.

I learned to relax many years ago using one of these that a friend had:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E22DFE

It's a galvanic skin response gadget. There are others (I got one from radio shack too). Search for GSR.

It basically lowers a tone when you relax. It takes almost no time at all to learn to relax with the immediate feedback the device offers.

When you lower the tone very low, you have basically relaxed your whole body and can easily fall asleep.

I have no idea if this is like meditation or not, since I don't know how to meditate. It could be, because you concentrate on the tone the device makes.

I'd quit a six figure job... for a seven figure job. :)

Yes, the problem is that fixing stuff can (and does) create regressions.

So what REALLY HELPS is -- Fix ONE thing at a time.

Usually, when I'm writing code or fixing something, I put in a couple of unrelated improvements. There's a pretty good chance the unrelated improvements will break something.

Breaking the unrelated improvements into their own separate self-contained step is usually all it takes.

I think the point was he did that 19 times already.

I think Feynman gave him HIGHLY ACCURATE advice, but you have to dig deeper to understand.

Although Wolfram has done quite well for himself, this is beside the point.

You might want to read both sides of the conversation:

http://elzr.com/posts/wolfram-feynman

and then read this article:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.06/wolfram_pr.html

in particular, starting here:

"in the spring of 1992, he became, in his own words, a "recluse."

So, he figured out a way to get away from the administration and concentrate on the science.

I suspect that Feynman's advice probably helped Wolfram steer a clear course through all this.

Actually, all this hoopla got me to read the excerpts, and I'm thinking about getting the book (when it comes out).

so... then I wonder... Is this -- all of this -- clever advertising?

It would be lots more interesting to Parents if they said something like "May hold the key to maturity", where they learn how to stop a 17 year old from having the behavior of a baby. ;)

I have both a Kindle 2 and a Kindle DX. I prefer the DX.

I know it sounds simplistic, but I can make the words bigger or show more of them.

The science: - dilated pupils make focusing harder. - Higher contrast makes reading easier.

So: Reading on a kindle with a bright light closes down your pupils and makes it easier for your eyes to focus on the words without using the muscles in your eyes for focusing. This is especially important for readers over 40 who are starting to get farsighted.

An iPad has a glossy screen, which limits the contrast. (comparing signal to noise, well the reflection is all noise)

An e-ink screen has very high brightness and contrast, even (epecially) in bright sunlight.

I'm not saying it's impossible to read with the iPad or iPhone or a computer. Just realize it may take more unconscious effort for some people.

I have both an iPad and a Kindle and love both.

I have an iPad, a Kindle 2 and a Kindle DX.

I prefer the Kindle DX by a wide margin when reading books.

The iPad is not unusable for reading, but the kindle with a bright reading light is much nicer. The Kindle is superior outdoors.

I can read without my glasses with the Kindle DX, but I always need glasses for the iPad.

The iPad is much better for everything else.

I meant my library of archived items, not my home screen. (but thanks for the thought!)

This post and all the replies are full of misconceptions.

I suspect the average book price is way off.

I have 98 digital books in my kindle library.

My average book price for the 98 books was $3.46.

39 books were free.

The average book price for my non-free books was $5.87.

As far as kindle vs iPad, I have both.

The kindle is MUCH better for actual reading. It's possible when you're 10 years old that you can read novels by moonlight, but as you get older having a well-lit book is a much better experience.

Reading on the kindle, with a bright light over your shoulder is wonderful.

The kindle does have a clunky interface, but I don't have to use it much. I usually peruse books in the amazon store on my computer (or sometimes on my iphone).

I can buy and send it to my kindle in one click.

But mostly, I send books to my kindle using the "send sample" feature. I don't buy books until I'm sure I want to buy them. I send a sample. Then when I go to my kindle, there's a big queue of books that might or might not be interesting. I start reading them, and if I like it I get to the end of the sample and click the buy button they embedded there.

Oh, one more thing -- in the beginning I got a lot of free books for my kindle. My library is now cluttered up with a bunch of books that seemed good at the time, but now I can't get rid of.

In the end, the kindle may have a clunky interface, but it excels at being a book. It's my preferred way to read.

I also have an iPad, and it's just not as good a reading experience for text. You can see the pixels in the characters, and the LCD display isn't as easy to read. I'm sure apple will remedy this going forward as their display gets brighter and higher-resolution. However, I don't know if it can get as good as the kindle with a good reading light. The iPad will never compare to the kindle in sunlight.

However, the iPad excels with color or animated books. For example, the kids books for the iPad are wonderful (look at the free Alice in Wonderland or Toy Story books). For textbooks, I can imagine it can only get better, maybe redefining what a book is. I can imagine physics textbooks with built-in calculations, graphing and demonstrations. The line between app and book is getting pretty fuzzy.

Wouldn't a marriage sort compare different keys as time went on? It would start sorting on "hair color" at the start, then "wants kids" towards the end?

;)

It seems these ways of falling asleep are really just creating favorable conditions for sleep.

A number of years ago I learned how to relax and fall asleep in a very effective way.

I was at a friend's house and tried a biofeedback device.

If you google search "GSR2" I think you'll find approximately the device I learned with. Later I bought my own similar device (like ~$10) from radio shack (google search "radio shack biofeedback monitor"). I don't know if they make that anymore.

What these devices do is teach you to relax. You have a tone, and when you relax, it decreases in pitch. If you just think you are relaxing, but the pitch doesn't decrease (or goes up), you can't cheat. By the end, the pitch is very low and you're almost asleep.

Once you learn how to do it, it's quite easy to relax and fall asleep. Using the other tricks like darkness, earplugs or relaxing sounds can then help you.

I think the way to get a handle on all your stuff is to turn your life inside out (or more accurately, turn it rightside out).

From an engineering standpoint, you have to design your life. You know - architect how you want to live.

From that, it's easy to deal with your stuff -- does it support your design? If it doesn't, it should go.

The computer should have a place. Kitchen stuff should live in the kitchen.

The bedroom closet is for the clothes you do use and maybe seasonal stuff at the top. It isn't for 6 boxes of cat5 and all those extra USB cables you end up with. You should not have a closet or garage full of "misc".

My personal test is the "might" test. Stuff you "might" need is not stuff you do need. It goes.

Here's some solid gold info about parking your rv...

http://vagabonders-supreme.net/nitecamping.htm

My brother used to do long-haul trucking. With the right person to set up your loads, you can make $300k a year.

I'd say, invest in yourself. If you're short of creative ideas on what to do with your time and finances, I think you might find the book "the 4 hour work week" interesting.

As a software guy, I recommend the book "Bebop to the Boolean Boogie":

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1856175073

...to people who want to demystify current generation electronics.

What we have now is not as simple as an early telephone, but it still might be in the realm of understanding.

What's clear to me is like you're inexperienced in life, she's inexperienced in english.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell - page turner

I loved these tricks. Here's a site dedicated to command line tricks:

http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/browse/sort-by-votes

Being on a Mac, I didn't have the rename or prename command, but after a lot of searching, found it here:

http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=303814

(beware the '+' signs at the beginning of each line)

This is an amazing story. I'm glad you're onto the road to recovery.

For hacker news -- this is actually a perfectly reasonable amount of information to provide.

Having worked in many facets of systems engineering (in addition to an eye-opening stint in tech support) I can see many analogies between the medical diagnosis you had to obtain and computer diagnostics.

Just like medicine, a lot of computer problems aren't even diagnosed. A computer reboot is the way of fixing some problems without bothering to diagnose them, like antibiotics.

Generally, a hard computer bug getting fixed happens best if -- a LOT of people encounter it OR someone takes a personal interest in the problem OR there is meticulous documentation that makes it easy to pinpoint what is happening.

People don't notice that this is the same in the medical profession. You helped yourself by carefully documenting what happened, and I believe that's what helped you in the end.

All the best to you (and congratulations on fatherhood!)

I think I saw something like this a long time ago (pre-leopard).

I was running Little Snitch and while reading a specific email message, Little Snitch told me Mail.app was trying to connect using port 80. I denied it, but never tracked it down.

This is different than .mac addresses -- Mail.app will connect to .mac when you receive mail from someone with a .mac address (to verify if they're online, which you can disable I believe)

actually, you should start your search with:

http://www.ramseeker.com/

Revenge is sweet...

I hope they sort the bank failures from smallest to largest so the fees for the banks are maximized...

http://www.google.com/search?q=bank+overdraft+fees

I thought Dishpointer AR was even cooler.

It's absolutely true -- the best way to learn something is to have to teach it to someone else. You must get organized and this focuses you.

listen in the car instead -- it's wonderful.

I wouldn't recommend it while working on focused mental tasks.

It would probably be ok if you work at a job where you don't use your brain much like a parking booth attendant, janitor or a manager. ;)