throwawaylaptop

Real world experience doesn't count on HN health articles. If it wasn't documented by a researcher paid via funding from his industry leaders, or a government official trying to fast track his hiring in the public sector for $800k a year, it basically didn't happen.

I default to statistics a lot more now, even if ballparked and made up in my head.. and it all stemmed from a different gf asking me "how dangerous do you think that was???!!?!" while giggling and high off adrenaline after taking her to around 155 mph on a Yamaha R1.

I thought for a second and said "idk, probably like 1 in 100 we would have died... Maybe even worse than that.. I don't think I could pull that off 100 times"

And that weird realization made something click and I've stopped doing stupid things.

The new me would have thought "hey, if 100 65 year old obese men with gout go hiking, at least one of them isn't making it back". 22 year old me thought "eh, he's just going to be slow".

Sorry, yes, I've had colds and a cough or two for sure. I don't think I've thrown up in 35 years though since I was a child.

When I meant sick, I meant like a longer sustained thing that needs treatment of some kind. I didn't mean I never stayed in bed watching the price is right for two days.

That's how I see it. Ive always felt a lot worse for the daughter too.

I don't worry too much about the butterfly effect because it goes both ways. Sure one stoplight here makes a guy die, but another stoplight over there saves a guys life.

But in this case, when it's a clear "either I put off changing my oil and washing my car, or this 250 lb senior citizen with gout tries going on a hike", it's a lot more clear.

Ha. That was more a play off the fact that most times "busy" is just relative.

I wasn't THAT busy, maybe I just had things to do that I wanted to get done more than go on a hike.

Its obviously not my 'fault'. But it's pretty close to a death I could have prevented for a while if I wasnt pretending to be busy probably.

I remember when she said her dad was going to go instead and I thought "uhh, I don't think that's going to work.. I should just go" but I didn't really like her that much at that point and figured it would just be a lame wasted hike, not that the dude would die.

Not everyone.

I don't think most people worry about the huge amounts of time after they have died. They worry about the 1-120 seconds while they are really dying and aware.

My college gfs dad died after trying to accompany her on a hike, because I was too busy to go and he didn't want her to go alone. So he drove down on the weekend and went with her. He was an overweight man that never moved.

~24 hours after the hike, which he skipped most of and waited mid trail, he started having a heart attack in his home office. I have spent a lot of time thinking about what he was thinking those last minutes or seconds.

And I wish I just went on that hike with her.

Regarding Steve Jobs, that's unfortunate for him because even my grandmother in Poland used to say "sugar causes/feeds cancer" when she tried to get us to stop sweetening our tea back in the 80s before we left.

Somehow she knew what several doctors and researchers are now documenting, that cancer cells have a much harder time growing without ample amounts of glucose.

Oh great, another expert. Except without the 30 years of research and experience.

One guy wins the nobel prize for detailing a function of fasting and its effects on the immune system and cell repair/death... But fasting doesn't help! We know this, because a guy on hacker news said so.

Op seemed to be freaked out about unknowns.

So my solution would be to look at historical data for earth quakes in his area so he knows basically what to expect.. that way when it starts shaking, he doesn't think "omg how big will this be?" And instead can know "ok this will be between 2.9 and 3.5 like the last 500 quakes in this area for 50+ years. Thank God no one has ever died in this area from an earthquake"

And then he can also know that he is prepared for even a much bigger quake in his area before... Because he prepared something.

This is obvious stuff. In case the guy I wrote to didn't know, now he does. If he wants to dwell in his neuroticism he can.

My father has a high rate PSA change a few years ago so I learned everything I could about prostate cancer for about 4 weeks.

I then talked to several doctors I know (family practice and two internal medicine).

It was embarrassing how little they knew. And even more shocking actually, is how wrong they were about things.

Two of them told me the risk of infection from a prostate biopsy was basically zero. I asked for clarification with actual numbers, and even led them with "for what kind? Like 1 in 100 or 1 in 1000?"

One said basically zero, the other said 1 in a million.

Neither knew to mention the two common types, and to make sure we go with the one type that carries less risk of infection.

Even then, the less risky one is about 1 in 1000. If you have bad insurance you might go with the older type which is about 1 in 100. And that's with them giving you antibiotics beforehand....

Basically they got everything I asked about wrong compared to specialists you can read online.

Ps, my dad got an MRI with two 1cm growths.

He changed his diet and added fasts, and did nothing else. His doctor basically writing him off in anger.

5 years later, PSA lower than before the incident. Paid for a scan last year, zero growth.

Internet/YouTube experts/doctors really do beat most general doctors. The odds of you having someone in the top 10% of their field, let alone top 1-2% in your local town is pretty low. Even my bay area doctor friends work at pretty basic general bay area hospitals. Imagine who's left in Modesto, CA.

99% of your problem can be solved by studying statistics for your area, and having a plan... So that you aren't just at the whims of the moment when it's actually happening.

I hope this is satire.

I personally think you were given antibiotics needlessly just for the sake of it..

But yes, I think you should have developed some kind of infection, and being showing trouble of fighting it off, before you're given antibiotics.

I know people that have more skin lost than you'd care to look at from semi serious motorcycle crashes, and no they don't just take antibiotics for fun.

I can't believe someone gave you anti biotics for poison ivy.

At this point I genuinely consider the medical system about as bad as the service department at a car dealership. They'll sell you anything technically legal just to keep their stats high.

Maybe it's a herd immunity thing or something and others are keeping me safe, but I'm 41 and Ive never taken an antibiotic and neither has anyone else in my family to my knowledge. I still can't figure out if it's the chicken or the egg.. have I never been sick because I don't take part in the medical system, or do I not take part because I've never been sick.. Then again last time my cuticle got infected I sterilized a knife and drained it myself. My friend said he had something similar and they gave him an antibiotic yet DIDNT drain it until it got worse and then they just did what I did. But at least they got to sell some antibiotics.

Why don't you just go join your family and make a living where they live? I'm sure many people could increase their salary and career prospects if they chose to abandon their kids and mother of their kids, but to them being together is more important.

Im 41 and haven't been to a doctor since I was 10. I have had insurance coverage my whole life. So technically I (my employer on my behalf I guess) have paid for many other people's services. I have been a huge net positive for insurance companies. Other people get way more services than they ever paid.

People don't buy 1 tons to feel quick. But they want their 1 tons to feel quick.

The examples you gave show that turbos are nice additions to a specific displacement size.

Op said turbos are a replacement for displacement. My example is there to show him they are not.

Unless they were driving very very low miles per year, they are simply incorrect. A car isn't making it over 100k miles without an oil change IMO, even a Toyota.

Similar to how this person went most of a lifetime without noticing and wondering what oil change businesses, advertisements, coupons, etc were for... They also didn't notice someone in their household or a service provider of some kind (brakes, tires, idk) changing their oil.

No but several women that came to buy cars (some with male coworkers, or so they told me) eventually did over the years.

Tbh this wasn't some crazy brag post, as making $250-300k a year working 80 hours a week isn't all that impressive when software devs make more than that easily, and the top guys make many multiples of that.

I was on some kind of local BBS in 1995 from my local ISP. I found a guy selling a gamepad of some kind. Agreed to buy it. Talked to him for a decent amount of time. Finally set time to meet at local Kmart near my house.

The look on his face when a 10 year old rode up on a bicycle to buy his gamepad. I don't have a good memory but I still remember that scene ha.

I worked car sales for years. The same large dealership can have a person anyone would call a decent salesperson, and they made $4k a month. There was also two people at that dealership making $25k+ a month each.

If your organization is filled with the $4k type and not the $25k type, you're going to have a bad time.

I was #7 in the US while working at a small dealership. I moved the the large dealership mentioned above and instantly that dealership became #1 for that brand in the country, something they had never done before. Because not only did I sell 34 cars a month without just cannibalizing others sales, I showed others that you can show up one day and do well so there weren't many excuses. The output of the entire place went up.

So, depending on the pay plan and hiring process, who exactly is working at Microsoft right now selling AI? I honestly have no idea. It could be rock stars and it could be the $4k guys happy they're making $10k at Microsoft.

You're ignoring that the people that are effective at getting things done are more likely to do the crazy things required to begin their plans.

Just because the average person cant add fractions together or stop eating donuts doesn't mean that Elon cant get some stuff together if he sets his mind to it.

These are random little examples that might work in theory. Sure, a car can idle for an hour without coolant probably in the winter, possibly.

I can't be driven on the street in any meaningful way anywhere but a Minnesota winter.

If you can't drive to work 20 miles away in 75 degree weather without coolant, than no a car can't run without coolant.

And no it can't run without oil in any meaningful way on the street for more than maybe 15 minutes.. so again, no Honda Toyotas are no built so well that they run without oil.

Is it specific heat that we care about, or rate of heat transfer? Specific heat matters a bit, but if you make your coolant take twice the energy to change 1 degree, the same thing happens on the radiator side and you must release twice the heat to cool 1 degree.

Rate of heat transfer in general if probably more important.

I find that a bit hard to believe. Someone in that family knew and took care of it sometimes.

The longest I've seen a used car go without an oil change was 40k miles and it was changed when it started making noise instantly on startup. That was basically 90k to 130k. Sure 0 to 40k would go a bit better.. but not 15 years of typical driving.

Between carbon blowby, gasoline dilution, oil burning at the rings/cylinder walls even if minimal, no car is making it 15 years if the person drives more than 5k miles a year IMO.

Ok, stick a huge turbo on a 100cc engine and power my 1 ton pickup please. Id like it to feel quick in traffic but also tow a few thousand lbs uphill without really noticing it.