coastflow's comments

I like writing on paper much more than typing after years of being mostly paperless, though experiences may vary depending on personal preferences.

The main benefits include the flexibility to easily draw and write formulae if thinking about a technical topic, the ability to recall what you write easier than what you type, and enjoyment of the feeling of writing on paper. The feeling is actually really nice, and I believe it even inspired essays by Japanese authors about the feeling. The Guardian interviewed some researchers about the differences at: https://theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/16/cognitive-benefi...

The main drawback is the ability to search, though I personally rarely look back at past entries (the main benefit is during the act of writing). When brainstorming about something work-related, though, I do scan the related pages with my phone. Digital handwriting (e.g. Surface or iPad) with an app that does hand recognition is an alternative, though the feeling of writing with a good pen on quality paper is much nicer than a stylus on the display (even with screen protectors that simulate paper).

If you’d like to try, you can get an excellent setup for less than $50. You can get a nice pen (Pentel Energel, Zebra Sarasa, or Uniball Signo) and notebook (Rhodia, Midori, or Leuchtturm1917) and try it out for a few weeks. r/pens and r/notebooks talk about the differences, and also suggest other alternatives for writing tools.

Have you checked your other Privacy settings under "Message Controls"? There are other categories, e.g. people with your phone number can contact you, people you've previously chatted with on Messenger, and friends of friends on Facebook (assuming you've linked your Facebook account).

If these check out yet you still got the message, and you still feel invested in the issue, you can probably send feedback to Instagram while reporting it as a security issue in a bug report (via https://help.instagram.com/381579045265733), and someone who works there could possibly look into this.

OXO products are typically good, but I've found that they have problems with repairability. This is important because high-priced coffee equipment (e.g. coffee bean grinders and drip machines) can cost hundreds of dollars, and repairability is an important feature for manufacturers to justify the higher price of the equipment to customers.

I've found that unlike other manufacturers in the coffee world, OXO typically does not make replacement parts as easy to source, so the solution if an OXO machine breaks is typically to buy a new one. This nullifies any cost savings from going with OXO, versus pricier alternatives (that may also do the job better, while being easier to repair at the same time).

A partner who is an ethical person typically would respect boundaries, and avoid snooping (e.g. reading journals and going through unattended laptops/phones). However, as a failsafe (e.g. the person has a lapse in judgement, they're drunk, or is typically great to be with but struggles with snooping), just don't commit anything offensive or relationship-ending to long-term storage.

For example, if you're having doubts about a relationship or feel concern about a sensitive subject to the other person, you can write your thoughts to work it out on a separate piece of paper to securely dispose of after, or (similar to a suggestion elsewhere in the comments) a text file that isn't saved or gets deleted after.

Some may argue for great openness about thoughts in a relationship, but I think it's often useful to work things out on your own to clarify your thoughts and position, before a crucial discussion.

This advice may not be helpful as I'm not a person with ADHD (though I've struggled with deep procrastination), but journalling (and most other regular tasks) can become more difficult if you see it as a task that you "must" do for self-betterment.

I would focus on motivation to start (it can relieve the emotional pain from having negative thoughts cloud your mind all the time), commit to imperfection (just half a page is fine), and reduce small friction in the way (e.g. keep an open notebook in an easy-to-access place with a pen readily available).

Also consider making the act of writing a pleasurable experience. This can be done with a nice pen, doesn't need to be fountain, and high-quality paper. You can also be honest with yourself about whether it's helpful in your experience; you can feel free to stop if it becomes something you dread, versus something you enjoy and look forward to (or at least feel neutral about in tougher times).

To double down on obscuring the knowledge that the journal exists, if a person hasn't yet started a journal, a very good habit is just not to tell anyone you have one.

If anyone occasionally happens to see you writing in a journal and asks about it (though preferably it's best to save writing for private moments), you can just describe it as note-taking or brainstorming. If one considers these lies by omission, a more direct way would be a description of "personal notes." Then, the notes sound far less interesting for most people to look into.

To question the premise of the quote as well, an approach that I've found to be helpful to address procrastination/negative moods is to start with action if I can, rather than trying to motivate myself or change my thoughts.

Psychiatrist David Burns summarized this [1]: "Most procrastinators think that motivation comes first, followed by productive action, but this is an illusion, because you’ll probably NEVER feel motivated to do some awful task you’ve been putting off. If you’re waiting for motivation, you’ll be waiting forever! [...] highly productive people know that ACTION comes first, followed by motivation. In other words, you have to get started on some task before you’ll feel motivated."

A more liberal and charitable interpretation of the quote could be to classify starting with action as a way to correct the mind, though I figured it could be helpful to provide a less thoughts-centred approach to living a better life.

[1] https://feelinggood.com/2018/02/12/075-the-second-simple-way...

There is also a systematic way to do emotional journal entries, from the cognitive-behavioral approach to clinical psychology (however this is more structured, versus freely writing thoughts down).

The technique is write down a specific upsetting events, describe the emotions you feel in response with percentages, point out any distortions in thinking (especially unhealthy thoughts) that may be exacerbating your mood, writing a healthier reframe, and writing your mood in percentages either. A simplified eversion would be to write down a specific upsetting event, identify any negative framing of the situation with writing, and reframing it in a healthier way (skipping the percentages).

The source material is in a PDF (low image quality): https://thrive.kaiserpermanente.org/care-near-you/northern-c... and a cleaner table for the approach can be found in this PDF as well: http://content.randomhouse.com/assets/9780767923897/pdfs/Dai...

I agree that in real life, Sacramento is no small town, and it was inaccurate to describe it as very small and rural.

However, I remember the depiction of Sacramento in the movie was intended to stand in contrast with a bigger city (which is why a major conflict is about the protagonist wanting to move away).

Reviews by several critics also described that setting as a small town, and I remember reading discussions around the release about how other perspectives of Sacramento could view the place as much larger and diverse.

The film’s writer and director Greta Gerwig more precisely described her view in an SF Chronicle article (https://www.sfchronicle.com/movies/article/On-location-How-L...): “It’s not rural, but it is not like a New York or a San Francisco either. It is somewhere in the middle.”

I use Evernote. It's the last "killer feature" of the platform. The software is too slow and clunky for taking notes (OneNote or Apple's stock Notes app are far better for this), even after the somewhat-recent update that improved performance, but it succeeds at saving webpages where other services fail. I tried to switch to OneNote's web clipper, but too often it could only save a link instead of clipping the page. Evernote also works on iOS.

There was an interesting comment on r/Evernote by a former employee who worked there about why the clipper works so well (link: https://www.reddit.com/r/Evernote/comments/fbf8an/comment/fj...), based on acquisitions of other companies, custom code for certain websites, and a willingness to test websites where clipping doesn't work and (eventually) fix them.

However, there are issues with clipping on desktop Safari (occasionally there are bugs for periods of time, until fixes are implemented in an update), and sometimes clipping does break for certain websites (though this eventually gets fixed). I also find searching can take effort to find specific past web clips, though I'm not sure if the services is actually worse than before.

Web clipping is the last reason I'm staying with Evernote, writing as a user who has paid money in an attempt to migrate notes to another service (then finding that the other service was inadequate for web clipping).

Even within the United States, different regions can feel like different worlds.

The most stark contrast I’ve seen is in the indie film Lady Bird where (SPOILERS) there is a setting change from a very small rural American town for most of the plot to New York City at the end of the film, with it’s subways, density, and architecture that felt familiar to any watcher from an urban area.

Similarly, the suburban Texas setting of the King of the Hill deliberately contrasts itself with New York-based shows (referring to Seinfeld as, “I'll tell you what, man, them dang ol' New York boys. Just a show about nothin,’” with other joked about the disdain of many Texans of New Yorkers).

The imagery of each of the words is significantly different. "Newhouse" inspires the image of what it says on the tin, a new house.

Casanova inspires the image of a castle (Casa), and maybe something new ("nova") or even a supernova. It's also likely that most English language people know at least one "Jacob," so the name has baggage with past associations versus "Giacomo."

There might be two separate assertions under discussion. One is that it is typically difficult in a suburb to get to a landmark destination (e.g. to the grocery store, to the gym, to a coffee shop, and to work) just by walking, without a car.

This is true. At the same time, suburbs with low rates of crime are typically nicer to walk around without a destination in mind. It’s typically easier to go outside for a jog or run in a suburb than in downtown, as there are fewer cars on the road and other pedestrians on the sidewalk.

To add, the Bible is seen by many scholars as one of the greatest works of literature (and is on the St. John's College curriculum) not because the scholars are religious, but in large part due to its influence on other great works of literature (e.g. Milton's Paradise Lost, Dante's Inferno, much of Dostoevsky's work) and shaping human history.

This is reasonable, though on the flipside, the commenter could also become stuck in a role at a large corporation where either the work is repetitive, or the skills are non-transferable to other companies (i.e. the work is highly specific to internal tools not used elsewhere), with no on-the-job time to improve one’s skills.

You’re right that conditions could be far better for skill improvement, though having paid free time is also a great environment (e.g. for potentially earning a graduate degree online from a reputable institution).

The Washington Post is covering the trial heavily, as the defamation suit resulted as a response to an opinion-editorial that Heard wrote in The Washington Post (the trial is in Virginia because that is where the servers and printers of the WaPost are located).

>"I bet a third of them once were physical scientists/mathematicians who mostly regret their degrees"

Would mathematicians truly be regretting their degrees, if they decide to work in software? I read that mathematics one of the best degrees for a career in software engineering, as computer science is very closely related to mathematics (to the point where studies of algorithms are largely the same for mathematics and computer science students).

Assuming the developer can get paid a 40-hour salary for working 40 hours a week elsewhere instead of 70-90 hour weeks plus 24/7 on-call, the developer is clearly capable of earning more dollars per hour of work.

I found myself agreeing with much of your comment, except: "For people happy to clock out and try to convince others to do the same, that devalues the experience for others who ARE there to work as hard & creatively as they can to do amazing things with like-minded individuals."

Is there possibly a separation between PhD students who work 9-5 with a mentality of hard work but strong time boundaries, versus PhD students who work 9-5 but don't plan to make the most of the opportunity?

I'm also instinctively wary of any romanticization of a PhD program, especially when working long hours. From anecdotal reports, national labs also provide the resources to do great research, with far more reasonable hours and less of a pressure to work longer hours. I've read of too many reports, which exist even if they are minority situations, where advisors take advantage of the power they have over students, such as in this HN thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26367099

I believe that doing "amazing things with like-minded individuals" is worthwhile, but can also happen in the private sector where the pay is commensurate to the value of the provided work. In general, I'm very wary of the idea that working longer hours should ever be romanticized, because the potential downsides are severe and should not be underestimated (including physical/psychological health problems due to burnout from long hours and failed relationships/divorce).

Quick quote from Wikipedia (via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon#Myth_origins): "In her book The First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times (2000), Adrienne Mayor argues that some stories of dragons may have been inspired by ancient discoveries of fossils belonging to dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals.[19] She argues that the dragon lore of northern India may have been inspired by "observations of oversized, extraordinary bones in the fossilbeds of the Siwalik Hills below the Himalayas"[20] and that ancient Greek artistic depictions of the Monster of Troy may have been influenced by fossils of Samotherium, an extinct species of giraffe whose fossils are common in the Mediterranean region.[20] In China, a region where fossils of large prehistoric animals are common, these remains are frequently identified as "dragon bones"[21] and are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine.[21] Mayor, however, is careful to point out that not all stories of dragons and giants are inspired by fossils[21] and notes that Scandinavia has many stories of dragons and sea monsters, but has long "been considered barren of large fossils."[21] In one of her later books, she states that "Many dragon images around the world were based on folk knowledge or exaggerations of living reptiles, such as Komodo dragons, Gila monsters, iguanas, alligators, or, in California, alligator lizards, though this still fails to account for the Scandinavian legends, as no such animals (historical or otherwise) have ever been found in this region."[22]"

In summary, a historian argues that some, but not all, societies found the fossils of reptiles, and created myths involving dragons using these fossils as inspirations for the dragons' imagery.