Running. Been running ~ 2 years fairly seriously. Lost a lot of weight, and have never been healthier. Now have run marathons under 3 hours, qualified for Boston, ran in international races, Hawaii, etc. Running and any active sports feel fun when you are fast.
I wish everyone who runs that may they never stop , ever :-)
Was a long distance runner from 2012-2016. It was so fun, used to look forward for my morning run every single day - I'd once forgotten all my credit cards when flying to another city but not my running shoe. Almost never missed it for anything. Minor injury broke it for 1.5 months. Been struggling to pick up again since then. It's 2 years. Procrastination and complete loss of motivation.
It helped me keep in shape, improved stamina, and surprisingly it actually had kept my diet disciplined and healthy. I have 12 half organised marathons and one 38km under my belt.
(PS. Had stepped on a slightly bigger rock and had to abandon my first and last marathon - it was trail)
Ever get shin splints? Every time I make the attempt to make running a habit, I get them after a week or two and have to stop. I think I just really need to ease in and let my legs adapt.
Hey, balladeer, maybe this will help: I often pick something to listen to that I'm really interested in--an audio book, a podcast episode, some music I've started liking--and I make a strict rule that I have to be at least walking when I listen to it. If I stop (get in the car, go home, etc.) I have to stop listening to it immediately. Often, I'll just go out walking because I want to find out what happened next in the story, but then if I'm walking, I don't mind an easy jog instead. I don't try for speed or distance or "exercise". I just want to listen for a while, so I have to keep moving. And over time, the gentle running is good for my health, but I don't need to "motivate" myself, because I'm just going out to listen to something I like. So I can't be sure, but maybe if you don't pressure yourself to be "a runner" and just have some fun instead, you'll end up running again. Just a thought.
I started programming about 16 years ago (I think), when my Dad bought a basic introduction to HTML for himself, which I ended up "borrowing". I super geeky teenage life followed where I learned various languages, including Python, Delphi and an obscure language called RapidEuphoria (honest, that is a programming language, with some interesting features actually). Fast forward through a Maths degree and 2 internships, I'm now a happy Engineering Team Lead at Bloomberg, generally utilising JS, Python and C++ as appropriate.
Of course, there are a bunch of other skills needed to be a successful software engineer, but I think turning my hobby into my career has been the most richly rewarded skill so far.
I hesitated to write programming (or coding!) but saw more posts and came back to peek.
Through this, I've learnt product and market fit that made tangible changes in peoples lives - the coding remains a personal rich reward, but the product outcome has been the true 'reward' so to speak.
I value the personal rewards higher than anything however. There are not many things better than a good hour coding session when things go well and everything works. I've fond memories of many good hacks or idea that were so perfect that they pivoted other peoples ideas and changed a product outcome.
I'm curious about your experience going from a maths degree to a software engineering career - do you find the maths to be specifically and/or broadly relevant to your work? Are there any anecdotes you'd like to share on the process?
I'm a maths graduate who became a programmer too. In my experience there's very little direct application of the knowledge acquired during the degree, but the thinking process gained is totally relevant.
Doing a maths degree is one of the best things that happened in my life, and it altered the way I think forever.
Having said that, now that I do a little bit of AI (as everyone should), I start to see more and more math in the code I write.
I have degrees in Math (PhD), CS(MS), and Engineering(BS). I find wonderful interactions between all three.
My career is a bit mixed up: Taught Math at a college (part time on and off for 10 years), Meteorologist (only 2 years), Nuclear Engineer (only 2 years), Systems Engineering (7 years), Hedge Funds (15 years). I did a lot of ML/AI (20 years) mostly for Trading Stocks, Poker, Torpedos, and Satellites. I wrote about 100,000 lines of C++ and about 10,000 lines for each of the following: BASIC, Mathematica, Matlab, and Haskell.
Math is an integral a part of my life and my thinking. :)
If I get some time later, maybe I will try to write up a few stories.
I did one of my undergrads in mathematics. For me the primary benefit of studying pure mathematics was that it greatly improved my ability to think clearly. Mathematics more than almost any other discipline (physics and philosophy are on par with maths here) has the power to remove conceptual clutter, teach you to capture the essence of a problem, and be a more careful thinker. I've always been a first principles thinker, and maths made me a much better one. There is a night and day difference in how you think between the beginning and end of a good undergraduate Real Analysis course.
Applied to software engineering, it (indirectly) improved my abilty to understanding what a piece of software needs to do and why it's there. It also improved my ability to discern what level of abstraction is appropriate to the problem at hand, and figure out what questions to ask. In short, mathematics changes the way you think in a very powerful way. The precise contents of what you learn in the subject aren't necessarily applicable to everyday software engineering outside of a few areas, but the way of thinking is eminently so. For a personal example of where mathematics does come up in programming in a direct way, I do hobby graphics programming, which necessitates fluency in elementary linear algebra and benefits from grasping vector calculus (if you want to understand how light transport works and where physically-based rendering algorithms come from).
Little slow replying to this one, but that's fortunately given 3 other people in a similar position to reply and I can't agree more with the sentiment. Have I used my knowledge of approximating PDEs using multi-variate finite element methods? No, not really - though it makes for some interesting conversations with meteorologists occasionally. Whether it's the deep understanding of logical constructs (everyone should know what the contrapositive is) or the ability to model a problem and remove cruft, the way of thinking a maths degree instills will be invaluable forever.
Nothing but I think if I had mastered another language that would probably be very rewarding. Actually I think mastering just about anything must be very rewarding. The more you put in the more you get out. There were subjects I did in school that were boring only because I didn't put enough into them to find them interesting. So my answer would be just about anything. Except don't go for something at which you know you don't have the attributes for.
Penmanship & Calligraphy. One of my non-computer fascinations that turned out to be spiritually rewarding. Once one gets past shallow modern trends, there's so much to discover, study, learn, practice, master and let loose with. It's really fun. I don't necessarily ship or sell anything, at least as of yet, but still the act itself is kinda like meditation.
I started to get into calligraphy. I got quite good at copperplate/engrosser's script (I was never quite clear on the difference). My script was good enough that people thought it was printed. But I just don't know where to take it from there. I feel like I need a good book on the subject. Like The Art of Computer Programming, but for calligraphy. I've been unable to find such a book, though. Any suggestions on how progress?
let me start with sharing a link to my instagram where I've been recording and sharing some penmanship study notes. It's a little nerdy, but I think there oughta be lots more video resources :)
https://www.instagram.com/theksop
As for good books, oh so many. Please dont discount the value of a book because it's in public domain or because they've been written a while ago.My taste generally favors american penmanship derivations and as such prefer engrosser's script over styles grouped under copperplate. Copperplate are styles that derive from English Round hand. Engrosser's script evolved from copperplate but did so in a time of the steel nib which allowed more nuanced curves. Engrosser's script has a very definitive guide from the Zanerian college that is clear, concise and has great exemplars. So my recommendation is - The Zanerian Manual. There is a copy in archive.org but David Grimes recently scanned a high def version of it on his website https://masgrimes.com/archive . Beauty of a book. I refer to very often.
You didn't ask but some good material suggestions with KISS in mind - get a good (not speedball) oblique holder, McCaffery's Iron gall Ink, a rhodia book and a bunch of Leonardt Principal nibs because you'll go through them a lot. Just like programming, once you get the fundamentals right, you can handle anything that whimsies you.
I have a particular fondness for the Spencerian family and as such regard the "New Spencerian Compendium" as a definite recommendation. It was done by Papa Spencer's sons(including a genius penman Lyman Spencer) and has some well written teaching material and theory on styles that have spring from the Spencerian family. While on this topic, I'd like to recommend a book from the Zanerian college about one of my favorite penmen - Louis Madarasz. It's called - The secret of the skill of Louie Madarasz.
All of these books are freely available as pdfs on archive.org . Also you should visit iampeth.org at some point - an organization that has spent lots of resources to dig up and preserve the beauty that was the golden age of American Penmanship. So many good helpful notes on that website.
I wouldn't mind offering personalized advice or more book recommendations. Feel free to DM me on instagram.
The 303s have better flex than Leonardt Principal. The catch is there’s just so many duds, I’ve found it easier just to get the Principal. If you have Gillots already though, that’s great :)
Sounds like calligraphy is an activity you enjoy for its own sake.
For some reason I've often been focused on what the benefit from doing an activity is. For pure enjoyment I would just consume movies or video games. Somehow I missed the idea that there are many activities that might be beneficial, but that even without the benefits would be enjoyable activities to engage in.
For example many programming tasks are enjoyable enough in themselves, even if they result in no outcome. Maybe that's why "this guy made $10 million with this app"-type of stories might be harmful, as they makes you forget that programming in itself is often an enjoyable task, never mind the other rewards.
Besides programming, I would say messing around with music creation programs (Ableton Live is my favorite) and 3D modeling software (Blender) can be as much fun as gaming, even if you aren't any good. I've also experimented with drawing, but I find that a bit harder to enjoy while having no skill. Maybe there is a base level of competence you need to attain before an activity starts being enjoyable for its own sake.
> Maybe there is a base level of competence you need to attain before an activity starts being enjoyable for its own sake.
This has been on mind so much. I think that level we call base level is often set by comparison to other skilled people that we look upto o compare our progress against. And of course comparison is a thief of joy and results more in disappointment that not. In activities I've picked, i usually just see if im truly enjoying it, if theres potential depths to explore in the future and then go with the mantra - Disregard everything else. I hope that makes sense.
O man, drawing is something I'd commited to learn as well although I really it has a steep learning curve. But its the same deal with anything no? Gotta keep going through the grind before we can get good at it and the best way that happens is if we can enjoy the process itself. So yeah I guess I'm just agreeing with you :)
- Learning x86 assembler back in school: knowing what everything comes down to in the end has no price.
- reading "Smashing the stack for fun and profit": I learned so many things from that article, that I felt like a god when I finally understood all the things. And all of those things are still relevant today when debugging stuff.
- learning ruby: when rails came out I jumped on the hype train and started learning ruby. I was mainly a java dev, so learning all the new ways of doing things made me grow a lot.
- javascript: I hated the language, but once I bit the bullet and overcome my hate for it and started learning it, I now love all the things I can do.
- learning git: it was an uphill battle at the beginning, but now I can't live without it.
I am sure there are a lot of other things I am forgetting, but these come to mind now.
> Learning x86 assembler back in school: knowing what everything comes down to in the end has no price.
I think going a couple of steps lower, learning electrodynamics (from a book like morin&purcell), and then electronics (art of electronics), will give you even more satisfaction.
Cooking. I am not a chef, but I have spent the time and effort to be able and willing to tackle nearly any recipe in the cuisines I'm familiar with. More importantly, I've made my wife, family, friends, strangers, and myself, happy at my table and via gifts of food. In terms of books, the biggest difference-makers have been 'The Way to Cook', Julia Child, 'The French Laundry Cookbook', Thomas Keller, et al, and 'The Flavor Bible', Page and Dornenburg.
I wouldn't advise to start with baking once the learning curve is way steeper and less fault tolerant than general cooking. If you are just starting and want to see cooking as a relaxation activity delay baking and start with Italian food.
I’m rather the opposite when it comes to ironing, I can never get myself to do it while not hating it. Do you have any tips for how to make it more bearable?
I also agree with this. I have learned by doing blue apron and hello fresh for a year, and it's amazing the little things I've learned from cooking so much. another bonus is my foods budget has become much more manageable.
Second this. I spent a lot of time focusing on trying recipes with new techniques or new ingredients when I was in graduate school and cooked dinner for my wife and myself every weeknight. When I started, I viewed recipies almost as magic spells that had to be followed just so (or maybe for this crowd, code to be copied verbatim from a Stack Overflow answer). But once I learned some basic techniques and the properties of ingredients, I gained the confidence to experiment and create new dishes. Recipies and cookbooks are now sources of inspiration and not rigid rules.
except for baking—-precision and reproducibility are key there.
I would add to this: learn how to sharpen a knife with a cheap wetstone and learn how to cut correctly with a chef's knife... it speeds up your prep time immensely and is also a lot safer. i can basically cut up most veggies without thinking about it or looking at the board and it doesn't take very long to learn.
Relationships; my wife, my child, my family, my friends, my employees, my peers and my bosses. I find all my real regrets and upsets stem from not doing these right, they all compete for time, but in the end they make the tapestry of your life.
I think this is the most sage advice of all. There's a TED talk that also says the same based on an extensive study: "What makes a good life?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KkKuTCFvzI
Learning Linux/UNIX has by far yielded the most return in my life.
I started at 14. It turned into my career. It has been very lucrative and I still love it.
In contrast: I started learning how to draw digitally ~2 years ago and it’s mostly just painful and unrewarding. I feel like an emo teen again. I can’t quit though because I have strong feelings about the sunk costs :V
Agreed, my time spent learning Linux/unix has reaped rich dividends. A textbook on operating systems offers only an abstract intro to the concepts. Wading hip deep into a high powered open unix in which you configure and build your own kernels, filesystems, networks, and program both high and low level services — as Linux allows — greatly empowers the curious admin or developer, and offers insights into computer infratructure that far exceeds mere coursework or certifications.
There's a wide variety of different breathing techniques that can be used for specific purposes. It's been literally life-changing for me. Some techniques can help you getting out of a bad moment (anxiety, stress,...) but others have much deeper effects and can transform how you function as a human being.
You can for example check the following broad categories: a) Conscious breathing (Holotropic, rebirth, and the likes), b) Pranayama (Kapalabhati, anuma viloma,..), c) Buteyko + McKeown, d) Anapana Sati, e) Qi gong, f) Wim Hof.
It takes time to absorb the practical knowledge and use it in daily life but as the question asked, I was richly rewarded for the time I've invested in mastering these techniques.
I read a weight loss book called "the Gabriel Method" and it changed my life. Besides all kinds of food related things, it teaches a sort of goal-oriented meditation/visualization technique that I found to work for many more things than changing eating habits.
I've felt more like good food and less like bad food so I eat healthier without needing to muster discipline. Lost 10 kilos so far without really trying all that hard.
I've been procrastinating less because I changed the way I feel about many of the tasks I'd keep postponing.
My relationship has never been better, despite our lives having become more, not less, busy during the same period. We fight way less because I'm less annoyed by things and I'm better at not letting things escalate when she's annoyed by things.
About 8 months. Unexciting speed compared to diets, but I'm not on any diet and I eat whatever I like. It's not going to come back on. I expect to lose the same amount again in the next 8 months or so.
That is perfectly normal speed of losing ~1 kg per month. I have been there...lost ~20 for 2 years and keep it until now. As for the body temperature I read somewhere that losing 3% of weight slows down metabolism significantly that leads to wide spectrum of side effects like low body temperature.
Not an expert here, but your metabolic rate depends on how much muscle you have. Losing fat alone is hard. Typically you lose some muscle along the way, unless you try to fight it with weight training.
I'm going to say something out of the blue - Building speakers.
Building speakers look complex from the outside, but are pretty rewarding once you know the basics (Thiele parameters, enclosure design and tuning). You can put together your own speaker with just a couple of parts from eBay or anywhere else on the internet really and sometimes can end up with really high quality boxes that can outperform much more expensive commercial ones available in the market.
Speaker design is one of those things that the more time you put into it, learning, studying, testing, the better rewarded you'd feel. To add to the mix there's also amplifiers - Class A, B, C, D and even tube amps and each combination of amplifier and crossover sounds totally different.
Each speaker box I design, I feel is like good food. Different flavors, different combinations, different possibilities. You will never feel bored and never feel you've hit an end. You're always discovering something new.
If it went away entirely, as in also from laptops, desktops and Raspberry Pis, without adapters being available, maybe.
But you're not going to be driving a speaker with a phone anyways. You'll need an amplifier, and if the aux port goes away, the amp will likely have whatever-alternative-input-there-is.
If Aux port goes away, it's still going to be Bluetooth or Wifi and of course there are plenty of plug and play chips out there on the market that should do the job pretty easily. So, to answer your question, no, the barrier wouldn't be that high at all :)
Oo, this is something I'm pretty interested in getting into (I love good sound systems, and enjoy building physical things). Do you have any pointers on where to find information on how to design speakers / pick sensible component combinations?
I audited the course and didn't pay any money. There's not much difference unless you want a certificate (and of course want to support Coursera too).
YouTube:
I like Kirby meets audio. He does some really nice stuff with speaker boxes. He mostly sells kits for his speakers, but I don't recommend them. They are from parts express mostly.
I LOVE John. He reviews most of the cheap amplifiers from China and teaches you what's wrong with them electronically and how to fix them. HE's very knowledgeable as well.
If you're buying speakers, AliExpress usually sells good quality speakers for cheap. You may also want to search for the same model (sometimes under different brand names) on eBay as eBay can be cheap sometimes as well.
Contrary to popular belief, most speakers are actually made in China. Simply because China possesses most of earth's natural magnetic ore required for making speakers. That and Neodymium too. For example, look at the quality of this Aluminium cast speaker: https://www.instagram.com/p/BjZN5XKggOt/. It's definitely hundreds of notches higher quality than what you can buy commercially from say, Sony or Philips in the consumer market. And it also costs really less.
Nanjing in China has most of these speaker factories and I visited a few last year. If you are able to make a trip to China like I did, it's best to form a personal relationship with someone there and you can order directly through them. The price difference between AliExpress/eBay and these factories direct can be as huge as $50-100 depending on the model and size of the speaker.
For amplifiers, I recommend eBay or AliExpress. Both carry decent models.
If you'd like to build your own, hands down the best model to get started with and easiest to hack one in a weekend is TDA 7297 by ST MicroElectronics. The good thing is, you can even power it with your USB! And the sound quality is REALLY good. It's the same IC used by a lot of companies (Creative for example) and resold to you for $700 (Creative actually has a model that uses this IC for this price, I can't remember which one). Many companies like Bose also use similar models from ST as well. That's when you realize stuff you buy from the consumer market is actually something you could have built yourself too, with a little more effort :)
Some other popular amplifier models (plug and play) are chips based on TPA 3116D2. They come in different configurations 2.1, 4 channels or good ole' stereo. Pick the ones you like.
I'm glad you mentioned this. I've recently gotten into analog stereo. I've fixed up a few receivers, which has involved deciphering schematics, testing circuitry and soldering. Very rewarding when it works! I've rehabbed some speakers and turntables, too. I'm a long way from understanding much of anything in depth, but it is a nice off-screen, hands-on hobby. Thanks for the book recommendations below.
I've been part of two Toastmaster's clubs. I've found the Toastmasters program for learning how to speak publicly to be thorough, thoughtful, and easy to get started with. I've found the people in both clubs (different eras, different places) to be friendly, creative, fun, and supportive. I'd recommend Toastmasters to anyone interested in learning public speaking.
Definitely this. The majority of people I've worked with over the years have used a keyboard as their main interface but simply do not know how to use it. Learning the keyboard does more than just making typing faster. It enables you to banish the rat and achieve far greater overall efficiency.
It's very easy. One and only rule: Never look at your keyboard. Cover it with carboard if you cant resist looking. First week will be a pain but eventually it will just get faster.
Another good tip is to know what the "home row" is but if you've already developed a fast personal style you don't have to follow it strictly.
Reading "How to Win Friends and Influence People", "Badass: Making Users Awesome" and some other book on understanding human psychology and how to understand better.
In a world where millions of developers rush to compete to build the best, most sophisticated apps, Understanding user / audience / customer has become an overlooked field.
Understand your user / client's pain points so well that they love you so much by buying your products / continuing to hire you for consultation feels really good.
It opened up a whole new area of the internet that I was excluded from simply because I didn't know the language. There are communities that I can actively participate in and learn from.
What's your native language? A year ago I started learning Chinese and I'm wondering if there will ever be a day that it helps me be a better engineer or programmer.
What are some examples from your native language or other languages you speak that have adopted English phrases or idioms? I'm curious to know more about what other languages adopt besides just names of items
Most took 5-10 hours, but the photo of the couple covered in black spots took about 15 hours. That one was a woman's only surviving photo of her parents, so she was extremely happy with the results. I did them all for Reddit users for free, and it was very gratifying. I'd recommend fielding Reddit requests as a good way to practice. Here's one I worked on for two days before giving up, early in my stint doing restorations. https://imgur.com/a/56pSsS7 I really should start over, but don't have the drive anymore. I'd say that was my most ambitious attempt. The guy I did it for still had it framed, despite its flaws. Thanks for liking my work!
The photo of a couple covered in black tar spots was the hardest. It took about 15 hours, without a break. It was the only surviving photo a Redditor had of her birth parents, so I put my all into it. This one was probably easiest (https://imgur.com/a/1lp9O) because there were fewer repair areas.
Online tutorials and Youtube videos were some help, but really it just takes practice. Muscle memory is key. I used two tools repeatedly, the clone tool and healing brush, then magnified the work area to zoom in on details. I think the patience I learned has transferred to other non-Photoshop tasks. Others here have commented on similar results.
I’m still very much in the earlier stages of learning, but I’ll say negotiation. Recognizing that virtually any situation involving an “exchange” between two interested parties can become a negotiation has been a great insight into control for me.
People often think of negotiation as business, however it can be much more personal than that and can be very useful for your interpersonal relationships as much as it can be for your professional relationships.
Understanding how you can leverage another person’s empathy (and your own) in your favour without exploiting the other person is tremendously valuable whether you’re trying to get your kid to eat their vegetables or trying to convince a terrorist organization to free their hostages.
I’ve learned a few simple techniques that have honestly improved my ability to not only negotiate but communicate and understand people better in general.
I bought Chris Voss’ book on negotiating and it’s been really pivotal for my understanding of, well, humanity to a certain extent. Highly recommend it to anyone who wants to make a stronger person out of themselves.
No affiliation with the book btw but I’m a huge fan of the author as a result of his book.
> I bought Chris Voss’ book on negotiating and it’s been really pivotal for my understanding of, well, humanity to a certain extent. Highly recommend it to anyone who wants to make a stronger person out of themselves.
For people wondering, Chris Voss is the former lead international kidnapping negotiator for the FBI. Here's a podcast where he talks about negotiation [0] and the link to the book the above comment refers to [1]. His talk at Google about the same subject might be interesting too [2].
On thing that has bothered me about some other negotiating books is that they seem to focus on [what I call] "psychological tricks", then one day you get two people who've read the same book together and they just go back and forth trying to play tricks on each other and nobody gets anywhere.
Chris Voss' book teaches [among other things] that listening is the most important and most difficult negotiating skill. That's a "scaleable" approach to negotiation, if you happen to get two people together who both believe in listening to the other, that works.
The unfortunate thing about negotiation books is that people begin to see all forms of human interaction as a negotiation. Negotiating when buying a car, sure go for it. But if you've scratched someone else's car and they're asking you to pay for it. Maybe not the best time to whip out those negotiating skills.
if you've scratched someone else's car and they're asking you to pay for it
That's a perfect time to use those negotiating skills. When I was buying a car, I just told them the number I'm willing to pay, and two weeks and 5 calls later they agreed. On the other hand, had I scratched someone's car, I'd want to use some negotiation tricks in case they wanted me to pay too much.
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[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 375 ms ] threadI have also become fascinated with yeasts (biology!) and really want to start harvesting and propogating my own from local varieties.
Hops is another complex subject. So many different varieties with different aromas and flavours.
[1] http://www.ispindel.de
Was a long distance runner from 2012-2016. It was so fun, used to look forward for my morning run every single day - I'd once forgotten all my credit cards when flying to another city but not my running shoe. Almost never missed it for anything. Minor injury broke it for 1.5 months. Been struggling to pick up again since then. It's 2 years. Procrastination and complete loss of motivation.
It helped me keep in shape, improved stamina, and surprisingly it actually had kept my diet disciplined and healthy. I have 12 half organised marathons and one 38km under my belt.
(PS. Had stepped on a slightly bigger rock and had to abandon my first and last marathon - it was trail)
Streaks are really important in anything that requires deliberate practice.
(I feel like that might be cheating on HN...)
I started programming about 16 years ago (I think), when my Dad bought a basic introduction to HTML for himself, which I ended up "borrowing". I super geeky teenage life followed where I learned various languages, including Python, Delphi and an obscure language called RapidEuphoria (honest, that is a programming language, with some interesting features actually). Fast forward through a Maths degree and 2 internships, I'm now a happy Engineering Team Lead at Bloomberg, generally utilising JS, Python and C++ as appropriate.
Of course, there are a bunch of other skills needed to be a successful software engineer, but I think turning my hobby into my career has been the most richly rewarded skill so far.
Through this, I've learnt product and market fit that made tangible changes in peoples lives - the coding remains a personal rich reward, but the product outcome has been the true 'reward' so to speak.
I value the personal rewards higher than anything however. There are not many things better than a good hour coding session when things go well and everything works. I've fond memories of many good hacks or idea that were so perfect that they pivoted other peoples ideas and changed a product outcome.
My career is a bit mixed up: Taught Math at a college (part time on and off for 10 years), Meteorologist (only 2 years), Nuclear Engineer (only 2 years), Systems Engineering (7 years), Hedge Funds (15 years). I did a lot of ML/AI (20 years) mostly for Trading Stocks, Poker, Torpedos, and Satellites. I wrote about 100,000 lines of C++ and about 10,000 lines for each of the following: BASIC, Mathematica, Matlab, and Haskell.
Math is an integral a part of my life and my thinking. :)
If I get some time later, maybe I will try to write up a few stories.
Applied to software engineering, it (indirectly) improved my abilty to understanding what a piece of software needs to do and why it's there. It also improved my ability to discern what level of abstraction is appropriate to the problem at hand, and figure out what questions to ask. In short, mathematics changes the way you think in a very powerful way. The precise contents of what you learn in the subject aren't necessarily applicable to everyday software engineering outside of a few areas, but the way of thinking is eminently so. For a personal example of where mathematics does come up in programming in a direct way, I do hobby graphics programming, which necessitates fluency in elementary linear algebra and benefits from grasping vector calculus (if you want to understand how light transport works and where physically-based rendering algorithms come from).
As for good books, oh so many. Please dont discount the value of a book because it's in public domain or because they've been written a while ago.My taste generally favors american penmanship derivations and as such prefer engrosser's script over styles grouped under copperplate. Copperplate are styles that derive from English Round hand. Engrosser's script evolved from copperplate but did so in a time of the steel nib which allowed more nuanced curves. Engrosser's script has a very definitive guide from the Zanerian college that is clear, concise and has great exemplars. So my recommendation is - The Zanerian Manual. There is a copy in archive.org but David Grimes recently scanned a high def version of it on his website https://masgrimes.com/archive . Beauty of a book. I refer to very often.
You didn't ask but some good material suggestions with KISS in mind - get a good (not speedball) oblique holder, McCaffery's Iron gall Ink, a rhodia book and a bunch of Leonardt Principal nibs because you'll go through them a lot. Just like programming, once you get the fundamentals right, you can handle anything that whimsies you.
I have a particular fondness for the Spencerian family and as such regard the "New Spencerian Compendium" as a definite recommendation. It was done by Papa Spencer's sons(including a genius penman Lyman Spencer) and has some well written teaching material and theory on styles that have spring from the Spencerian family. While on this topic, I'd like to recommend a book from the Zanerian college about one of my favorite penmen - Louis Madarasz. It's called - The secret of the skill of Louie Madarasz.
All of these books are freely available as pdfs on archive.org . Also you should visit iampeth.org at some point - an organization that has spent lots of resources to dig up and preserve the beauty that was the golden age of American Penmanship. So many good helpful notes on that website.
I wouldn't mind offering personalized advice or more book recommendations. Feel free to DM me on instagram.
As for nibs, I bought a load of different ones but the only one I got good results with was Gillot 303. Are the Leonardt Principal ones like that?
For some reason I've often been focused on what the benefit from doing an activity is. For pure enjoyment I would just consume movies or video games. Somehow I missed the idea that there are many activities that might be beneficial, but that even without the benefits would be enjoyable activities to engage in.
For example many programming tasks are enjoyable enough in themselves, even if they result in no outcome. Maybe that's why "this guy made $10 million with this app"-type of stories might be harmful, as they makes you forget that programming in itself is often an enjoyable task, never mind the other rewards.
Besides programming, I would say messing around with music creation programs (Ableton Live is my favorite) and 3D modeling software (Blender) can be as much fun as gaming, even if you aren't any good. I've also experimented with drawing, but I find that a bit harder to enjoy while having no skill. Maybe there is a base level of competence you need to attain before an activity starts being enjoyable for its own sake.
This has been on mind so much. I think that level we call base level is often set by comparison to other skilled people that we look upto o compare our progress against. And of course comparison is a thief of joy and results more in disappointment that not. In activities I've picked, i usually just see if im truly enjoying it, if theres potential depths to explore in the future and then go with the mantra - Disregard everything else. I hope that makes sense.
O man, drawing is something I'd commited to learn as well although I really it has a steep learning curve. But its the same deal with anything no? Gotta keep going through the grind before we can get good at it and the best way that happens is if we can enjoy the process itself. So yeah I guess I'm just agreeing with you :)
Also, could you elaborate how copywriting skills rewarded you?
Not a huge time investment, but an indispensable skill or revelation I wish I had before starting college. Think I've found the book here on HN: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25744928-deep-work
- reading "Smashing the stack for fun and profit": I learned so many things from that article, that I felt like a god when I finally understood all the things. And all of those things are still relevant today when debugging stuff.
- learning ruby: when rails came out I jumped on the hype train and started learning ruby. I was mainly a java dev, so learning all the new ways of doing things made me grow a lot.
- javascript: I hated the language, but once I bit the bullet and overcome my hate for it and started learning it, I now love all the things I can do.
- learning git: it was an uphill battle at the beginning, but now I can't live without it.
I am sure there are a lot of other things I am forgetting, but these come to mind now.
I think going a couple of steps lower, learning electrodynamics (from a book like morin&purcell), and then electronics (art of electronics), will give you even more satisfaction.
Hint (it works for me, YMMV): cook only once a day, only when you're rather hungry and preferably on evenings after work. It will help you to relax.
P.s. I’ve flipped through ‘The French Laundry Cookbook’, and if you can take that on, I’ll call you a chef. :)
except for baking—-precision and reproducibility are key there.
I have social anxiety. I try and call family and friends on a regular basis, but its all from my side. I start to feel like I'm just hassasing people.
I read a weight loss book called "the Gabriel Method" and it changed my life. Besides all kinds of food related things, it teaches a sort of goal-oriented meditation/visualization technique that I found to work for many more things than changing eating habits.
I've felt more like good food and less like bad food so I eat healthier without needing to muster discipline. Lost 10 kilos so far without really trying all that hard.
I've been procrastinating less because I changed the way I feel about many of the tasks I'd keep postponing.
My relationship has never been better, despite our lives having become more, not less, busy during the same period. We fight way less because I'm less annoyed by things and I'm better at not letting things escalate when she's annoyed by things.
Frankly it's been pretty spectacular.
No idea about body temperature, sorry.
Building speakers look complex from the outside, but are pretty rewarding once you know the basics (Thiele parameters, enclosure design and tuning). You can put together your own speaker with just a couple of parts from eBay or anywhere else on the internet really and sometimes can end up with really high quality boxes that can outperform much more expensive commercial ones available in the market.
Speaker design is one of those things that the more time you put into it, learning, studying, testing, the better rewarded you'd feel. To add to the mix there's also amplifiers - Class A, B, C, D and even tube amps and each combination of amplifier and crossover sounds totally different.
Each speaker box I design, I feel is like good food. Different flavors, different combinations, different possibilities. You will never feel bored and never feel you've hit an end. You're always discovering something new.
But you're not going to be driving a speaker with a phone anyways. You'll need an amplifier, and if the aux port goes away, the amp will likely have whatever-alternative-input-there-is.
Books: There are many technical books, some are so complex in their wordings that you'd feel like giving up even before you start.
The best book I've found that's short and sweet (but requires a little bit of math background) is this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Building-Testing-Speaker-Pr...
Courses:
Coursera has an Audio Engineering course which the professor explains in really crisp detail. It's from University of Rochester.
The course title is: "Fundamentals of Audio and Music Engineering: Part 1 Musical Sound & Electronics"
Link: https://www.coursera.org/learn/audio-engineering
I audited the course and didn't pay any money. There's not much difference unless you want a certificate (and of course want to support Coursera too).
YouTube:
I like Kirby meets audio. He does some really nice stuff with speaker boxes. He mostly sells kits for his speakers, but I don't recommend them. They are from parts express mostly.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOuow_HIYmeaIqi42zVs3qg
I LOVE John. He reviews most of the cheap amplifiers from China and teaches you what's wrong with them electronically and how to fix them. HE's very knowledgeable as well.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8SPQG7er2RJhz4E8xvFEtw
Where to buy parts:
If you're buying speakers, AliExpress usually sells good quality speakers for cheap. You may also want to search for the same model (sometimes under different brand names) on eBay as eBay can be cheap sometimes as well.
Contrary to popular belief, most speakers are actually made in China. Simply because China possesses most of earth's natural magnetic ore required for making speakers. That and Neodymium too. For example, look at the quality of this Aluminium cast speaker: https://www.instagram.com/p/BjZN5XKggOt/. It's definitely hundreds of notches higher quality than what you can buy commercially from say, Sony or Philips in the consumer market. And it also costs really less.
Nanjing in China has most of these speaker factories and I visited a few last year. If you are able to make a trip to China like I did, it's best to form a personal relationship with someone there and you can order directly through them. The price difference between AliExpress/eBay and these factories direct can be as huge as $50-100 depending on the model and size of the speaker.
For amplifiers, I recommend eBay or AliExpress. Both carry decent models.
If you'd like to build your own, hands down the best model to get started with and easiest to hack one in a weekend is TDA 7297 by ST MicroElectronics. The good thing is, you can even power it with your USB! And the sound quality is REALLY good. It's the same IC used by a lot of companies (Creative for example) and resold to you for $700 (Creative actually has a model that uses this IC for this price, I can't remember which one). Many companies like Bose also use similar models from ST as well. That's when you realize stuff you buy from the consumer market is actually something you could have built yourself too, with a little more effort :)
Some other popular amplifier models (plug and play) are chips based on TPA 3116D2. They come in different configurations 2.1, 4 channels or good ole' stereo. Pick the ones you like.
Finally, don't be intimidated by all the...
Awesome little company with great kits for people into building HiFi gear
Being able to communicate effectively to a group of people has positive impacts in all aspects of my life.
Joing a theatre performance group is one way of achieving it.
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Also, what is the criteria - speed / accuracy?
Another good tip is to know what the "home row" is but if you've already developed a fast personal style you don't have to follow it strictly.
In a world where millions of developers rush to compete to build the best, most sophisticated apps, Understanding user / audience / customer has become an overlooked field.
Understand your user / client's pain points so well that they love you so much by buying your products / continuing to hire you for consultation feels really good.
It opened up a whole new area of the internet that I was excluded from simply because I didn't know the language. There are communities that I can actively participate in and learn from.
Coming from a language without articles I find it very hard to properly use them though. I guess it comes with plenty of practice.
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People often think of negotiation as business, however it can be much more personal than that and can be very useful for your interpersonal relationships as much as it can be for your professional relationships.
Understanding how you can leverage another person’s empathy (and your own) in your favour without exploiting the other person is tremendously valuable whether you’re trying to get your kid to eat their vegetables or trying to convince a terrorist organization to free their hostages.
I’ve learned a few simple techniques that have honestly improved my ability to not only negotiate but communicate and understand people better in general.
I bought Chris Voss’ book on negotiating and it’s been really pivotal for my understanding of, well, humanity to a certain extent. Highly recommend it to anyone who wants to make a stronger person out of themselves.
No affiliation with the book btw but I’m a huge fan of the author as a result of his book.
For people wondering, Chris Voss is the former lead international kidnapping negotiator for the FBI. Here's a podcast where he talks about negotiation [0] and the link to the book the above comment refers to [1]. His talk at Google about the same subject might be interesting too [2].
[0] https://fs.blog/2018/01/chris-voss/
[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32444582-never-split-the...
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guZa7mQV1l0
Chris Voss' book teaches [among other things] that listening is the most important and most difficult negotiating skill. That's a "scaleable" approach to negotiation, if you happen to get two people together who both believe in listening to the other, that works.
Here's the correct link to Chris Voss' book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26156469-never-split-the...
This book (Never Split the Difference) was also pretty helpful to me, but it's easy to forget to apply in scenarios.
That's a perfect time to use those negotiating skills. When I was buying a car, I just told them the number I'm willing to pay, and two weeks and 5 calls later they agreed. On the other hand, had I scratched someone's car, I'd want to use some negotiation tricks in case they wanted me to pay too much.