HN Explorer

Ask HN: What Are You Doing?

18 points by biztos ↗ HN
Yes, as in right now, if you care to say. Apart from reading HN obviously.

(Where I live it’s a common thing to ask of friends or family or lovers, and I find it quite charming, so I thought I’d ask it of the HN community.)

83 comments

[ 4.9 ms ] story [ 137 ms ] thread
biztos
Me? I’m trying to poke holes in my latest crazy business idea. And wondering how you can make ice cream of a specific density. And feeling a little embarrassed that I forgot you have to actually write the Ask HN in your Ask HN.
TrickardRixx
I'm intrigued about ice cream of a specific density. What do you have in mind with that?
biztos
It’s not related to any of my crazy business ideas. I ate a Korean ice-cream sandwich today and it was undeniably ice cream but also about four times lighter than, say, a Magnum. Physics being not my thing, I wonder how they do that. More air, I guess, but how?
wiihack
I am currently creating a financial plan for an imaginary startup. This is the task in one of my university modules.
altdataseller
What does this imaginary startup do?
wiihack
it's providing and onboarding portal for universities
maximmcnair
I've spent the last few days building copypastemathjax.com after finding myself searching google too many times for mathjax expressions.
gidorah
I am waiting to get my hair cut.
beardyw
Having a cup of Darjeeling tea. About to brave icy pavements to walk into the local town. Am at an age when falls are serious.
marginalia_nu
Coughing and blowing my nose.

Got the 'rona this weekend, and while I'm a lot better (as in no longer sleeping 22 hours a day), I'm still pretty messed up.

bartvk
It's nuts. Besides COVID, there's influenza and RS-virus going around here in The Netherlands. Everyone and their dog is sick.

Get well soon.

marginalia_nu
Yeah it's the same over here. It's like everyone's already forgotten the whole stay-at-home-when-you're-sick and wash-your-hands stuff.

It's ironic too, I actually got my booster shot last week. Like a day before I came down with covid. Just a hair too late :-/

theandrewbailey
I apologize for being such a downer, but I'm dealing with the fact that my mom died last week. With my brother, other family members, and friends, we're figuring out what to do next.

EDIT: She had some end of life arrangements in place (like a will) to make things easier. She had cancer, so this wasn't unexpected, but it doesn't make the feelings any less chaotic.

thicknavyrain
So sorry for your loss. Thank you for posting, it's a huge and difficult situation so many of us will encounter and it's good to know. Best of luck getting through this moment.
sircastor
Sorry to hear of your loss. Losing a parent is awful. I hope you and your family find some peace.
Zealotux
Truly sorry for your loss, may better days come to you and your family.
Nic0
Some DevOps stuffs, from debian to alpine base image migration (old stuff, not very exciting)
AnIdiotOnTheNet
Fighting the urge to fire up Dwarf Fortress while at work. I will probably lose this fight because there isn't enough work to hold my attention.
spsesk117
Right there with you Urist. Nothing else out there hijacks my brain quite like DF...
bartvk
Looking for a new project. I'm a freelance iOS developer and posted in the most recent "looking for project" topic but I wonder about whether that's actually very effective.
emehex
How did you get your "Confidential" Airline gigs?
bartvk
One of their IT suppliers posted it on a local website. Since then, I haven't found another gig like that. It's actually not confidential, the project is for Air France-KLM

https://www.freelance.nl/

vishkk
Dealing with anxieties of everyday existence. What am I doing, whoami?
andreshb
In a meeting that could have been an email
thirteenfingers
Procrastinating on studying for my AWS certification next week. I was unemployed for several months of this year and knowledge of AWS or any of the major cloud providers was the most glaring hole on my resume. Happily, my new employer pays for AWS training for all of its employees, so that hole is being filled... except, as always, it's way more fun reading HN than studying :/
Jamie9912
Are you referring to the Cloud Practitioner one? Or something else
thirteenfingers
I'm taking the Solutions Architect exam. Arguably I should have waited until I had a few more months hands-on experience, but I kind of felt like jumping off the deep end.
biztos
How useful do you find the training? Do you think you’ll be able to use what you’re learning, or is it more about having the certificate?
privong
I am reading a student's outline of their approach to computing the diffuse neutrino flux expected from a class of galaxies over the lifetime of the Universe. It's part of a study we are doing to see if we can determine the origin of the astrophysical neutrino background seen by IceCube[0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IceCube_Neutrino_Observatory

FamosoRandom
Handling error and adding logs before deploying a beta. I'm also contemplating the fact that the programing langage that was imposed to me for this project is really bad, and i'm fucking afraid that it's going to be imposed to me in the future too.

For those interested, i'm using PCSOFT Windev.

test1235
Currently freezing my nads off 'cos it's -9 or whatever, outside
ernestipark
Sipping coffee. Writing posts and working on content for my newsletter around working part-time in the tech industry.
biztos
Cool, I just subscribed!
unkoman
Freezing. Turned the heat down due to high prices. It will be a cold winter.
francisofascii
Writing code(C#/Typescript) to pull data from a SAAS product's API. Mostly for POC purposes to understand what can/can't be done.
buildbuildbuild
Trying to get live TV (congressional hearings) onto a virtual screen in a “metaverse” meeting app for a goofy FTX watch party later today.
lightbendover
Working on a long-term technical strategy to steer a program I care very little about and have no actual faith in into the domain I have always wanted to go to with my career and never chose to.
gushie
Nursing a badly cut finger I injured washing up a chipped jug.
SeanAnderson
I'm quitting my job of 4 1/2 years next week to pursue a passion project. I woke up a bit ago, am sitting on the couch, procrastinating, and dwelling on the bittersweet realization that I'm going to be lacking job security soon. Exciting times.

I'm building a "sneaky" mental health app. It presents as if it were a modern, sci-fi take on Tamagotchi coupled with a daily self-reflection routine. You find yourself surprisingly compelled to nurture your virtual pet, commit to the routine, and then the software nudges you to journal and meditate since you're already showing up for your pet.

I'm excited to see how I improve myself with my software and if I can touch others who might typically be reticent of adopting additional self-care habits.

Sorry, I didn't mean to turn this into a pitch, but now you know where my head is at. :)

fallat
Investing in yourself is job security. It's literally why I've never had to worry about work :) Good on you :D
SeanAnderson
I agree :) I take some time off after every career stint and have always felt more refreshed and alive by the end of it. I think I interview better, too. No regrets or second-guessing. Just a lot of awareness of my spending habits, hah.

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

leetrout
Oooo. So is this gonna work like Finch?
SeanAnderson
Yeah! I definitely consider Finch to be in friendly competition with what will become Symbiant. :)

The largest difference is how our audiences discover and think about us. Finch users feel they need help and seek out Finch. Finch understands this, calls attention to the needing help, and presents itself as an anxiety-free warm hug. Finch wants users to "come out of their shell" and to engage with the world. Then, Finch nudges that engagement towards self-improvement. It's great.

Symbiant users think they're fine as-is (but are underappreciating how far from the ceiling they are), frequently lean into gaming to wind-down and as a means of escapism, and are more likely to adopt concepts that make themselves feel "smart" rather than applying labels to themselves that make them feel like they need fixing. Symbiant strives to talk about mental health at a higher level of abstraction, hinting at the complexities of psychology, and allows the user to feel like they are discovering knowledge by connecting all the dots. It then provides tools to allow the user to apply their new knowledge.

Think of how Papers, Please or This War of Mine strive to educate users about political tyranny and war, but do so in atypical ways. You're not the tyrant or war hero - you're a pawn in the overarching story. After playing, the user is touched with an understanding that feels more well-rounded having learned from a unique, atypical perspective. My goal is to construct and provide a similar learning experience around mental health, self-reflection, and habituation.

leetrout
Are you going to be working in the open? Blog or some such where I could follow along?
SeanAnderson
I absolutely will be, but I do not have a reliable blog link to give you yet. I'll send you a message when I have one. My plan is to release weekly blog posts, stream development on Twitch, and vaguely attempt to monetize the process not just the result.

There is a Discord invite in my profile. It's quiet, aside from my monologue rambling about lore, functional requirements, etc. The community is all of my current and ex-coworkers who are following the project. You're welcome to join, but it's not a great source of information right now.

Thanks for asking! I found your questions exceptionally motivating. :)