I think as reddit continued to decline, more people here became interested in debating politics, societal stuff since there was no other "serious" place for it. I wish some of that stuff wasn't here, since it takes away from discussions in other threads.
But (and I hope dang sees this) occasionally when HN "strays" away from tech it's absolutely brilliant. There's tons of discussion here on some health issues, diets, stuff like that, where I would never have found such good discussion (even the anecdotal evidence is interesting and useful) and where you can really walk away being better off from having read it. If that means tolerating the occasional thread about how appropriate politics is in the workplace, or how bad everything is for mental health, I'm more than happy to keep coming back here for that.
edit: by the way, I'd be quite interested in what a thread like this posted 8 years ago would look like. Wouldn't be surprised if people were saying this website was "going downhill" too back then. I think as long as the 12-18 only-cares-about-memes demographic stays on reddit, HN will stay just fine.
>But (and I hope dang sees this) occasionally when HN "strays" away from tech it's absolutely brilliant. There's tons of discussion here on some health issues, diets, stuff like that
I've found the opposite. While there is enough knowledge about computing to keep the discussion informed and aligned with reality, outside that field we're mostly laymen. See the various UFO threads, the peculiar support for Wim Hof, the contentious COVID discussions... The health discussions in particular remind me a lot like the enthusiasm for polyphasic sleep 10-15 years ago, or the more recent enthusiasm for microdosing LSD.
Well, I love Wim Hof breathing (and it helped me when I had Covid, and helps with HRV and energy levels), and now take Vitamin D, glycine, Zinc, and other stuff that seemed to help me a lot. On top of that, if you've ever dealt with any chronic illness (GERD in my case), you'll find the wealth of anecdotal, n=1 info posted in HN comments is much, much more helpful than anything you'd find anywhere else. I'm sure I'm not alone in this. There are some discussions you could have on reddit, or any other site, but the discussion quality would be 5-10% what it would be here, simply because of the different audience. People here tend to have more life experience, and I'm grateful for the scraps of wisdom that get shared in non-tech conversations here.
Well, all I did was search "GERD" in the comments; I found out that GERD's linked with inflammation, and went down the rabbit hole about Wim Hof, keto/carnivore, probiotics, etc. Helped a lot, though I still sleep around 6h a night and need to lose some weight, so I'm not worried that it hasn't been completely resolved yet.
I'm open to new info, but, has the Wim Hof method not been confirmed in dozens of ways; from scientific studies to visceral demonstrations?
N of 1, WHM helped me with a number of issues that I had thought were just going to be part of life. I don't think it deserves to be lumped in with "various UFO threads", or implied to be "unaligned with reality".
As for "contentious COVID discussion"; do you not remember when the lab leak theory was banned from Facebook and Twitter, for over a year, with millions of posts removed? This was one of the few places with morsels of quality discussion. The topic has much to be "contentious" about, that's not HN's fault.
A cursory glance at the Wikipedia article seems to suggest that it does what it says on the tin: makes you more resistant to inflammation caused by certain stressful external conditions (e.g. extreme cold). So it "works" in that sense. However:
> Critics of Hof say he overstates the benefits of his method. On his website he says that it has reduced symptoms of several diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease. However, these claims have not been demonstrated scientifically. Wouter van Marken Lichtenbelt, one of the scientists who studied Hof, stated that "[Hof's] scientific vocabulary is galimatias. With conviction, he mixes in a non-sensical way scientific terms as irrefutable evidence."
So I would assume the OP criticism of WHM is not about its use for specific scientifically studied and documented purposes, but for the claim that it can aid in the treatment of a vast array of other medical conditions.
That's a very gracious interpretation of OP's criticism, where he compares WHM to UFOs and "unaligned reality".
I had a look at your link, and didn't see much to interest tbh. It looked to me like smug skeptics, who haven't tried the method, joking about how much they dislike the cold. N of 1, I don't mind the cold any more, after despising it for my previous life. All I had to do was try it to verify.
The link's author, Ms. Hall, has a history of retracted articles on the site, for "too many issues with the treatment of the relevant science".
The worst part of her article, to me, was the denigration of WHM's confirmed attenuation of the inflammatory response - as if that's a "circus act", and "might not be useful". Inflammation is implicated in countless medical conditions. Managing it is a big deal, well worth exploring, and that's really fucking obvious.
The second most insane part was where they claimed his methods have resulted in deaths, without the context that this was from people trying the method alone where they could injure themselves from passing out (like in water). There are constant warnings not to do this from Wim and his trainers. That's very deceptive for a site that claims to be science based in their title.
Wim Hof's blood kills E.coli on it's own, and he has trained people to be able to do the same under laboratory conditions. Isn't that fucking fascinating? Not to the skeptics, apparently. He has trained 70+ year olds to climb mountains in their jocks - not worth a mention, it seems.
The top comment discusses the brown fat hypothesis, without doing the basic research to find that this is an explored subject - it is confirmed WHM doesn't generate heat from brown fat, rather it's the intercostal muscles.
TBH I'd consider that whole page and comment section a bad smear job. Not great, for a site that has "science based" in the url.
I think it's almost the opposite. There are great subreddits for pretty much every niche in programming. HN is one size fits all, and a lot of content just never makes the front page, because of bad luck in the New queue, or it's too niche.
The front page is the way it is because the regulars and the regular content have reached an equilibrium.
/r/embedded tends to be pretty decent. Of course it's highly specific to embedded development, but the better subs tend to be the more narrowly-focused ones.
r/programming is pretty solid, from what I recall, although I don't go on there often. I used to frequent r/scala when I was actively using that language, as an example of a niche. My reddit front page, with my idiosyncratic collection of subs, often produces a comparable amount of joy to the HN front page, but in a different set of verticals than here.
I do think the presence of politics and other "normy" attracting things will trigger and hasten the decline of HN.
A social media site is only as good as its users and sadly the average person has a short attention span, poor reading comprehension and a preference for anecdote and feelings over data and substance.
Believe me, tons of people who deal with chronic health issues have seen a dozen doctors who couldn’t help a bit, wasted tons of money, and if a single comment has good anecdotes about an effective supplement or lifestyle change, you’re happy for every scrap you get. It’s like drinking non-sparkling water in the desert: could be San Pelegríno instead, but at least you’re not dying of thirst.
I feel (because it's a feeling) that HN stays good because it lacks images in the discussion area. The clean look, no adds, limited everything really proves the case that less is more.
A large organic hass avocado is between $2 and $4. You need at least half of one to make good avocado toast. If the loaf of bread cost you $5, and makes 20 slices, that's a base cost of $2.25.
> A large organic hass avocado is between $2 and $4.
This is pretty outrageous. In the 1990s, we would shop for avocados in Mission district Mexican grocery stores, where they would average four for a $1. People don't realize that everyone had an abundant number of avocados in every Bay Area home back then because they were so cheap and plentiful.
Something happened, and by the end of the 1990s, the drug cartels had taken over the avocado market and raised the prices by a considerable amount. One wonders how much the average consumer of avocados contributes to the criminal cartels by keeping them flush with cash.
To be honest, the cartels rule and own everything in Mexico (maybe not always directly, but their influence is enormous), so I don't see why avocados are special in this regard.
> I don't see why avocados are special in this regard
They are special in the sense that the cartels went after the avocado industry in the 1990s due to the rise of synthetic opioids, which hurt their drug profits. Both avocados and heroin are primarily produced in Michoacan state. According to some sources, the avocado industry became more profitable for the cartels than heroin.
Those prices seem overly dramatic. Avocados (certainly not native to the "few acres of snow" that is Canada) is 5 for ~$6 at the moment. Bread is sometimes $4 for a crunchy loaf I like, or maybe $1 in flour when I make my own.
I don't eat avocado toast, but it costs a lot less than what most people spend on decent coffee in a morning.
If you or anyone else is interested in bringing the price of avocados down, the state of Hawaii is currently funding (on a very small scale) avocado farming in Hawaii, which produces a non-Hass variety that is about two to four times the size, and has a slightly buttery taste, but when prepared with the standard ingredients, doesn't really differ all that much from the Hass except in color; it has a more yellowish tinge than green. But seriously, if anyone wants to beat the cartels at their own game, Hawaii is where it's at for avocado production.
I did put the term "organic" in there for good reason. Yes, I know that not everyone cares, but I was trying to go to the opposite end of the spectrum to the "50c" claim I was replying to.
You can make okay avocado-toast for a lot less, especially if you've been spending the last year and a half baking your own bread anyway. I don't think I've ever spent $4 on an avocado, but if I did, it would have to be the equivalent of this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baked_potato#/media/File:North...
If I need to store guac, a layer of lime juice and plastic wrap without air-avo contact keeps it green and good. Can't say I've tried keeping half an avocado but I suspect the same technique could work if the acidic flavor isn't a nuisance (there might be alternatives to lime). Maybe a spray bottle could apply it.
I just stick an avocado half in a plastic container in the fridge. Stays green enough for days. If it gets brown, it's a thin layer that doesn't affect the flavor anyway and you can remove it without losing too much avocado if you don't like it.
Here's a secret hack to bring back the flavor of old avocado in the fridge for a few days: a half teaspoon of soy sauce and a few drops of hot sauce. You can thank me later.
I think California having the lowest Covid-19 rate in the nation has helped its reputation a lot. We’ve traditionally caught a lot of flack for woo woo crystal healing but it seems Texas and Florida are totally stealing our thunder these days.
Considering how diverse California's demographic composition is, as opposed to say, Vermont, they deserve credit for doing better than the country as a whole.
There might be some to that, but having bottom quartile infection rates while containing an eighth of the US population seems like a strong statement from any angle.
Infection rates are, by definition, adjusted for population. In a pandemic, you may want to talk about rates given population density, but California is in the middle of the pack there (even Florida is more dense.)
But (and I hope dang sees this) occasionally when HN "strays" away from tech it's absolutely brilliant. There's tons of discussion here on some health issues, diets, stuff like that, where I would never have found such good discussion (even the anecdotal evidence is interesting and useful) and where you can really walk away being better off from having read it. If that means tolerating the occasional thread about how appropriate politics is in the workplace, or how bad everything is for mental health, I'm more than happy to keep coming back here for that.
edit: by the way, I'd be quite interested in what a thread like this posted 8 years ago would look like. Wouldn't be surprised if people were saying this website was "going downhill" too back then. I think as long as the 12-18 only-cares-about-memes demographic stays on reddit, HN will stay just fine.