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hoggleon Thoughts on the culture that gave birth to the personal computer (2013)

As to the "Long live DEC!" I know of a company here in Austria which still deploys VMS machines (albeit not any more on Alpha but Itanium/HP Hardware iirc). Thanks for the book recommendation!

hoggleon Thoughts on the culture that gave birth to the personal computer (2013)

DEC, yes :) the book looks very intriguing, much appreciated!

hoggleon Thoughts on the culture that gave birth to the personal computer (2013)

Great stuff, thanks a lot!

hoggleon My first app: Habit Streaks

Congratulations and kudos to you, that was hard work! It's a very useful app too!

hoggleon Ask HN: How do you keep a diary or journal?

Just found this by coincidence via here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7950866

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.doboko.hab...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.liftworldw...

Cheers :)

hoggleon Thoughts on the culture that gave birth to the personal computer (2013)

Thanks for that list - to add to it some lighter, at-the-beach reading as well:

1989, The Cuckoo's Egg (a lot of 80s Unix/Vax anecdotes as well as a great story and lots of good-old hippie culture :)

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18154.The_Cuckoo_s_Egg

1996, Accidental Empires (a little frivolous but an enjoyable read nonetheless, focuses on beginnings of MS and Apple)

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27652.Accidental_Empires

1992, Game Over (Nintendo and video game history mostly 80s)

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/339584.Game_Over_Press_St...

2014, Console Wars (Sega and the video game / computer industry of the 80s and early 90s - somewhat of an answer to "Game Over")

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18505802-console-wars

Less people in this book but it's about computer history, right? Fascinating read, I didn't "finish" it yet - still great to dive into the book now and then:

2010, The Apollo Guidance Computer: Architecture and Operation

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7754526-the-apollo-guidan...

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~OT: The last book really makes me want to see Notch's 0x10c come to live again as you would have been able to program your own fully emulated ship computer in that game, unfortunately it got canceled. I'm hoping some future No Man's Sky mod will be going in that direction!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0x10c#Gameplay

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man%27s_Sky

hoggleon Thoughts on the culture that gave birth to the personal computer (2013)

Thanks, that sounds like the book I was looking for!

hoggleon Ask HN: How do you keep a diary or journal?

Surely there must be something like an SMS reminder or recurring calendar event with corresponding alarm function on your computer/phone which would get you started? Try to do the good old paper calendar x-ing off of days - same thing Commit does in the end.. :)

hoggleon Reading Lamport, again

Jane Street is one of the few companies which are betting heavily on OCaml, it makes sense to go all functional in the high frequency trading world I guess. It's purportedly been C/C++ for most of that industry, probably not the best toolset for keeping error rates low in a complex environment. Fascinating to read how far beyond language decisions they need to think to shield themselves against outages (and competitors?).

I did a little bit of experimentation with OCaml by playing with bitcoin exchange APIs during the China boom some months ago, but I unfortunately didn't push further to a point where I'd be using Jane Street's open source libraries. It still was very interesting and IMHO totally worth it if not just for the functional programming practice.

Relevant video on how OCaml gets used at Jane Street:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKcOkWzj0_s

hoggleon Ask HN: How do you keep a diary or journal?

I've been using Commit on my iPhone, it helped me get into the habit for a while but I've given up on keeping my journal some time ago... most likely because of the depression I've silently got myself into - never mind that it's one of the main tools to get out of a rut, so thanks for reminding me again :)

Let's commit to keep a journal - good luck to you too: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/commit/id473527073?mt=8

hoggleon Thoughts on the culture that gave birth to the personal computer (2013)

On a tangent - if you didn't like the Isaacson biography (it's pretty ... lacking ... isn't it?) and you haven't read the stuff on http://www.folklore.org or the book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_in_The_Valley - go do it, it's intelligently written first hand anecdotes from the beginning of the 80s at Apple.

Let's read up on history - Dan Bricklin certainly has wet my appetite for a book on Digital (even as a Unix guy ;) as well as the origins of VisiCalc and "spreadsheet" programs respectively (IMHO the closest tools non-programmers have to achieve programmer like powers and problem solving satisfaction).

hoggleon Welcome To Extremistan, Please Check Your Career At The Door

Goes to show how stupid right wingers are, it doesn't take much to make people happy consumer slaves these days. Much less of a problem than having angry mobs at their gates that want to lynch them.

hoggleon Welcome To Extremistan, Please Check Your Career At The Door

Panem et circenses - they know that for now they don't have to fear anything.

hoggleon Welcome To Extremistan, Please Check Your Career At The Door

So, was Marx right all along?

hoggleon Replace "master/slave" terminology with "primary/replica"

If we go down that route I would prefer primary/secondary - it's likely more accurate and intuitive than "replica" in my opinion.

Hilarious comment on the drupal issue - why not to use replica:

"In the name of all replicants, I protest the use of the word 'replica' in such a demeaning way. You wouldn't believe what we've suffered already... I've... seen things you people wouldn't believe... Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those... moments... will be lost in time, like tears... in... rain."

hoggleon Julian Assange AMA on Reddit

I don't care about him relishing in martyrdom but the rape allegations are serious business in many ways, so yes if those are true then his actions would be hideous.

The problem is that I don't know if they are true and that they essentially don't take away from WikiLeaks mission and Assange's part in it - as horrible as those allegations are.

Who should be given the benefit of the doubt? I would argue the weak.

Who are the most vulnerable and weak in this whole issue? The women Assange allegedly took advantage of against their will? Probably.

A man shedding and successfully marketing the ugly truths of very powerful people? Probably.

It's a complicated world and not only that, it seems as if the game has been rigged from the get go (by all powerful parties) so I don't feel like I could allow myself strong judgement.

hoggleon Julian Assange AMA on Reddit

Couldn't you say the same about many eccentric and charismatic politicians?

I favour a stateless politician who truly understands the Internet over most of the others.

Edit - interesting article on sociopaths in politics:

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/07/the-startl...

hoggleon Inside the adult ADHD brain

In fact, at this point in my life I view using Ritalin much in the same way as wearing my glasses and hearing-aids.

That feels like an apt analogy, I'm looking forward to see how Ritalin works for me.

hoggleon Inside the adult ADHD brain

But it's kind of a black art.

Yes, it's truly interesting to read up on all the "wetware" aspects while trying to introspect on how the medication affects you accordingly.

The whole thing feels like finding hacks to make your mind work properly.

hoggleon Inside the adult ADHD brain

Yes, the exercise-sleep connection is important for me as well. I mustn't exercise in the evening though because it gets me in that "thrill" mode where I'm wide awake (it feels like the only time actually when I feel awake..) morning or noon sessions work best for me. I'm self-employed so that is one of the benefits of having an unstructured work day, which apart from that I guess is dangerous for someone having ADHD like myself...

I've been on a vegetarian diet for about 10 years and it helps me with attaining more of an "inner calm" / reducing my constant inner agitation but that wasn't the reason why I picked it up originally - it's just a very welcome side effect for me. I could definitely improve on the health side especially when I get the blues, like I've been having for the last couple of months - I tend to binge excessively on sweets (which for me is worse than being on too much coffee in terms of ADHD symptoms) and processed junk food. I feel really great on low GI foods, so usually I eat lots of beans, fruits and vegetables. I also try to take my vitamin b12 supplements as well as my ground flax seeds regularly (omega 3) and have some organic eggs or cheese now and then. I've been on half-year long, strictly vegan diets twice over the years but ran into health issues (iron, vitamin b12 deficiencies -> anemic) each time probably because my discipline and knowledge were limited then.

I feel there is so much chance involved with picking up the right habits - e.g. if it weren't for Vibram's Five Fingers (I know they are not as healthy as they were advertised but I simply love the feeling of running "barefoot") and all the quantified self apps on smartphones I probably wouldn't be running today. It's all the little things that keep me motivated.

hoggleon Inside the adult ADHD brain

Moderate to heavy sessions of running and swimming (minimum 40 minutes for me) really help with focusing but that doesn't last very long. Maybe an hour or so? That's still much longer than when trying to ride the caffeine waves, exercise also doesn't come with the risk of "wiping out" my focus (getting unproductively hyper-active) because of borderline coffee-abuse (not good for the stomach either...).

So regular exercise and meditation? Check. Discipline with my diet? Check. Proper sleep hygiene? Check. Still fed up? Check.

Thanks for your always-uplifting comments, they are very much appreciated.

hoggleon Inside the adult ADHD brain

I guess one really has to try it to know for sure, thanks.

hoggleon Inside the adult ADHD brain

I've also just been diagnosed at age 30 (constantly been labeled "lazy" / "dreaming" when I was younger - you believe it after a while - ADHD diagnosis still seems to be something novel here in Austria as well).

What you write really gives me hope, for now my neurologist put me on Wellbutrin mainly to treat my depression but he said he really wants me to try Ritalin soon.

I'm one of those people who rather meditates and works out regularly than to take any drugs - I don't like to mess with my brain - but I'm so fed up with my ADHD and the Wellbutrin alone already helps not only with overcoming my fail(ed-potential) derived neurosis but also a little with focus.

Do you feel as if Ritalin might help with getting to where the ADHD recovery group managed to get themselves even when not on Ritalin? "Plasticity of the brain" yadda yadda...

hoggleon Inside the adult ADHD brain

I wonder what it would take for MRI machines to become commoditized?

What if it were normal to have diagnostics like tumor detection at a very early stage made possible by your bed = MRI machine in disguise.

Something like that would be phenomenal - daily diagnostics and now and then introspection plus treatment for things like the mentioned executive function impairment.

hoggleon My journey into the Berlin startup scene

To be fair it's the guy behind Heroku which probably was the first company to really democratize the concept of PaaS and in addition to Engine Yard they were of big help in making ruby/rails more popular.

His statement is not wrong and I applaud his unbroken enthusiasm.

hoggleon It's time for the US to use the metric system

I'm all for going fully metric but a failed TTIP agreement would actually be something worth losing some space probes over.

hoggleon Vegetarian Diets and Mental Health

I've been vegetarian / vegan for almost 10 years myself and get my vitamin b12 levels checked regularly. A lot of meat eaters actually have low vitamin b12 levels too because of lower intrinsic factor (gut ability to absorb b12) caused by age or distinct genetic setup. Omega 3 is also something I keep in check with 2-3 table spoons of ground flax-seeds a day. Flax oil is a good source of omega 3 as well but much more difficult to handle because it needs to be fresh, cooled and consumed relatively quickly.

Be aware that a vitamin b12 deficiency often happens without symptoms, also meeting the lower threshold of acceptable levels doesn't mean you have got enough of it.

I would advise everyone but especially those on a vegan diet to get their vitamin b12 levels checked regularly. Take your supplements! Don't ruin your brains!

Check out this very informative video by Michael Greger - vegetarian / vegan himself, he has debunked a lot of myths around proper veg diet some 12 years ago (yes the video is pretty long - so what it's your health that is at stake here):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7KeRwdIH04

Also good books on the topic:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/541482.The_New_Becoming_V...

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48307.Becoming_Vegan

Don't be a pudding veggie, be informed and healthy!

hoggleon Thousands of Toddlers Are Medicated for A.D.H.D., Report Finds

The article and video were about over-diagnosis of ADHD (in children) in the US if I'm not mistaken. About the discovery of America etc - my bad, yes I was referring to the historically rather recent influx of European settlers after the Columbus "re-re-discovery" to be "exact".

hoggleon Thousands of Toddlers Are Medicated for A.D.H.D., Report Finds

I've got the exact same history in terms of my academic career and being a "job-out" but I keep wondering about all the cool research work people like us could be doing if they would actually be able to study with discipline? I can't study, never been able to without out-of-proportion-huge investments in time and energy - I can't even finish books I really like anymore without brutally "hacking" my ADHD induced distractability and mind-wandering.

hoggleon Thousands of Toddlers Are Medicated for A.D.H.D., Report Finds

I've been suffering from ADHD all my life but only got diagnosed when I was 30. I still haven't taken any meds yet but a diagnosis alone in my childhood probably would have helped with preventing neurosis originating from a school-time worth of derogatory remarks by teachers like "you are a lazy, lazy boy" and "please be quiet, you are inferior anyways". Drugging kids (especially at the very low age of 2-3, no problems advancing in school yet etc) surely must be a function of the pharmaceutical industry trying to make money with overtly fearful parents ("Will my child be able to compete?").

It's all wrong.

On the general "over-diagnosis" of ADHD, my problematic social-darwinist opinion: I believe that especially in the US there might really be more people with ADHD brains (in the end leaving your continent to settle on a new one is still perceived as something bold to do in 2014 - think of how much more risky this must have felt over the first couple of centuries after the discovery of America).

I can also think of many reasons why people are willing to take medication these days - all of them probably boil down to being profoundly desperate. I remember my grandfather who died last year at age 90, he clearly had all the traits of severe ADHD but he also had a secretary (cue "Mad Men" generation) and so didn't need to manage all the minutiae himself and was very successful at his job at a big company fully capitalizing his creative/impulsive side. This is a luxury most people with ADHD don't have any more as we are expected to do a lot more different, often detail oriented little jobs in-between - so to be able to do a somewhat acceptable job with those kinds of tasks it drives people towards drugs like Adderall, Ritalin etc (I'm constantly abusing caffeine myself, it doesn't help much but again I'm desperate). I can't tell you how devastating it feels when people who don't understand our different wiring shout at you to "simply just fucking do it" when you are really, really trying hard to do just that. It's terrible and drives a lot of people towards alcohol and heavy drug addictions. I've read somewhere that a very high percentage of the jail population actually has ADHD.