Thoughts on the Boston Lockdown from the edge - <AUTHOR> http://abad1dea.tumblr.com/post/48488539386/thoughts-on-the-boston-lockdown-from-the-edge

<comment><USER2> > It's true, we don't make it an issue for every single person in a city every > time three or four people are murdered.

I feel like I have to make this point in every thread about these, but it's not 3 or 4 deaths, it's 4 deaths and 150-odd injuries, among with a large percentage(edit:13 amputations per CNN, see child comment) losing limbs.

This is not 'Tuesday' in Detroit, and it's really frustrating that people can't seem to think that getting your legs blown off is not a big deal.

<comment><USER3> 13 people had limbs amputated out of 183 hospitalizations, according to CNN.

<comment><USER4> Still, I think it's too easy to to write off injury statistics as probably not that bad. So, less than 1 in 10 people hospitalized ended up loosing a limb, but I know there was a lot of talk about shrapnel taking "chunks" out of people's legs. Many of the victims may suffer permanent disabilities. One guy lost an eye.

I used to assume that when I heard injury reports after an accident that I could safely round down to a smaller number of 'truly serious' injuries. But I haven't able to think about it the same way after reading an interview with a guy who does forensics in suicide bomber cases. He said something along the lines of "You hear '15 injured', and you think they probably needed stitches or something. But for most of them, 'injured' really means 'fucked for life'"

<comment><USER3> Those stats seem bad to me. I just wanted to throw out some actual reported numbers.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I'm not big on TL;DRs, but this post is screaming for one.</comment>


W48 155-millimeter Nuclear Artillery Shell - <AUTHOR> http://www.brookings.edu/projects/archive/nucweapons/155mm.aspx

<comment><USER2> Umm someone isn't able to count decimal places, 0.02 - 0.04 kilotons is 20 - 40 tons of TNT; in the article one or the other is wrong. Wikipedia seems to imply that the yield was supposed to be equate to 72 tons of TNT.</comment>


HN Talks, Startuply Listens (or at least tries to) - <AUTHOR> http://startuply.com/Blog/?p=6

<comment><AUTHOR> This is an amazing community. I am 100% certain that companies will pay for the type of fast, accurate and NHB feedback that HN can offer. Cheers to you, and thanks for helping Startuply grow.

</comment><comment><USER2> _"... Small Screen UI Startuply didn't "degrade gracefully" to fit smaller/lower resolution monitors and windows. It's not OK for people using 1024×768 to have to scroll to see the whole screen, so we've pushed out a UI update. ..."_

Luke how many are running <= 1024x768? is it a function of the job-seeking market? I would have thought 1024 monitor users would be a minority.

<comment><USER3> I used a laptop with 1024x768 as my primary computer until last year. Those that use the EEE PC or iPhone/iPod touch have an even smaller screen. When you're a startup, you don't have the luxury of picking and choosing who can use your service, at least initially, so it's always good practice to make the experience as functional and consistent across different platforms as possible.

<comment><USER2> _"... I used a laptop with 1024x768 as my primary computer until last year. Those that use the EEE PC or iPhone/iPod touch have an even smaller screen ..."_

So is this a definitive trend ... more users on smaller screens? Or is this a tech-centric trend? It certainly puts a different spin on screen size and usability and not one that would have been easily picked up testing 5 users ~ <http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20000319.html>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Thanks, Luke! I am subscribed to the RSS feed with radius search now. Too bad I can't actually leave my Fortune 100 job for a few more months...</comment>


Married to someone with anxiety - <AUTHOR> https://psiloveyou.xyz/married-to-someone-with-anxiety-d5bab822ba2d <comment><USER4> Thank you for writing this. When people talk about these issues it becomes easier and more acceptable to society and it helps lessen anxiety stigmas.

As someone who suffers from anxiety and who regularly seeks therapy, I can say that the rituals that have helped me are:

\- Realizing that anxiety isn't who you are, but more like a disturbance that will pass

\- Eating, sleeping, exercising, and practicing mindfulness go a long way

\- Knowing and dealing with the physiological reactions helps. Realizing that anxiety is a fight or flight response and is often based on fears of the future, which causes heart to race and breath to shorten. Therefore, simply forcing yourself to take large breaths and being mindful about the state of your body helps bring you back to the present and not let your mind get into "rabbit holes"

One piece of advice I have for you is to not take on the role of mental health professional in your relationship. This isn't your problem and you can quickly tire yourself out. All you have to do to support is help your wife accept her current state, and help remind her of living in the present. If her condition is severe enough, encourage her to see a psychiatrist in addition to a therapist too. It may help greatly.

<comment><USER5> >One piece of advice I have for you is to not take on the role of mental health professional in your relationship. This isn't your problem and you can quickly tire yourself out.

This is precisely the opposite of what happened in the post in question. Cause of anxiety was wanting to live a lifestyle and not wanting to work a stressful job. Marriage and "permission" to quit solved the issue immediately. None of the therapy stuff did them any good, she didn't need therapy as soon as the underlying problem was identified and solved by them. No amount of sleeping, exercising or eating kale would have solved that.

<comment><USER6> I get a different impression from the post. Rather than quitting and marriage solving the problem immediately, I think she still has anxiety, because he wrote: "She still has anxiety, and I imagine she always will. But we are able to deal with this in a much more productive way. Sure, there are times where it all gets a bit too much"

I don't think it's correct to say "None of the therapy stuff did them any good" because therapy isn't mentioned in the post. If you meant counseling, he mentioned that positively, in the context of the useful decision to quit the job: "we found a private counsellor who could help get to the route of what was causing some of this anxiety — we then discussed a lot of these sessions and reflected on them and tried to put into practice some of the advice we were receiving. We also made big and brave decisions like my wife quitting her exhausting job up in London"

<comment><USER5> >She still has anxiety, and I imagine she always will.

Wouldn't it be strange for a human being to have no anxiety ?

>we found a private counsellor who could help get to the route of what was causing some of this anxiety

I understood this as the counsellor putting a rubber stamp on what they already knew, so that the decision could be made guilt free.

<comment><USER7> Feeling anxious sometimes and suffering from anxiety attacks are different things. Most people (I assume) don't suffer from anxiety attacks like described here. The people who do get anxiety attacks would like it to stop.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> After a 10 year fight induced from stress, I can positively say that I'm free from it, just reading a page like this would have floored me 5 years ago.

Some stuff I learned:

\- Stop* with coffee, for some reason tea does not the same thing to my body, coffee is like gasoline on the anxiety fire, I cant stress this point enough.

\- Stop* with nicotine, (almost) same as coffee

\- Stop* drinking, you need to stay strong 7 days a week to get out of it

\- Start walking, at least 8km during weekdays day, in brisk pace, you should have to take a shower after. After each walk, do a workout, pushups, chins etc. Make this a priority, and dont walk when its dark outside, you need the sunlight.

\- In the beginning, avoid everything stressful, its not hiding, its waiting until strong enough

\- Stoicism contains allot of valuable lessons for us, its where CBT came from after all.

\- If you come out on this like me on the right side (I hope), and your loved one is still by your side, remember that !

All the best !

*) To stop with something like "drinking" and coffee, it seems hard and rash, but it really helps, and dont make the mistake to once in a while break the rule, its much easier to stick to the rule if there are zero exceptions, less inner conversation, less guilt, more pride.

<comment><USER9> >Start walking, at least 8km... dont walk when its dark outside, you need the sunlight.

An 8km walk at a brisk walking pace is a little under an hour and a half (average 10k running times is about an hour). I get out of work at 5pm, and it's officially dark by 5:30pm. I agree with a lot of what you're saying, but this one is literally impossible for anyone in the northern latitudes (New York, Chicago, Seattle, London, Berlin, Hong Kong, even San Fransisco is officially dark before 6pm this time of year).

Instead, I'd suggest focusing on taking vitamin D supplements if you don't have a lot of sun then taking a vigorous walk whenever you can. You don't need one more thing to be anxious about!

<comment><USER10> You can do it in the morning without too much trouble, if you can drag yourself out of bed. I get up around 6, and walk my dog 3-4 miles every morning between 6:30-7:30. This is a bit north of Boston, and it's already getting dark by 4:30 PM now, so afternoons are out. Whee, daylight savings time!

<comment> nommm-nommm ... unless you have to be to work at 7 like me.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> > a 4 hour commute (both ways)

What the fuck is this person doing and why do they think its okay? According to that paragraph she's home at 8pm. She leaves for work at 4am. That leaves 8 hours total to eat, sleep, and live your life.

He just brushes over that until later when she casually leaves her job (for no reason given). C'mon guy.. that was the root of the problem!

<comment><USER12> I had a 1.5h commute both ways and _that_ caused me anxiety problems.

<comment><USER13> Yes, there is research showing that long commutes are associated with depression. Don't have the reference anymore but it shouldn't be difficult to find on Google Scholar.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> OK - I'll bite. I haven't seen anyone mention medications here but personally I use propranolol.

Life. Changing.

For the first while I took it every day as prescribed for my ET. 20mg. And as I experienced the first pill (effects kick in about 40 minutes after), I had this realization "wait a minute, this is what it must feel like to be a normal person"! That light bulb in itself was incredible. Before that, I hadn't realized life could feel that good. I'd always wondered how people could do the things they could do ... and suddenly I didn't just realize but got to experience what it was like to be someone who DIDN'T have constant anxiety.

I cut back my dosage looking for minimum effective dose. Most days for me it's 0 (that's right, I don't take anymore on most days). My anxiety level has decreased because now I know -what it feels like not to be anxious-, plus, if I do feel anxious I have a solution at hand which lowers anxiety.

For a particularly stressful day I might take 5mg. (For me now a particularly stressful day means standing in front of a room of hundreds of people and presenting after 2 hours sleep.) At these infrequent low dosages, I don't experience any negative side-effects.

Worth sharing general personal details. I'm a 37 year old male in reasonably good health, I exercise vigorously twice a week and get a healthy amount of walking and biking in almost every day. I discovered propranolol by accident - it was prescribed for an essential tremor (ET), it was only after that I discovered the "off-label" anti-anxiety side-effects of beta blockers.

It's worth mentioning that I did experience negative side-effects when I was taking 20mg daily. If you can avoid taking it daily, that's going to be better for you in the long run.

* Reduced sex drive * Life just seems more "flat" I don't laugh as much, get as giddy. My partner described me as seeming "disconnected". * Cold limbs & numb tongue

<comment><USER15> >> * Reduced sex drive * Life just seems more "flat" I don't laugh as much, get as giddy. My partner described me as seeming "disconnected".

Propranolol - like other drugs - changes your personality and makes an other person out of you. Replacing you through "Propranolol you" is not a real solution.

<comment><USER16> Easy to say for someone that doesn't rely on beta blockers. Take it from someone that does: 'beta blockers me' is the one I want to be forever.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> When your partner has anxiety, every problem you have now becomes two problems.

Because when you have a problem (work, health, whatever) you now either have to

(1) figure out how to tell your partner without causing a meltdown (which will probably fail no matter what you do) or...

(2) just keep it to yourself (obviously unhealthy)

So that sucks. You have to partially mitigate it by reducing your partner's overall stress levels. And also learning how to communicate while tiptoeing through the fucking minefield of their emotions without getting your legs blown off. (Except the mines are _moving_ so, good luck with that)

It's not their fault, they didn't choose this. You did.

<comment><USER18> The last line is the important one.

> It's not their fault, they didn't choose this. You did.

That's exactly right. You chose it. You chose to be a partner to that person. In the case of marriage, typically that means "in sickness and in health" and so you either step up to the plate and be the support they need, or you realize your mistake and move on before it destroys both of you.

That's the positive (yet realistic) take on what you're saying here, which I hope is your intent.

I'm a little bothered by your characterization of partnership with someone with a mental health condition as "...tiptoeing through the fucking minefield of their emotions..."

Mental health issues are not emotions. They may interplay to a degree, but do not mistake clinical anxiety or depression for someone being excessively emotional. It is a medical disorder of the brain that causes it to malfunction. My ending statement is a bit hyperbolic, but not really: dismissing a mental health disorder as emotions is how people end up dead.

<comment><USER17> I don't think we're saying anything different, really.

> Mental health issues are not emotions. They may interplay to a degree

Bit of an understatement in many cases, eh? "Interplay to a degree?" No, when it comes to anxiety, the emotion we call "anxiety" is just by definition the primary symptom.

Yeah, they "interplay to a degree" just like 3rd degree burns and having your skin slough off "interplay to a degree."

Nonetheless, your point is correct and vital.

Mental health issues can absolutely not be dismissed. There are deep seated physical and/or behavorial reasons for these problems.

They are every bit as real as breaking one's arm or one's spine, and mental health issues are in some ways much tougher to handle because they are "invisible." At least when you have a broken leg, nobody asks you to run a marathon.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> As somebody who overcame a different but similarly awful mental illness (addiction to strong opiates, mainly heroin and opium), I can't even begin to pretend I understand what people with anxiety issues are going through. But I know I've been at a point where I thought I would just pack it in, just go into a forest in winter and freeze to death. Didn't obviously and am unbelievably glad I didn't.

You know the generic tips. Get help, believe in change, keep trying. I'm not sure I want to reiterate that because none of these things were what helped me. It was a close friend, somebody I can genuinely say saved my life. And there's what imagine to be the worst problem with generalized anxiety: not easily being able to ask others for help.

Believe me, it wasn't easy for me either. But if social interaction scares you, if going out of the door is an impossibility? Man, I have no idea whatsoever how that could be improved.

Still, and this is vital, giving up for good is never the answer. I was jamming two grams of morphine per day into my veins five years ago, barely still literate and pretty much waiting for death. Back to working, back to a social and romantic life, back to... feeling good. Sober. And I'm neither stronger nor cleverer nor better than anyone else, not by a long shot.

</comment><comment><USER20> Anxiety disorder just sucks, because there's no way to rationalize it or the depression that often engenders.

It's fortunate that this couple were able to figure out what was happening and can now talk about this openly. Normalizing the open discussion of mental illness is key to helping so many people who currently suffer in silence.

There is a nonprofit initiative in the tech world which encourages open discussion for this purpose: _Open Sourcing Mental Illness [1]._ I've been privileged to share my story of Generalized Anxiety Disorder with tech audiences in the run-up to this being launched, and I've heard so many humbling stories from others. It is having a positive impact, and I hope others will see the initiative or the presentations and feel that they can discuss what's happening with them or make it clear that others should feel okay to talk about their experiences.

Above all: if you are in pain, in worry, in doubt, etc., please reach out for help. The difference between silent suffering and a life enjoyed can start there.

[1]: [https://osmihelp.org/](https://osmihelp.org/)

<comment><USER21> You said there's no way to rationalize it, but it depends on the person. For some becoming more mindful allows you to see bad mental habits that may contribute to the anxiety. Once you are mindful of these you are empowered to change them.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> There might be something that you can do - probiotics. There has been research that the microbiome is at least somehow linked to anxiety [1].

Not just any probiotic - there's a lot of unresearched crap being sold, some even dangerous (e.g. some soil based organisms can become opportunistic). I can recommend L. Plantarum 299v (this strain reportedly does not produce d-lactic acid, which is really desirable, as probiotic use could lead to acidosis [2], [3]), E. Coli Nissle 1917, and maybe a well researched soil- based mix (Prescript Assist maybe, they claim that it's the best researched probiotic in its class). Testing your biome at ubiome could provide you with info on what is missing, or what group of organisms is underrepresented. I haven't tried that yet though.

Sorry for not providing links to studies for all my claims, as I'm not at home, but all that should be easy to back up by searching at pubmed.

[1]: [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/23384445/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/23384445/)

[2]: [https://med.virginia.edu/ginutrition/wp- content/uploads/site...](https://med.virginia.edu/ginutrition/wp- content/uploads/sites/199/2014/06/Parrish-September-15.pdf)

[3]: [http://hkjpaed.org/pdf/2006%3B11%3B246-254.pdf](http://hkjpaed.org/pdf/2006%3B11%3B246-254.pdf)

Update: Added another link. Why the downvote?

<comment><USER23> I suspect you have been downvoted because some people may perceive your answer as a glib trivialization of a debilitating condition ('just pop a few probiotics and everything will be ok').

However, I have upvoted you because I agree that probiotics can play a part in coping with anxiety for some people.

I have experienced anxiety attacks for the last several years (including several full on panic attacks). For several years before the onset of the anxiety episodes I have also had IBS like symptoms (which continue to this day). I have noticed a clear link between the two (anxiety accompanied by nausea and frequent trips to the toilet). I could go into the disgusting detail but I won't.

To cut a long story short, I have found that consumption of high dose probiotics containing B longum has corresponded with a decline in sympton severity & frequency [1]. I am not suggesting that this is a _cure_ (or that it will help all anxiety sufferers). Other things that help are reductions in caffeine & alcohol intake, increased exercise (the more extreme the better) and acceptance of the physiological symptoms of anxiety - it is easy to think that heart palpatations etc caused by anxiety are a result of genuine physiolgical issues (which in turn causes more anxiety).

[1] [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Robert_Lalonde/publicat...](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Robert_Lalonde/publication/47543461_Assessment_of_psychotropic- like_properties_of_a_probiotic_formulation_\(Lactobacillus_helveticus_R0052_and_Bifidobacterium_longum_R0175\)_in_rats_and_human_subjects/links/00b7d52d5876418c0f000000.pdf)

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> It's actually unfortunately normal and healthy to have extreme anxiety when you have no workers rights and its hard to replace a job. As working people we are forced to live with unprecedented levels of uncertainty. Life can be extremely punishing, I've seen both the mediocre and the extremely talented crushed beneath the wheels of the system sometimes seemingly at random. Abuse if the h1b creates artificial shortages of work to leverage wages down and hours up. It's not unusual to get used more and more as short term temporary labor the more experienced and capable you get. Other professions like teaching college pay poverty wages that cannot support a family. So much of the dignity of work has been annihilated to make things better for billionaires.

<comment><USER25> Most billionaires make most of their money through stocks, so why not invest in those companies and make good money [if things are becoming better for billionaires].

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> I have holes in a few of my clothes.

Today I went to a shop selling needles/yarn/wool/.., so I could fix them. I arrived at the shop, was too anxious to enter and left again.

Guess the holes will have to stay.

<comment><USER27> I have done something similar. Go to the mall because I need clothes, walk in the door, do a lap around the store, walk out and go home. I know it is ridiculous but in my head it just feels like everyone is watching me, judging me based on what I am looking at. So I just don't even look at anything. I know that isn't true when I'm sitting at home but the second I arrive the anxiety kicks into high gear. It is very frustrating sometimes. I've noticed that I don't seem to get so anxious when grocery shopping or shopping for something I know a little about. Clothing is just so out of my element that I feel like a fool and have a hard time relaxing.

<comment><USER28> It gets easier. But unfortunately it's not just a matter of putting yourself in the situations more (you'll just get accustomed to how you feel so it won't get you down as much, but you'll still feel anxious and leave).

2 things helped me a lot: mindfulness (I read "A New Earth", YMMV) and the book "Learned Optimism". I can't recommend that book enough. Doesn't sound like it has anything to do with anxiety, but it really does. Anxiety can come from a pessimistic outlook - the stories you make up for the things that go on around you that you don't have all the information on. For example, you say "it just feels like everyone is watching me". This most likely triggers thoughts like "everyone thinks I'm uncool" or "I must look so out of place" or "I'm so unattractive" etc. which makes you anxious about staying there, so you leave. And there begins the spiral or rabbit hole to debilitating anxiety, depression or feelings of worthlessness.

"Learned Optimism" is all about changing the stories you tell yourself about these situations, to nip those thoughts in the bud. There's a definite pattern to them, and it can be broken quite easily. I won't do it justice to try and explain it here, it's really best to read the book from the start and let it do the talking. Oh and check out this out: [https://github.com/raganwald/presentations/blob/master/optim...](https://github.com/raganwald/presentations/blob/master/optimism.md)

<comment><USER27> I think you hit the nail on the head about the outlook and made up stories stuff. Those do sound almost exactly like what I experience. Thank you for the comment, I'll check out the suggestions you made.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> >We also made big and brave decisions like my wife quitting her exhausting job up in London and her retraining to work with young people in a college environment — stressful, but local.

Looks like now that guy is mainly responsible for all the stress and anxiety of mortgage and family finances. Brave decision indeed, at least form his side, hope he doesn't catch that horrible illness too.

There is some evidence that women are quitting due to high stress environment of modern workplaces[1]. Given this instantly solved the issue in this particular case, safe to assume it was the root cause of anxiety , and that's what "solved" it, not talking, therapy and all the other stuff.

>We also got a cat.

I strongly recommend this also. Cats will show you how to chill, how to find that sunspot and enjoy life. They will instantly de-stress you with their chill vibe.

Edit: de-stress != distress.

1\. [http://www.mckinsey.com/business- functions/organization/our-...](http://www.mckinsey.com/business- functions/organization/our-insights/unlocking-the-full-potential-of-women-at- work)

<comment> throwaway-hn123 > Brave decision indeed, at least form his side, hope he doesn't catch that > horrible illness too.

Why is it a brave decision? Do you actually think anxiety disorder is an infectious disease?

<comment><USER29> Do you think anxiety disorder is genetic and can't be acquired from one's circumstances and environment, an environment that includes someone demonstrating how to be anxious?

<comment><USER30> So, you are addressing the old, often challenging issue of separating nature and nurture.

Well, suppose a mother has genetic anxiety disease and consider her daughter: Then the daughter likely has anxiety disease from both nature and nurture, that is, from both her mother's genes and her mother's behavior.

E.g., both the mother and daughter can have social phobia and, then, commonly, when planning the social aspects of a trip to the grocery store have her brain burn glucose at a faster rate than anyone has yet thinking about, say, general relativity or P = NP. E.g., when making salad dressing, don't use wine vinegar because _wine_ on the label that might generate rumors in the community, school board, and church that the woman is an alcoholic -- it wish that was a joke or exaggeration, but it wasn't .

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> Thanks for sharing. I think its important to discuss mental health issues openly. They have a huge impact on our lives and are quite common (NAMI says 1 in 5), yet we tend as a society to shy away from talking about it and tend to have strange beliefs (they are just a negative person, they should just get over it, their thoughts will be contagious). I think many people never get the help they need because they aren't aware that help even exists.

<comment><USER32> But a depressed person often is a negative person, and moods can spread. Think about working for a boss who is miserable and passes that feeling down onto people who work for her. If that boss goes to to a psychiatrist/therapist because she is having trouble getting along with the people in her life, that psychiatrist/therapist will likely say she depressed, never diagnose her as being a "negative person" which is also a true assessment, and how people working with her would describe her.

I'm happy to be open about mental health issues. I have had enough negative experiences with, and read broadly enough about the theory behind psychotherapy to have come to my own conclusion that it makes about as sense as most dogmatic religions (very little).

<comment><USER33> >But a depressed person often is a negative person, and moods can spread.

That's pretty stereotypical. The happiest people on the outside can hide some pretty dark clouds on the inside; especially in a work environment where outward appearances are important. In fact, I would suggest that the majority that are depressed don't show any outwards signs to working colleagues.

<comment><USER34> I'm in the Robin Williams category of depressives. I know how desperate and tiring it is fighting off those causeless bouts, and so I try to make life as enriching as I can for people around me.

It's my way of compensating for every relentless, hammering, baseless urge to die that I've survived alone over the years. It took a long time for me to get that people don't typically understand that it's more like hiding that you have cancer than not being able to cheer up. You can hide the symptoms of both, you don't ask for either of them, and they might both kill you, but somehow you're responsible when you get depression but not cancer.

<comment><USER32> We can be responsible for our depressions though. The CBT paradigm is that thoughts cause emotions, and if we change our thoughts (which we can have control over) our mood will shift. So there is some self-determination, I don't think the typical comparison with cancer is a good one. (Obviously you can give yourself cancer with behaviors like smoking, but once you have cancer you have little internal control to make it go away. Not so with depression.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> > More evenings with no sleep, coupled with a 4 hour commute (both ways) means > she is exhausted.

This stood out to me - I cannot imagine the detrimental effect that 8 hours commuting per day has on one's mental health. I'm glad she was able to change jobs.

<comment><USER36> That would be impossible. I understood 4h total.

<comment><USER37> Oh, there are people forced to endure such commutes. For what it's worth, some school and university mates had 2-hour-plus one-way commutes.

Now add in the usual stuff like people throwing themselves in front of a train (happened quite often to those whose train passed by a mental health institution), random technology breakdowns (some parts of Munich S-Bahn operate on a single rail for both directions, it gets nasty when something happens), cops/paramedics attending to people on the train, idiots blocking the train doors and causing delays, car drivers too stupid to see the tramway approaching (and only waking up once the tram crashes into their car, blocking the single tram to the university)... the delay record, I believe, was something like six hours total what should have been 2,5h.

And those affected most by long commutes and the "random" (aka daily) service interruptions usually were those with not as much money as the rest - <USER2> living as a student in Munich is expensive as ... and many poorer students had to live in the hinterland of Munich with a bus driving only 4x a day or not at all, and because it's easy to hail a cab and say "ok, f..k that delay, I'm getting out, here's 50€ to get me to university" if you have the money.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> It's worth noting that if you have anxiety around starting therapy, as I did, that many therapists can be contacted via email. In the US, there are trade publications like Psychology Today and trade groups like the American Psychological Association that maintain lists of practicing therapists.

Often the hardest step is the first one. If your anxiety is anything like mine is you may not even realize you have a problem. My anxiety has robbed me of so many opportunities, that I often wish I had started therapy in my twenties. It took me months of goading myself before I contacted anyone about it.

I'm glad I did.

</comment><comment><USER39> Keep in mind that chronic anxiety is often the flip side of other, highly positive traits -- like empathy; the capacity to be deeply committed to others and one's goals; and self-knowledge, generally -- which many seemingly "relaxed, self-assured" people sorely lack.

</comment><comment><USER40> A lifetime of anxiety usually results in the sufferer developing a set of coping mechanisms that are typically not healthy, and can include drug use, raging, cutting, seclusion, social restriction or other self-harm.

One possible line of therapy is Dielectical Behavior Therapy[1], which works to teach the sufferer to re-cast their emotional responses to daily events, see them more objectively and find healthy coping methods.

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical_behavior_therapy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical_behavior_therapy)

</comment><comment><USER41> Social anxiety seems to be really common for anxious people. I'm quite anxious, but I have no social anxiety. I have medical anxiety, like hypochondria. I was able to fix this by being really logical about it. Ie. if I was anxious I was having a stroke or something I would list the symptoms (fainting, paralysis, blurred vision, extreme nausea etc.) and tick off the ones I had (I invariably didnt have any of them, so I determined I was fine)

<comment><USER30> Fine, except when you do actually get some symptoms for some serious medical problem, it gets important to get to an appropriate physician who usually, easily can do a much more accurate diagnosis.

E.g., as a child I had middle ear infections from congestion. So, recently I had some congestion and wondered if I was on the way to an ear infection. Okay, on a visit to a general practice physician for something else, I mentioned the ear issue, and right away the physician (A) too my temperature and (B) looked into my ear. Fast diagnosis: I was fine.

And an appropriate physician has a huge list of much more powerful diagnostic tests.

Net: If you have some symptoms at the level of loss of sleep, lack of appetite, tired feeling, sore joint, etc., don't worry and, instead, go to an appropriate physician and get checked out.

If you still worry, then take notes with dates and continue monitoring and checking until get some resolution. The continuing notes may help you and/or the physician.

</comment></comment><comment><USER42> Thanks for sharing. I think it's so important that this gets surfaced.

Having dialogue is probably the best way to help someone going through anxiety. A lot of times, they just need someone to listen and to support them and tell them that it's ok.

</comment><comment><USER43> anxiety == trauma

1\. After 6 months - 1 year it becomes part of you. You can't get any better without a professional help.

2\. Go find the best psychiatrist (not therapist) your money can buy and trust him 100%.

3\. Therapy and medicine can make miracles! You can become another person better than ever! Free from your worst fears forever.

4\. Be patient. Therapy need 2-3 year or even more. But with the appropriate medicine you can keep your life going.

5\. Medicine made to help people. All the other excuses are bullshit. But WARNING! Medicine doesn't make you better. It just hides the symptoms. Therapy will make you better. Therapy will give you the explanation and the self-cure.

6\. No-one EVER EVER died from anxiety. Someday your will just have fun with all these symptoms. Just trust your doctor.

7\. Read Echart Tolle. Maybe meditation is not the answer but he can teach you the meaning of life. Mindfulness is a great tool. Learn what you are thinking!

8\. Psychiatry is the only science. The others are just philosophies.

9\. Are you still here? Stop crying for your money and give them to your doctor! It's really a huge investment. Be absolutely sure that life will give them back multiplied. Remember that money is the medium.

10\. DONT QUIT YOUR JOB. DONT QUIT ANYTHING. Anxiety == trauma!

Me? After spending 5 years with all the pseudo-cures and pseudo-doctors even with homeopathy and other crap like this I decided to start with the best doctor I could find. 2.5 years of a great journey. Feeling great and I am in the process of quitting therapy.

Keep up, and be strong!

</comment><comment><USER44> Sometimes anxiety is a symptom of high-functioning autism spectrum. (Note that anxiety doesn't need to be solely related to social situations in this case either) [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3809000/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3809000/)

</comment><comment><USER45> I wonder if your wife ever tried medical marijuana? Many people use it to battle anxiety and in fact anxiety reduction is one of the effects, websites like Leafly rate cannabis strains in. Cannabis aids sleep, so this might also be some desired effect for your wife.

Search for anxiety in reddit.com/r/trees and you'll see the amount of people who think it helps them.

<comment><USER46> I have no doubt that marijuana helps a great many people with their anxiety issues, but I recommend caution if you've never tried it before. Search for marijuana/weed in r/anxiety and you'll find many people that think marijuana made their anxiety worse, or caused it to manifest after a bad session.

As somebody that was diagnosed with a generalized anxiety disorder a couple of years ago, I've personally never tried it to see what the effect would be for me. Exercise, being honest about it with my spouse, and a "goal-oriented life" has been crucial to beating my own anxiety, so much so that it rarely affects my life anymore. In fact, most days I don't even think about it, which would have been hard to believe when it was at its worst after first being diagnosed.

Just to be clear, I'm not against using marijuana at all. If it helps your anxiety, great! I only write this as someone that frequents r/anxiety and has witnessed people there writing about both the good and the bad of marijuana.

</comment></comment><comment><USER47> Hi All,

I thought I'd share my experience as someone who has been through anxiety and come through the other side. I was very lucky to have (and still have) a fantastic therapist to help and teach me.

 _Why we get anxiety:_

I sure know how confusing anxiety can be! It doesn't feel like it comes from anywhere clear or that it has an obvious purpose... but in fact is is strangely systematic.

Anxiety does two things (we will explore both in detail); 1) protects you from something. 2) makes you feel shit and forces you to act on making yourself feel less shit.

>> 1) Protecting you

Anxiety is one of the mind's best defense mechanisms. Whatever you experience anxiety about it nearly always leads to a reduction in action, connection and conflict with others. It could be that you don't speak out, get on stage, tell someone you're pissed off with them, leave your room (as someone in this thread is having a hard time doing) or go to your friends house for dinner (re op). Anxiety = not doing things.

Not doing things is a fantastic option if you just want to survive! I'm fairly sure if I spent the day in my bedroom and had a pizza posted through my letterbox I would make it through the next 24 hours fairly unscathed, and a part of me thinks that is a very smart idea. It's very good to stay alive.

The confusing thing about being an adult with anxiety is that we are protecting ourselves from things that we don't need protecting from any more.

 _Being young:_

When you are small (under 10 or so) there are a few big differences from being an adult.

 _1)_ You really really need to keep big people (parents) around. You are genuinely very vulnerable when you are little. A five year old is not very good at making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, it's extremely important to have someone (a parent) there to help. A nine year old is not very good at defending itself vs a 32 year old bodybuilder, a big person (parent) is an extremely important tool for protection. If they are not there, you really could die.

 _2)_ You feel like you control / are responsible for more than you are. It is hard to understand that you are growing up into an imperfect world where, despite you being good, bad things are happening. It can be common, and often easier, for a child to feel that the world is good, but it has been bad so bad things have happened. The child has more control that way.

These two things combined mean that unlucky children teach themselves very strong and very misguided lessons at at young age. I lost my father at eight and I certainly did.

There is often a traumatic event - a divorce, violence, a huge argument, a death - that results in one parent / carer leaving, or almost leaving, the family hub. As discussed above, the love of the 'big people' is genuinely indispensable to a child. If you don't have big people love, you probably will die and death is very scary.

The child finds a way to blame this on itself. It must have done something wrong for this loss, or almost-loss, to have happened and it must not do it again! Toe the line. Keep everyone happy. YOU MUST KEEP THEM HAPPY OTHERWISE YOU COULD DIE. This is a very sensible narrative for a young child that has been through a trauma.

 _Being older:_

Now that you are older two things have happened.

The first is that, if you're lucky, you don't need the help of any big people to make it through the day. You can make a p&j sandwich on your own! You can survive loss. It will make you sad but it will not kill you.

The second is that you can be more objective. If you're parents get divorced when you are 25 years old, you are more likely to see it is because your dad's train watching hobby is just out of hand, rather than it being a reflection on who you are as a person.

But your anxiety was not taught to you when you were a grown up, it was taught to you when you were a child - so it makes no sense in the world of an adult. You don't need to be (that) scared of pissing someone off as an adult! You don't need to be (that) scared of someone you love leaving you as an adult. You will make it through. But your emotions connect you to the perspective you had when you were a child - if you piss people off, if someone leave you - <USER3> could die. No wonder you are feeling anxious! I would be (and was) too.

Pissing people off, or having them leave you, or saying something offensive, or not making EVERYONE happy - can happen quite easily in the adult world. It can happen at the shop, at work, at a party, in a relationship. These are normal activities that you probably will survive - but they appear very very scary to a person with anxiety because these activities are more than what they are. They are opportunities for the world to fall apart and for you to maybe die.

>> 2) Anxiety makes you feel shit and makes you do something to try and feel less shit

As I hope you have learnt so far, the strong feelings of anxiety that one can have do not come from a very logical (grownup) place. They are beliefs that were useful when you were young and felt like you were holding the world together, but don't make sense any more.

(Note: if your anxiety seems to have popped up from nowhere after years of being fine, it could be that you have touched an emotional depth that you have not since you were young. For example, my anxiety flares up when I'm in a relationship and experiencing strong feelings of connection / love - as a child might with a parent.)

The whole brain is really a very clever thing. Much cleverer than the bit of the brain you spend your mind talking to. As odd as it sounds, a part of it knows that you have a belief that is a little out of place and causing you problems in your day to day life - and it wants you to fix it.

I'm willing to bet if you have strong feelings of anxiety you are having frequent, intense, and mostly unpleasant dreams. I'd bet you've even had some recurring dreams. Dreams are another weirdly systematic process which can seem complex, but not to be discussed today (my email is below if you want a walk through). These dreams are no meaningless coincidence, they are there to nudge you towards fixing whatever no-longer-useful belief you have.

Like I said, the whole brain is really very clever and it knows a great way to make you take notice of something is to cause you immense pain! (Just like it is useful for a rash to itch, so you see you have it and take care of your skin.) And just like the synergistic of a bee and a flower (the bee gets the food, the flower gets its pollen spread), anxiety protects you and, through its pain, forces you to take a look at yourself.

So that is what's going on. (Apologies if you feel this is an oversimplification, but this structure covers the common narrative. I'm sure there are many cases I'm not dealing with.)

 _How to face anxiety:_

To face it, you need to say - "Hello child brain, I see what you're doing - you really are very smart! But today I'm not going to listen to you because I probably don't need protecting from whatever you're trying to prevent. I'll probably be ok"

Then you're child (emotional) brain will say - "WHAT THE FUCK!! WE'RE TOTALLY GOING TO DIE!!!"

And then you are going to have to use all the courage you can muster to tell it to shut up and do the thing you are so scared of doing. And see what happens (your child brain will be watching too) - you'll probably be fine. When you've done this a few times the child brain will calm down and you'll move through this anxiety… onto the next one!

Also, if you can, get a good therapist.

If this was helpful / you want to reach out - please do so at eichler.summers[at]gmail.com. I'd be interested to hear feedback.

If you are from YC, or a particularly kind rich person / VC and you think there should be a scalable solution to anxiety, please get in touch. I would love to start a company in this space. I am a credible (TechCrunch Disrupt nominated, ex VC) individual who just needs a nudge.

<comment><USER42> I am neither from YC or a rich person but I strongly believe in helping people get over these issues and I am interested in learning more about what you're thinking about.

For me, I do think that there should be a scalable solution but I also think that the solution should involve more connectedness with the human side of people. Something along the lines of building a network of support like AA but on a grander scale.

<comment><USER47> Yes - I agree. I think people will always be part of the process of moving through things. It needs to be included in the thing that scales!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER48> I've been in that position, shaking in my bed not able to sleep for days. Then I was prescribed many different medications. I ended up doing seroquel and now I'm trying to tamper off it. However in my situation I still have no idea what caused my anxiety. I'm unemployed and don't need to work, and everything seems alright on the surface to me.

</comment><comment><USER49> I like how this follows a more pratical approach than other writing about mental health. Overly emotional mental health literature is a big turn off for me.

</comment><comment><USER50> Thank you for this.

</comment><comment><USER51> I overcame Bipolar Spectrum disorder. This article, and many others like it, get many things right. Each person is different, and it took me many, many years to get the right help and many, many different approaches.

I'd like to add another aspect to this discussion that might be misunderstood, but I'll say it anyway because there are likely others that were in the same situation I was. I attended a church back in my 20's that turned out to be a horrible environment for me. Churches are not all the same. They are multifaceted, not monolithic. I was at this church for 10 years, and the environment was very emotional. They even had services on Wednesday nights because of the hype and emotion.

When I became sick, I had pastors pray for me and ask God for healing. When the months went by and I was not getting better, the not-so-subtle message was "there must be sin in your life" or that I needed deliverance from some sort of demonic influence. People stopped visiting. I felt like a social leper. It was one of the darkest points in my life.

After 7 months of suffering crushing depression, daily anxiety and frequent panic attacks, I was reduced to working a part-time job and eating only sandwiches from the gas station next door because I didn't want to be out in public. I could share the remainder of the story, but the point I want to make is I got through it.

There are many, many communities of faith out there. Some are fantastic and very understanding of mental health issues. Others are toxic and horrible. If you're in a similar situation, I just want to let you know three things: 1) There is hope 2) Don't give up 3) If you need to make a change (church, family, friends, etc) do it.

There are many wonderful, loving people in the world who really do care and REALLY DO understand what you are going through. You really are not alone. I know how it feels to think you're the only one going through what you are going through, but the truth is you are not. I still remember being in my first mental health group of about 10 people and hearing people share their stories. What a relief it was to know I was not alone! Some of the biggest laughs I've had in my life have been with other "crazy" people, because we all know how hard mental illness can be, and how wonderful life can be when things are simply normal without all the drama.

I'm now married over 16 years, with two children and two very spoiled pugs. I've also been attending a great church for the last 6 years that is more balanced, without all the ups and downs emotionally. I've shared my story many times about overcoming a serious mental illness and will continue to do so. Mental illness is more cruel than most people will ever realize, so if you suspect you have something or know you get help, and surround yourself with positive, encouraging people.

</comment><comment><USER52> I had to deal with something similar, and I think I would add a few practical advices (outside of my other advice):

\- if psychotherapy does now work in first 3 months, than problem is somewhere else

\- check sugar levels, diabetes.. it is often misdiagnosed with psychiatric problems

\- if she has paralyzing fear, you should talk to good psychiatrist and get medication. Be careful what motivations he/she has, he might try to sell you expensive doses for long term.

\- we had good experience with psychiatrist outside US. Most consulting was over skype

\- MRI, blood test... usual general tests. Anxiety can be result of infection, head concussion...

\- Phenibut is quick & cheap solution to anxiety and sleep problems. No side effects, but you develop resistance fast, so it can be used only once a week. It takes edge-off before proper solution is found.

<comment><USER53> > Phenibut [...] No side effects

Severe withdrawal symptoms are not uncommon. Reports are easy to find with google.

<comment><USER52> Yes. The problem is you go back to zero sleep and anxiety. If you can solve sleep some other way, there are no withdrawal symptoms.

Problem with this is that it 1) works, 2) resistance is developed fast 3) you are back to square zero very soon. So it has to be taken in small doses with long intervals, when anxiety is at its worse.

It is not addictive as other drugs, most countries even sell it without prescription.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER52> I was married to such person for 8 years. I physically aged 40 years, and I got gray hair.

My best advice is to get out NOW if you can. Maybe things are working out now, but you are barely floating. Add normal family life into picture: children, job loss, some injury, any sort of accident... and you will sink to bottom faster than a stone.

<comment><USER54> Not sure why you are being downvoted. It may seem crass, but it is true. In the last 6-7 years I seem to have mentally and physically aged twice as much if not more. WE are still together but honestly, I don't think I can handle this much more to the point I'm getting depressed as well (suicide thoughts)

<comment><USER55> Is it worth it? Staying out of "obligation" or "guilt"?

<comment><USER56> I see my wife as "family."

You don't abandon family.

Then again I'm Asian so perhaps our sense of family is different. For example, we often treat our cousins like siblings.

<comment><USER57> You should never make a blanket statement like "you don't abandon family." There are many situations where the best (and only) option is to get away. This includes both your spouse and your family. Abuse is one obvious example.

I'm not saying that we should run away at the first sign of mental health issues. I just think that there are plenty of situations where it might be the right decision. It's obvious in extreme cases, but the decision will always be extremely difficult.

For what it's worth, I think most people view their spouse as "family". It's hard to imagine a different arrangement.

<comment> nommm-nommm I agree with you. My parents are very, very toxic people. I still see them a couple times a year but the best thing I ever did for myself was stop trying to have any kind relationships with them.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER58> The latest treatment protocols for anxiety seem to have shifted from GABA receptor agonists to SSRIs and supplements like folic acid[1].

The jury is still out on how effective these treatments are compared to CBT. I'd be curious about how physicians subjectively feel about prescribing benzos to their patients.

[1] [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3200167/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3200167/)

</comment><comment><USER59> Really glad this article was posted.

I have anxiety. No idea what to do about it. I just sit here locked in my apartment all day, haven't seen anyone in weeks. Moved a friend in next door, he's extremely loud, now I haven't seen him in weeks either. I just can't. I'm just an asshole sitting here with headphones on 14 hours a day and then sleeping completely locked in a prison of my own making. To walk into the kitchen and potentially hear them fucking or watching TV really loudly in their bedroom - it _feels_ like what you're feeling is unreasonable, so then you start feeling guilty, except I can't help any of it. In my head it's like 'good for him! get laid buddy!' but what I feel is pure adrenaline and anger.

Sometimes when I wake up just right after a perfect sleep, hit my routine properly, get everything done, then I feel great, and can go out, and do things. But I have to feel extremely great, and it takes so much work to get there. And it only ever works rarely.

My heart rate is almost constantly 1.5x what it should be, like a consistent and constant adrenaline rush that no amount of pushups will get rid of. Any excessive or intrusive sounds sends my adrenaline to the roof and now I have to focus my energy on calming down to be able to work instead of actually working.

Very rarely there are small patches of time where there is no anxiety. I liken those moments to the moments Dostoevsky describes when he's not suffering from seizures.

The one thing I'm trying to avoid is telling people about it, I don't ever want to put someone in the position of "listen, my life is harder than yours because of X condition, so _you_ need to adjust to _me_ ". I think that's gross. Like my loud friend. It's totally his right to be loud, and it's unfair to him that someone like me lives next door. But now he has to feel neglected from my lack of contact, which just brings me more guilt. Then at some point we're going to have to talk about it, at which point I can either lie to make him feel better or tell him what's actually up and potentially lower his quality of life and instill in him a similar amount of anxiety. Then we both lose. Pity is one of the worst feelings ever and I really don't wish to invite it into my life.

>All of these things helped but we were not living — we were surviving in a world where anxiety had taken over.

Exactly, it's just surviving. Dead time, unenjoyed. I am very lucky to have recently met a girl that takes the time to ask questions and explore and talk without judgement and assumptions and it's been the most wonderful experience of my life so far. I've never had that, so initially it was very difficult to trust. The first few months it was a mental loop of "Why would this person ever talk to me much less try to help me?". I lucked out huge though.

edit: Wow is what I'm typing really that foreign to some of you? I should probably look into this more. Thank you everyone who replied and OP for the article.

<comment><USER60> > The one thing I'm trying to avoid is telling people about it, I don't ever > want to put someone in the position of "listen, my life is harder than yours > because of X condition, so you need to adjust to me". I think that's gross. > Like my loud friend. It's totally his right to be loud, and it's unfair to > him that someone like me lives next door

It's good that you're not asking him to adjust to you, but I hope you realise that _you do not deserve to live like this_ , and that _help might be available_.

Have you seen a doctor?

There are some physical health checks they'll want to do, and then there are some mental health options they can talk about with you.

If you were in England you could expect this from the NHS: [https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg113](https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg113)

Broader information: [https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/conditions-and- diseases/men...](https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/conditions-and- diseases/mental-health-and-behavioural-conditions/anxiety)

Anxiety disorders often respond well to treatment.

<comment><USER61> > There are some physical health checks they'll want to do

The importance of this step should not be underestimated. Hormonal and neurological phenomena can have huge effects on mental and emotional processes. It's socially accepted to joke about hormone-addled teenagers and "roid rage" (and, not so long ago, PMS), but then we act like the default is somehow to have no hormones at all, instead of admitting to ourselves that every one of our brains is marinating in a constantly-fluctuating chemical soup.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Being in a relationship with somebody who has anxiety issues is exhausting. It just never ends. Well, until it ends...

</comment><comment><USER62> "A four hour commute each way"?

<comment><USER63> No, 4 hours total. 2 hours each way.

</comment></comment><comment><USER64> God bless you both but I could never do this. Life is hard enough without your partner making things that should be easy difficult.

I was with someone like this for years in my 20s and it eventually became unbearable. At some level, "I have anxiety" starts to feel like an excuse, not that the person can control it exactly, but we all have the ability to tell which of the thoughts occur to us are good ones worth listening to and which aren't. I became resentful of how, for example, a nice vacation would be ruined over worrying about a lingering bill for $50 or whatever. It's really hard to be around someone like that long term and still feel like they make you happy and that your life is better with them in it, when it so clearly is materially not better. It's like all the color drains away from life and why bother doing fun stuff since it'll just get ruined anyway?

<comment><USER65> > Life is hard enough without your partner making things that should be easy > difficult.

Would you make the same argument about a partner with cancer, or Alzheimer's, or multiple sclerosis?

<comment><USER64> I don't like when people compare mental issues to physical disease because three doctors will all diagnose the same cancer as cancer, not so with e.g. anxiety. (Not to mention the race, class, and gender biases that come into play with diagnosing mental issues).

Beside that, there is some element of choice if the condition exists at the time you decide to make the other person your partner. If you meet someone with cancer and decide they'll be your partner, well, you make that choice and everything that comes with it. This is why I say I can't do it. I tried once, for a long time. If your partner becomes ill at some point after that, well, that's life. And it could just as easily have been you.

But anyway, yes, it's hard no matter what. Illness is bad, and sad, and it makes life hard for everyone.

<comment><USER66> Cancer is not the best example here. Cancer, like anxiety or depression, is not a single disease, it's cluster of symptoms that can have a multitude of different causes.

You can tell when it's bad enough, like if there are visible tumors, but try to get 3 doctors to correctly diagnose whether a cancer is completely gone after treatment.

On the other hand, I guarantee 3 out of 3 doctors will diagnose my panic disorder as panic disorder.

I have recurrent tonsillitis, clearly a physical disease, yet 3 doctors couldn't figure out the cause.

When it comes to disease things are almost always murky, whether it's "physical" or "mental".

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER67> Stop thinking in "types" and responses and most certainly--stop thinking that things happen for "absolutely no reason".

Everything happens for a reason. Anxiety is a mental state. Until that state is resolved, the anxiety will persist. Strong self-reflection is the way out.

Cannabis can help to rocket you through your anxiety and helped me figure it out pretty quickly.</comment>


Adria Richards fired by SendGrid for outting developers  - <AUTHOR> http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/21/breaking-adria-richards-fired-by-sendgrid-for-outting-developers-on-twitter/

<comment><USER2> I like the part where she said "SendGrid supports me" - <https://twitter.com/adriarichards/status/314452708549603328>

<comment><USER3> Wonder if that's part of the reason she was fired. That's where her position becomes company policy and if that was not properly communicated...

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I'm not saying I agree with SendGrid's decision but how could Andria effectively do her job as a developer evangelist if the entire developer community hates her?

</comment><comment><USER5> direct link: <https://www.facebook.com/SendGrid/posts/10151502570463967>

<comment><USER6> This was taken off the front page: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5416021> Edit: this thread is also gone

<comment><USER7> guess _this_ thread is also gone from the front page now.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Equality is a good thing.

<comment><USER9> This is not equality, it's a clusterfuck. Two wrongs don't make a right. In the end the bullies won.

<comment><USER10> I don't see it as that. There were better ways to handle the situation. She shouldn't have public shamed them without asking them to stop first.

<comment><USER9> Probably.

Sadly, humans are not perfect. Making dumb jokes and posting a photo of those who made dumb jokes online? Dumb mistakes.

Firing people, DDoS attacks, vile threats: Now that's a shitty clusterfuck. The bullies have driven the conversation.

<comment><USER10> I think the firing was purely a business decision for both companies. Harboring stuff like this can go down hill fast. It's easier to just let them go and not have to deal with it.

<comment><USER9> An immoral business decision, yes.

<comment><USER10> It can be, but it could also be an excuse to get rid of a problem employee. SendGrid could have been waiting for her to slip to let her go.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> No matter how this all plays out, "accusing" is a more accurate headline than "outting".

</comment><comment><USER12> A terrifying precedent for all women in tech.

<comment><USER13> What has this got to do with women? Anyone could have found those jokes offensive, whatever their gender. And no-one has the right to protection from being offended, whatever their gender.

<comment><USER12> Thanks for asking. The nature of the attacks against Adria are EXTREMELY misogynistic (rape threats, death threats, people calling her a c_nt, b_tch, wh_re, etc) and many people have taken up a "burn her at the stake" mentality. They've also pulled into question her professional credibility and called her an affirmative action hire. They are saying this kind of behavior should be expected from someone with the domain "butyouragirl".

Misogyny is kind of like porn: "you know it when you see it". There is a simply an undue level of hatred for Adria which is correlated to her gender, I think in large part because she is an outspoken feminist.

A lot of people in this community would very much like outspoken feminists not to exist (check the comments here or on Reddit anytime a post about women in tech goes up).

Another way to look at it: I can't imagine this chain of events would have gone down if a man pointed out a lewd joke at a conference.

The whole thing really smells like a feminist backlash.

I'm trying to be more outspoken about gender bias I encounter in the workplace, but incidents like this are a terrifying reminder of why that can be dangerous.

A few months ago I posted about an inappropriate comment someone made to me at a hackathon and got lots of advice (on this forum) to publicly out and shame the person. Seeing that my company could have come under attack for that is a reminder of why it's dangerous for women to speak out.

<comment><USER13> Absolutely, the reaction would be terrifying for anyone. I assumed you were talking about her initial actions. I was.

There's been sensible debate and abuse. There may be an overlap, but they are distinct reactions. If you challenge someone, you invite them to challenge you back (I hope she's not terrified by disagreement). But abuse and threats are entirely separate, and seem to have come from people beyond the industry, e.g. anonymous. Lots of trolls on the net are just looking for a fight and gender politics fades into the background when you have a large number of people on a hair-trigger, willing to use any language at their disposal that they can make fit the target.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> <http://cmx.io/#5214736>

</comment><comment><USER15> I'm sure there are tons of companies who are willing to hire her now.

</comment><comment><USER16> Well.. That escalated quickly...

</comment><comment><USER17> This is somewhat meta, sorry.

What concerns me is that even in the face blistering internet rage, she dug in her heels and stood by her actions. Just apologize. Why is it _so bloody hard_ for people these days to just admit they made a mistake? Being fired, harassed on twitter, etc etc could not possibly be better than writing "I'm really sorry I publicly outed those guys, I should not have done that, and will refrain from doing that in the future".

Here's another thread where I argue that an apology could have fixed things: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5415524>

Some of the responses were indignant, and people said she shouldn't have to apologize for her actions. I agree, she doesn't need to apologize. But look where it got her! This is indicative of a much broader trend I see. People today would rather lose a finger than say they're sorry. I just cannot understand it.

<comment><USER3> If I recall correctly she at least said she was sorry in that first HN thread where it was mentioned that one of the guys was fired. But she could have written that in an update on her blog post or in a new post.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> !</comment>


A modular and open source question answering framework - <AUTHOR> http://projetpp.github.io/

<comment><USER2> for most of the answers its giving me "After seven and a half million years of calculation I have found that the answer is 42."</comment>


She spent two years building a tiny house. Then thieves wheeled it away - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/12/20/she-spent-two-years-building-tiny-house-then-thieves-wheeled-it-away-when-she-wasnt-watching/ <comment><USER2> its been found [https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/tiny- ho...](https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/tiny-home-stolen- from-st-louis-is-found-in- jefferson/article_cc47f490-ed91-5445-a4f9-131ed74a48fc.html)

<comment><USER3> > 451: Unavailable due to legal reasons ... GDPR ...

"Legal reasons" being "we want to invasively track all our visitors but that pesky bureaucracy won't let us"? Good riddance.

<comment><USER4> They also disallow ad-blockers. So you really aren't missing much.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Why are startups usually eager to get acquired? - <AUTHOR>

Hello HNinizes,
First of all a little disclaimer, my question is just out of curiosity and does not imply any stand I take on the subject. I do not consider myself to take a stand as I have not done any startup of my own.
I have been frequenting HN for over two years now, and it has inspired me a lot. The discussions and posts over here have helped me grow at quite and accelerated pace. But as I started to read about startups, I found a very odd similarity. 90% of the startups I hear about on HN either have an exit strategy right from the start or are working towards an exit strategy when they "figure things out". All in all, the prime goal of making a startup is to get acquired.
I find that rather odd. People give a big chunk of their life working on something they care about. And when that thing finally starts to pay them back, they sell it to someone else. I think if I will ever succeed in making my own dream company, I will sell it only when it is not making profit for me.
Please help me understand the rationale behind the this craze of getting acquired. <comment><USER3> _I think if I will ever succeed in making my own dream company, I will sell it only when it is not making profit for me._

At that point, no one will want to buy it from you. The goal for most startups is to either get big enough to go public, or get acquired by a bigger company. The second option is attractive because in theory you can use the resources of the bigger company to grow your startup at a much faster pace, and you don't have the risk of running out of funding. With today's startups getting by on a lot less funding than in the past (thousands to millions today vs tens of millions to hundreds of millions a decade ago), the road to IPO is a lot longer than the road to acquisition.

I personally would rather bootstrap a startup or just take a small seed round and get acquired for $10-30 million (I believe these are called "dipshit companies") than raise round after round and doing an IPO 10 years out (risking having a competitor come along in that time and put me out of business).

</comment><comment><USER4> First, there's a difference between the type of person who can build a successful product and the type of person who can run a successful business at scale. These two characteristics may reside in a single person, but they don't have to.

There's also a lack of excitement inherent in running a company that's no longer a "startup."

There's an exchange of current capital for risky future earnings which may be attractive.

There's burnout.

Perhaps there are more reasons than that, but that's what I can think of.

</comment><comment><USER5> When it is not making a profit for you, it is not worth anything to others and as such probably will sell for less than you have invested if it sells at all.

It is good to have an exit strategy, even if that exit strategy includes holding on to your company forever. But with the IPO market as non-existent as it is in the US, your chances of making a bundle there are the null. Most entrepreneurs enjoy the thrill of the startup itself, not the management of some big company years down the road. It is not that they are "eager" to sell from day one, but by seeking funding and planning the future of the company they are forced to evaluate exit strategies. Since acquisition can be a lucrative exit strategy it is most often looked at as the end result. The adrenaline rush comes in creating the company, the product, and delivering it to customers (free or paid). At some point you have to look to an exit whether it be an IPO or acquisition if you took on funding (the investors want their money back with a return at some point).

<comment><AUTHOR> wow, when you put it like that it kinda makes sense!

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> One of the biggest reasons you see acquisitions is for realized gains for investors (including the founders). When you seek investors for your business, you'll find that they expect you to have an exit strategy; this is because they eventually need to get their money out (and then some), and an acquisition is one of the best (and easiest) ways to do that. Some investors may even build legal terms into the agreement governing your course of action when an acquisition might be possible.

For most founders, the acquisition is typically the end of the rainbow. You quite literally cash out/sell your investment. You stop assuming the risks of the venture, but you also give up your rights to future profits. Startups are very risky, and like any investment people gain the most by selling when times are good. A startup that is doing fine today could be dead in two years, or it could go on to be Google. Would you rather have $30 million today or a chance between $0 and $1 billion+ a few years from now?

Of course you don't have to be acquired. If you like what you are doing you can simply keep going (if you are profitable). If you have investors then you'll need to figure out an alternative way to compensate them.

As a founder I personally tell you that I'm more interested in building my products and business than I am running the business long term. I love my company and everything we are involved in, but the further we go the further I get away from my hacker roots. Someday I'll need to get back to that.

</comment><comment><USER7> Speaking partially from experience, I think people just get tired after a while... It's a lot of work to run a startup and a lot of the fun stuff in the beginning just gets not-so-fun after a few years.

I caught a post on HN a day or so ago about the varying states of "uninformed optimism" and "informed pessimism" (before eventual despair or "informed optimism") and I think that just about perfectly sums it up.

My startup of nearly five years just recently turned down a serious acquisition offer in the final stages because the deal wasn't right (unrealistic earn-outs, long-term employment contracts, nasty non-competes, etc.). The only reason we were really considering it in the first place is because we were tired of having to compete on limited resources (we bootstrapped it entirely and have never taken on financing or debt - <USER2> hindsight maybe not the best idea).

Like anything else, it also helps to have a long-term goal in mind, and having a clear exit strategy from the very beginning is often a great way to set your eyes on some sort of prize. I find few entrepreneurs nowadays who are really looking for a lifestyle business only. Most that I come across are the serial entrepreneur type.

</comment><comment><USER8> This is what I have gathered from PG's essays:

To do what you love, you need the time to do it. You can make the time in one of two ways: either go the organic route, where you take a job in a field you like and slowly increase the interesting part of your work. The other option is the two-job route, where you have one job that pays the bills and another which is your true love.

Startups are the extreme case of the two-job route, both in terms of time and payoff. You do the not-so-fun job of creating enough wealth (something people want) quickly, so that you can sell it for lots of money. And hence time.

For most people with exit strategies, their true love is not the startup. It's just building cool stuff, even if people don't pay money for it.

It's more fun designing a programming language than making a web store builder.

</comment><comment><USER9> I have no experience selling a startup, so my opinion is probably not worth much...

1\. Running a company isn't the same as building a startup. Two different skill sets, for the most part.

2\. On to the next thing. Unless my startup is fighting some huge, globally important problem, I'd rather take the money and put it towards something that is more relevant.

Just think what Zuckerberg could do with billions of dollars towards a serious issue. Staying at Facebook isn't a bad thing, per se, but with that sort of financial power one could really make a bigger difference than connecting people online.

</comment><comment><USER10> Simple answer, to guarantee fuck you money.

Long answer, most startups will never be Facebook, Google or Twitter. Hence the economically rational founders believe it is better to hold cash than stock in the company. If the founders aren't rational economic actors then any reason will do. This is where passion, and emotion come into play. You will never sell because you aren't a rational economic actor. (It's ok, almost no one is)

You mention selling a compnay when it is not making a profit. Selling a company when it is not making a profit is a really good way to get a crap valuation, the point is to sell the company of the apex of belief in its future to produce profit. A company that is shown to have apex'd is not one that most people want to invest in. You're going to have to sell at that point to a 'corporate raider'.

Ideally, you want to sell when investors think the growth curve is going to keep on going but it has actually reached a plateau, and you are selling on a multiple of expected profit in the future.

Thats pretty much why startups sell. Not all startups are built from passion, some are built to flip.

<comment><USER11> QED Silicon valley has turned into a giant ponzi scheme.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> After reading the 7 comments (till now) here I feel dumb to have missed out on two obvious points:

1) Not every idea is supposed to be the next google or facebook. There are some ideas which are just inherently supposed to be small and not make much money on a regular basis. Thus selling them and having a big payday is a better option financially.

2) As the company grows you get separated from your hacking roots, thus you just sell it to someone else and do something which is more close to your hacking roots.</comment>


Why "ghosting" in recruiting needs to stop - <AUTHOR> https://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/rework/why-ghosting-recruiting-needs-stop <comment><USER2> 'ghosting' happens because our world these days is way too litigious. Any type of rejection email or phone call could be used in a lawsuit against the company or recruiter.

People hate to be rejected for any reason and many just want the person/company rejecting them to suffer.

This isn't anything new. It's been happening for as long as I've been working (30+ years) and probably even before this.

<comment><USER3> You're absolutely right about fears of lawsuits and litigation.

Here's the problem - "I guess that's you're problem" isn't an acceptable answer for the applications, many of whom were at least reasonably good candidates, especially after intense and lengthy interviews. It's especially galling when a company then turns around and complains about a critical shortage of qualified applicants.

This has happened to me. I applied for a job, through a recruiter. First, a 2 hour java quiz. Then, still through a recruiter, their 5-7 hour programming project. Then... crickets chirping for almost a month, followed by a one-line recruiter brush off ("we've decided not to continue at this time...").

If they want to act like this, fine. I'll never apply to their company again, and I'm certainly deterred from applying for any tech jobs at this point, considering how much time and effort you have to put in, only to get ghosted later. But hey, my choice, they don't owe me a job.

But here's the thing - the world certainly doesn't owe them any workers, either. Personally, I think that an industry that acts like this should stop acting surprised that people with choice aren't are choosing become a developer in the valley. Quit it with the shortage talk, that's the market's answer. Don't like it? Ok, change it - I recommend you start with your recruiting tactics.

We need to oppose any immigration scheme that denies immigrants the essential right to participate as free and full participants in the labor market. That means immigrants, like people born citizens, get to decide what they wish to study, where they wish to live, what they wish to work on, and that corporations should not be allowed to dictate these choices as a condition of living and working int the US.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Anonymously register a C Corporation? - <AUTHOR>

I want to register a C corporation. However, I don't want it to link directly back to me (this is not for tax dodging; I will happily pay my taxes). I just want my involvement with the startup to remain anonymous until I succeed [no need to broadcast my failures to the world.]<p>Is there anyway to setup this up? <comment><USER2> If you are an incorporator, director, or officer, the jurisdiction where you incorporate or are required to qualify to conduct business may require disclosure of all such parties. Your involvement could be more concealed if you were merely a stockholder or if the state where your business incorporates and any other state where your business is required to qualify to conduct business do not require that all directors and officers be disclosed. Note: You may be able to have a third-party serve as incorporator. Bear in mind that your business may be required to qualify to conduct business in jurisdictions with disclosure requirements for officers and directors that differ from those of the state where your business is incorporated.

</comment><comment><USER3> An attorney can incorporate and keep your identity secret. As long as the corportion isn't public disclosure requirements are trivial. The problem is with respect to banking business; banks will insist on knowing who the real customer is. It is almost impossible to conduct banking business though third parties.</comment>


Lawsuit: Weather Channel illegally shared user location data with advertisers - <AUTHOR> https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/01/weather-channel-app-helped-advertisers-track-users-movements-lawsuit-says/ <comment><USER2> Oh, a free app is tracking its users again....and why are weather apps often unscrupulous</comment>


Interactive Map of Linux Kernel - <AUTHOR> https://makelinux.github.io/kernel/map/ <comment><USER2> Is there a newer version of this? This is for Linux 2.6.36, released October 2010.

</comment><comment><USER3> I've recently played around with defining connections between various parts of a codebase (Java classes). I used imports as the edges and the results were very difficult to interpret. This map seems overwhelmingly simple by comparison. How are the connections made?

<comment><USER4> For Java, I had really good results with Sourcetrail: [https://www.sourcetrail.com](https://www.sourcetrail.com)

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> why exactly is it necessary for this site to load a script from Facebook?

<comment><USER6> In less-polite terms: the Facebook "like button" is abusive to people visiting your site.

<comment><USER7> Great point. it is how Facebook gathers almost global info from the web to feed their db and use with impunity. did Facebook record my id when I visited the page and tie the event to my Facebook user id? The answer is likely yes weather I have an active fb account or not. FB is a network, not a platform, that has turned into a massive surveillance and population mind control tool used by those who own and have influence over the network. For the sake of all users this must change. For the sake of the free internet.

<comment><USER8> Friendly reminder Google is this x100.

"Content" blockers are now important privacy hygiene. Google has been both neutering those and giving themselves special fingerprinting tokens in Chrome:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22245101](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22245101)

[https://source.chromium.org/chromium/chromium/src/+/master:c...](https://source.chromium.org/chromium/chromium/src/+/master:components/google/core/common/google_util.cc?q=IsGoogleAssociatedDomainUrl&ss=chromium&originalUrl=https:%2F%2Fcs.chromium.org%2Fchromium%2Fsrc%2Fcomponents%2Fgoogle%2Fcore%2Fcommon%2Fgoogle_util.cc)

<comment><USER6> I truly don't understand why anyone would use Chrome or Chromium for anything that isn't strictly work-related.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Very useful view of the Linux kernel. Is this generated from source code by some tool? Would love to know the process that went into creating this.

<comment><USER10> It looks like this is the script that generates it.

[https://github.com/makelinux/linux_kernel_map/blob/master/sr...](https://github.com/makelinux/linux_kernel_map/blob/master/srcxray.py)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Wow, this is AWESOME. Congratulations. It's undoubtedly useful.

<comment><AUTHOR> I stole the link from this comment: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23451288](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23451288) I have no idea where this is from!

<comment><USER12> Constantine Shulyupin, [https://github.com/makelinux/linux_kernel_map](https://github.com/makelinux/linux_kernel_map)</comment></comment></comment>


Music industry doing something smart (A&R social net) - <AUTHOR> http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2167618,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=4 Complete with "2.0" name: Scoutr
http://www.scoutr.co.uk/home/
I registered and reviewed a track; pretty smart implementation... <comment><USER2> Now that is a man bites dog headline.</comment>


Pattern Drawing Machine: Lego Spike Prime - 076ae80a-3c97-4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpwfmHJnHHo <comment> 076ae80a-3c97-4 The other videos on this fellow's channel are great. The pipe cleaner bending robot reminds me of machines I've seen on 'How it's made' in a spring factory. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BngfWLsFVs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BngfWLsFVs)</comment>


Investigating Higher Quality Software - <AUTHOR> http://www.blrice.net/blog/2015/01/15/investigating-higher-quality-software/

<comment><USER2> _The non-negotiable part is that there should be tests, regardless of when they were written. Those tests will be the record of truth for future development. They are proof that the proper specification was implemented, regardless of methodology._

I really disagree with this. Asides from the fact that tests can't prove the absence of bugs, it's very easy to write a test suite that avoids the unhandled edge-cases; most people do without thinking about it. Your test suite is the tool you have created to search for bugs and should be written in that adversarial mindset rather than as a certification that you actually did your job.

<comment><USER3> Formal verification can prove the absence of bugs.

<comment><USER2> I didn't say it couldn't; I didn't say anything about formal verification.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> _Deploying 100% bug-free code is the Holy Grail of software development._

Is this really true? Judging by their decisions, most people's Holy Grail is more like something reasonably good and shipped on time. 100% bug-free code is already possible, but few are willing to pay for it.

<comment><USER5> Is anyone willing to pay for it? Is there any non-trivial code that's been deployed that has been bug free?

I mean, supposedly NASA paid $1,000 per line of code and still got 0.11 defects per 1,000 lines. By that metric, windows would cost $40 billion to develop, but it would still have 4,400 defects in it.

<comment><USER4> Yes, as DanWaterworth has pointed out, people have written large projects with entirely bug-free code (in the sense that it verifiably implements a formal specification). The way these projects are developed is very different from the process described by this article -- a lot of time is spent writing formally-verifiable proofs of correctness.

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm definitely not advocating throwing out agile and embracing waterfall. I like the ability to iterate quickly. I just think we seem to be taking "move fast and break things" a little too seriously in terms of breaking all the things. Everything in moderation.

<comment><USER2> Formal verification doesn't imply waterfall.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Well, it seems like a relatively surprise-free article...

Write explicit code, write tests, have QA staff and procedures, build what the stakeholders what.

I guess the biggest problem with software quality is not that we don't know how to do it, but that it's expensive.

<comment><USER7> Poor software quality is also expensive. I would like to see a study about the balance points and how to achieve them.

<comment><USER6> Sure, what I meant is most companies will chose cheap-fast over good-fast, in my experience.

Flinging crap out fast is sometimes seen as a valid business model (unfortunately): that crap is only expensive to you if you have to maintain it, but that's not your problem if all you're trying to do is to "exit".

On the other end of the spectrum (like where I work at now for example), we take a lot of effort and time to make sure our code is not crap - but that is an expensive decision both in terms of money and time.

<comment><AUTHOR> This. I think there's a big space between cheap-fast (crap) and good-expensive (or just "good"). In my experience, we seem to be way more toward the crap side of things. I think we can make a correction without going too far the other way. You can make sacrifices for speed that don't always mean crap in the end. I'm willing to sacrifice perfect architecture in order to get something out the door, for instance.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


The Alpha has no GUI - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@dsterry/the-alpha-has-no-gui-4ede9de21312#.i9q9srhbu <comment><USER2> What in the world is this about, I wonder.</comment>


How I learned React Native in a weekend and shipped an app - <AUTHOR> http://vasir.net/blog/programming/react-native-beginner-tutorial-overview <comment><USER2> I have prior ios experience and was able to get the view side of React Native working without much problems, but once I started needing to store something on the device (especially trying to understand Redux and other similar solutions), I hit a pretty solid wall in my development and eventually put it on the backburner.

It looks like you might have been able to bypass this in your app, but if not, how did you approach that aspect of it?

<comment><USER3> You probably don't need Redux if it's just simple persistence of data.

The simplest option is just to read and write a blob of JSON using the AsyncStorage API: [https://facebook.github.io/react- native/docs/asyncstorage.ht...](https://facebook.github.io/react- native/docs/asyncstorage.html)

Another option you could try is Realm, which is commercial but has a free tier (even for commercial apps) and has a pretty simple API: [https://news.realm.io/news/introducing-realm-react- native/](https://news.realm.io/news/introducing-realm-react-native/)

Another is the SQLite module which comes with Expo:

Docs: [https://docs.expo.io/versions/v16.0.0/sdk/sqlite.html](https://docs.expo.io/versions/v16.0.0/sdk/sqlite.html) Example: [https://github.com/expo/sqlite- example/blob/master/main.js](https://github.com/expo/sqlite- example/blob/master/main.js)

<comment><USER4> Highly recommend realm, works like a charm and has migrations too.

<comment><USER2> I'm sure it works great, but I dislike adding too many layers to my apps. I've been burned too many times by companies that have stopped supporting and moved on to something else, or disappeared, or haven't kept up with the latest iOS changes, or whatever, and I'm forced to migrate to a different solution, to let myself use these for my personal projects, where I have very limited time and energy.

Even using React Native is more than I'd normally do, but I don't see a better cross-platform option right now.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Prior iOS development certainly helps a lot. From my experience, a lot of time were spent debugging on Xcode to build the app itself.

</comment><comment><USER6> You mentioned you previously shipped iOS apps. How was the Android integration with React Native?

Is it easy for someone unfamiliar with Android dev environment to push to Play Store?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, quite easy! I have very little android dev experience. Android integration was excellent, I had zero issues. It was easy to ship to the play store (faster and less painful than iOS. And if you need to modify something, you don't need to wait days to get it re-approved).

If you're playing "within the bounds" of what React Native provides, it's wonderful. If you're doing some fairly custom things you may need to drop down and write Native Modules ( [https://facebook.github.io/react- native/docs/native-modules-...](https://facebook.github.io/react- native/docs/native-modules-android.html) ), but the ecosystem is growing so fast that there are so many third party libraries that cover many of the custom things you'd want to do ( [https://github.com/jondot/awesome-react- native](https://github.com/jondot/awesome-react-native) )

<comment><USER6> thanks! this is really good news. I'm sort of in the same shoes as you. I work as an iOS developer and I wrote React for fun on the side.

Knowing how easy to is to ship to Android Studio is an added benefit.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Couple notes about the android app

       - the icon is broken, all I see is the green android face
       - when i log in to youtube, it says the log in is from an Iphone per my google security alert
       - the back and forward arrows don't look right.  They don't have the right icon to be a visual cue for back and forward.  They look more like previous and next.
       - would be great to handle full screen
       - video speed is not preserved when starting a new video.

<comment><USER8> Also it seems to require too many permissions for what is does.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> From where React Native is headed it sounds like it is going to significantly devalue the experience of a lot of native iOS and Android developers.

</comment><comment><USER10> This is why we need mobile devices that run a full operating system and full browser. Missing features and incompatibility make mobile useless in many real-world cases.

Why can't we just watch YouTube videos in Chrome on a mobile device?

<comment><USER11> > Why can't we just watch YouTube videos in Chrome on a mobile device?

Is this an issue on android? I can do this without problems on iOS (with both iOS Chrome-skinned Safari and regular Safari)

<comment><USER12> It really isn't a problem on android. YouTube works perfectly on android chrome, but chrome tends to open the YouTube app on android since it's installed by default.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> What did you earn and how much mobile development did you previously do?

</comment><comment><USER14> Do you think it's possible to monetize this to make it a full time gig?

<comment><USER15> Easy answer. No. Not for just this app.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> I don't understand the purpose of the app, can someone explain?

<comment><USER17> He built an app that lets you change the playback speed of youtube videos on phones.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> "I do experience with React, but none with React Native."

Oh

</comment><comment><USER19> The header animation is terribly distracting and annoying. I though "let's follow the mouse pointer with something gimmicky" went out the door with geocities.

</comment><comment><USER20> What's with the flickering header?

<comment><AUTHOR> It's a voronoi + boids visualization that flocks around the mouse (and each other).

In honesty though, it's literally eye cancer ;P</comment></comment>


Amazon Dash Button - <AUTHOR> https://www.amazon.com/oc/dash-button

<comment><USER2> Sounds like a great idea, for those without pets, kids, or mischievous/curious visitors.</comment>


Climate Sensitivity to CO2 Maybe Lower Than Thought - <AUTHOR> http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/opinion/miranda-devine-perth-electrical-engineers-discovery-will-change-climate-change-debate/story-fnhocuug-1227555674611 <comment><USER2> The sensitivity to CO2 is a very very very difficult to estimate parameter. Different values have been proposed in the past, so I don't think this is new.

I've read before about the influence of the sun, that has another difficult to estimate parameter, so I don't think this is new.

Is there some article with more details? Preferably with some graphics that show the agreement between the new model and the measured temperatures. Bonus point for a clear 5 and 10 years prediction, so we can compare that in 5 and 10 years. Extra bonus point for publishing it in a peer review journal!

<comment><USER3> My (limited) understanding is that sensitivity due to CO2 changes is a well- understood and non-disputed fact while the sensitivity due to feedbacks in the climate system is unknown and effectively an "input" into climate models. It is the feedback sensitivity parameter that is the source of dispute between supporters of 'catastrophic global warming' theory and 'skeptics' who believe the feedback is much smaller than the values used in the models.

It isn't clear from the article if the new claim is challenging the understanding of CO2 sensitivity, or the choice of feedback sensitivity.</comment></comment>