Life, Tactics

How to Handle the Head Colds

DISCLAIMER: this is not medical advice.

I used to get sick a LOT as a kid, and that has not really changed well into my 30s. The difference was to start mega-dosing on vitamin C at the first sign of cold symptoms and to keep at it until fully healthy. Specifically, at least 3 times a day I take 4 or so pills of this: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Spring-Valley-Vitamin-C-Supplement-with-Rose-Hips-500-mg-250-count/893225

Since kids don’t like swallowing pills, I have them take this instead in similar (but somewhat lower) dosage: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Spring-Valley-Vitamin-C-Chewable-Tablets-Dietary-Supplement-Tropical-Fruit-Flavors-500-mg-200-Count/10324589

Emergency C seems to work well too, but it is both pricey and more cumbersome due to requiring a water bottle.

A more cost-efficient (and potentially healthier) alternative to Emergency C is 1 gram of vitamin C powder mixed with erythritol (for taste, better option than regular sugar) and/or gatorade powder (for taste and to prevent dehydration but with the drawback of adding more sugar to your diet). Yet, it is even more inconvenient than Emergency C.

If you are already sick, a mix of Mucinex DM and pseudoephedrine (but not phenylephrine) should give some comfort, and if you need some energy to deal with mental fog, add small doses of caffeine.

Learning

Jocko Podcast

I love Jocko podcast, finding it very motivating and inspiring. However, sometimes I am hesitant to recommend to friends since it is different. Lots of talking about war, suffering, and darkness.

The episodes below are the ones that are mostly free of the battlefield talk:

http://jockopodcast2.com/2017/02/08/61-confronting-people-whove-been-talking-behind-your-back-how-to-deal-with-anger-management-issues-be-careful-with-praise/

http://jockopodcast2.com/2016/12/28/55-how-to-eliminate-complacency-with-age-dealing-w-hostile-drunk-idiots-vets-w-bad-behavior/

http://jockopodcast2.com/2016/12/07/52-how-to-overcome-fear-how-to-combat-burnout-violating-values-to-achieve-goals-how-to-follow-through-w-ideas/

http://jockopodcast2.com/2016/11/16/49-how-to-smash-days-when-you-dont-feel-like-it-how-to-deal-w-passive-aggressive-people-advice-for-sof-newlyweds/

http://jockopodcast2.com/2016/10/12/44-negative-people-getting-burned-after-extreme-ownership-managing-with-your-meyers-briggs-personality-type/

http://jockopodcast2.com/2016/09/14/40-avoid-conflict-without-being-a-weakling-dealing-w-random-threatening-people-was-jocko-disciplined-as-a-kid/

http://jockopodcast2.com/2016/07/20/32-privileged-people-leading-women-teams-discipline-equals-financial-freedom-does-micromanaging-ever-work/

Tactics

Home Theater Setup

What is an ideal HTPC (short for “Home Theater PC”) setup? In my book, it must meet the following criteria:

  • Unified remotes – I want every TV in the house to have identically looking and functioning remotes, and to have more than one per TV so that there is never a need to go digging through the couch pillows because your only remote is MIA. In addition, remotes must use AAA batteries so that I don’t need to worry about plugging them in for charging.
  • Ability to natively (without relying on hacks or workarounds) stream content from Hulu, Netflix, Pandora and similar sources.
  • Ability to play local digital content from NAS (network attached storage, which is likely just an external HDD plugged into your router).
  • Reliability – all this should work without the needs for frequent restarts or debugging sessions.

As of now (April 2017) here are the options that seem to fit these requirements best:

Unified Remotes

2.4G Mini Wireless Keyboard Air Mouse [Link 1 (personally tested)] [Link 2 (cheapest on Amazon ATTOW]

Pluses:

  • Programmable IR buttons allow to control your TV in addition to HTPC – enabling you to have just one type of remote.
  • Keyboard on the backside allows easy configuration when needed.
  • Low price means that it’s possible to have 2-3 remotes devoted for each room with the TV without spending more than $200 for the entire house.
  • Uses AAA batteries – which usually last for about a month. Once they are dry, just swap in another pair, and once a month or so recharge all of them at once.

Minuses

  • Only 4 programmable buttons (in my case I map the red one to TV on/off, green to volume down, yellow to volume up and blue to sleep time).
  • Variable durability – out of 10+ of these remotes that I have acquired, 2 have stopped fully or partially working over the course of 2 years.

Some other remotes:

Ability to natively (without relying on hacks or workarounds) stream content from Hulu, Netflix, Pandora and similar sources

Amazon fire TV, second generation, $89. Super responsive and nice, comes with USB port which could (and should) be used to plugin dongles for the universal remotes mentioned above via USB splitter.

Ability to play local digital content from NAS

This implies two pieces of hardware – a router and an external HDD.

For router, you want something that a) supports WiFi ac standard and b) has a USB port. Netgear AC 1900 seems to fit that bill quite well.

As far as the hard drive – you want something reliable, and based on most recent Backlaze research, you should stick to Toshiba, Hitachi or HGST and avoid Seagate and probably Western Digital. For even higher reliability, use a RAID array.

Once you have both, simply install Kodi on the Fire TV.

Gadgets

Insights after testing Samsung GEAR VR

1. The hardware still needs improvement. Field of vision is too narrow (96 degrees) for fully immersive experience, pixels are too visible especially while watching video.
2. Despite #1, it’s impressive. For best effect, start with Cirque du Soleil  video and followup with Anshar Wars game.
3. Samsung is making a mistake by making it’s headsets not compatible with all devices that have similar hardware specs – the headset for Note 4 does not work with  Galaxy S6 and vice versa.
4. Capturing videos/photos in 360 will be a HUGE business once VR headsets go mainstream – I would gladly pay for a drone that would auto-follow me during outdoor activities. Also,  the same immersive experience will probably get used by movies, especially those that are CGI.
5. Can’t wait to see what how well Valve will be able to compete along Oculus and Samsung.