5 ms·

Yes, and that's why it's dumb to call articles about exercise and nutrition "hacks". When all of human endeavor falls under the rubric of the "hack" the word ce

by qwzybug 16y ago

Yes, and that's why it's dumb to call articles about exercise and nutrition "hacks". When all of human endeavor falls under the rubric of the "hack" the word ceases to mean anything. Hack your commute, take public transit! Hack your next dinner party with parlour games. Delightfully clever key hack keeps all your keys on the same ring. Hack Mexican food with a "burrito" sized tortilla! Hack your brain with REM sleep. Hack the sun with a straw hat. Hack hygiene with silver oxide "deodorant". Hack girls with compliments. Hack your windowsill with a pot of wheatgrass, and hack the sky with the goddamn moon. It's stupid. Take a walk.

rdtsc 16y ago
> It's stupid. Take a walk. Good idea ;-)
unwind 16y ago
This is top-notch standup material. If I werent so afraid of the repercussions, I'd say you pretty much hacked comedy.
whimsy 16y ago
Well said. This is exactly what I meant.
ghettovegies 16y ago
I'm gonna hack your face to pieces! (jk, don't call the police)
starf_sgod 16y ago
To me, hack is a word for a modification you could make that 1) takes only a short time to master/implement, and 2) shows immediate desired results Thus, learning to play guitar is not a hack, since it satisfies neither criteria, but learning to put some TP into the toilet first when you do #2 in order to prevent splashback is a hack.
softbuilder 16y ago
You could make the exact same argument for art. Certainly a lot of supposed 'hacks' aren't. But someone creating a clever way of doing something in almost any field that makes me think "cool hack" still counts as a hack in my book.
szpindel 16y ago
I agree entirely. This needed posted.
fgr 16y ago
everything is art. There is nothing that a man or woman can do that is not expression of self.
zyglobe 16y ago
'Hack' is the trendy buzzword that marketers use to replace the word, 'tip.' Yeah, quite annoying.
- psygnisfive 16y ago
  Get a tinier belly with this one weird old hack!
petsagouris 16y ago
Same thing happened with the term Architecture. Suddenly everything could be "architected".
- drawkbox 16y ago
  Yes but that sort of means something, abstraction. When new things come out or new ideas emerge people just 'hack' them and viscerally create. Hey I need this form, bust it out. Hey I need this renderer, bust it out. But later as things are more known you might abstract away and say let's take a step back and look at the architecture of this whole thing rather than bust it out in a prototypical fashion (usually because the problem is complex or stuff is broken and a maintenance nightmare with steep technical debt). You might even architect the plan for what prototypes you would make to help solve the problems. So true things being architected are happening more frequently as a buzz but as systems mature that is usually what happens via abstraction to see the full picture. Maybe the difference is a 'hack' is something I am doing right now until it works, almost a prototype. Then something 'architected' is what you would do when you think about it for a week or two before starting. Lots of software development for instance starts with hacks/prototypes then architects how to use those to go to production. Both sides are representations of the poles of creating, of course you can go way beyond either side and eat some spaghetti hacks or go to space with some architecture astronauts.
brosephius 16y ago
to be fair, programmers overuse the word too. nobody writes code or programs, everyone says "I'm an XYZ hacker" or "I hack on XYZ". the word means nothing, it's just trendy in an odd sort of way.
- nickdjones 16y ago
  You need to make new friends.
  - brosephius 16y ago
    not sure what you're referring to, but if you're suggesting my programmer friends all say "I hack this/that" I should clarify that I'm mostly referring to bloggers and other web presences, which admittedly isn't really a representative sample. but, putting that aside, I could use some new friends anyway.
meshugga 16y ago
Hacking is finding the exception to the rule. No more, no less.
Tryptamine 16y ago
> Take a walk. I hacked my feet with shoes so I can walk for longer on rougher terrains.

by qwzybug 16y ago

rdtsc 16y ago

> It's stupid. Take a walk. Good idea ;-)

unwind 16y ago

This is top-notch standup material. If I werent so afraid of the repercussions, I'd say you pretty much hacked comedy.

whimsy 16y ago

Well said. This is exactly what I meant.

ghettovegies 16y ago

I'm gonna hack your face to pieces! (jk, don't call the police)

starf_sgod 16y ago

To me, hack is a word for a modification you could make that 1) takes only a short time to master/implement, and 2) shows immediate desired results Thus, learning to play guitar is not a hack, since it satisfies neither criteria, but learning to put some TP into the toilet first when you do #2 in order to prevent splashback is a hack.

softbuilder 16y ago

You could make the exact same argument for art. Certainly a lot of supposed 'hacks' aren't. But someone creating a clever way of doing something in almost any field that makes me think "cool hack" still counts as a hack in my book.

szpindel 16y ago

I agree entirely. This needed posted.

fgr 16y ago

everything is art. There is nothing that a man or woman can do that is not expression of self.

zyglobe 16y ago

'Hack' is the trendy buzzword that marketers use to replace the word, 'tip.' Yeah, quite annoying.

psygnisfive 16y ago
Get a tinier belly with this one weird old hack!

petsagouris 16y ago

Same thing happened with the term Architecture. Suddenly everything could be "architected".

drawkbox 16y ago
Yes but that sort of means something, abstraction. When new things come out or new ideas emerge people just 'hack' them and viscerally create. Hey I need this form, bust it out. Hey I need this renderer, bust it out. But later as things are more known you might abstract away and say let's take a step back and look at the architecture of this whole thing rather than bust it out in a prototypical fashion (usually because the problem is complex or stuff is broken and a maintenance nightmare with steep technical debt). You might even architect the plan for what prototypes you would make to help solve the problems. So true things being architected are happening more frequently as a buzz but as systems mature that is usually what happens via abstraction to see the full picture. Maybe the difference is a 'hack' is something I am doing right now until it works, almost a prototype. Then something 'architected' is what you would do when you think about it for a week or two before starting. Lots of software development for instance starts with hacks/prototypes then architects how to use those to go to production. Both sides are representations of the poles of creating, of course you can go way beyond either side and eat some spaghetti hacks or go to space with some architecture astronauts.

brosephius 16y ago

to be fair, programmers overuse the word too. nobody writes code or programs, everyone says "I'm an XYZ hacker" or "I hack on XYZ". the word means nothing, it's just trendy in an odd sort of way.

nickdjones 16y ago
You need to make new friends.
- brosephius 16y ago
  not sure what you're referring to, but if you're suggesting my programmer friends all say "I hack this/that" I should clarify that I'm mostly referring to bloggers and other web presences, which admittedly isn't really a representative sample. but, putting that aside, I could use some new friends anyway.

meshugga 16y ago

Hacking is finding the exception to the rule. No more, no less.

Tryptamine 16y ago

> Take a walk. I hacked my feet with shoes so I can walk for longer on rougher terrains.