
How to Take a Walk - thunk
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/08/09/how-to-take-a-walk/
======
neilk
Tangent, on "having a life".

I met a woman from New York who was visiting SF. We both had been to Burning
Man. She expressed her distaste at how much time San Franciscans spend on
their art projects. According to her, New Yorkers "have a life".

So, that bar conversation ended pretty quickly. But later on I got to thinking
about it. There might be positive senses of "having a life", but I think she
meant it in the more common way -- a horror of getting too enthusiastic about
anything.

Oh yeah, we could plant a rose garden in our backyard, but you know, _we have
lives_.

It makes me feel tired just contemplating it.

~~~
simonw
I get really infuriated by the phrase "too much time on their hands", when
used to dismiss acts of creativity (like building a model of the Eiffel tower
out of match sticks). At least they weren't watching TV.

~~~
Tichy
Some TV shows might be more worthwhile than building an Eiffel tower out of
match sticks.

~~~
simonw
[http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2007/01/04/eiffel-
tower-m...](http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2007/01/04/eiffel-tower-made-
of-matches/)

~~~
mcobrien
I was with Tichy until I saw that link. Amazing work.

~~~
eru
Amazing, indeed.

It's too bad the guy did the illumination with LEDs, instead of using matches
for that, too. (Although that would have worked only once.)

------
rdtsc
This is very important for programmers. You need to take a walk to recharge
your batteries. To clear you mind. Well, it works for me anyway.

Do it during lunch, after work, after dinner. On the weekend , for a longer
walk. Parks and trails work best. Less crowded streets in the city work as
well.

Don't rush, just walk slowly.

Observe things.

If you end up thinking about the problem your are working on, that's fine, if
you notice a bird's nest, that's fine too.

Walk like you have no place to be, look around. You will feel weird at first,
but that's fine. Try not to care about that.

Think of it as something between meditation, relaxation and exercise. Sort of
a all-in-one.

It's easy. There is nothing you have to do to plan for it, no special gear to
buy, all you need to do is to say "I want to take a walk" and then ... take a
walk.

~~~
jonsen
_Observe things. ... , look around._

Also look up. In city streets there are things to see above the horizontal
plane we strongly tend to confine our view to.

~~~
smutticus
No one ever looks up. No really. No one ever looks up.

I used to have a balcony over a very crowded alley with constant foot traffic.
I would stand there quietly and watch people think they were alone in this
alley all the time.

Drunk people were the best. One corner of the alley was constantly getting
pee'd in so they installed a metal skirt that bounced the pee back on the
pee'r. You could watch drunk people pee in that corner then walk away with a
wet pant leg without ever noticing. Hilarious. And not once in the 3 years I
lived there did someone look up.

~~~
AndyKelley
I think I can remember three different times I've decided to look up and I saw
someone watching me. I waved "hello" to them and continued on.

------
nhebb
I grew up in a SW Portland neighborhood with no sidewalks. The road shoulders
were narrow, unsafe, and often muddy. I never saw people out for leisure
walks. It just wasn't enjoyable.

Now I live in the outskirts of Portland, in a place with modern suburbs grown
up around a quaint old town. Sidewalks are everywhere. I take walks all the
time, and I see other people out for walks daily.

It's seems like common sense that urban and neighborhood design can have a
huge impact on the livability of an area, but a lot of the suburbs created in
the US abandoned the sidewalk to save a few bucks and cram more houses per
acre. I don't know if the tide has turned, but I'd never live in a
neighborhood without sidewalks again.

Home buying tip: Look for a neighborhood with a strip of grass between the
sidewalk and the street. It's a small detail that has a big impact on
"neighborhood" feel.

~~~
timknauf
Woah, we've had some 'pack 'em in' zoning here in New Zealand but I've never
seen anything where they left out footpaths entirely. Has anyone got a
representative Google street view link for SW Portland or something similar?
(And is this really quite common across the US?)

~~~
smutticus
This is the American suburbia I know best. Falls Church VA.
[http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&...](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=falls+church+virginia&sll=38.833156,-77.344952&sspn=0.069401,0.205479&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Falls+Church,+Virginia&ll=38.879416,-77.158924&spn=0.004335,0.012842&z=17&layer=c&cbll=38.879773,-77.158715&panoid=uTfAKipY-r2K9LBoVbzSoQ&cbp=12,5.95,,0,5)

Portland is not a good example of American urban planning gone awry. As it's
probably one of the most sensible cities in the US.

And yes, unfortunately neighborhoods without sidewalks are all too common in
American suburbs.

~~~
Luc
So you need to trespass through people's gardens to walk down the street? Or
do people just walk in the street?

~~~
randallsquared
In general, people do not walk down the street at all. I used to live in a
place that looked a bit like this (except spread out a bit more) in Alabama,
and while you'd once in a while see someone walking down the street, it was
pretty rare except for kids too young to have cars (under 16, basically).

------
jasonkester
I started disagreeing with this immediately, since I take walks all the time.
But it occurs to me that I do it a lot more now that I've moved to Europe.

It's just a lot more walkable here. In Pamplona I could walk out my front door
and be blasted with the fact that I was in a medieval walled city with cobbled
streets and narrow alleyways. Any direction I went had some guaranteed Cool
Stuff to pass by and probably would end me up perched on some 600 year old
military fortification looking out over the farms.

Contrast that to living in a typical LA suburb with no sidewalks and nothing
to see apart from apartment complexes and possibly a Starbucks if you press on
far enough. It sorta sucks the fun out of the experience.

I've definitely done my share of walking in the 'states too, but then I've
made a point of living in some pretty walkable places. NW Portland and Venice
spring to mind as places I spent a ton of time simply wandering around.

Other places I've lived... San Gabriel, Tigard, Gresham... Not much walking.

I think maybe it has more to do with where you are than who you are.

~~~
ews
I did the opposite. Moved from Spain to California few years ago. I was so
shocked for the complete lack of sidewalks on San Francisco's South Bay that I
ended up taking a complete collection of pictures about it.

It's somewhat common in some areas in the US, and literally unthinkable in
Europe. I am lucky that I live in San Francisco now, where most of the city
(besides some areas I found between the Sunset and Glen Park) has sidewalks.
In fact, the first think I heard about SF before moving here was that it is
'very walkable'

My impression is that the tendency is somewhat reversing. I am an spoiled
Franciscan now, so I don't know how is it on other parts of the country, but I
have been hearing more and more people talking about moving closer to their
offices (when they can) and walking or biking to work. Again, this is from a
pure SF perspective, not sure how is it on other places in the US.

P.S. Gosh, I love Pamplona, you are lucky. The txistorras are one the best
unknown meals in the world.

~~~
ltr
San Francisco is a walker's paradise. In particular, there are the off-street
stairways that take you to all sorts of interesting nooks and crannies.

There has even been an excellent book published about San Francisco's
stairways: _Stairway Walks in San Francisco_ by Adah Bakalinsky. There is also
a good web site: <http://www.sisterbetty.org/stairways/>

------
euroclydon
Sometimes I'll go for a long walk, maybe six miles. I don't walk fast or
listen to music, I just look around, maybe at people's yards. I like to see
who has a bird feeder or interesting landscaping. When I first start, my mind
is full of thoughts and my muscles and legs are full of bounce, even tight,
but after four miles, my mind is nearly empty, except for the kind of slow
easy thoughts that someone who works the land all day, someone who sees the
sun rise and set, might have, and my legs are heavier, yet loose, and ready
for many more miles. After five miles, my gut feels lean and empty, my body
feels purged of something.

~~~
bootload
_"... Sometimes I'll go for a long walk, maybe six miles. ..."_

I don't think it's just a function of the distance but the frequency and the
empty mind you report is pretty close to describing meditation - empty mind
observing - great stuff.

------
vgr
I am pretty darn surprised that THIS post has gotten vastly more discussion
than just about any of my ribbonfarm posts that's gotten on HN.

A few quick adds, since I seem to have mildly offended some of you.

0\. The tangent on "having a life" here is fascinating. Nothing to add, but I
am now seriously curious about the ethnography of that phrase.

1\. Is this anti-American? I don't really think so. There is research (see
Robert Levine, "The Geography of Time") that shows that cultures have
characteristic tempos, down to typical walking speeds. Yes, the vastness of
America has something to do with it, but I think 80% of the dynamics are
social, not physical, and also relatively recent (cellphones etc. have helped
Americans express this preference a lot more clearly). Back before Thoreau's
time, I think this wasn't so characteristic of America. There are no better
celebrations of idleness than the works of that uber-American writer, Mark
Twain. The disease is fairly new.

2\. "If you are thinking about blogging about your judgments of how others are
not taking a walk, then YOU are not taking a walk." Very fair and Godelian
critique, but I am talking about idle foot-and-mind wandering here, not
meditation. I'll leave that kind of walking to the Zen monks. My model isn't a
Zen monk, it is Tom Sawyer walking along kicking a can or something. The xkcd
Bored with the Internet strip <http://xkcd.com/77/> is sort of my point as
well, except that I still take walks anyway, despite the irony.

3\. If I came across as judgmental or telling people how to _actually_ take
walks... sorry. Meant to be mostly tongue-in-cheek :) Poor writing execution,
not intent.

------
techiferous
I took a stand-up comedy course a couple of years ago. I found out that it
takes a long time to come up with material. You can't just sit down and start
writing jokes. They come when they are ready and you'd better be ready to
write them down.

When I had some time in the evenings to come up with material I would sit at
home without much inspiration. However, I found that when I walked to the
convenience store to get a snack, I would inevitably return with at least one
new joke idea, maybe more.

Walking was such a predictably good way to loosen up my creativity that when I
got stuck I would head for the door and tell my wife, "I'm going to the
convenience store to buy a joke."

~~~
reneky
Turns out it's easier to let your mind wander if you're busy with a simple
activity, like walking:

<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/science/29tier.html>

~~~
briancooley
My favorite is juggling. I learned how recently after someone on HN posted a
link to a Youtube video. At first I found it required a lot of concentration,
but now it just takes my mind off coding for a few minutes during a break and
it gives my wrists a little stretch away from the keyboard.

------
JacobAldridge
There's a quote that comes to my mind, on occasion, which I love, and which
sums up the attitude I want toward life and that which is expressed here.

"Some people walk in the rain, and some people just get wet."

Be someone who walks in the rain.

~~~
AndyKelley
Two weeks ago I was hacking away in my apartment. It was a normal Arizona
summer day, clear skies and 106 degrees F. All of the sudden my window started
rattling and I had no idea what was going on. Peering behind my blinds I
observed sheets of water falling from the sky. We get rain like that maybe
once every year. I promptly undressed, donned my bathing suit, and went for a
walk in the rain.

~~~
bruceboughton
I was shocked until I re-read "birthday suit" as "bathing suit" ;)

------
docgnome
This reminds me strongly of a John Muir quote I've recently been finding to be
very true.

"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find
out that going to the mountain is going home; that wildness is necessity; that
mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and
irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life."

I find more enjoyment in a simple hike through a forest than I've had at work
for a very long time. Also, I find that when I go back to work after a trip to
the forest or even just a walk outside the city, I feel better and am less
crabby about going back to work. I think this is something that is sorely
lacking in many people's lives. Not recreation but just being out in whatever
wild we have left. Aaand now I sound like a crazy hippie.

------
bootload
I like walking. [0] I like it a lot. It's my preferred mode of transport but I
also do it to keep my observation skills sharp and mind clear. I used to like
running, but that requires a whole different level of concentration and
preparation. You also get injured more. Less so walking. Walking is one thing
pretty much everyone can do. I've kept up walking ever since I was a kid at
school. From Primary to High to Uni I had to hoof it [1] and the one thing I
noticed from High School onwards - _"I stopped seeing my peers walking"_.

The author is correct observing nobody walking any more. I see a lot of
runners who I join occasionally and the only consistent walkers the elderly
(fit) and ethnic (fit). Why? Well people don't see the value in it and simply
write it off as wasted time. Here's the thing, the benefits are cumulative so
it might appear a waste of time but the advantages (fitness, psych, clean air,
thinking) roll on, the more consistent you are.

[0] Last year I clocked up 2000K ~
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157623445003205...](http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157623445003205/)
This year I walked 240km from Canberra to Mt.Kosciuszko (9 days) ~
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/collections/7215762379...](http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/collections/72157623796440209/)
This month I covered all of the city of Singapore on foot in 2 days ~
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/collections/7215762454...](http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/collections/72157624546470369/)

[1] Because every time I saved up enough money for a car I bought a new PC.

------
gcheong
If you are walking around and getting caught up in judging to what extent
other people are not taking a walk so that you can later write a blog post
about it, then you are not taking a walk.

------
frobozz
I strongly disagree with this point:

> If you pass anybody, you are not walking slowly enough for it to be “taking
> a walk.”

There are people around who walk painfully slowly. When I go for a walk, I let
my legs swing at a natural cadence, with my natural stride length. If I have
to change that, to ensure I don't overtake some dawdler, it places a stupidly
unnecessary restriction on the definition of "taking a walk". IMO, it removes
some of the idleness from it if you have to actually think about how you are
walking.

~~~
infinite8s
I think he was trying to say that "speed walking" is not the same as taking a
walk.

~~~
frobozz
I don't see where you get that idea, because it isn't what he said. What he
said was "If you pass anybody, you are not walking slowly enough for it to be
“taking a walk.”"

i.e. You can only be classed as "taking a walk", if you are the slowest person
around, or if the only people slower than you are far enough away that you
won't catch them up.

This makes it extremely difficult to take a walk, particularly if you start
anywhere near an old people's home, or a primary school, or an area of town
where lost tourists peer down each side street in search of a landmark. Note
that this is in the paragraph that declares "taking a walk" to be "not
difficult".

Taking a walk by my definition - walking at my body's natural pace, aiming for
nowhere in particular - is easy. His definition makes it very difficult
indeed.

------
derefr
A re-quote from the comments:

> If you need to listen to music while walking, don’t walk; and don’t listen
> to music.

I tend to never listen to music _unless_ I'm taking a walk. I have no anxiety
about idleness, but I _do_ have an acute anxiety about others' opinions of my
taste in music—it is such that I can only stand to _enjoy_ music when there is
no one close enough to me to hear it. Seeing as I live in an apartment with
thin walls, this means going for a walk.

~~~
dionidium
The last sentence of this comment makes no sense. Do his neighbors have such
acute auditory ability that they can hear the music from his headphones -- the
ones he takes on those walks -- through their walls?

~~~
jasonkester
There are few things more relaxing than coming home on a Friday afternoon,
mixing a nice cocktail, and cranking some truly embarrassing music from your
youth on the stereo, at full volume through big speakers.

To pull that off, you need thick skin or thick walls.

------
balding_n_tired
"In my 13 years of taking walks in the United States, I could remember only
ever seeing one native-born American taking a walk."

Where in the world does this man take walks? Down the median of I-5?

I have a hard time coming up with a reason that "taking a walk" must exclude
walking the dog; taking with a friend; even chatting on the phone, though
that's not my habit. Nor can I see why one may not pass anybody--in a walking
part of the world does one end up with large queues of walkers with the tail
end going slower and slower?

I write this having just walked in to work, a bit less than an hour, right
around half an hour slower than riding the bus. Yes it is purposeful, but it
is not the most time-efficient way of accomplishing the purpose.

~~~
sophacles
I think the goal of taking a walk is similar to meditation -- empty out the
consciousness for a while. Phones, dogs, friends talking, remembering a
shopping list, etc don't do this well. The passing thing probably should not
be considered as a hard rule, just as a loose guideline -- "if you are walking
fast enough to pass someone walking with purpose, you are probably not really
idling"

------
pjscott
Taking walks is an essential part of how I program. They're like garbage
collection pauses to clear out irrelevant details that were clogging my
thinking. You know how a lot of people say that they do their best thinking in
the shower? Walks work the same way.

They're also good for just relaxing.

~~~
jasonkester
Hacky Sack works great for this too. Better still if you can grab the whole
team and sack out in front of the building.

I suspect Smoking works the same way.

------
michaelfairley
"You will not sweat."

The author has clearly never lived in Texas during the summer. (A decent-
length leisurely walk around Austin at midnight during this time of the year
will inevitably result in more than enough sweat.)

~~~
vgr
Actually, I _did_ spend a year (and parts of 2 summers) in Austin. I used to
go for late night walks near my apartment, which was just off 183, well north,
in strip-mall land.

If you walk slowly enough, you won't sweat. Or maybe that's just Austin.

------
dchs
"Nothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well ordered mind than
a man’s ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own
company."

\- Seneca

------
neutronicus
I bike.

Something about the scale of the American suburb makes walking totally
infuriating for me. I need the wind in my hair and the landscape sliding by to
really relax - inching by the same cookie-cutter houses every day kills me.

I enjoy walking in the city or the park, but I can't just impromptu do that.

------
johnfn
I liked the article; it expressed something that had been lingering on the
edges of my subconscious, but that I had never brought to light - like most
good articles do.

What I don't see is why it had to have an anti-American bias. It doesn't help
make your point, and all it does is antagonize your American readers. I am an
American, I also take walks.

~~~
brianpan
I disliked the part where he assumes he can tell where someone is born by
looking at them. :(

I wonder if he thinks he looks like a native-born or an immigrant?

~~~
philwelch
Can't you? People throw off subtle cues all the time, and whether they're
native born or not is something that isn't hard to pick up from that.

Conversely, take a native born person of Japanese or Indian descent, and send
them to Japan or India. The natives there will be able to tell he isn't native
born.

~~~
brianpan
You can see culture, not birthplace. Those are different things.

If you see me on the street, I believe you will see my family culture
(Chinese) and where I was brought up (American Midwest). You will not see
where I was born (East Coast).

~~~
philwelch
I bet if I saw you on the street, you would register as American to me. (East
Coast and Midwest register the same to me.) I would be able to tell you apart
from someone who was actually born and raised in China. Conversely, if you
went to China, the people there would be able to identify you as foreign-born.
Your culture is similar and related to, but very different from, the culture
of people still living in China. I might be able to tell you apart from more
assimilated Americans of East Asian descent, though.

~~~
brianpan
Me specifically, yes. But I was born and grew up in the same country. I still
think it's presumptuous to say that you can at a glance determine a person's
place of birth. I have friends- people I've known for some time- that surprise
me both because they were born overseas when I thought they were born in the
states and vice versa.

And I'm talking about a relatively _easy_ case of Chinese vs American. Are you
going to tell me you can tell a Canadian-born person from an American-born at
a glance?

Yes, many times you can tell where someone is from because of stereotypical
cultural things that are difficult to hide. But to assume you can go for a
walk and identify with certainty who is American born and who is not is
ridiculous.

~~~
philwelch
Yes, technically if you're born in Azerbaijan but whisked away at age 2 and
grow up in America you'll read as American. And technically if you were raised
in a culture almost identical to American culture (like Canada) you'll also
read as American. That's a quibble, not the main point.

------
jleader
I found the article interesting, but I thought it was somewhat overly
argumentative. In particular, the claim that immigrants take walks and
Americans don't struck me as an implausible over-generalization. I liked his
points about the right attire for walking, but the "your walk doesn't count
if..." part bothered me.

------
leftblank64
This guy here knows what it's all about: <http://imjustwalkin.com/>

~~~
bootload
_"... This guy here knows what it's all about:<http://imjustwalkin.com/> ..."_

not a touch on Ed Stafford: 859 days & 4,000 miles of walking the entire
Amazon ~ <http://www.walkingtheamazon.com/> but looking at the shots,
beautiful scenery. Envious.

------
d0m
Beautiful article. Quick summary for the lazy hackers: people don't walk for
the sake of walking anymore.

The last few paragraphs were the most interesting in my opinion if you don't
have the time to read it all.

~~~
duck
Beautiful indeed!

 _summary for the lazy hackers / if you don't have the time to read it all_

Had to laugh when I read this though, since this article is in so many ways
talking about the same ones that will read that summary and click on to some
other article on here.

Walking as the author describes is one of those simple pleasures that we have
been gifted, but so few of us ever slow down to realize it and to receive it.

~~~
d0m
Same, I laugh when I wrote "don't have the time" since it was exactly what the
article was talking about. Good catch.

------
k3dz
The Americans never walk. In winter too cold and in summer too hot. ~J.B.
Yeats

~~~
pjscott
I walk anyway. It's worth putting up with the heat or cold.

------
kalmar
There can be something akin to meditation in walking, or "taking a walk". An
approach I've taken in the past is attempt to hear all the sounds. Not to
listen to, just hear. Wherever you are, there are likely enough sounds for
this. If you catch yourself focusing on one sound, gently let it go back to
the level of the rest. If you find yourself not hearing sounds, gently let
yourself hear them again.

I believe this is quite similar to bringing your mind back to the breath in
sitting meditation in Vipassana and similar practices, though others may
correct me. The difference here is that it's perhaps somehow more obvious when
your mind has strayed from its object. In fact, there are forms of walking
meditation in Vipassana and other practices. These focus -- again, I believe
-- much more on the walking: the walking and its sensations are the object.
Generally you would walk up and down a short stretch; this avoid the worry of
a route, or how to return to the starting point.

------
araneae
He's claiming that he's somehow better than all of us because he takes walks
with no purpose. I really doubt that there's any additional benefit to doing
so over say, walking your dog. I hate when people try to tell me the "right"
way to do something, especially when its benefits are more a superiority badge
than tangible.

------
warwick
I've made a habit of taking a walk around 2 pm every Sunday. No matter how
busy things get between school and business, an hour or so walk helps keep me
grounded.

In much the same way that starting the day with breakfast gives my days a
sense of rhythm, walking once a week gives my weeks a good demarcation.

------
joshu
The ribbonfarm guy really impresses me.

~~~
dpritchett
You might want to subscribe to his newsletter then:
<http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/04/28/be-slightly-evil/>

------
foxtrot
I am amazed at how may people are saying they grew up with no pavements
(sidewalks), is it because they found no need for them as the location was too
remote for anyone to walk to anywhere they may need to go or that they thought
no one bothered to walk so why spend money laying down something that no one
will use?

I take "walks", however not in the sense of the article. I find that a walk
before work is great and on your lunch if you have had a crappy morning.
However I walk with a purpose, I think about thinks I see, get my brain
interested in stuff I wouldn't usually think about. It gives inspiration and
helps figure out problems that otherwise seemed impossible to overcome.

~~~
thyrsus
On my suburban street, without sidewalks, the pedestrians and children playing
own the street nearly as much as the cars - the traffic is sparse, and there
are stop signs on just about every corner. The kid's games are suspended to
allow cars to pass. There are pedestrians; I'm not enough of a connoisseur to
know if they're "walking" ;-).

------
newmediaclay
Amazing read. This also demonstrates another benefit of living near a college
campus - acres and acres of beautiful land and architecture just begging to be
walked through. It is no surprise to me that one of the few places he saw
Americans walking through was a university. I live in Chapel Hill, NC just two
blocks from the college and I find time almost every weekend to just stumble
through campus to clear my mind, check out new buildings, and enjoy myself.

------
city41
I'm American and I take walks all the time. I rather enjoy walking quite a
bit. My favorite was when I used to live in Chicago. The never ending expanse
of sidewalk and streets meant I could leave my apartment, and just walk ...
for hours. I used to walk home from work at the Field Museum, just because I
enjoyed it. Although I guess that doesn't fit his definition of "just taking a
walk", as about 3 hours later I'd arrive at a destination, my apartment.

~~~
jamesbritt
One of the biggest things I missed when I loved form NYC to the Phoenix area
was the option to walk places.

In New York I would take the A train from Washington Heights to Columbus
Circle, and either walk up to the Metropolitan Museum, or down to the Village.
It was endlessly entertaining, with sights and sounds to fill the mind.

What a joy.

------
dionidium
This sense of needing a purpose, a direction, a reason for doing something is
certainly not unique to taking a walk. In a diner I frequent I was recently
asked if I were a student by one of the servers who has often waited on me
while I was reading. I'm not. And his reaction to my answer conveyed a sort of
disbelief or at least a hint that I am wasting something, that I am throwing
away a chance to convert this time into something tangible, beneficial.

------
eitally
The author's implication "taking a walk" as somehow preferable to those other
ambulatory activities is more than a little biased. Walking for the sake of
walking is still a conscious decision to act, and whether the act of leisure
is superlative is a completely subjective decision -- as neilk positive in his
reply.

------
kristiandupont
I am reminded of Steve Pavlina's article "Go for a Presence Walk". I have
submitted it here: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1592732>

He takes walks with 100% attention to the immediate sensual inputs. It's
basically a kind of meditation.

~~~
petrichor
"100% attention to the immediate sensual inputs"! that's the geekiest
description of meditation that i have ever heard. in other words: awesome.

walking meditation what it is usually called, but i love the term "presence
walk".

------
jiganti
Immersing yourself in a problem for a long time often establishes a number of
assumptions in your brain about how said problem should be solved. When stuck,
withdrawal from the direct effort of work can free up some of these
assumptions, letting your mind entertain other possible approaches.

------
wallflower
A random walk is not just of benefit as an algorithm to software developers
but in real life.

------
acgourley
I don't take walks. It's not because I'm afraid of how I will be perceived -
that's crazy, how could everyone else know? Why would they care?

I just have a lot to do, and when I do have downtime, I prefer to spend it on
sites like Hacker News. That's all.

------
rue
Me, I like walking. Or going by bus/tram/train/airplane.

I think what I really like is the going somewhere part in general, although
not necessarily somewhere in particular.

Walking in itself is one of the more pleasant ways of going somewhere
nonparticular.

------
prs
I love the energizing effect a walk can have on my mind. What I also love is
to have a smartphone and a notebook with me. This allows me to quickly jot
down notes and thoughts once I get kissed by a muse.

~~~
metageek
A møøse bit my sister once.

------
Harj
i often take walks, especially in SF. as strange as it may sound i can't think
of another activity that gives me as much of a sense of pure freedom as
purposeless walking (and thinking) in a city

------
themanr
I feel very lucky to live very close to a promenade - a space designed for
taking a nice little walk by the sea. As others have said, walking is very
helpful for problem solving and creativity.

------
dugmartin
If you really want to learn to appreciate slow walks go with a couple of young
kids. My wife and go walking most nights after dinner with our two daughters.
We call them Zen Walks.

------
Qz
I went for a walk today. The fact that my car was in the shop being repaired
had absolutely nothing to do with this. Nothing. I swear. I should go check
out my new tires.

------
karlzt
“All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking”. ~Friedrich Nietzsche

------
adnam
Or: how to be patronizing.

------
karlzt
why walk in the street? I walk in my house everyday, it's save and I can walk
naked.

------
jasonwilk
Walk hacks. Definitely a first.

~~~
whimsy
I don't understand this obsessions with calling things "hacks."

This isn't a hack. It's an activity. I can't think of any conceivable
definition of "hack" that this article would also fit.

~~~
rdtsc
It's a hack because it is an unusual or counter-intuitive way of solving a
problem. Or meta-solve a problem -- recharge your mental batteries so when you
get back you solve your real problem better, if you wish.

This is just as much a hack as articles about exercise or nutrition are a
hack. They hack the hackers, who ... hack.

~~~
qwzybug
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.

~~~
brosephius
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
You need to make new friends.

~~~
brosephius
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.

