
InstaNerd - ashwin_kumar
http://instanerd.me/
======
Zikes
I like the idea, but the branding/execution is a little off-putting.
Memorizing obscure facts won't necessarily make me smarter, and honestly I
don't know exactly what would be involved in literally making a person
smarter, but I would _feel_ smarter if instead of obscure random facts I got
obscure random teachings.

Examples:

A brief explanation of A^2 * B^2 = C^2, followed by a link to the relevant
Wikipedia page.

A formula for approximating the volume of a cylinder presented as an easy-to-
remember mnemonic, like pi * z * z * a where z = radius and a = height.

These are primarily math-based examples, but anything that tells more about
how the world works than which movie happens to be the highest grossing or
which dinosaur happened to be the biggest would be more what I would expect.

~~~
drzaiusapelord
In "The Book" Alan Watts discusses how he would write a book to his children
explaining things like morality, reality, etc. He decides that things like the
Bible, books on secular moralism, etc are pretty useless because they just
list a bunch of rules or ideas.

He explains that you can't just say things, valid or not, but that you need to
enable the cognitive tools and perceptions to see these things oneself. This
is how people really learn, by practice, lessons, challenges, etc via some
guiding teacher's hand. Writers call something similar to this, "Show, don't
tell." Turns out we like to learn by solving puzzles. We just need to know the
basics of how the puzzle works like its mechanics, how to start, and what
being solved looks like.

I'm surprised to see this trivial quote generator on the top of HN. Its all
the things we make fun of, like the word a day calender your friend owns and
everyday uses an archaic word in an ill-fitting way to never use it again. Or
how we mock the idiocy of the lazy didactic learner. Or the buzzword
memorizer. We're supposed to be doers right? Coders, creators, etc.

I guess the facts are kinda cute, but some of these I've seen debunked in some
way in the past or are written in a generalist 'know it all' way that doesn't
apply to all examples of the thing explained. Everytime I encounter a person
who has these memorized I know I'm not dealing with someone fascinated with
nature or science or whatever. Just someone who found an easy way to not be so
dull and can't really discuss these things past just quoting the 'fact.' The
same way uninteresting young people pretend to have humor by memorizing Monty
Python lines and repeating them ad nauseaum.

Unfortunately, this does create 'nerds.' The Python quoting kind I mentioned
above. Not the kind up all night excited to play with their new arduino kit or
with some new framework or language. I know the above sounds elitist, but the
fact that they couldn't be bothered for sources really kills this for me. It
just seems like a way to spread disinformation and heaven forbid you try to
argue against someone parroting these lines in the future. Afterall, he
learned it as fact from a fact site. It can't be wrong!

~~~
VLM
TLDR: Instanerd is camp (in postmodern sense) WRT a kitsch viewpoint of what a
non-nerdy person would think would be nerdy.

------
hansy
This is cute. I think the "Be smart, instantly" tagline is meant to be a
little tongue-in-cheek because, yeah, probably memorizing a bunch of facts
doesn't necessarily make you "smart," whatever that even means.

Simple design. Simple controls. I like how each fact is associated with a
picture, which makes reading feel less rote and more of a pleasant experience.

For some pages, I would actually like to see the source. For example:
[http://instanerd.me/v/81](http://instanerd.me/v/81). Was there a study
performed that showed people act less irrationally when they see themselves in
the mirror?

I'm not displeased with my sunk 10 minutes. Not bad.

~~~
untothebreach
ha, I read the same one and thought, "I would like to see the source for this
one..."

------
inportb
[http://instanerd.me/v/48](http://instanerd.me/v/48)

    
    
        It is possible to create a plant that
        grows potatoes above the ground and
        tomatoes below, by grafting a tomato
        plat stem onto a potato plant stalk.
    

Don't people usually want tomatoes above the ground and potatoes below?

~~~
mikeash
That seems like a quintessential nerd factoid to me. It's clever, unusual,
almost practical, and displays a knowledge of obscure topics while completely
ignoring common sense knowledge like the fact that you don't grow tomatoes
under the dirt.

~~~
Curmudgel
'Factoid' was coined by Norman Mailer to mean something that appears to be
true but really isn't. If this really works, then it isn't a factoid.

~~~
mikeash
I used that term on purpose precisely because it's _not_ correct due to the
whole above/below mixup. The fixed version would indeed not qualify as a
proper factoid.

------
snegu
Sources are essential for something like this. Were there links I was missing?

~~~
ashwin_kumar
I agree. But there are no sources available.

~~~
UnethicalHacks
really? then where did you get all these facts?

~~~
ashwin_kumar
Pardon me!! I found this and shared with HN. I am not the author of this :)

~~~
UnethicalHacks
ah, sorry about that then.

------
ChuckMcM
I find these sorts of things amusing (they come in book form too:
[http://bookoutlet.com/Store/Details/_/R-9781606521328B?gclid...](http://bookoutlet.com/Store/Details/_/R-9781606521328B?gclid=CLfH66u57b4CFRWVfgodsEYAzg)).
And of course they are a trap since if you memorize a bunch of trivia and then
pose as a 'nerd' or what ever, when you come across someone who actually
learned this stuff because they were fascinated with it, and invested the
time, they will rapidly spot you as a 'poser' or a fraud. And then they will
be less likely to be friends with you than had you simply not attempted to put
on the mantle of 'nerdness' or whatever.

Early in my life my wife pretty much cured me of 'male answer syndrome' which
occurs whenever a suitably attractive female asks a question, the male is
compelled to respond with an answer, regardless of the depth of knowledge on
the subject and present it as authoritative. Sometimes you can pull that off,
but if the person you are trying to impress is smarter than you, it tends to
backfire horribly :-)

~~~
Swizec
> if the person you are trying to impress is smarter than you, it tends to
> backfire horribly :-)

That's when you turn on the charm, admit you have no idea what you're talking
about, and openly work through the "problem" and try to figure it out on the
spot.

~~~
watwut
You risk to look sleazy in addition of bluffing previously. Men (or woman
really) pretending they know the answer are annoying. The worst is if I really
need the answer - then they are both waste of time and source of
misinformation.

Trying to charm me afterwords will not help. It is more like huge neon writing
over your head: do not trust me.

~~~
Swizec
Actually the exact phrase I usually use is "I don't know, but ...". Tends to
work pretty well in these situations.

------
bushido
I found this to be curious(and interesting): [http://instanerd.me/v/55#you-
made-it](http://instanerd.me/v/55#you-made-it)

    
    
       WWOOF is a international program that allows you to travel the world, with food/accommodations covered, in exchange for volunteer work.
    

That was the only page with that message in the url. Made me wonder if that
page is the point behind the website.

Genius move if it was.

~~~
tricolon
It was different for me: [http://instanerd.me/v/93#you-made-
it](http://instanerd.me/v/93#you-made-it)

------
christopheraden
A lot of these "facts" seem like they came from a Quora article from several
months ago. Even the wording is similar on some of these, including "If you
ask someone a question and they only partially answer, just wait. If you stay
silent and keep an eye contact they will continue talking" which is word-for-
word what was posted there.

I mention this because some of these seem dubious, and I'd have loved sources.
If they came from potentially unsourced Quora answers, the dubiousness just
gets passed along.

Link: [http://www.quora.com/Tips-and-Hacks-for-Everyday-
Life/What-c...](http://www.quora.com/Tips-and-Hacks-for-Everyday-Life/What-
can-I-learn-right-now-in-just-10-minutes-that-could-be-useful-for-the-rest-of-
my-life)

------
jisaacks
User 'instanerd' has exceeded the 'max_questions' resource (current value:
75000)

~~~
brainscale
Oh, I shouldn't have pressed "Next" for so many times, I guess :-0

------
joshmn
There goes the rest of my day.

One UX thing that I thought of when doing this: you may want to take a page
out of Facebook's bag of tricks; they preload the next image (when browsing an
album).

Just a thought. Love it!

------
ritchiea
Cute though the lack of citations is a huge turn off. Not only does it cost
you in trust/authority but if this is supposed to actually help users learn
more you should offer a way to dig deeper into the subjects.

~~~
mercurialshark
If there were citations, I would not only consider this for our service, but
it would indeed allow for further investigation.

------
Ensorceled
The facts are questionable ....

"Beer can reduce the risk of heart disease, by slowing down the digestion and
absorption of food and reducing cholesterol levels. A liter of beer contains
an average of 20% of the recommended daily intake of fiber and some beers can
provide up to 60%."

[http://instanerd.me/v/28](http://instanerd.me/v/28)

Guinness has 0 grams of fibre.

[http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/guinness-
draught-s...](http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/guinness-draught-
stout-1-pint-16-oz-58070024)

------
jackmaney
Knowing random bits of trivia does not necessarily make one smart--and
_definitely_ does not make one instantly smart.

~~~
dang
We removed "Be smart, instantly" from the title. (The HN guidelines call for
changing titles that are misleading or linkbait, and this is arguably both.)

------
Kiro
User 'instanerd' has exceeded the 'max_questions' resource (current value:
75000)

------
coldtea
Doesn't have anything to do with being "smart" or getting smarter. At best,
it's a trivia site (and of not very interestign or thinking enhancing trivia
at that).

Also: "Genghis Khan was the founder of the Mongol Empire. He was responsible
for the death of so many people that the Earth's carbon level dropped by
almost 700 million tons".

Really? I seriously doubt that -- including doubting the fact that it uses a
meaningful metric.

------
yid
You might need some fact-checking.

Looking at the "highest recorded temperature":
[http://instanerd.me/v/97](http://instanerd.me/v/97)

The 1922 temperature record was recently judged to be most likely erroneous,
which makes the Death Valley, CA reading the highest.

[http://wmo.asu.edu/world-highest-temperature](http://wmo.asu.edu/world-
highest-temperature)

------
kreddor
>User 'instanerd' has exceeded the 'max_questions' resource (current value:
75000)

whoops

------
tarekmoz
User 'instanerd' has exceeded the 'max_questions' resource (current value:
75000)

ooops

------
napolux
Raw copy of Ultrafacts (and many others)
[http://ultrafactsblog.com/](http://ultrafactsblog.com/) These facts, won't
make you smarter, just a little bit curious.

------
meseznik
:(

Warning: mysql_connect(): User instanerd already has more than
'max_user_connections' active connections in
/hermes/bosnaweb04a/b1254/dom.mightyalexcom/public_html/instanerd/db.php on
line 2 Warning: mysql_connect(): User alex already has more than
'max_user_connections' active connections in
/hermes/bosnaweb04a/b1254/dom.mightyalexcom/public_html/instanerd/db.php on
line 7 Could not connect: User alex already has more than
'max_user_connections' active connections

------
LeoPanthera
"People with crossed arms are closing themselves to social influence."

I cross my arms because I have poor circulation and it keeps them warm. Not
everything you read on the internet is true.

~~~
dubcanada
It's funny you should say "Not everything you read on the internet is true."
while on the internet and trying to prove something is not true.

~~~
VLM
I can see where this is headed, and tail call recursion would save us
considerable stack space.

There are heuristic ways to get around the undecidability of the halting
problem, and in this case we're in danger of an infinite loop

------
jitl

      [[citation needed]]
    

I would like this site more if I could click through to a Wikipedia article or
something containing the fact.

------
Tenoke
I can't find a reference for 'When people see themselves in the mirror, the
chances of them to behave irrationally lowers significantly. That's why it's a
good practise to have a mirror behind the counter at a bar or customer service
of any kind.'. It seems to be something only quoted on reddit and lifehack
blogs as far as I can see.

------
alsothings
First thought: Why are there no references anywhere? Second thought: Must be
because it's so difficult to put links in a webpage.

------
quotient
I think this little toy could benefit from Wikipedia links. Take
[http://instanerd.me/v/17](http://instanerd.me/v/17), for example. Wouldn't
you want to know what this Dinosaur was actually called? A Wikipedia link
would be helpful. This seems to be the case for most of these flashcards.

------
joliv
> Fingers prune underwater not because of them absorbing water or washing away
> oil, but because of an evolutionary trait caused by the brain to enhance the
> grip of your finger underwater.

Are those mutually exclusive? Can it not be an evolutionary trait AND be
caused by some process?

------
justanotheratom
Pretty Enjoyable. Let me login using Google etc., and then don't show me the
same trivia again.

------
josh_nyc
I kept expecting it to turn into some kind of message-retention quiz. The kind
that would prove we only absorb 10% of what we're shown, or some other
counterintuitainment.

Nice typography and highlight hue.

------
squegles
The one thing I would probably add is a source citation for each fact.

------
jmspring
The interface, at least on Safari on a 13" MBP, requiring scrolling to go to
"next" is a bit clunky. I stopped looking after a couple of the items because
of it.

------
macromaniac
#84 advocates giving loaded questions
[http://instanerd.me/v/84](http://instanerd.me/v/84)

------
UnethicalHacks
These are pretty enjoyable to go through. given the varied size of each panel,
perhaps place the next button on the right vs. bottom.

------
NanoWar
It's not right is it? [http://instanerd.me/v/61](http://instanerd.me/v/61)

------
danbee
"User 'instanerd' has exceeded the 'max_questions' resource (current value:
75000)"

------
nagrom
"Tigers, leopards and jaguars" are illustrated by a picture of a cheetah.

------
josephschmoe
Typos and no sources. Why not just go to random Wikipedia pages?

