[HN Gopher] Show HN: Weeks of Your Life
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Show HN: Weeks of Your Life
Hi! I made an interactive visualization of your life in weeks.
Inspired by Tim Urban's Your Life in Weeks (Wait But Why) and
Buster Benson's Life in Weeks. Hopefully it's a fun thing to do
together with family over the holidays. I wrote about it on my
digital garden: https://www.petemillspaugh.com/weeks-of-your-life
Any feedback is welcome. Top on my todo list is improving
performance (reduce interaction lag).
Author : petemilly
Score : 85 points
Date : 2023-12-24 15:06 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.weeksofyour.life)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.weeksofyour.life)
| Flux159 wrote:
| Nice job, was going to mention url size limits but then read your
| blog post and it already mentioned using urls to be able to share
| with others without a database.
|
| One thing that might be interesting is being able to edit things
| in the future if you want to plan something out, but don't know
| if that's really in the spirit of the site.
| seized wrote:
| One suggestion.... Make it faster to skip back and set the start
| date, or allow manual entry. I'm not even that old but it's a lot
| of months to click backwards on Android.
| n8cpdx wrote:
| I think it must be using the browser native control? The date
| picker was surprisingly great on iOS. Color picker, too.
| marssaxman wrote:
| I couldn't make the date picker work at all - the scroller kept
| snapping back to a previous position.
| dave7 wrote:
| Glad I'm not the only one!
| culi wrote:
| Please tell me the author's birthday just happens to be the same
| as mine and it's NOT that browsers now have a way to share bday
| information with websites
| L0in wrote:
| I think the default was set 04/04/1997 by the creator.
| culi wrote:
| glad to hear it's just a freaky coincidence!
| samstave wrote:
| Except.... now you've just shared your birthday through the
| browser openly with this website.... Defeating the premise
| of your concern.
| culi wrote:
| well not really. People being able to find my info is
| very different from my browser directly telling
| advertisers and sites I visit my bday
| shepherdjerred wrote:
| There's a big difference between others simply knowing
| your birthday because you told them vs others knowing
| your birthday in some unknown way. How do they know that?
| What else do they know about me?
| diimdeep wrote:
| Date picker is broken, also it is really slow webpage for what it
| is doing. Every web developer in 2024 and forwartd should have
| average device released at least 10 years ago to understand that
| what they are writing these deys using this horrendous web
| frameworks is unusable on these devices.
| vallode wrote:
| Complaining about this as well, I think entering day/month with
| keyboard is fine but the website completely freezes upon
| entering year and skips some digits entirely after many seconds
| of waiting. I'm on an old thinkpad, I get it, but I think
| everyone should keep an older device around just to demo their
| projects on because it helps catch such simple bottlenecks.
| kvakvs wrote:
| As you click the date picker, it updates entire page for that
| incomplete date, and it QUEUES dates for more update, even if
| you manage to click the correct year, it continues slowly
| through every year you touched/scrolled before that.
| marssaxman wrote:
| There's something even more broken about it than that,
| though; I couldn't get the date to go any earlier than 1991,
| because the scroller would keep resetting itself back to
| 1993. Don't understand it.
| msie wrote:
| Sometimes I think this concept is depressing because it increases
| the pressure to "do something" with your life. When you are
| presented with the finiteness of your life you feel pressure to
| fill each moment/cell with something "meaningful" or
| "worthwhile". When someone is enjoying a hobby they will lose
| track of time yet that hobby may be frivolous in the eyes of
| someone else. Do they want something like this to track how much
| time they "wasted"? To me there is this paradox of losing your
| sense of time with something you are passionate about (building a
| model, doing some hobby programming) and yet in trying to track
| it for some purpose of maximal utility will kill the passion.
|
| [Edit] This post on the same page is related:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38741982
| pelagicAustral wrote:
| It is depressing. But most things are when it comes to
| achievements. I think I do not need any help from an app to
| tell me I have not done has much as I could have done. I have
| that going on already, looping on a while 1==1 fashion.
| slothtrop wrote:
| > it increases the pressure to "do something" with your life
|
| We increase that pressure.
| Aperocky wrote:
| > that hobby may be frivolous in the eyes of someone else.
|
| So what? That's missing the entire point of <hobby>.
| balaji1 wrote:
| it is depressing to some, others in a different stage of life
| might experience gratitude, others hope and clarity, etc. in
| all aspects of the human condition, there's probably a similar
| dynamic to the 5 stages of grieving.
|
| tho I agree the popular notion is to > fill each moment/cell
| with something "meaningful" or "worthwhile".
|
| and I would add, there is pressure to achieve something
| "unique"
| wepple wrote:
| But if you get to decide what is "meaningful", it's just a
| reminder of the finiteness of life.
|
| I've spent a bunch of this holiday sitting on the couch,
| relaxing or letting my mind wander or just enjoying being near
| a warm fire. I don't think I'll regret that at the end of my
| life (provided my life isn't all sitting on a couch)
|
| I'd argue if you feel pressured to do "meaningful" things that
| apparently don't bring you joy, you're just miscalibrated about
| meaning of your life?
| ip26 wrote:
| I might agree, if I could ever figure out what is
| "meaningful" to me. I'm simultaneously incapable of sitting
| down and doing nothing (because I love pushing towards a
| goal) and also fully aware that goals are usually extrinsic
| and unfulfilling. Both deeply drawn towards big problems with
| a long march, and torn that by their very nature, I won't get
| to undertake many (so choose wisely)
| ydant wrote:
| It can also be encouraging.
|
| It's important to think about the things you have done and
| accomplished in life (happiness is more meaningful if you focus
| on celebrating what you have rather than chasing= what you
| don't have), and if you use this as an exercise to remind
| yourself of what you have accomplished/done, it might be
| helpful.
|
| It could also be motivating. Perhaps you see all the things
| you've done and you're proud of and it encourages you to set
| out and do more things. Or the things you haven't done enough
| of, but are within your control to do more of in the future.
|
| I quite like this kind of view on my past.
| deadbabe wrote:
| Think instead of how many Christmases you have left, how many
| summers, how many new houses and cars and how many Olympics and
| World Cups and GTA sequels. Then, maybe divide by half.
| luqtas wrote:
| no way i won't live till 22deg century T.T
| meremortals wrote:
| Love this
| kapitanjakc wrote:
| Is it possible to run it locally or create backups or link it
| with some storage?
|
| Only reason for asking it is that I was thinking of something
| similar and started keeping a daily diary in text files.
|
| Can add summary of sorts for weekly thing.
|
| But if someone is like me and has years worth of data, they'd
| want to be sure that data is going to be there in future as well.
| geekodour wrote:
| I have something similar that was discussed here few months
| back, the whole thing is in a org file, i can add summaries etc
| and each becomes a hugo blogpost, it's not as interactive as
| OPs submission but works ok i guess.
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36641451
| samstave wrote:
| I have been wanting this for many WEEKS IN MY LIFE...
|
| I want to clone this and run it locally and add pics and a family
| tree and and and....
|
| I love this.
| causal wrote:
| I like your attitude a lot. Others look at this and see sand
| depleting, or boxes unfilled with any achievements. You see
| your cup filling up.
| MzHN wrote:
| > As far as I know, there's no way to set a dynamic width for an
| HTML input with pure CSS (please lmk if that's not the case).
| Setting max-content doesn't work, for example, because inputs are
| replaced elements that have intrinsic dimensions and behaviors
| that are not fully governed by CSS.
|
| This is the case currently, but when field-sizing: content;
| lands, you can do it with a single property.
|
| Also I get a weird feeling when something like React makes simple
| things hard and low performance. The solution of pouring a lot of
| time into debugging and optimizing (in context of React) feels
| even weirder to me. Sure, you might not need React here, but what
| if you do? What's the next best solution? Integrate the React
| "frame" with an "island" of vanilla?
|
| I don't know, something about having this issue puts me off in a
| major way.
| jokethrowaway wrote:
| I did a small project recently (a form to edit N instances of
| an object, each containing N instances of other objects, so
| standard input, add / delete buttons, saving to server) and I
| decided to not use React or any form of templating, just DOM.
| It reminded me of when I used to ship jQuery projects.
|
| It was refreshingly simple and, despite being more verbose, it
| was clear what everything would happen once a certain event
| would happen. With a bit of clever refactoring dealing with
| elements factories wasn't too bad, even without a templating
| engine.
|
| Not having to think "How is this going to be rendered by React,
| is it going to be efficient or trash performance" was great and
| I think it's intrinsic of picking a certain abstraction and
| we'll always have that.
|
| Sure, the better the abstraction the less this problem happens
| eg. Solid is calling the component function once, which makes
| things easy to reason about
| rubicon33 wrote:
| This is a visualization of how I have been feeling for the last
| couple of years.
|
| I'm in my mid 30s and lately have been going through what I'm
| sure is a mid life crisis. Seeing all these empty cells really
| underscores the point.
|
| - Aware of my limited time
|
| - Aware of my limited health (despite exercising, eating healthy,
| avoiding alcohol and drugs, sleeping well, etc... I don't feel
| like I did in my 20s)
|
| - Difficulty finding meaning in my work / life ... lots of
| existential thoughts and worries.
|
| - Bored and burned out, not really sure "what else" there is yet
| constantly reminded of time that is running out.
|
| Anyone else been feeling this way? My "solution" has been to just
| accept it and take each day as it comes. I haven't given up, I'm
| just trying to chill out and let go a little bit. The last three
| decades were all about gas, gas, gas and maybe I need to just
| accept that I've reached a time in life where my body and mind is
| telling me to ease up on the accelerator, enjoy the small things,
| and accept that what will be will be.
| 2024throwaway wrote:
| Eat some yummy unhealthy foods. Have a beer. Life is too short.
| rubicon33 wrote:
| heh, been doing that more and more... not sure its helping
| though honestly!
| mortallywounded wrote:
| I've felt that way since my mid-20s because I started "late"
| professionally. I've been playing catch up ever since.
|
| Although I've had a lot of success by conventional means (I run
| my own company solo, work for myself, I'm married with
| children, I own my house with no mortgage, etc).
|
| My sights are still higher and I feel like I'm still playing
| catch up. I've been debating about what to focus my time on
| these days-- do I push more on my business and attain more
| success? Do I allow myself time to pursue interests that have
| little to negative financial upsides? Do I forget all of it and
| just spend that time with my family?
|
| Wish I had a solution or answer for you, but I'm still figuring
| it out.
| rubicon33 wrote:
| Those questions are the same questions I would have. Not sure
| there's an easy answer for either of us unfortunately.
|
| If I were you I'd probably spend time with my kids. They're
| only young once and getting to enjoy those years would
| probably mean the most to me.
| ip26 wrote:
| Even that can be a puzzle. Kids can be hard work. People
| like to talk in rosy terms about spending time with kids,
| especially when it's the "idea" of kids or the "memory" of
| their own kids. Yet few parents of presently young children
| describe their days as blissfully idyllic. So what does
| "enjoy" really mean? Aside from basics like "don't work 90
| hour weeks" or "don't travel for work three weeks a month".
| ydant wrote:
| Most of "enjoying time with your kids" is less about what
| you do and the fact you're there to do it.
|
| It's about building the memories and the trust (in both
| directions) that anchors the family together. That'll pay
| off as they grow older and come into their own identities
| and start to drift away from you into their own lives.
|
| It's partly about setting up opportunities for the big
| events that people idealize and have nostalgia for. If
| you're not there, you can't have those great experiences.
|
| It's partly about having the bad experiences. Sometimes
| those matter more in the long run for building the deep,
| meaningful, and lasting relationship.
|
| The day-to-day often sucks and often isn't "enjoyed". But
| the cumulative results of the time and the good and the
| bad - that takes long-term investment.
| palemoonale wrote:
| Do little exercising, eat what is on your mind, do alcohol and
| drugs, try to still sleep well after having fun partying,
| etc... life is too short to restrain yourself. Splurge on
| things you never did, will bring some fresh breath and newfound
| hunger for life.
| rubicon33 wrote:
| I definitely think there's some truth to this, and I would
| benefit from some kind of unwinding. I'm just not sure yet
| what it is. Drugs and alcohol tend to make me feel worse the
| next day(s).
| apwell23 wrote:
| alchol and eating fried food ( what is on my mind) give me
| intense heartburn.
|
| Another perk of getting old ;)
| ip26 wrote:
| There's an awful lot of life still ahead of your early
| twenties, and I had several loose friends in college who
| burnt themselves out on drugs. You don't have to be a prude,
| but you can cut a long, bright future very short indeed
| without _some_ restraint.
| croisillon wrote:
| but then with the example of DF Wallace wouldn't it make sense to
| stop counting the weeks of his life after his death?
| andyjohnson0 wrote:
| Nicely done. But I don't need the existential terror that it
| induces.
| charles_f wrote:
| Fun how this makes a year seem so small
| TimSchumann wrote:
| > Any feedback is welcome. Top on my todo list is improving
| performance (reduce interaction lag).
|
| Maybe don't have it render anything until a valid date post 1800
| has been parsed in all fields?
|
| I started typing a date and it rendered the year 0190.
| netsharc wrote:
| OP needs to learn about window.setTimeout(), or whatever the
| fancy wrapper function is in their framework of choice.
| netsharc wrote:
| As the page said, it's inspired by
| https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/life-weeks.html, but I prefer the
| version on his post: https://149909199.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-
| content/uploads/201... , where a week with an event doesn't
| expand to take up so much space, and it's possible to add
| background colors to mark segments of your life.
|
| I was making a similar app to learn Angular (and realizing the
| performance is lousy if each square is an Angular component), an
| interesting thing is, because of the day-of-week drift from year
| to year (Jan 1 2023 is Sunday, Jan 1 2024 is Monday, Jan 1 2025
| is Wednesday, hello leap year 2024), the grid isn't always 52
| columns wide, some years would need 53 weeks, because your
| birthday could be a Sunday (end of week in a particular year) and
| it'd be a Monday next year, meaning there'd be 53 Sundays between
| the 2 birthdays...
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(page generated 2023-12-24 23:00 UTC)