Hacker News: FourHand451

New comment by FourHand451 in "A myopia epidemic is sweeping the globe"

FourHand451 — Wed, 29 May 2024 19:06:39 +0000

You can buy "skylights" that are essentially internally mirrored tubes that accomplish essentially the same thing. I don't believe they're super cheap right now, but I imagine they could be if they became more widely used.

I know someone who installed one in their bathroom and have been surprised at how well it works.

New comment by FourHand451 in "(Tesla) has twice attempted to drive directly into a train while in FSD mode"

FourHand451 — Mon, 20 May 2024 20:49:24 +0000

I think that's a good idea in theory, but it still relies on the car knowing when it's looking at a solid object with 100% accuracy.

New comment by FourHand451 in "Harvard will require test scores for admission again"

FourHand451 — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 16:48:04 +0000

I couldn't help but hear this in my head in the voice of Montgomery Burns.

New comment by FourHand451 in "How Hertz’s bet on Teslas went sideways"

FourHand451 — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 19:19:24 +0000

It's been a while since I've rented, but I assume this is covered in the agreement when you make a booking. I'd guess their butts are covered from the fraud perspective. Maybe misleading advertisement though?

New comment by FourHand451 in "'Lavender': The AI machine directing Israel's bombing in Gaza"

FourHand451 — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 14:27:29 +0000

Could you say more?

New comment by FourHand451 in "The Pentagon's Silicon Valley Problem"

FourHand451 — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 13:55:20 +0000

How many places in a densely populated city can you precisely drop a bomb with no risk to civilians? Yes, technology has improved, but my point is that better tech doesn't just automatically make war less awful.

I don't believe the people operating the weapons are different in ways that make civilian casualties obsolete. In WW2 it was a decision to bomb population centers, not an accident. That decision can be made today too.

New comment by FourHand451 in "The Pentagon's Silicon Valley Problem"

FourHand451 — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 13:26:43 +0000

That would be great, but why would one think that?

New comment by FourHand451 in "Gabriel García Márquez: Sons publish novel that late author wanted destroyed"

FourHand451 — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 20:49:21 +0000

Terry Pratchett had a plan for things he was working on at the time of his death:

> Pratchett told Neil Gaiman that anything that he had been working on at the time of his death should be destroyed by a steamroller. On 25 August 2017, his assistant Rob Wilkins fulfilled this wish by crushing Pratchett's hard drive under a steamroller at the Great Dorset Steam Fair.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett#Unfinished_tex...

New comment by FourHand451 in "Boeing ousts 737 MAX chief"

FourHand451 — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 20:13:07 +0000

Their government programs have hit some snags recently too. The KC-46 and Starliner programs have not exactly been smooth money-makers for them.

New comment by FourHand451 in "Momentary fusion breakthroughs face hard reality"

FourHand451 — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 16:50:39 +0000

I think you may be slightly misinterpreting the parent comment. When they say the NIF's task is weapons research, I think they meant that the facility was built with that task in mind. When I read your comment it sounds more like you're talking about the current task of the people working there.

Both valid points of discussion, but different ones.

New comment by FourHand451 in "Firefox on the brink?"

FourHand451 — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 14:39:53 +0000

What exactly do you mean?

New comment by FourHand451 in "NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month"

FourHand451 — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 14:31:10 +0000

Is there a reason you feel they are less prepared than any other organization?

New comment by FourHand451 in "Oil and gas production in Texas produces twice as much methane as in New Mexico"

FourHand451 — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 19:07:23 +0000

The practices you're describing largely seem sensible, but I think they are also beside the point made by the article, namely that Texas seems to emit more gas per unit of production than a neighbor.

> gas doesn't have a ton of value in the Permian basin.

You note this, but the assertion that selling or using the gas to run generators are top preferences for producers seems contradictory, or perhaps a bit oversimplified.

If gas is abundant and has little value, I would expect there would also be little incentive to sell it when it isn't trivially easy to do so, or to store it for later use running compressors or generators. Cheap gas would mean venting or flaring are the least expensive option in more situations.

New comment by FourHand451 in "Light can make water evaporate without heat"

FourHand451 — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 20:12:41 +0000

You can't use classical physics to calculate the momentum of a photon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photon#Relativistic_energy_and...

New comment by FourHand451 in "Raspberry Pi receives strategic investment from Arm"

FourHand451 — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 14:44:27 +0000

So, perhaps a good time to start a new business selling inexpensive RISC-V based micro computers?

New comment by FourHand451 in "To build ships that break ice, U.S. must relearn to cut steel"

FourHand451 — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 20:31:16 +0000

Non-meta Answer from user @bruce511: "Russia doesn't have much in the way of non-polar coast (well, not today European end) so they've been breaking ice since forever. The US by comparison has very little polar coast and so less need for icebreakers."

New comment by FourHand451 in "YKK: Japan’s Zipper King [video]"

FourHand451 — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 20:49:57 +0000

What makes zippers such a tough problem?

New comment by FourHand451 in "US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone"

FourHand451 — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 14:01:15 +0000

Perhaps I'm out of the loop, but why do you need a smartphone for gym access?

New comment by FourHand451 in "Major Reddit communities will go dark to protest threat to third-party apps"

FourHand451 — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 15:28:56 +0000

I agree that making a clear demand seems more effective if possible, but I don't think disorganization necessarily implies that displeasure is only momentary and involves no risk. Many people can be upset about something and agree on a way to protest it without agreeing on what the solution should be.

New comment by FourHand451 in "Major Reddit communities will go dark to protest threat to third-party apps"

FourHand451 — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 15:13:02 +0000

I think that's good advice in principle, but the practical limitation is the ability of a bunch of redditors to come to an agreement on point #2 on short notice.

Maybe they figure the implied message of "you are doing a bad thing we don't like. Don't do the bad thing" may be enough to get some change to happen, if change is a real possibility.