Hacker News: SQL2219

Over engineered cars are pushing technicians away

SQL2219 — Sun, 26 Jan 2025 14:14:59 +0000

An interesting video from an auto tech and below text was in the comments that I thought some engineers might appreciate.

It wasn't engine work, but I worked on a friends Hyundai Elantra that had the bights for the head lights stop working. The car had less than 10k miles on it. Come to find out, all new Elantras use a lens on a servo to adjust the focal point of the light to simulate just having an extra bulb in the head lamp assembly. The servo hooks onto a gear that is made out of ABS with no fiberglass reinforcement so the gear melts half the time after prolonged usage if you commute a long way on back roads at night. Oh by the way, this is one of the only parts not covered on their warranties. I replaced the entire assembly twice for her ($400) before just giving up. I ended up drilling a hole in to the assembly, gluing the lens in place and adding a new fuse and wire lead. Then I ended up having to 3d print an attaching assembly to hold a new light that would serve for brights. I had to figure out how the heck to rewire the servo circuit to trigger a relay instead which was an entire other rabbit hole. The lights have never had a problem minus the occasional bulb replacement since and its been 60k+ miles now. But seriously, why do modern engineers try to reinvent the wheel for everything?? I don't even work on cars for a living. I work in software engineering and I see the same thing happening. The same programs need more RAM, more CPU resources just to do the same thing that it did 10 years ago. What does windows 7 do that windows 10 doesn't? Why does the same web page need 60MBs to load when it only need 1-3MB 10 years ago. All this bad engineering is going to catch up to us at some point. It really worries me to be honest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op1D7zWwQA8

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42830208

Points: 58

# Comments: 57

X-Ray Dating of a Turin Shroud's Linen Sample

SQL2219 — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 00:36:59 +0000

Article URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-9408/5/2/47

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41295720

Points: 4

# Comments: 0

New comment by SQL2219 in "Is Anyone Else's Life as Stupidly Complicated by Digital Shadow Work as Mine Is?"

SQL2219 — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 20:48:07 +0000

to be fair, his biggest complaint is with a few services that reside on the inner tube, had nothing to do with his operating system.

Is Anyone Else's Life as Stupidly Complicated by Digital Shadow Work as Mine Is?

SQL2219 — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 20:25:08 +0000

Article URL: https://www.oftwominds.com/blogmay24/complexity5-24.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40651052

Points: 4

# Comments: 2

Soyuz Globus Mechanical Navigation Computer

SQL2219 — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:39:24 +0000

Article URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmHaCQ8Ul6E

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40139116

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

Collapse of the Dollar's Purchasing Power for Used Cars

SQL2219 — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 13:26:17 +0000

Article URL: https://wolfstreet.com/2023/10/09/our-experience-with-the-collapse-of-the-dollars-purchasing-power-for-used-cars-auto-insurance-repair-costs-and-rental-cars/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37820248

Points: 3

# Comments: 1

Ford's AI-Enabled EV Repossession Plans

SQL2219 — Mon, 01 May 2023 12:20:45 +0000

Article URL: https://www.topspeed.com/fords-ai-enabled-ev-repossession-plans/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35771783

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

A Person Can Instantly Blossom into a Savant–and No One Knows Why

SQL2219 — Mon, 01 May 2023 02:35:06 +0000

Article URL: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/brain-gain-a-person-can-instantly-blossom-into-a-savant-and-no-one-knows-why/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35768530

Points: 4

# Comments: 0

EVs Fall Short of EPA Estimates

SQL2219 — Sat, 22 Apr 2023 21:32:55 +0000

Article URL: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a43657072/evs-fall-short-epa-estimates-sae-article/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35671109

Points: 1

# Comments: 1

New comment by SQL2219 in "Ask HN: Are subscriptions the doom of the tech sector?"

SQL2219 — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 21:02:11 +0000

Having sold both subscriptions and CDROM based B2B software, I can tell you with confidence that it was easier to sell a $2,000 software package once, then a $200 monthly subscription. That was my experience in the B2B world about 20 years ago.