Hacker News: SpicyUme

New comment by SpicyUme in "The Department of War just shot the accountants and opted for speed"

SpicyUme — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 04:00:38 +0000

Better to keep things running at a low level than fully idle I'd think. Even if the outputs are consumed by testing, development, or even just stockpiled. Lots of things can get lost by not making parts for a while, including the knowledge involved in troubleshooting or replacing parts.

Of course then people would complain about all the money wasted not utilizing the equipment/space enough.

New comment by SpicyUme in "The Department of War just shot the accountants and opted for speed"

SpicyUme — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 22:22:46 +0000

>By now, its battlefield lethality exceeds that of small arms and artillery shells.

The war in Ukraine seems to be showing this to not be true. Drones are used as much as they are because they do not have enough artillery. Are they useful, yes. But they do not replace artillery. Maybe in another type of war, but that is another issue, what is the next war we expect to find ourselves in? For all the talk of China deterrence, we're seeing a pivot away from China now.

New comment by SpicyUme in "The Department of War just shot the accountants and opted for speed"

SpicyUme — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 22:18:51 +0000

Like piggies to the trough.

There are plenty of things to criticize in procurement. I don't see this as a useful reaction or attempt to fix issues in a long term way.

New comment by SpicyUme in "Toucan Wireless Split Keyboard with Touchpad"

SpicyUme — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 19:34:41 +0000

Interesting, that looks too spendy for my taste honestly but I can see a way to justify it. I use a trackball for some of my CAD work but on another PC I sometimes have to check things in CAD, rather than real work, and a ball like that could be a good way to do it.

New comment by SpicyUme in "Toucan Wireless Split Keyboard with Touchpad"

SpicyUme — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 03:15:21 +0000

Once you get the presoldered board it is ~$300. I'm not into keyboards, is it common to price them without key caps and switches? I noticed that.

I'm not sure I see the e-ink screen as useful, but that touchpad caught my eye. What do people use that screen for?

New comment by SpicyUme in "Computational Complexity of Air Travel Planning (2003) [pdf]"

SpicyUme — Sat, 08 Nov 2025 22:01:28 +0000

Was this during a storm a few years ago? I used to fly Southwest a decent amount but I haven't in several years now. I've heard worse things about them in the last couple years.

New comment by SpicyUme in "UPS plane crashes near Louisville airport"

SpicyUme — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 22:17:24 +0000

Once you've traveled even a significant fraction of a mile in your living room I'm afraid you're likely dead or seriously injured.

New comment by SpicyUme in "Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste"

SpicyUme — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 00:45:14 +0000

I struggle with the music one. I listen to a lot of different music, used see live music at least once a week, and have some strong opinions. I still struggle to explain music to others or why I enjoy certain artists/songs.

It is like the details don't register in a usable way, where one of my good friends will tell me he likes a band because of the guitar tone or the drummer's technique or something else that I struggle to explain or even pick out of the music. I wish I could explain my preference better.

New comment by SpicyUme in "Study: MRI contrast agent causes harmful metal buildup in some patients"

SpicyUme — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 20:49:40 +0000

Good point, I wasn't clear. The warning was about the systemic reaction inside the veins and arteries. Or something along those lines. Whatever it was the warning struck me as much more drastic than the usual allergic reaction warning.

New comment by SpicyUme in "Asbestosis"

SpicyUme — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 20:47:45 +0000

Baker's lung is a thing too. I think about that when I see the dust from my spice grinder when making various powders. No matter what there is airborne dust when I open the grinder. I try to do my wood cutting outside but I am not sanding much. When I refinished my floors I wore dust protection and a loose tshirt over the dust protection to make clean up at the end of the day a bit easier.

New comment by SpicyUme in "Asbestosis"

SpicyUme — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 20:38:19 +0000

Interesting, I had some vermiculite removed recently and got a response from the ZAI trust that the samples had fibers but they couldn't say specifically that it was asbestos. I assumed that was a legal distinction, it didn't occur to me that it might be from different test methods.

New comment by SpicyUme in "Study: MRI contrast agent causes harmful metal buildup in some patients"

SpicyUme — Sat, 25 Oct 2025 04:15:22 +0000

When I had mine I got the form with warnings about side effects. When I saw the allergic reaction I was a bit concerned, I asked the tech and was told it wasn't a big deal. Since I was in the basement I didn't have service and I decided to trust them given the large number of my friends who've had MRIs. It was fine, but it seemed like a major thing to toss in the patients lap right before they get strapped down in a tube.

New comment by SpicyUme in "Study: MRI contrast agent causes harmful metal buildup in some patients"

SpicyUme — Sat, 25 Oct 2025 04:12:00 +0000

Are you certain it is gadolinium? As I recall from a family member's health issues you can get particulates in joints from arthroscopic surgery or from the metal implants. Not saying that is what happened in your case, but I'm just curious because I remember reading about metal in joints as a potential side effect of the surgery.

New comment by SpicyUme in "America is getting an AI gold rush instead of a factory boom"

SpicyUme — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 16:17:42 +0000

I remember when there was a big push to make ball point pen tips, and how a but less than 10 years later they succeeded in making them domestically.

New comment by SpicyUme in "Making regular GPS ultra-precise"

SpicyUme — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 01:20:39 +0000

What happens when the building sways multiple feet in the wind? We don't normally think about them moving, but for accurate positioning I'd think the additional distance to the beacon could be a problem.

New comment by SpicyUme in "All-natural geoengineering with Frank Herbert's Dune"

SpicyUme — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 20:44:35 +0000

With regard to the sections about beavers, I went to an event this year where a beaver scientist mentioned that many European settlers in North America showed up after beavers had been nearly extirpated by trappers. So they would come across open flat areas with a stream flowing through which had likely been dammed by beavers in the past. This caused problems with flooding and water damage, and problems as beavers have been reestablished in much of the US (and Canada?)

New comment by SpicyUme in "Nobel Prize in Literature 2025: László Krasznahorkai"

SpicyUme — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 00:49:06 +0000

There is a bookstore in Vancouver with a section of translations which is reliably fruitful when I visit. The last book I bought there was a translation of Yuri Herrera's Season of the Swamp. I devoured it, even though I agree that I wish it were more fleshed out. It made me think about reading some of his work in Spanish even though it would be a long process for me. I enjoyed the effort in spanish literature class, maybe I can do it again.

https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/season-swamp

On the topic of the OP, I struggled with Satantango on more than one occasion over the last 12 years. For whatever reason I couldn't get through it, but I've carried the book around through several moves. Maybe I'll try again.

New comment by SpicyUme in "Packing the world for longest lines of sight"

SpicyUme — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 17:05:25 +0000

Those are great pictures. And I've been near there! I've seen the Alps from near Saignelégier then we drove through Plombieres-les-Bains on the way north. On certain clear winter days I bet the mountains look bigger due to lensing.

New comment by SpicyUme in "Everything Is Becoming a Bank"

SpicyUme — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 05:17:19 +0000

I might be using a dead person's account at several grocery stores. I just never updated the phone number I used, who knows what bucket my purchasing data goes into. But I hope it causes some inconsistency somewhere.

New comment by SpicyUme in "Packing the world for longest lines of sight"

SpicyUme — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 04:56:27 +0000

There's a nearly 450 km photo of the Ecrins from the Pyrenees!

https://beyondrange.wordpress.com/2016/08/03/pic-de-finestre...

That's a cool thing to track, I've been surprised by the places I've seen the Seattle skyline reflected on the water near sundown. No crazy distances, but there's a small time period where it flashes into view.