Hacker News: Wistar

New comment by Wistar in "Helium is hard to replace"

Wistar — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 03:56:28 +0000

A quick search seems to show that helium is being lost to space. Wikipedia’s article claims the loss of helium to be at a rate of about 50 grams per second.

New comment by Wistar in "Helium is hard to replace"

Wistar — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 02:41:51 +0000

Waaay back in the early 1980s, I read an Asimov essay, “The Vanishing Element”, about the irreplaceable nature of helium and how badly humankind was wasting it. He pointed out that, once released, it just rises through the atmosphere and lost to space. I guess that chicken is coming home to roost.

New comment by Wistar in "Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line"

Wistar — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 16:51:19 +0000

The demographic includes my spouse who likes the taste and texture of both Beyond and Impossible burgers much more than ground beef burgers.

Beyond sausage links are damn good.

New comment by Wistar in "Show HN: Hackerbrief – Top posts on Hacker News summarized daily"

Wistar — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 16:30:01 +0000

Same. At least at this moment. iPad.

New comment by Wistar in "Grandparents are glued to their phones, families are worried [video]"

Wistar — Sun, 15 Mar 2026 18:21:29 +0000

That’s worth about $5

New comment by Wistar in "Mac external displays for designers and developers, part 2 (2022)"

Wistar — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 05:16:06 +0000

So, alas, Dell called today and said that some supply chain problems and tariffs have caused them to not be able to deliver the monitor until July. I cancelled the order.

New comment by Wistar in "Fontcrafter: Turn Your Handwriting into a Real Font"

Wistar — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 20:14:26 +0000

This is cool. I'd like to see an example of a filled-out template that generated a decent font. I think that'd be helpful.

New comment by Wistar in "Mac external displays for designers and developers, part 2 (2022)"

Wistar — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 15:30:15 +0000

Thank you. Very good points. I already know that it (Mac Studio) can’t/won’t reliably do 2560x1440. I will look at BetterDisplay.

New comment by Wistar in "Mac external displays for designers and developers, part 2 (2022)"

Wistar — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 05:18:20 +0000

Hah! I just ordered that today. ~$2200. Going to use it with a new Mac Studio.

New comment by Wistar in "Following 35% growth, solar has passed hydro on US grid"

Wistar — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 02:23:59 +0000

Maybe it is.

New comment by Wistar in "Bus stop balancing is fast, cheap, and effective"

Wistar — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 18:10:38 +0000

My observation at the time was mostly in Magnolia to the Belltown area and the place I thought had way too many stops was in the Magnolia neighborhood, almost per block and it seemed a terrible waste. Plus the buses themselves seemed to resent being stopped and started so much—they rattled and groaned and squeaked.

New comment by Wistar in "Following 35% growth, solar has passed hydro on US grid"

Wistar — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 17:45:09 +0000

Related: Alec Watson’s recent, and excellent, Technology Connections YouTube piece on renewable energy.

“You are being misled about renewable energy technology”

https://youtu.be/KtQ9nt2ZeGM?si=CJ_Tt9DnWSKH8eGC

New comment by Wistar in "Bus stop balancing is fast, cheap, and effective"

Wistar — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 17:38:17 +0000

Although long ago now, When I moved from Denmark to Seattle and tried to use the bus, it was immediately apparent that there’s at least double, maybe triple, the number of stops in Seattle’s Metro as there are in the same distance in Copenhagen. At the time I remember thinking that the average Seattle trip would be SO much faster if the number of stops were dramatically reduced.

New comment by Wistar in "How to fold the Blade Runner origami unicorn (1996)"

Wistar — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 16:56:00 +0000

Thanks. These are waaay better instructions.

New comment by Wistar in "Eddie Bauer declares bankruptcy"

Wistar — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 20:20:19 +0000

I was an Eddie Bauer XLT guy for years until they suddenly made them way too skinny. Best fitting shirts ever. I am wearing one of the old ones right now. Land's End Tall sizing is a good fit although some of their fabric quality is a bit iffy—especially the colorfastness of their dyes. I have had two of six shirts be unable to endure professional stain spot removal by a dry cleaner. The greens and grays seem to be the most fragile.

I have always meant to take one of the few remaining right-fitting Eddie Bauer shirts to a tailor to see if they can be used as a pattern to make more shirts.

New comment by Wistar in "Art of Roads in Games"

Wistar — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 07:34:47 +0000

[Adds “clothoid” to vocabulary]

New comment by Wistar in "British drivers over 70 to face eye tests every three years"

Wistar — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 17:15:46 +0000

Paul Newman won his last race at Lime Rock in Sept. 2007 driving a 900-horsepower Corvette when he was 82.

New comment by Wistar in "Show HN: If you lose your memory, how to regain access to your computer?"

Wistar — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 22:49:20 +0000

Tungsten, perhaps.

New comment by Wistar in "Animated Knots"

Wistar — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 17:15:30 +0000

I, too, am a fan of the Ian’s Knot site and for at least a couple of decades. A while ago I noticed that he has posted a page through which people can donate to the site’s operation but also which details all of the income sources that have dried up.

I donated today because his site is worth supporting.

New comment by Wistar in "The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein"

Wistar — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 17:03:13 +0000

The names of someone close to me and his (adult) daughter both show up in the latest Epstein file release but for innocuous reasons. They both have published a lot and, apparently, Epstein was recommended some of their works.