<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Hacker News: clivefx</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=clivefx</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2026 07:58:51 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=clivefx" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by clivefx in "We must pace the frontier"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I'm asking you a question. What is an example company or industry that meets your standards of prudence? For me it would be, say, Swagelok. What is yours?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 23:06:16 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49678146</link><dc:creator>clivefx</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49678146</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49678146</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by clivefx in "We must pace the frontier"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>What company, product, or period of industrial history do you think met your standard of prudence?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 22:41:00 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49677965</link><dc:creator>clivefx</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49677965</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49677965</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by clivefx in "Project Callisto: Null results from a nine-year cold fusion research program"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>From 2015–2024, more than 100 people contributed to an experimental investigation of cold fusion and anomalous heat in palladium.<p>We’ve now published the technical reports. Broadly, it covers electrochemical replications of all previous notable experiments, more than 200,000 sample-hours of calorimetry across much wider parameter space, and custom hydrogen-compatible hardware operating at pressures up to 600,000 psi with a wide range of stimulation applied to the material. No evidence of cold fusion was found in the conditions investigated. The landing page provides a summary. The details are in the (quite large) reports of both the electrochemical and ultra pressure reports.<p>Given the general interest in energy technology here on HN I figured it was appropriate to post.<p>I was Head of Engineering at Project Callisto during its early years. I left after a set of experiments that I considered definitive returned a null result. The program continued on for several years, exploring a much larger set of conditions. It was a wild ride!</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 11 Sep 2026 19:03:42 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49663609</link><dc:creator>clivefx</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49663609</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49663609</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Project Callisto: Null results from a nine-year cold fusion research program]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://callisto.report/">https://callisto.report/</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49663608">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49663608</a></p>
<p>Points: 4</p>
<p># Comments: 1</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 11 Sep 2026 19:03:42 +0000</pubDate><link>https://callisto.report/</link><dc:creator>clivefx</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49663608</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49663608</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by clivefx in "Successful people set constraints rather than chasing goals"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Don't forget the weekly sermons of the Lisp Liberation Front.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 10 Jun 2025 18:53:16 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44240090</link><dc:creator>clivefx</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44240090</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44240090</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by clivefx in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (September 2024)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Nvidia | Remote, see details below | Senior full stack | Full-time | React, C++, Helm, Go, Python, CUDA, Docker, distributed systems.<p>Nvidia, yeah, Nvidia. You already know.<p>I am hiring for senior or principal developer technology engineers (DevTechs). At some companies, they are called application engineers. Nvidia has a very high bar of quality for these engineers, as they need to both have deep experience and understanding of software engineering and development, as well as excellent communications skills to work with external devs.<p>They are distinct from solution architects in that every DevTech is expected to be a seasoned professional engineer. It is a special forces engagement model where we approach high value strategic partners with deeply skilled engineers to accelerate their adoption of our platform.<p>What you will be doing: Working closely with our strategic partners and internal teams to get the most out of our enterprise platform hardware/software stacks. This involves everything from serverless computing to optimizing end-to-end cloud workflows. It helps if you spent a few years grinding out C++. We are specifically looking for people who have front-end experience to help fill team gaps.<p>Also, if you are not super skilled at cloud infra, but are a steely-eyed computer engineer who has GPU accelerated your cat, feel free to apply to one of the roles as well. We have needs beyond just the cloud stuff.<p>How to apply: Email me directly at mclive at nvidia dot com, and apply to these roles on our career site:<p><a href="https://nvidia.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/NVIDIAExternalCareerSite/job/US-CA-Santa-Clara/Senior-Distributed-System-Engineer--Enterprise-Platforms-Developer-Technologies_JR1986779?q=developer%20technologies" rel="nofollow">https://nvidia.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/NVIDIAExternalCar...</a><p><a href="https://nvidia.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/NVIDIAExternalCareerSite/job/US-CA-Santa-Clara/Principal-Systems-Architect--Omniverse-Developer-Technologies_JR1973408?q=developer%20technologies" rel="nofollow">https://nvidia.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/NVIDIAExternalCar...</a><p>Location: Nvidia is open to remote work. There are benefits to being near HQ in Santa Clara (nice offices!) and benefits to being in EU (No 7:30am meetings!) I am interested in applications from all geo regions.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 02 Sep 2024 18:22:51 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41427662</link><dc:creator>clivefx</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41427662</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41427662</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by clivefx in "Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>My dude, never has this image been more relevant
<a href="https://datavizblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/map-full-size1.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://datavizblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/map-full-siz...</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 06 Jul 2023 14:59:24 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36617026</link><dc:creator>clivefx</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36617026</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36617026</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by clivefx in "Major shake-up coming for Fermilab, the troubled U.S. particle physics center"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I don't know if that is true. Stuff just changes. To solve similar problems to this, my lab developed sapphire metal bonding techniques that could be run with CNC machined parts. Everything became nice and reliable and repeatable.<p>We lose techniques all the time but gain new ones. I designed a scientific instrument once that had a long precision bore through it. I designed it with the belief that I needed clearances for a large stiff boring bar to make the feature.<p>I showed the prints to my machinist, and he told me they were just gonna put it on the five axis and hit the bore on both sides with an end mill. That it was as accurate as how the old guys did it.<p>It was.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 25 Mar 2023 20:32:02 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35306992</link><dc:creator>clivefx</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35306992</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35306992</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by clivefx in "U.S. Centcom Reveals New Details on Iranian Drone Attack on Tanker"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Peter Zeihan has been suggesting that stuff like this is going to become common.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 22 Nov 2022 20:13:04 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33710797</link><dc:creator>clivefx</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33710797</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33710797</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by clivefx in "We just built the world’s largest 3D-printed aerospike rocket engine"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Standard nozzles do not need a cooled support structure right in the middle of the combustion chamber. I love these things, I made a linear aerospike (Never fired), but this thing just looks heavier than a standard TCA/nozzle</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 22 Nov 2022 20:01:45 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33710624</link><dc:creator>clivefx</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33710624</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33710624</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by clivefx in "We just built the world’s largest 3D-printed aerospike rocket engine"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Looks quite heavy compared to a standard nozzle.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 21 Nov 2022 19:50:22 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33697027</link><dc:creator>clivefx</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33697027</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33697027</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by clivefx in "I tried starting a manufacturing unit in India (2020)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>This is almost identical to the process of setting up a manufacturing facility here in the bay area. Difference is that you never do all this yourself. You use permit sherpas and general contractors to handle most of the paperwork. Source: done it three times</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 28 Oct 2022 14:20:13 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33371688</link><dc:creator>clivefx</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33371688</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33371688</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by clivefx in "Ask HN: Has anyone gone from software to physical engineering?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Wow, if there ever was a thread for me!<p>I have done it both ways! I left a great career in computer graphics to go through a long journey through the aerospace and energy sectors, and now I am on a return trip to CG.<p>During this process, I 
-Built my own machine shop
-Worked at <Cutting edge aerospace company> 
-Built up an entire material science research lab
-Learned how to manage an amazing team
-Got really into machining, manufacturing and facilities<p>Whoever said that most of your time as a mechanical engineer is spent buying stuff and sorting through boxes/messing with supply chain/inspection is right. Your tolerance for cardboard boxes must be very high to do physical engineering.<p>Machining is really fun and soothing at times, but once you have learned it enough, you realize that Xometry and Protolabs and Front Panel Express and SendCutSend are just... better than you. One thing I learned is that machining was a fun hobby, but it is not fun to have it as a part of another hobby. It is always cheaper and quicker to outsource that labor. I want to make a telescope eyepiece tray, and I know I can design it and find a makerspace with a laser cutter and make it myself, but I am probably just going to order it from FPE so it will show up to my door, done, without any painting etc. I almost bought a mini lathe again (I sold off my first machine shop), but I realized that the thing I was thinking of making with it (tiny model biprop rocket engines) were hard to make and if I did pick up that hobby, I would rather just pay my buddy to make it on his superlathe and spend that time on designing the stuff he would make.<p>Another huge part of physical engineering is relationship management. You need to have someone to do everything. You need a good relationship with your sputter coater, with your weld shop, with your general contractor.<p>There is not actually that much senior level design engineering work to be done. Usually design work is done by about 10% of the org, and the rest of the org does support activities for that. There is nothing wrong with that, and there is plenty of interesting work in the support activities (I made a career of doing those activities)<p>I did all this with no formal education in the sector. I spent a lot of time in machine shops, reading books, going to rocket launches, networking. John Carmack was my principal inspiration (I met him at a tiny rocket conference once)<p>As far as comp is concerned, it is decent but not MANG like. I got lucky at <Aerospace place> and got in early enough that my TC was actually pretty solid due to relatively large share grant. I did have 5 room mates when I worked there because the cash level was low. My first aerospace job was paying me the same salary as an In N Out employee makes now. (They were taking a chance on me, so no hard feelings at all, it was a privilege to make that sacrifice!). You can make a living as a physical engineer, but you might not make a killing.<p>So, if you are committed to a huge downlevel for 5 years, you can have some fun adventures!<p>PS: Knowing how to write python is a superpower in these fields, I would guess than less than 10% of mechEs at the senior level know how to code. I imagine new grads know how to code now. I always was able to sneak a quick victory in various projects because I could write some hack code that did something tedious quickly.<p>PPS: Respect. Your. Technicians. Respect them. Treat them as partners. Do right by them. Value their feedback. Do their work from time to time. Pay attention when they speak, and act on what they say. Same goes for your machinists, material handlers, buyers, etc.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 24 Jan 2022 21:44:07 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30064476</link><dc:creator>clivefx</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30064476</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30064476</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by clivefx in "Facebook seems to have posted a creepy holocaust meme in my name"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Theories: 1. I was looking through a bunch of old facebook photos of myself last night. Maybe I triggered a job that scans all old photos through the modern facebook image analyzer. 
Problem with that theory: I don't think I was enough of an edge lord to post that ever. I don't remember ever posting anything like that. I am Jewish. Also, there were no likes, no comments, and there was not date to the post, just said 2 hours ago<p>2. Someone figured a way to hack a facebook API such that it looks like pictures are posted by me. Possible. Maybe he found the API keys for Pixelpipe or some other defunct system. Thing is, the picture never actually showed up on my wall, and was not hooked into the dbase as being posted by me as there was no profile photo, name or timestamp. It never made it to the public, it just appears to be sent to me, directly, through an obscure conduit of a notification of censorship. 
Also: Why just me, and why a nine inch nails song as the comment?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 25 Jun 2019 22:03:33 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20279501</link><dc:creator>clivefx</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20279501</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20279501</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Facebook seems to have posted a creepy holocaust meme in my name]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I am really shook because it appears that my facebook account was compromised in a really sophisticated way. This is a real-life creepypasta<p>Screenshots to follow, showing all the details, but here is the story
This morning I woke up, and I checked my facebook notifications on the mobile app. There were some comments on my falcon heavy post last night, but there was an alert that "one of my photos has been hidden from view because it might have explicit or violent content" 
So I clicked on it, and it showed me to a post that had a hidden image, and the comment "as your time is running out" 
That line is important, will get to it later
interestingly enough, the profile picture that shows who posted the image? It's not me. It's just the default blank profile picture, with Facebook as the username 
I click the "show image" button, and it is a picture of a mass grave from the holocaust 
I click the edit button, and it switches the default profile/name to my face and name
so I cancel the edit, and it is back to the default profile/name
I check my wall. No image or post has been posted 
I check my photos. No images or post has been posted 
It was only visible in my notifications, it had not "stuck" to my wall, or into my gallery
so I delete the post after screen shoting everything 
I think I recognize the line, and low and behold, it is a lyric from In This Twilight, from Year Zero by NIN, which is an album about the apocalypse.  
So I turn on 2FA. I check my activity log. I check my devices log,only my phone, my work computer and my home computer in the past few months. Nothing untoward.<p>What the hell is going on? 
Here is an image gallery: 
https://imgur.com/a/0rDAILa</p>
<hr>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20279498">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20279498</a></p>
<p>Points: 1</p>
<p># Comments: 1</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 25 Jun 2019 22:03:27 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20279498</link><dc:creator>clivefx</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20279498</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20279498</guid></item></channel></rss>