Hacker News: dano

New comment by dano in "The Soul of an Old Machine"

dano — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 04:45:59 +0000

Honestly, when I read this book in 1982 or so it changed the trajectory of my life and career. It is an story of a bet-the-business project that occurred in real life. After reading I though I was late to the tech party, missed out on so much, and yet, here we are, 45 years later with incredible advancements and a career I couldn't have imagined. Tracy Kidder was a gem of an individual, just a wonderful person who was truly interested in others. I hope you'll read the book soon.

New comment by dano in "'The French people want to save us': help pours in for glassmaker Duralex"

dano — Sat, 22 Nov 2025 18:40:34 +0000

During a trip to Venice I had the good fortune of touring http://www.giuman.it/ and it was highly educational. Bringing the furnaces up to temperature takes time and turning them off each day isn't a good option. Gas comes primarily from Russia and price spikes have really hurt the business.

New comment by dano in "HP1345A (and wargames) (2017)"

dano — Sun, 12 Oct 2025 23:17:01 +0000

One should note the officers in the missile silo at the opening of the film:

Michael Madsen of Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill, and John Spencer of L.A. Law and of course, The West Wing.

New comment by dano in "Farewell friends"

dano — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 03:06:27 +0000

Second this. My father passed suddenly and the recordings we made a year before while looking at newly digitized family movies are a treasure. I get to hear his voice. Mom passed 30 years ago and I have some speeches she gave recorded, but it isn't the same.

Here's a conversation outline from StoryCorps https://storycorps.org/participate/tips-for-a-great-conversa...

New comment by dano in "New bill would give Marco Rubio 'thought police' power to revoke US passports"

dano — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 02:02:49 +0000

I think this the text of the as yet unnumbered HR. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA00/20250917/118618/BILL...

New comment by dano in "Protobuffers Are Wrong (2018)"

dano — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 15:57:47 +0000

It is a 7 year old article without specifying alternatives to an "already solved problem."

So HN, what are the best alternatives available today and why?

New comment by dano in "US to review all 55M visas to check if holders broke rules"

dano — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 03:17:21 +0000

They want leverage

New comment by dano in "EdgeDB is now Gel and Postgres is the future"

dano — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 03:55:11 +0000

Yep. I converted a business from to Postgres in 2004 and never looked back. Stable, reliable, no surprises. Postgres is the answer until proven otherwise.

New comment by dano in "Lessons in creating family photos that people want to keep (2018)"

dano — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 00:26:57 +0000

There was a similar journey for our family after our parents passed and indeed, the photos with people doing ordinary things are the ones we share and enjoy. The Grand Canyon has a way of looking the same now as it did in 1955 and so those photos were discarded. Five boxes of photo albums were examined and the photos to keep were cut out and sent to be digitized organized by year and topic. I am glad someone wrote about their experience and the tips that come from having spent examining a life well photographed.

New comment by dano in "The case for letting Malibu burn (1995)"

dano — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 00:45:30 +0000

Here is a screenshot of Pacific Palisades property taxes https://imgur.com/a/1G6pLap

More exploration can be done here https://www.officialdata.org/ca-property-tax/#34.04626347956...

New comment by dano in "Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things"

dano — Fri, 10 Jan 2025 15:07:56 +0000

I'd recommend Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. It covers the trials and tribulations as well as the brilliance and ruthless tactics taken to build Standard Oil.

New comment by dano in "1972 Mercedes-Benz 600 Kompressor [video]"

dano — Sun, 05 Jan 2025 20:24:54 +0000

"Why yes, I am a third world dictator."

New comment by dano in "60 Years of Spaceflight Patches"

dano — Sun, 05 Jan 2025 20:23:17 +0000

Had to dig around to find this https://www.thespacereview.com/article/1197/1

New comment by dano in "ASML Twinscan EXE:5000 Lego Set"

dano — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 21:12:08 +0000

Ha ha, too funny.

New comment by dano in "NASA reconnected with Voyager 1 after a brief pause"

dano — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 12:10:05 +0000

My sunbeam automatic toaster is working just fine thank you very much. :-)

New comment by dano in "Appalachian Trail Hiker Photo Archive"

dano — Sun, 08 Sep 2024 00:56:55 +0000

Thanks for the story about your friend Geof. It was touching and made this archive just that much more valuable. Hope you have a few more good memories today.

New comment by dano in "Show HN: High school robotics code/CAD/design binder release"

dano — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 22:33:54 +0000

If you have an interest in FRC, consider becoming a mentor at a local program in your area. I've mentored Team 812 in La Jolla California for about 14 years. It's incredibly rewarding.

https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/volunteer/men...

New comment by dano in "Doing vibes-based engineering right"

dano — Sat, 17 Aug 2024 06:18:07 +0000

https://web.archive.org/web/20240817060005/https://forestfri...

New comment by dano in "Slow is smooth, smooth is fast: Navy SEALs' efficiency secret"

dano — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 23:31:22 +0000

Thank you! I love the history of this phrase https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festina_lente

New comment by dano in "The 1986 Oldsmobile Incas Dashboard (2020)"

dano — Sun, 11 Aug 2024 19:15:25 +0000

I suspect designers rather than engineers. General Motors has always been the bigger fins are better company.