Hacker News: flybrand

New comment by flybrand in "Colorado River plummets as lakes Powell and Mead drop to record lows"

flybrand — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 22:55:02 +0000

When the West was settled it was widely believed that the act of building a town attracted rain. The 'atmosphere' of human buildings in an area would naturally attract and collect rain from the heavens. Many of the original methods used to estimate water, rainfall, and other essentials for human survival were wrong.

Most of them are catalogued in the outstanding Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner - an excellent book with an outstanding audiobook too.

https://www.amazon.com/Cadillac-Desert-American-Disappearing...

New comment by flybrand in "Airbus Full Scale Foldable Wing Extensions"

flybrand — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 16:39:15 +0000

It begs for a video too!

New comment by flybrand in "Why does paper fold so well?"

flybrand — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 16:06:56 +0000

because the fibers are denser than wood and hydrophilic - so the pockets between the fibers fill with water that displaces the air.

Air pockets become water pockets = neutral.

Fibers denser than water = sink.

New comment by flybrand in "1worldflag: A blue dot on a transparent background"

flybrand — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 01:14:40 +0000

How would we represent this as a sticker on a vehicle?

White outline around the clear field w blue dot?

New comment by flybrand in "The West forgot how to make things, now it’s forgetting how to code"

flybrand — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 14:10:23 +0000

> Which in turn means, in their mind, every part of the system needs to be firing at 100% all the time

This is a classic Goldratt / Theory of Constraints mistake.

New comment by flybrand in "ChatGPT for Excel"

flybrand — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 22:27:30 +0000

Several months ago, ChatGPT swore to me it had interoperability with both excel and Google Sheets. I spent 90 minutes thinking I was an idiot, trying to follow its guidance before asking the internet.

New comment by flybrand in "Judge finalizes order for Greenpeace to pay $345M in ND oil pipeline case"

flybrand — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 16:40:18 +0000

I had a similar experience with the US EPA while in undergrad. It was a shorter experience, but it really changed my view of the organization.

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

flybrand — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 20:54:16 +0000

It's common. People would rather work in a Wal-Mart as it is more social and less demanding. The physical space is nicer.

New comment by flybrand in "Work is not school: Surviving institutional stupidity"

flybrand — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 16:04:44 +0000

> 8) Abuse is abuse, and people negligent in doing anything about it are participating in it. Get toxicity out of your life.

This needs to be taught more actively in school. Negligence in stopping abuse, or fostering abuse = just as immoral as abuse.

AI in SMB Manufacturing: What Worked and What Did Not

flybrand — Thu, 29 May 2025 17:40:09 +0000

Article URL: https://fredlybrand.com/2025/05/29/ai-in-manufacturing-what-worked-and-what-did-not/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44128318

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

Beyond Bottlenecks: Using Goldratt's the Goal to Guide AI in Manufacturing

flybrand — Tue, 27 May 2025 23:03:36 +0000

Article URL: https://fredlybrand.com/2025/05/27/beyond-bottlenecks-using-goldratts-the-goal-to-guide-ai-in-manufacturing/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44111423

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by flybrand in "Sonos CEO steps down after app update debacle"

flybrand — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 02:31:10 +0000

we moved into a home that had wired speakers installed in every room all to a central Sonos enabled device - it is all old. It worked perfectly until this.

Funny thing is, we thought it was silly when we moved in - then we grew to love it. Now I hate them!

New comment by flybrand in "'Rare species' not seen in the area for 50 years spotted on Arizona trail camera"

flybrand — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 01:17:13 +0000

thank you

New comment by flybrand in "A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee"

flybrand — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 11:32:14 +0000

View it as a separation process wherein both products can be sold; the caffeine extract is also profitable.

New comment by flybrand in "Brain biopsies on 'vulnerable' patients at Mt Sinai set off alarm bells at FDA"

flybrand — Wed, 15 May 2024 19:40:44 +0000

There’s a saying I’ve heard, can’t fully recall, “why go to the doctor - I either get a cut, an injection, or nothing.”

New comment by flybrand in "The invisible seafaring industry that keeps the internet afloat"

flybrand — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 14:15:13 +0000

The kid can see the marshmallow. I can’t see the payoff from this article.

The kid knows what the payoff is.

The payoff here is unknown.

New comment by flybrand in "Silicon spikes take out 96% of virus particles"

flybrand — Sun, 31 Mar 2024 14:32:23 +0000

Agreed - we’ve got a lot of ‘forever materials’ out on the beach and converted into glass windows.

New comment by flybrand in "Silicon spikes take out 96% of virus particles"

flybrand — Sun, 31 Mar 2024 14:31:31 +0000

And that becomes a common constraint in commercializing new antimicrobial and antiviral products.

New comment by flybrand in "Silicon spikes take out 96% of virus particles"

flybrand — Sun, 31 Mar 2024 14:30:15 +0000

> the spike design to be extremely effective at damaging the virus’ external structure and piercing its membranes

It’s always great to see more methods of microorganism control - but the challenge here is that the same mechanism likely kills many other microorganisms. Testing it to see that it is ‘safe’ in other settings is expensive and time consuming.

New comment by flybrand in "Scientists traced a mysterious Covid case back to six toilets"

flybrand — Sun, 24 Mar 2024 22:08:49 +0000

> could it mean that the massive covid infection in the gut didn’t show up on a nasal swab?

Shouldn’t they have known that beforehand? Isn’t that a big red flag in this entire endeavor?