Hacker News: frickinLasers

New comment by frickinLasers in "Mexican student creates an acoustic fire extinguisher to put out fire in seconds"

frickinLasers — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 02:28:00 +0000

I wonder if she got the idea from https://www.sonicfiretech.com/

New comment by frickinLasers in "Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)"

frickinLasers — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:03:22 +0000

I think you might be misreading this person. If the point of homework is to learn the subject, while tests assess your understanding of the subject, why do the homework if you already have a strong grasp on it as soon as the teacher explains it? If the point of doing homework is to keep you busy, there are better things to do with one's childhood. Unless the disability you're referring to is that they never learned how to struggle (because no struggle was offered)...

New comment by frickinLasers in "San Francisco: Don't Fall for Industry Defense of Surveillance Pricing"

frickinLasers — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 16:57:52 +0000

I come from a culture where the price is always listed. If I don't like the price, I'll either find a better deal somewhere else (shop) or not buy. Any time I'm forced to barter with a person I lose, because I do feel guilty about it. I feel bad that you won't get as much money as you think you should, despite the low balance in my bank account.

Some people seem to feel they have a right to help others get ripped off because they're not schemers. I don't feel I owe you that.

New comment by frickinLasers in "U.S. science is in chaos"

frickinLasers — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 15:11:22 +0000

I'm not going to bother to write an essay like the other person.

Here is a scientific outcome that directly impacts the quality of medicine a majority of American citizens receive: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle...

Research in progress to address these issues was cancelled by DOGE because "melanin content of the skin." "Do your own research" if you care to, or fuck off.

New comment by frickinLasers in "A message from President Kornbluth about funding and the talent pipeline"

frickinLasers — Thu, 14 May 2026 16:33:04 +0000

Great question! Mostly it goes toward maintaining the campus and paying the admin folks. PIs are paid to teach, basically, and are expected to pull in the money to support their own research (and maintain their facilities and pay the admin folks).

New comment by frickinLasers in "Show HN: I turned a sketch into a 3D-print pegboard for my kid with an AI agent"

frickinLasers — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 06:48:34 +0000

Aside from the occasional problems like printers waking up at night to print gibberish [0] and attempts at locking down their ecosystem [1], Bambu Lab makes the most consistent, reliable printers for casual use you will find.

[0] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/3d-printers-print-br... [1] https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/bambu-lab-controversy-de...

New comment by frickinLasers in "Total monthly number of StackOverflow questions over time"

frickinLasers — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 07:18:31 +0000

How about if people with a higher reputation contribute an exponentially higher score when voting? Like, someone with ten top-rated answers has a 1,000-point vote (more nuanced than that, obviously).

New comment by frickinLasers in "Microsoft has a problem: lack of demand for its AI products"

frickinLasers — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 17:57:48 +0000

As someone who is essentially financially illiterate, what does this mean, "allocate resources efficiently?" Nobody's investing in companies that promise to cure world hunger or alleviate childhood suffering. They're investing in technologies that can extract the most wealth from the population, regardless of externalities. Is that desirable?

Then again, I can't fathom what people would be doing with their money if the stock market weren't there. I imagine they might naturally wind up with some sort of...stock market.

New comment by frickinLasers in "VOC injection into a house reveals large surface reservoir sizes"

frickinLasers — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 18:01:57 +0000

Yes, it probably is. Have you ever heard of the spherical cow?*

Simplifying the surface makes it possible to model the system with equations that can be solved analytically--which gives theorists something to work on. Modeling more complex systems (which often happens, eventually) typically requires lots of computing power and results in a model that doesn't generalize well.

* https://www.sphericalcowblog.com/spherical-cows

New comment by frickinLasers in "Ebola outbreak in DR Congo rages, with 61% death rate and funding running dry"

frickinLasers — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 17:00:38 +0000

I hope you're not implying they're already digging mass graves. Some are unaccounted for--they're probably in Guatemala or something. Some will die. But I don't see the gas chambers being built for, like, another six months at least.

New comment by frickinLasers in "Ebola outbreak in DR Congo rages, with 61% death rate and funding running dry"

frickinLasers — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 15:26:49 +0000

> who knows how many have died in detention facilities

If you're talking about ICE, it's officially 15 so far this year. [0]

While this outbreak is bad for DR Congo, I wonder whether they will be able to contain it within their borders without adequate support.

[0] https://www.borderreport.com/hot-topics/border-report-live/b...

New comment by frickinLasers in "Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android"

frickinLasers — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 17:27:02 +0000

Hmm...I wonder if it matters which browser is being used.

New comment by frickinLasers in "Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android"

frickinLasers — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 14:04:18 +0000

My US bank removed check deposits from the browser about a decade ago, and I haven't met anyone who can use Zelle without an app.

New comment by frickinLasers in "When DEF CON partners with the U.S. Army"

frickinLasers — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 04:45:06 +0000

> You can actually see this cognitive dissonance play out most overtly in Wikipedia's definition of authoritarianism.

I'd say a more overt example is playing out on the national stage, where protests in support of (murdered, raped, and starving) Palestinians in Gaza are crushed, because the alternative is to have the executive branch try to extort a $Billion dollars from the host campus, putting universities in peril, to help buy another gold-plated plane or something.

New comment by frickinLasers in "PYX: The next step in Python packaging"

frickinLasers — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 03:54:50 +0000

Is that much different than the python inline script format?

https://peps.python.org/pep-0723/

New comment by frickinLasers in "ESIM Security"

frickinLasers — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 02:51:04 +0000

Would be nice to have a page full of forum posts like this for various cars.

Incidentally, this link recommends termination resistors, which I think are the better answer if there's a suitable connector (which I imagine is the case for most cars). If it's not terminated, I believe it can still pick up a nontrivial signal.

New comment by frickinLasers in "ESIM Security"

frickinLasers — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 13:12:48 +0000

Do you have examples of cars (that aren't Teslas, perhaps, since they don't play by normal car rules) having been disabled due to lack of cell service?

New comment by frickinLasers in "AI in my plasma physics research didn’t go the way I expected"

frickinLasers — Wed, 21 May 2025 15:41:44 +0000

This doesn't seem possible, because self interest will always lead to hacking the structure for better returns, and technology accelerates the ability to do that. It seems to me that whatever is put in place to direct selfish behavior toward good will eventually be rerouted or broken for one exceptionally selfish asshole or group.

New comment by frickinLasers in "Reports of the death of California High-Speed Rail have been greatly exaggerated"

frickinLasers — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 14:41:08 +0000

Okay, but the I-5 doesn't bother with loops and tunnels. It just barrels right over the top of the mountains, including a 5-mile section of 6% grade according to the sign (https://www.crashforensics.com/tejonpass.cfm). Trucks struggle to crawl over the top at like 30 mph, with tires. It's not exactly a roller coaster hill to be overcome with inertia.

New comment by frickinLasers in "Reports of the death of California High-Speed Rail have been greatly exaggerated"

frickinLasers — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 01:53:24 +0000

You mean the train? I don't think they do well with steep grades [1].

[1] https://engineering.stackexchange.com/questions/23106/what-d...