Hacker News: humanpotato

New comment by humanpotato in "Am I German or Autistic?"

humanpotato — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 15:19:16 +0000

I got 36% German, 33% Autistic.

I didn't think I was that normal, but here we are.

New comment by humanpotato in "Lessons you will learn living in a snowy place"

humanpotato — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 20:47:37 +0000

The only sane way unless you have not enough water to fill the tank. Oh wait, you can fill it with that solid water on the ground, as long as you give it a few hours to melt from the ambient heat in the house between each use.

New comment by humanpotato in "Heathrow scraps liquid container limit"

humanpotato — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 18:29:42 +0000

Recently, I worked all day at an ammunition plant, then the next day got may hands swabbed by TSA. Nothing detected by the machine.

Makes you wonder.

New comment by humanpotato in "Historic Engineering Wonders: Photos That Reveal How They Pulled It Off"

humanpotato — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 20:01:13 +0000

The gear teeth are cut with a file. For the angularity, draw a circle with a compass and subdivide it by measuring linearly with a measuring tool. This can be done larger than the part, and the teeth locations marked with a straightedge. By cutting the teeth where marked, you avoid a stack-up of error.

New comment by humanpotato in "The only GM EV1 ever publicly sold"

humanpotato — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 13:23:06 +0000

Traditionally, lack of demand and the fact that GM was fastidious about keeping them off the road means that they would probably threaten a lawsuit. Electric cars in general have only become popular in the last 5-10 years; the lore of the EV1 has grown accordingly.

Copyright law for art and sculpture requires registration of each design; in searching the copyright records it appears that GM doesn't do this. Really the more appropriate forum would be to get a design patent but those last for only 15 years anyway.

Trademarks must be registered (and also apply to specific categories, though a kit car and production car are in the same category). Surprisngly, "EV1" is owned not by GM, but by Kia (the graphic is different). What this means is you can make the (GM) EV1 logo no problem, and also sell a kit car as something like "inspired by the GM EV1" but if you sell it as an "EV1" then Kia might come knocking.

In short, I don't see much getting in the way of making an EV1 kit car as long as you don't advertise it as a literal GM or EV1 car. Though as stated, you can include or sell separately an EV1 badge that buyers can slap on their own property without issue.

New comment by humanpotato in "Maestro Technology Sells Used SSD Drives as New"

humanpotato — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 20:04:26 +0000

Alcohol or lacquer thinner will remove Sharpie in no time. I use Sharpies as temporary markers on smooth metal for this reason.

New comment by humanpotato in "Apple vs the Law"

humanpotato — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 11:27:18 +0000

I have no idea, as the two dumbest Macs, the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh and the "Trashcan" Mac, were before and after Jobs, respectively.

New comment by humanpotato in "A Emoji Reverse Polish Notation Calculator Written in COBOL"

humanpotato — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 16:52:58 +0000

A sentence I did not expect to read today.

New comment by humanpotato in "Congestion pricing in Manhattan is a predictable success"

humanpotato — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 17:55:09 +0000

Already 90-95% get around without a car and the rest are paying. Car traffic is necessary to an extent. Compare how shipping companies offer Next Day Early AM shipping for 10x the cost of 4 day shipping. Hardly anyone uses it, but when you need it, you are glad to have that expensive option.

New comment by humanpotato in "What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)"

humanpotato — Mon, 19 May 2025 12:35:52 +0000

Steve Jobs did this, he got a new car every 6 months yet for years only drove a 911, then an MB SL55. Why have to learn a new car when you like what you drive?

https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/but-wait-theres-more/a1704...

New comment by humanpotato in "A university president makes a case against cowardice"

humanpotato — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 18:29:04 +0000

Consider that any competent manager will value polite debate and constructive criticism far more than the empty words of "yes" men.

Guess which category "reasonable ... consideration and appreciation" falls into.

Put another way, if you read North Korean state media, you will find that they always have a reasonable level of consideration and appreciation for their government.

New comment by humanpotato in "Designing Electronics That Work"

humanpotato — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 15:26:23 +0000

Occasionally I will "wash" dirty PCBs by spraying them with 50% ethanol, 50% water, then drying them with an air gun or the like to get the water off in a reasonable time.

Nearly any properly designed board will not hold residual voltage for long when disconnected from power, so the slight conductivity of tap water is a non-issue.

New comment by humanpotato in "A 10-Year Battery for AirTag"

humanpotato — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 19:32:47 +0000

What is the point of CNC machined screws? I have only seen that type of thing on specialized military applications and the like.

I'm sure standard rolled screws would be just fine...

New comment by humanpotato in "C-Motive's electrostatic motors use printed circuit boards instead of magnets"

humanpotato — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 15:07:03 +0000

Another page on the site gives 500 RPM on the high end.

https://www.c-motive.com/about/faqs/

New comment by humanpotato in "The Rise and Decline of Vector Graphic (1985)"

humanpotato — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 18:41:40 +0000

Interesting story I guess, but what's the relevance?

New comment by humanpotato in "Are Blue Checks Uncool Now?"

humanpotato — Sun, 30 Apr 2023 19:51:52 +0000

Yes. Obviously.

A more insightful question is "were they ever cool?" It's hard to think of any company or figure, before or after the Twitter purchase, where them gaining a blue check made them "cool", or even fractionally moreso.

New comment by humanpotato in "Ask HN: Why do some electronics use 6.2 volts DC?"

humanpotato — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 18:23:47 +0000

They are not 14.5V charged. They need about 14V to charge.

https://footprinthero.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Lead-Ac...

New comment by humanpotato in "Ask HN: How many websites, apps or notifications do you look at to “catch-up”?"

humanpotato — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 15:10:03 +0000

- Reddit

- Discord (mostly a single server)

- a video game website

- a car website

- HN (weekdays)

- 3 emails (not including work)

Less common:

- Facebook/Messenger

Does growth mindset matter? The debate heats up

humanpotato — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 13:38:03 +0000

Article URL: https://hechingerreport.org/proof-points-does-growth-mindset-matter-the-debate-heats-up/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35600513

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by humanpotato in "List of Citogenesis Incidents"

humanpotato — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 17:13:45 +0000

Many years ago I discovered and wrote the bullet in this article about the Zimbabwean hyperinflation:

"It is well known that Zimbabwe experienced severe hyperinflation in 2008..."

Very interesting article as a whole, of course.