Hacker News: jakedata

New comment by jakedata in "Flock Flocked up: How a license plate camera misread unraveled one man's life"

jakedata — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 23:31:32 +0000

^f settlement

$35,000 for being attacked by a police dog, hospitalized and jailed for hours. Nope. I'd ride that to the supreme court. He is lucky he wasn't shot for a 'misread'.

New comment by jakedata in "Giant barocaloric cooling effect offers a new route to refrigeration"

jakedata — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 20:31:17 +0000

To get a feel for this effect, activate an instant ice pack. Mixing ammonium nitrate with water is an endothermic reaction, instantly making the pack cool down. Being able to reverse a reaction like this simply by applying pressure is fascinating.

New comment by jakedata in "Downsides to US-Canadian dual citizenship for US resident?"

jakedata — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 10:17:15 +0000

My US-born child qualifies for US-Canadian dual citizenship under Citizenship Act Bill C-3. I can see several upsides to having a Canadian passport but what are the potential downsides for a US citizen and resident that does not intend to relocate?

Downsides to US-Canadian dual citizenship for US resident?

jakedata — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 10:17:15 +0000

Article URL: https://immigration.ca/claiming-canadian-citizenship-by-descent-under-canadas-new-citizenship-act-bill-c-3/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46973210

Points: 3

# Comments: 3

New comment by jakedata in "Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down"

jakedata — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 20:15:22 +0000

There was a Windows 2000 bug that would allow the computer to be crashed via a malformed IrDA packet. Of course someone crafted a Palm Pilot app to zonk all the vulnerable PCs in the vicinity. It worked on servers as well. Endless fun for a little while.

New comment by jakedata in "Television is 100 years old today"

jakedata — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 17:56:12 +0000

Inspired one of my absolute favorite Zappa grooves.

I am the Slime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiCQcEW98OY

I am gross and perverted

I'm obsessed and deranged

I have existed for years

But very little has changed

I'm the tool of the Government

And industry too

For I am destined to rule

And regulate you

I may be vile and pernicious

But you can't look away

I make you think I'm delicious

With the stuff that I say

I'm the best you can get

Have you guessed me yet?

I'm the slime oozin' out

From your TV set

You will obey me while I lead you

And eat the garbage that I feed you

Until the day that we don't need you

Don't go for help, no one will heed you

Your mind is totally controlled

It has been stuffed into my mold

And you will do as you are told

Until the rights to you are sold

That's right, folks

Don't touch that dial

Well, I am the slime from your video

Oozin' along on your livin' room floor

I am the slime from your video

Can't stop the slime, people, look at me go

I am the slime from your video

Oozin' along on your livin' room floor

I am the slime from your video

Can't stop the slime, people, look at me go

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Frank Zappa

I'm The Slime lyrics © Munchkin Music Co

New comment by jakedata in "Doing gigabit Ethernet over my British phone wires"

jakedata — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 11:59:48 +0000

I connected self powered crank telephones to my home phone wiring for use as intercoms. Crank one and the others ring. Pick up to engage the battery powered talk circuit and you're chatting with Mabel like it's 1915. I did replace the old dry cell batteries with lithium camera cells so I don't need to think about them for a decade.

New comment by jakedata in "Sega Channel: VGHF Recovers over 100 Sega Channel ROMs (and More)"

jakedata — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 21:41:27 +0000

If it was Nintendo instead of Sega, everyone would be slapped with a cease-and-desist backed up with the threat of lawsuits.

New comment by jakedata in "Making tiny 0.1cc two stroke engine from scratch"

jakedata — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 13:14:58 +0000

The second I heard that engine fire it was 1986 in my brain again. I could smell the fuel and feel the finger damage from repeatedly trying to get the darned thing to start. Followed by damage on the other side of the finger when it actually did. Ouch.

New comment by jakedata in "Employee quits job over an Nvidia RTX 5060"

jakedata — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 01:28:34 +0000

This is an extremely salient point:

...some mockingly asking whether the firm would've maintained the same tenacity and reimbursed the Intern had he been fined 50,000 RMB at the event instead

New comment by jakedata in "At SC2025 the exhibitors theme seems to be on-prem again"

jakedata — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 19:08:20 +0000

It seemed like the future was all cloud but this year's exhibit hall was packed with infrastructure suppliers. Every third booth seemed to feature valves, pumps, massive high density power distribution systems and all the stuff you would need to cram a megawatt of electrical power into the smallest space possible and then extract the heat. Most notable to me is the waterless phase-change heat extraction provided by https://zutacore.com/. Their technology avoids massive water consumption and provides a high temperature heat source that is immediately useful for campus heating or co-generation.

At SC2025 the exhibitors theme seems to be on-prem again

jakedata — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 19:08:20 +0000

Article URL: https://sc25.supercomputing.org/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45996389

Points: 2

# Comments: 2

New comment by jakedata in "Lucent 7 R/E 5ESS Telephone Switch Rescue (2024)"

jakedata — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:50:59 +0000

Visiting Bletchley Park and seeing step-by-step telephone switching equipment repurposed for computing re-enforced my appreciation for the brilliance of the telecommunication systems we created in the past 150 years. Packet switching was inevitable and IP everything makes sense in today's world, but something was lost in that transition too. I am glad to see that enthusiasts with the will and means are working to preserve some of that history. -Posted from SC2025-

New comment by jakedata in "Photos: New Phoenix Microcenter is a 'tech-heaven' for geeks"

jakedata — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 00:15:21 +0000

The Microcenter in Cambridge (MA) finally updated their sign to modernize the rainbow Apple logo a few years ago. I hope it's stashed somewhere, to me it's more iconic than the Citgo sign a few miles away. They have added some components and kits but it doesn't fill the yawning void left by You-Do-It Electronics shutting down a year ago, or Radio Shack's slow motion demise.

New comment by jakedata in "Rivian's TM-B electric bike"

jakedata — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 22:44:41 +0000

I don't plan to bike commute in the winter, it is too dark AM and PM. Have you tested your LiFePO4 batteries in low temperatures?

New comment by jakedata in "Rivian's TM-B electric bike"

jakedata — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 22:24:18 +0000

Sure if you can't DIY. It's a 20 year old Fuji chromoly-frame mountain bike with Shimano components. My biggest expense was new batteries, followed by heavy duty e-bike brake pads. What did you pay to build yours?

New comment by jakedata in "Rivian's TM-B electric bike"

jakedata — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 21:06:44 +0000

Oh, clearly. But for that money I'd buy a really nice BMW i3 REX. Obviously not an option for everyone.

New comment by jakedata in "Rivian's TM-B electric bike"

jakedata — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 21:04:48 +0000

I am using 3x 12v 185wh batteries in series. Realistically I can count on around 500wh. They are only 3 lbs each and fit neatly within the frame of the mtb. I don't like having them up on the rear rack, they tend to make the tail of the bike wag a bit compared to low and centered.

https://old.reddit.com/r/ebikes/comments/1o0qthk/dynagirl_ri...

I just 3d printed protective covers for them last week when marketing turned their back on the new Bambu printer.

New comment by jakedata in "Rivian's TM-B electric bike"

jakedata — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 20:58:42 +0000

I just added strips of fake fur to the straps my boring old helmet to diffuse the wind noise the same way a "dead cat" cover on a microphone does. They look a bit like muttonchops which is a bonus as far as I am concerned. I use wraparound bone conduction headphones that don't block my ears. I would be afraid of losing an expensive earbud.

New comment by jakedata in "Rivian's TM-B electric bike"

jakedata — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 20:21:14 +0000

$4500 is ten or more of my homebrew 750 watt electric mountain bike originally built in 2004. I just repowered with LiFePO4 after 10 years in storage and the new batteries really pull. It has a front hub motor with a throttle control limited to 20 mph. My commute is 10 miles, 6 on a dedicated bike path. Life is good.