Hacker News: mirimir

New comment by mirimir in "What’s Flying Above Us?"

mirimir — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 04:57:56 +0000

Thank you. This is crucial information.

New comment by mirimir in "Death Valley soars to 130 degrees, Earth’s highest temperature since 1931"

mirimir — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 03:36:56 +0000

If the relative humidity is low enough, it might be 25°C or less.[0]

0) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychrometrics#/media/File:Psy...

New comment by mirimir in "Kapton: Miracle Material with a Tragic History"

mirimir — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 23:16:51 +0000

Right, we know that it's not a huge problem because not that many planes are crashing.

Also, I suspect that circuit checks could detect at least some shorts in wiring that can't be physically inspected.

New comment by mirimir in "A Nixon deepfake, a 'moon disaster' speech and an information ecosystem at risk"

mirimir — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 04:57:05 +0000

This is a fake, sure. Maybe it's not perfect, but the software is improving. So within a few years, I'm guessing that fakes will be indistinguishable from true recordings.

But this was based on the text of an actual speech written for President Nixen, to be delivered if the mission failed. So isn't it likely that he practiced it, just in case? And if he did, it might have been recorded, more or less accidentally. As Reagan's quip about nuking Russia was.

And so as others note, it becomes crucial to look at the historical context.

New comment by mirimir in "No net insect abundance and diversity declines across US"

mirimir — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 03:55:30 +0000

Yeah, this ought to be the top thread ;)

A few careers ago, some agribusiness dude asked me why I opposed the introduction of nonnative species, given that I was concerned about biodiversity loss.

New comment by mirimir in "The tragic physics of the deadly explosion in Beirut"

mirimir — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 03:55:05 +0000

As I understand it, decomposition of ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) alone produces a mixture of ammonia (NH3), nitric acid (HNO3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), and water (H2O). But if there's a reducing agent around, such as charcoal, coal or fuel oil, you'll get lots of diatomic nitrogen.

New comment by mirimir in "The tragic physics of the deadly explosion in Beirut"

mirimir — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 02:45:31 +0000

> They do need an oxidiser though.

When lead azide detonates, you get elemental lead and diatomic nitrogen. So yes, the Pb++ oxidizes the azide.

When acetylene detonates, you get a mixture of organic compounds. But I don't believe that there's any redox involved. You just get various hydrocarbons with single and double carbon-carbon bonds. And just to be clear, this is when there's no oxidizing agent present.

New comment by mirimir in "The tragic physics of the deadly explosion in Beirut"

mirimir — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 01:56:12 +0000

And if you're "inside" an explosion that's too slow to generate a shock wave, you may not even be seriously injured.[0] At least, if the pressure spike is too low to rupture your body. And as long as objects don't get accelerated toward you.

As a child, a friend and I were electrolyzing water, in an enclosed space. And so the hydrogen flashed. But the concentration was so low that the air just turned faint blue. There was no damage, to us or the building.

0) https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/114372936/how-did-anyone-su...

New comment by mirimir in "The tragic physics of the deadly explosion in Beirut"

mirimir — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 01:26:29 +0000

> In an explosion, however, the devilish little instigator that is oxygen shoves the process into overdrive.

It's a great article, and I know that I'm being pedantic, but chemical explosions need not involve oxygen. For example, consider acetylene and silver acetylide, with a carbon-carbon triple bond. Or lead azide, with a nitrogen-nitrogen triple bond.

New comment by mirimir in "That UPS you bought for your home server may not be as useful as you think"

mirimir — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 21:50:10 +0000

I've always used line-interactive aka double-conversion UPS. Both because of the battery failure issue, and to protect equipment from crappy generator power. Basically there are rectifier and inverter circuits, with batteries on the DC side.

New comment by mirimir in "Why is America stuck with bad headlights?"

mirimir — Tue, 04 Aug 2020 09:42:53 +0000

> Each of the 911's lighting units includes 84 individually controlled LEDs that allow the car to continuously morph the pattern of its beams. When a car approaches in the oncoming lane, the 911's headlights dim around it while leaving the rest of the pattern bright. The other driver doesn't get blinded, but you still have blazing lights on your side.

That is amazing. And I suspect that one could incorporate more autopilot technology. Perhaps to better illuminate pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, and wildlife. Also perhaps police vehicles, identified through markings and/or tag number.

New comment by mirimir in "“Zombie cicadas” infected with mind-controlling fungus return to West Virginia"

mirimir — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 08:14:32 +0000

I have eaten dried grasshoppers with beer. And actually, it's less gross than pork rinds ;)

New comment by mirimir in "“Zombie cicadas” infected with mind-controlling fungus return to West Virginia"

mirimir — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 01:39:51 +0000

> But, there's no need to be concerned about being infected by the zombies. Unlike murder hornets or mosquitoes, these zombie cicadas are generally harmless to humans, researchers said.

I wonder if they're a workable source of psilocybin.

New comment by mirimir in "DoNotPay Unsubscribes You from Spam–and Tries to Get You Paid"

mirimir — Tue, 28 Jul 2020 03:22:54 +0000

I wonder whether disposable credit cards protect against this.

https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-protect-yourself-online-...

New comment by mirimir in "DoNotPay Unsubscribes You from Spam–and Tries to Get You Paid"

mirimir — Tue, 28 Jul 2020 03:16:33 +0000

Well, it does sound like a very useful service.

I wonder how they could have gone that far off the rails. Maybe they got taken over by investors, or acquired.

New comment by mirimir in "Sledding athletes are taking their lives"

mirimir — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 02:48:19 +0000

Not OP, but I'm guessing that they think athletes just contribute mass.

New comment by mirimir in "Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)"

mirimir — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 00:44:35 +0000

PinePhone: https://liliputing.com/2020/07/pinephone-convergence-pack-us...

USB-C to Ethernet

New comment by mirimir in "When Hubble stared at nothing for 100 hours (2015)"

mirimir — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 22:36:43 +0000

Right, I suspect that there was much more behind Bob's deep field study than TFA presents.

New comment by mirimir in "Perseverance Toward Life Goals Can Fend Off Depression, Anxiety, Panic Disorders"

mirimir — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 22:12:52 +0000

Sure. But in my experience, what works better is remembering happy times. Or rather, represencing happy states.

And once I'm being happy and optimistic, it's natural to persevere and accomplish stuff more effectively, and I have desired results. That is, "be -> do -> have". Which is just the opposite of the western cultural default of "have -> do -> be". As in: "If I were wealthy, I could do all this fun stuff, and then I'd be happy."

New comment by mirimir in "Perseverance Toward Life Goals Can Fend Off Depression, Anxiety, Panic Disorders"

mirimir — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 05:59:27 +0000

Yes, correlation <> causality.