Hacker News: nickhalfasleep

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "Ask HN: Who's still keeping a DOS machine up because the business depends on it?"

nickhalfasleep — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 01:25:28 +0000

I know of some laboratories where they have a host of old machines for software to support some critical instruments that only runs off a dongle or an ISA card and it still does accurate work.

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "The biggest steam locomotive is whistle-stopping across the U.S."

nickhalfasleep — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 01:51:58 +0000

Not quite the biggest steam locomotive, the DM&IR Yellowstone class outranked them in many measures.

https://www.steamlocomotive.com/locobase.php?country=USA&whe...

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "Soviet Maps (2021)"

nickhalfasleep — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 01:42:13 +0000

I have a set of 1980’s Soviet maps of the state of Colorado, and they are oddly accurate for the railroads.

Conversely, when my parents visited Moscow in 1975, many locals offered to trade goods to get their Finnish tourist map of Moscow; since it was more detailed than the local maps they had access to.

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "Blue whale skeleton at New Bedford museum still oozing oil"

nickhalfasleep — Sun, 20 Oct 2024 02:51:11 +0000

I was at a wedding dinner held under this a decade ago, and it they warned us it might drip on the meal.

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "PyCon US 2024 Recap"

nickhalfasleep — Sun, 02 Jun 2024 16:41:37 +0000

Python really sets the bar high for excellent conventions.

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "Neal Stephenson was prescient about our AI age"

nickhalfasleep — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 13:40:11 +0000

The Big U has it’s faults; but is still an insightful look at the weird people and organizations within any large university.

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?"

nickhalfasleep — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 03:06:02 +0000

2016 or earlier subaru outback

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "Enthusiasts struggle to keep model railway industry on track"

nickhalfasleep — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 02:33:39 +0000

The hobby is changing, more people build modules or small shelf layouts that emphasize a particular scene or prototype behavior.

The large layouts are less often built, due mostly to the amount of maintenance needed.

Most young enthusiasts don’t show up at the traditional clubs or shows, there are quite a few nice private forums out there for younger work.

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "Two classic radiosity books now free"

nickhalfasleep — Sun, 07 Jan 2024 21:51:36 +0000

It's still used when you need accurate energy transfer. Plenty in real lighting software (Dialux, Agi32). But there are faster methods if you just want it to look good.

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "Two classic radiosity books now free"

nickhalfasleep — Sun, 07 Jan 2024 21:50:35 +0000

I worked with Ian on lighting tools, and he delighted in sharing his knowledge of lighting, software, and engineering.

Here is the book with a copy of the included source code. https://www.gully.org/uxb/Ashdown_Radiosity.zip

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "Ask HN: Is Unlimited PTO a Scam"

nickhalfasleep — Sun, 19 Nov 2023 17:37:38 +0000

This is exactly it. Cash value needs to be available to pay out if it has a value. With unlimited, that is zero.

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "Simple streetlight hack could protect astronomy from urban light pollution"

nickhalfasleep — Sun, 19 Nov 2023 04:18:43 +0000

Easier would be to pick a standard monochromatic or RGB sources (no broad spectrum phosphors), and have them filter for those frequencies.

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "Simple streetlight hack could protect astronomy from urban light pollution"

nickhalfasleep — Sun, 19 Nov 2023 04:17:23 +0000

You can usually ask the utility to add a light shield. Just about every model can take one to reduce glaring sideways light.

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "Webb Discovers Methane, Carbon Dioxide in Atmosphere of K2-18B"

nickhalfasleep — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 16:17:18 +0000

Scientists using Webb may be able to present some surprisingly strong evidence that we are not the only life bearing planet in the galaxy.

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "A closer look at Apple’s Vision Pro keyboard and other controls"

nickhalfasleep — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 16:32:48 +0000

I wonder if you can pair a normal bluetooth keyboard / mouse with the headset?

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "The bill of materials for the Apple headset leaked"

nickhalfasleep — Sun, 21 May 2023 13:50:54 +0000

I wonder which numbers are altered to find the leaker this time.

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "Ask HN: DIY ice bath equation for water cooling"

nickhalfasleep — Tue, 09 May 2023 12:55:12 +0000

Freezer compressors are sized for simply keeping the contents cold of their well insulated box. Trying to run an external load will likely overload it’s capacity.

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "Urgent: Sign the petition now"

nickhalfasleep — Sat, 11 Mar 2023 23:47:45 +0000

Like there are no atheists in foxholes, there are no Libertarians in bankruptcy.

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services"

nickhalfasleep — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 03:33:11 +0000

I’ve had an account and small mail server on Linode for almost 19 years, and it has done all I need.

* run reliably * static IP that other mail servers trust * staff who are willing to reach out to other larger mail providers if a linode ip range it is in got blocked.

New comment by nickhalfasleep in "The California roll was invented by a Japanese-Canadian chef (2020)"

nickhalfasleep — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 03:41:56 +0000

If they called it a Vancouver roll, nobody could afford one.