Hacker News: pivot_root

New comment by pivot_root in "Genuinely, my all-time favourite image: Mamenchisaurus hochuanensis"

pivot_root — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 17:04:09 +0000

I thought the same thing, which sent me down a bit of an unexpected rabbit hole in the topic. Greg Paul argued that thr chevron shape of the bones in the bottom of the tail point to sauropods rearing and using their tails as support . Heinrich Mallison did some biomechanical modeling and found that some of the anatomical features previously thought to support rearing might actually hinder it. And last year, a study on larger sauropods (Dreadnoughtus and Giraffatitan) showed that their femurs most likely couldn’t handle sustained stress of resting.

So it looks like this pose is based on anatomy, not biomechanics, and the one rigorous biomechanical sauropod-rearing study that exists didn’t even test this genus - which means the rearing question Mamenchisaurus is unresolved.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamenchisaurus

https://reptilis.net/DML/2009Apr/msg00036.html

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pala.70019

ALSO, consider how stiff their neck was, it could very well have spent most of the time grazing on the ground, like you said!

New comment by pivot_root in "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (June 2026)"

pivot_root — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 18:41:08 +0000

  Location: St. Augustine, FL, USA
  Remote: Yes
  Willing to relocate: No
  Technologies: Linux, Docker, Python, bash, QEMU/KVM, self-hosted infrastructure, technical writing, curriculum design
  Résumé/CV: https://joshkaspar.dev/resume.pdf
  Email: JoshuaKaspar@Gmail.com

Technical educator with a background in Linux and self-hosted systems, moving into developer advocacy. I care about documentation and examples that actually reflect how things work - not just happy paths. Comfortable owning content end-to-end, from concept to demo to write-up.

New comment by pivot_root in "Show HN: Hallucinopedia"

pivot_root — Thu, 07 May 2026 10:04:01 +0000

Oops! Apparently I can’t edit it in order to fix it. It’s only the link above, though — the original article I generated was spelled correctly.

New comment by pivot_root in "Show HN: Hallucinopedia"

pivot_root — Thu, 07 May 2026 00:29:12 +0000

I made an SCP foundation inspired page: https://halupedia.com/hard-to-detroy-reptile

My favorite link generated there is the Institute for Unyielding Biology: https://halupedia.com/institute-for-unyielding-biology

New comment by pivot_root in "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (May 2026)"

pivot_root — Fri, 01 May 2026 20:20:39 +0000

  Location: St. Augustine, FL, USA
  Remote: Yes
  Willing to relocate: No
  Technologies: Linux, Docker, Python, bash, QEMU/KVM, self-hosted infrastructure, technical writing, curriculum design
  Résumé/CV: https://joshkaspar.dev/resume.pdf
  Email: JoshuaKaspar@Gmail.com

Technical educator and Linux hobbyist transitioning to developer advocate. I build real tools and explain them clearly.