Hacker News: powderpig

New comment by powderpig in "Nobody understands the point of hybrid cars [video]"

powderpig — Thu, 21 May 2026 20:25:14 +0000

The only benefit I've really made sense of with hybrids is their engine emissions aren't localised to the neighborhood where they're charged overnight. Apart from that, I can't think of anything else.

New comment by powderpig in "Blue Origin reaches orbit on first flight of its titanic New Glenn rocket"

powderpig — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 13:01:10 +0000

You should check out the Artemis I engineering footage.

New comment by powderpig in "Elon Musk wanted an OpenAI for-profit"

powderpig — Sat, 14 Dec 2024 11:48:10 +0000

Red Dragon? Falcon 9 Booster 24-hr turn around? The plethora of missed milestones required to land on the moon's surface?

New comment by powderpig in "Europe's flying taxi dreams falter as cash runs short"

powderpig — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 11:40:12 +0000

Metro?

New comment by powderpig in "Musicat – A sleek player for your local music library"

powderpig — Sun, 26 May 2024 15:16:23 +0000

I'm only here for the free U2 album.

"U2's latest album automatically added to your library"

New comment by powderpig in "New jet engine enables efficiency at every speed for cheaper orbital launches"

powderpig — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 08:37:01 +0000

Conventional jet engines run at RPMs in excess of 20000rpm. To get this same speeds for the same mass flown rates of say a J79 (F4-Phantom) you'd be looking at some massive electric motors. Conventional jet engines would be using electric motors if they were light enough already.

There is a reason Rolls-Royce UltraFan uses a speed reducing gearbox for it's fan blades and not an electric motor.

More to the point above, at hypersonic speeds, using a conventional compressor is sort or useless unless you can keep your air cool.

New comment by powderpig in "New jet engine enables efficiency at every speed for cheaper orbital launches"

powderpig — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 08:33:11 +0000

Virgin Orbit anyone?

New comment by powderpig in "Hyperloop One to shut down"

powderpig — Fri, 22 Dec 2023 15:02:15 +0000

Maintaining a pressure boundary becomes ever more difficult with increase in size, and therefore cost and engineering complexity.

New comment by powderpig in "Blender 16yo winner of UK young animator of the year"

powderpig — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 09:00:43 +0000

Roughly how many hours did Euan spend to complete this piece of work?

New comment by powderpig in "Clearview doesn't let Europeans delete themselves anymore"

powderpig — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 02:28:28 +0000

Ever heard of ITAR? As a European I find the US's reluctance to adhere to EU law double standard.

New comment by powderpig in "The iOS option to charge battery to "80% Limit" shouldn't just be for iPhone 15"

powderpig — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 02:05:38 +0000

I highly recommend AccuBattery for Android. I have been using it for a few years now and I saw a noticeable difference on my Pixel 3a XL compared to use on previous smart phones. I now have a Pixel 6 and its nearly 2-years old and the battery lasts well beyond 30-hrs with combined use.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.digibites....

New comment by powderpig in "Antarctic sea-ice at 'mind-blowing' low alarms experts"

powderpig — Sun, 17 Sep 2023 12:44:14 +0000

How is China a problem? The way of life and the energy intensity of a single individual living in the developed world is the problem. Do I have to point out the US and Europe? (I live in the UK).

New comment by powderpig in "Why everything you buy is worse now [video]"

powderpig — Sun, 17 Sep 2023 12:41:09 +0000

This is essentially the Boots Theory, coined my Terry Pratchett. The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. ... A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. Men at Arms. p. 32.

New comment by powderpig in "Virgin Galactic successfully flies tourists to space for first time"

powderpig — Thu, 10 Aug 2023 17:09:24 +0000

When's a good time to stop technology advancement for those of us who are willing to pay for it? There will never be a right time.

New comment by powderpig in "Debris Field Confirmed as Titan"

powderpig — Thu, 22 Jun 2023 19:17:59 +0000

There are a number of reasons why it might have failed, fatigue, deviation from process/protocol but pressure vessels are well understood and not the problem here.

New comment by powderpig in "UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years"

powderpig — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 23:21:51 +0000

The "space" launch was using American technology, nothing about the failure was "British", in my mind. Volt on the other hand...

New comment by powderpig in "20hrs on a Qantas plane: the future of aviation or a fresh hell in economy?"

powderpig — Sun, 12 Mar 2023 16:54:42 +0000

Worth noting the use of titanium at Mach 3, Mach 3.5, is really at its limit. Any faster and you'll start to see serious problems with thermal management. This pushes you into using super nickel alloys or even ceramic matrix composites, which would be necessary for use cases at Mach 5+ for sustained flight. Acknowledging planes in the last have gone faster like the X-15 but this such plane's architecture wouldn't stop for longhaul flight distances. CMCs and super nickel alloys will be very very expensive.

Roles you may have to affect climate change

powderpig — Sun, 03 Oct 2021 11:33:53 +0000

Article URL: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2291988-the-5-roles-you-may-have-to-affect-climate-change/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28736351

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by powderpig in "Free Parking Is Killing Cities"

powderpig — Sun, 26 Sep 2021 13:08:34 +0000

And I think this is one of the reasons we are seeing so many companies racing to create a commercially viable eVTOL (electric - vertical take-off & landing) product. To me, this transport system only seems to be a solution to the problem mentioned above. I can't see them ever being commercially viable (FAA regulation, power density, etc.) And yet there are a lot of companies trying to make them a reality when really the cities they have renders of with their flashy electric vehicle flying over just need better public transport systems.

New comment by powderpig in "Afghan president flees the country as Taliban move on Kabul"

powderpig — Sun, 15 Aug 2021 19:28:03 +0000

Like the Russians?