Hacker News: reverendjames

New comment by reverendjames in "A Kantian Critique of "Sorry" by Justin Bieber"

reverendjames — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 07:57:28 +0000

This should be a PhD thesis.

New comment by reverendjames in "Iranian hackers shut down UK power plant for 4 days"

reverendjames — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 07:34:11 +0000

I run a power grid. We have our own fiber optic network, run on the towers. 100% air gapped. No working from home. No IOT. Nothing fancy. SCADA control center staffed 24/7. If I want to know something I call them. This is the only way.

New comment by reverendjames in "The Sloppification of Peptides"

reverendjames — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 06:14:43 +0000

I've been buying peptides for over 10 years and know all about them becoming popular in the news. I live in Asia. Living in Europe isn't an excuse. You're indeed under a rock. I've never been to silicon valley.

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

reverendjames — Fri, 08 May 2026 01:07:41 +0000

No.

New comment by reverendjames in "How the world’s first electric grid was built"

reverendjames — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 03:45:39 +0000

I've done it. The larger the grid, the more difficult it is. But as long as you have fuel and an adequately maintained grid, its not as hard as some in the comments make it out to be. Better regulation would make it easier. For instance, in Singapore emergency diesel or some other method for black start is a requirement for most generation stations. The rest of the world likely has more lax requirements.

New comment by reverendjames in "How the world’s first electric grid was built"

reverendjames — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 03:40:03 +0000

No it's not. It's a pain in the ass but this isn't even close to correct. There are rocket launches and nanometer scale chips being built by engineers. Firing up some emergency diesel generators and syncing loads isn't easy, but don't be silly. I'm in charge of black start for a power grid. I've done it once and not looking forward to doing it again, but I'm not stressed out about it. And I'm not super smart.

New comment by reverendjames in "The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee (1830)"

reverendjames — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 00:37:24 +0000

Beta.

New comment by reverendjames in "Increased urination urgency facilitates impulse control in unrelated domains"

reverendjames — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 00:15:36 +0000

I don't like to drive when I have to pee. I always pee before I get in the car whether I need to or not.

New comment by reverendjames in "Shingles Vaccine Linked to Slower Biological Aging in Older Adults"

reverendjames — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 09:53:04 +0000

They won't let you until you turn 50, I tried. If you do get it before then, the doctor could get into trouble. That's what I was told.

New comment by reverendjames in "eBay explicitly bans AI "buy for me" agents in user agreement update"

reverendjames — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 03:42:36 +0000

Japanese auction sites work this way too.

New comment by reverendjames in "Taking money off the table"

reverendjames — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 04:45:57 +0000

If you make that big of a decision at the dinner table without excel, it implies that you make the decision without doing the math, which implies you are stupid.

New comment by reverendjames in "I Love My Wife, My Wife Is Dead (1946)"

reverendjames — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 04:27:09 +0000

Hater.

New comment by reverendjames in "Austria: Pylons as sculpture for public acceptance of expanding electrification"

reverendjames — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 02:42:24 +0000

Trying to make them look interesting is a bad idea, tried numerous times in the past. The best a designer can do is to make them disappear and not draw your eye. Trying to make them look interesting generally isn't the way to go. It's been tried and abandoned in California and numerous other places. I'd add some citations, but most writing about transmission lines is internal to the companies building and maintaining them. You can't make them into a beautiful sculpture because you ultimately need their utility of supporting the conductors, and that hardware is difficult to make aesthetically pleasing.

New comment by reverendjames in "Austria: Pylons as sculpture for public acceptance of expanding electrification"

reverendjames — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 02:37:04 +0000

No it doesn't make sense. Transmission lines should be a boring as possible so you're eye is not drawn to them. There is no way to make them look beautiful. Good designers try to make them disappear to the extent possible.

New comment by reverendjames in "Harnessing America's heat pump moment"

reverendjames — Sun, 26 Oct 2025 08:48:56 +0000

I live in Asia and I'm in charge of air conditioning at my company. A ductless A/c is approximately $1,200 installed. $20k? You should put a split unit in each room. If one breaks, go sleep in the other room. I have 6 of them installed in my apartment.

New comment by reverendjames in "Trader who made $190M shorting crash also apparently bet on CZ's pardon"

reverendjames — Sun, 26 Oct 2025 07:36:50 +0000

Go check if insider trading on either of these markets is even against the law. The SEC makes laws for equities markets, not online gambling.

New comment by reverendjames in "Erowid - Documenting the Complex Relationship Between Humans and Psychoactives"

reverendjames — Sun, 26 Oct 2025 03:08:56 +0000

Me still....

New comment by reverendjames in "Using jet engines for power generation at AI centers."

reverendjames — Sun, 26 Oct 2025 03:08:01 +0000

The only thing new here is running them continuously. They were typically on standby for peak shaving or to avoid rolling blackouts during high peak loads or unanticipated contingencies. I operate 15 "747 engines" to produce electricity. They were installed in 1995.

New comment by reverendjames in "DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia"

reverendjames — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 11:22:35 +0000

He has the key written on a piece of paper in his wallet. The US government has his wallet. And his Bitcoin.

New comment by reverendjames in "DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia"

reverendjames — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 11:20:51 +0000

It's true. They have daily flights to Cambodia. Go there and look at it. It's all casinos and scams and dust.