Hacker News: tomkinstinch

New comment by tomkinstinch in "The first release candidate of FreeCAD 1.0 is out"

tomkinstinch — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 18:10:34 +0000

Looking forward to the day when FreeCAD is a viable and stable option for free parametric CAD. There are a few free options for direct modeling, but not for parametric design.

As far as commercial software goes, my current favorite CAD software for hobby use is Rhino[1]. It's not parametric[2], but it's stable, fast[3], can import and export a wide variety of 3D file types, and it's pay-once-per-major-release. It's not cloud-based. The marketing around it seems to emphasize design/architecture/artistic use cases, but it also works well for dimensionally-accurate mechanical parts.

For those eligible for a student license, the pricing is reasonable (cheaper still if you shop around among third-party edu software vendors). Surprisingly, the student license also allows commercial use.

1. https://www.rhino3d.com

2. Well, Rhino is not parametric in the usual sketch-based way. People do wild things with the Grasshopper plugin.

3. Rhino also runs on macOS, w/ hardware acceleration of graphics via Metal

New comment by tomkinstinch in "Researchers find a new organelle evolving"

tomkinstinch — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 17:05:02 +0000

I Contain Multitudes, by Ed Yong

https://edyong.me/i-contain-multitudes

New comment by tomkinstinch in "Security Issue: Cloud Site Manager presented me your consoles, not mine"

tomkinstinch — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 17:25:51 +0000

For anyone with a UDMP looking to disable remote access via UniFi servers, the setting isn't under the Network application, it's part of the higher level console management:

Console Settings (menu on left) -> Advanced (heading) -> "Remote Access (checkbox)"

Or via: https://$UDMP_IP/console-settings

(Hopefully the setting applies locally...)

New comment by tomkinstinch in "Ultra-white ceramic cools buildings with high reflectivity"

tomkinstinch — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 20:08:37 +0000

Depending on the wavelength, Spectralon (sintered PTFE powder) is a bit better. At least until it gets dirty.

New comment by tomkinstinch in "A centrifugal spin on a 500-year-old air compressor design"

tomkinstinch — Thu, 06 May 2021 20:50:41 +0000

I wonder if a pump like this could be made smaller using a perfluorocarbon liquid like FC-70 (Perfluorotripentylamine)—nearly double the density of water, higher boiling point, non-flammable, and would not impart water vapor to the compressed air.

Quantifying the importance/timing of different routes of SARS-COV-2 transmission

tomkinstinch — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 14:03:56 +0000

Article URL: https://bdi-pathogens.shinyapps.io/covid-19-transmission-routes/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22637570

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by tomkinstinch in "AirPods Pro owners complain of worse noise cancellation after firmware updates"

tomkinstinch — Sat, 18 Jan 2020 05:33:47 +0000

The Apple Store sells both and will let you compare the two models if you ask nicely (with new/clean AirPods). I found AirPods have noticeably better noise cancellation (for me) than the QC35s, but YMMV. Subtle but better. It's hard to say if my impression was due to better passive noise isolation or improved active noise cancellation (does the QC35 have an error-correction microphone downstream?). One thing that is absolutely true is that the QC35s do not work as well mechanically for those of us who wear eyeglasses: the cushions can't seal around the temple pieces of the frames, so some sound will always leak under the eyeglasses. For that reason alone—even if the AirPods have equivalent noise cancellation tech—the AirPods can work better for people with glasses as long as the tips seal properly. My wife, an eyeglass wearer with long hair, also found the AirPods more effective at reducing noise when we tried them both at the Apple Store. I certainly find them effective for commuter rail travel.

As an aside, one slightly annoying usability issue with the AirPods is that in comparison to the QC35 they behave differently when part of a multi-output audio device under MacOS. My wife and I often watch video using two pairs of bluetooth headphones paired and synced to the same Macbook Pro[1,2]. It's great for late-night movies in city apartments. Using the QC35s and her headphones, the aggregate device remains selected when the QC35s are paused or turned off (meaning, she can still listen if I go out of range or turn off my headphones). With the AirPods, if I take one out of my ear (to scratch an itch, say), the AirPods suddenly become the only audio output device when I put it back in, and the second pair of headphones goes silent. A small annoyance, but curious.

1. Set up your own bluetooth audio "splitter" to allow multiple people to listen togther: https://support.apple.com/guide/audio-midi-setup/play-audio-...

2. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202000

Myriscope for scanning (bio|a)rxiv articles

tomkinstinch — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 18:42:52 +0000

Article URL: http://myriscope.com/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21547480

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by tomkinstinch in "College Students Just Want Normal Libraries"

tomkinstinch — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 21:08:15 +0000

Indeed; a good library is a long-tail institution. The Harvard Library system has a large collection of books at the various on-campus libraries, but an immense catalog of infrequently accessed books at a "depository" warehouse off-site. Scholars can request items from the Depository and receive them within a day.

This split-storage model may a sensible solution for other universities going forward: prime and expensive library buildings on-campus can be reserved for quiet study areas and a few commonly-used books, with the main collection of books retrievable from a nearby location where land is less expensive. It also has the advantage of allowing books to be stored in the ideal climate for their preservation.

Fun fact about the Harvard Depository: books are organized not by topic, publication date, or anything resembling the Dewey decimal system, but rather by a metric that makes sense for high-density: physical size. Books are stored in barcoded boxes by height. Here is an artsy documentary, "Cold Storage," about the Depository:

https://vimeo.com/116603551

or in interactive form:

http://librarybeyondthebook.org/cold_storage/

New comment by tomkinstinch in "Fake-branded bars slip dirty gold into world markets"

tomkinstinch — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 14:16:48 +0000

The coolest solution I've read about to note the producer is to emboss a hologram in the metal, though perhaps with enough care this too could be faked or copied:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinebar

New comment by tomkinstinch in "Preserving Laptop Stickers on MacBooks"

tomkinstinch — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 22:19:44 +0000

Helpful tip, thanks. Here's the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) in case anyone is curious what's in 3M 38983 General Purpose Adhesive Remover[1]: Mostly methyl acetate, with some naptha, xylene, and a small amount of ethylbenzene. Definitely worth heeding the precautionary statements...

For contrast, "Goo Gone" is mostly naptha-like light petroleum distillate with small fractions of limonene and orange extract[2].

1. https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/mediawebserver?mwsId=SSSSSuUn_...

2. https://googone.com/mr_sds/data/2018-06-14%2013:44:51/GG_Ori...

New comment by tomkinstinch in "Have we forgotten to make heat traps? (2012)"

tomkinstinch — Thu, 16 May 2019 22:19:04 +0000

Hot water "hydronic" heating with radiators is very common in the US as well, at least among homes in the Northeastern US constructed before the 1960s. It's a shame more new construction does not use hot water heating in conjunction with central air for cooling because radiators are much quieter, more efficient, and better for those with asthma.

There's no such thing as a free watch (2017)

tomkinstinch — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 11:48:14 +0000

Article URL: https://www.topic.com/there-s-no-such-thing-as-a-free-watch

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18698365

Points: 162

# Comments: 88

Cook My Meat: heat diffusion through meat over time

tomkinstinch — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 11:48:07 +0000

Article URL: http://up.csail.mit.edu/science-of-cooking/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18698364

Points: 226

# Comments: 66

There's no such thing as a free watch [pdf]

tomkinstinch — Fri, 30 Nov 2018 14:39:37 +0000

Article URL: http://www.jennyodell.com/museumofcapitalism_freewatch.pdf

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18569378

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

Cook My Meat: heat diffusion through meat over time

tomkinstinch — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 19:32:40 +0000

Article URL: http://up.csail.mit.edu/science-of-cooking/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18286638

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by tomkinstinch in "Mega-Tunnels Dug by South American Megafauna (2017)"

tomkinstinch — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 14:00:17 +0000

A more detailed description is included in this publication from the author credited for the first photo:

http://www.ufrgs.br/paleotocas/Frank_et_al_2012.pdf

New comment by tomkinstinch in "Python's New Package Landscape"

tomkinstinch — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 13:46:12 +0000

It's worth mentioning that the package manager component of anaconda is released as a separate (small) install: miniconda[1]. It includes only Python and the package manager, and not all of the 700+ packages installed as part of a full anaconda installation.

With its ability to install Python and non-python packages (including binaries), conda is my go-to for managing project environments and dependencies. Between the bioconda[2] and conda-forge[3] channels, it meets the needs of many on the computational side of the biological sciences. Being able to describe a full execution environment with a yaml file is huge win for replicable science.

1. https://conda.io/miniconda.html https://conda.io/docs/user-guide/install/index.html

2. http://bioconda.github.io/

3. https://conda-forge.org/

New comment by tomkinstinch in "China Has Withheld Samples of a Dangerous Flu Virus"

tomkinstinch — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 19:42:06 +0000

They may be withholding physical samples, but some sequence data appears to have been released[1(eight segments of the virus from one patient),2(sequences from the last ten years)]. Sequence data like this is helpful for genomic epidemiology—modeling how the virus evolves over time and across geographic regions, as well as for investigating the potential functional impact of mutations.

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/?term=Influenza+A+virus...)

2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/?term=(%22H7N9%20subtyp...)

New comment by tomkinstinch in "Ask HN: Cities underserved by tech jobs?"

tomkinstinch — Sat, 11 Aug 2018 04:18:11 +0000

Rochester, NY. Very affordable real estate, many of the prime areas of the city and suburbs are served by gigabit fiber, and between local universities and industry a surprising amound of technical talent is present in the area: some recently graduated, some the legacy of Kodak, Xerox, and other older companies, and some from defense firms like Harris, ITT, etc. The quality of life is very high with good restaurants, many local parks, festivals, and strong cultural institutions (great indie cinema, and a world-class orchestra). The costs are low, and it's still reasonably close to NYC and Boston in distance and culture. Sure it has winter, but it also has <$200k Victorian homes and tree-lined streets.