Hacker News: whiw

New comment by whiw in "Where to Find the Colors Your Screen Can't Show You"

whiw — Sat, 20 Jun 2026 16:10:19 +0000

If we had a display with n (n>3) pixel colours, say (red, green, cyan, blue) for example, we could display more of the colour space. Shopping list: 4 colour channel display, 4 channel GPU, 4 channel software. Why isn't this a thing already?

New comment by whiw in "Cheap DIY solar fence design"

whiw — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 21:05:28 +0000

I'd be concerned about clay heave (where clay shrinks/expands depending on moisture content, which likely varies over the year). If the posts at each end of a panel move out of plane there will be a twisting moment on the panel, and glass doesn't like being bent.

New comment by whiw in "Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)"

whiw — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 17:18:15 +0000

I meant lead carbonate, not lead oxide.

New comment by whiw in "Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)"

whiw — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 17:15:46 +0000

I am not a chemist, so take this with a pinch of salt: wouldn't lead chromate + sodium bicarbonate make lead carbonate, a white precipitate? Sodium bicarbonate is likely in your kitchen cupboard already.

New comment by whiw in "Kissing moons may explain why Earth's moon is so large"

whiw — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 12:29:21 +0000

Presumably from tidal forces, from the differential of the gravity field in the presence of nearby massive objects (like the sun, or jupiter).

New comment by whiw in "Fish-delousing underwater laser (2018) [video]"

whiw — Sun, 23 Feb 2025 17:54:00 +0000

That seems a somewhat callous disregard for the fish, blinded and swimming around with itchy eyes from burned out retina.

New comment by whiw in "Fish-delousing underwater laser (2018) [video]"

whiw — Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:07:06 +0000

If the laser is powerfull enough to kill sea-lice then how does it avoid blinding the fish or giving them retina burn?

New comment by whiw in "Moving to a RTOS on the RP2040"

whiw — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 19:50:04 +0000

> Printf isn't re-entrant, and they are calling it from multiple threads.

This! Simple schedulers generally only allow system calls (such as printf) from the main thread. If you really want to 'print' from a child thread then send a message to the main thread, asking that it prints the message contents on on behalf of the child thread.

New comment by whiw in "My new PSU burns out – I fix it, and torture it by cracking water"

whiw — Mon, 27 May 2024 15:21:32 +0000

The transformer secondary was maxing out at 4A, 36V. The primary current will be much lower, probably about (40V/240V)*4A, ie about 0.67A.

New comment by whiw in "Roll-Invert-Unroll: An easier way to replace a duvet cover"

whiw — Sat, 30 Mar 2024 22:00:12 +0000

Paisley pattern. Oh, somebody beat me to it.

New comment by whiw in "The Ultimate Docker Cheat Sheet"

whiw — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 11:40:53 +0000

This looks useful, I wish I'd found it a month ago. One suggestion: could we have a more printer-friendly version (ie, without large patches of colour and without large patches of black)?

New comment by whiw in "Medieval staircases were not built going clockwise for the defender's advantage"

whiw — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 19:56:17 +0000

I imagine that it would be more difficult to gain entry to an upper floor (at the top of a narrow staircase so single-file attackers) and a sturdy door with a couple of guards outside, than it would be to gain entry to rooms on the same level. Perhaps the women were tucked away on the upper floors, in relative safety.

New comment by whiw in "JWST spots giant black holes all over the early universe"

whiw — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 18:40:15 +0000

> Galactic spectra, which JWST started to send back in earnest at the end of last year, are useful for two reasons.

> First, they let astronomers nail down the galaxy’s age. The infrared light JWST collects is reddened, or redshifted, meaning that as it traverses the cosmos, its wavelengths are stretched by the expansion of space. The extent of that redshift lets astronomers determine a galaxy’s distance, and therefore when it originally emitted its light.

Won't a photon climbing out of a huge gravity well have a huge redshift, thus confounding estimates of distance from us and estimated age?

New comment by whiw in "The FBI now recommends using an ad blocker when searching the web"

whiw — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 15:08:56 +0000

> (I came up with this one): use a little firewall rule that prevents any IDN from resolving. That's a one line UDP rule and it stops cold dead any IDN homograph attack. Basically searching any UDP packet for the "xn--" string.

I couldn't see how to do this in Windows Firewall. Which OS/firewall/rule are you using?

New comment by whiw in "ThreeUK blocks access to encrypted provider Tutanota due to 'age restriction'"

whiw — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 12:34:49 +0000

If you are a light user (in the UK) then 1p Mobile is excellent value. I've no links with them (apart from being a happy customer). They use the EE network, so coverage is good. Costs are 1p/minute calls, 1p/text message, and 1p/MB data, and you must top up by at least £10 every 120 days. Unused credits rollover to the next period. They have also introduced a newer scheme: £36 per year for unlimited talk and texts, and up to 250MB data/month. Again, I think that unused credit rolls over (i haven't used this option, so check the details).

New comment by whiw in "U.S. bans equipment from Huawei and ZTE, citing national security concerns"

whiw — Sat, 26 Nov 2022 19:41:10 +0000

google VLAN hopping

New comment by whiw in "DIY Tool Storage Ideas (2017)"

whiw — Fri, 15 Jul 2022 08:30:28 +0000

The magnetic drill bit rack might cause the swarf to cling to the drill bits.

I use plastic picture/poster hanging grips to cover saw blades, and lengths of 4" plastic waste pipe to store dowel and metal rod.

New comment by whiw in "Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud"

whiw — Thu, 19 May 2022 08:26:46 +0000

Presumably the grocer or end user will end up with a pile of rind containing the embedded tagging chips. Fraudsters could simply gather/buy the waste rind plus trackers to embed them in their own fake products. Unless there is a robust disposal process (sending them back to the cheese producer), the genuine trackers will just end up 'authenticating' fake products.

New comment by whiw in "LG’s new 16:18 monitor"

whiw — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 15:04:30 +0000

18:16 is 1.125:1, but 4:3 is 1.33:1

New comment by whiw in "Ask HN: Advice about aging parents"

whiw — Fri, 03 Dec 2021 21:03:34 +0000

I had considered it briefly. Unless it is for a tiny number of residents (2?) then I think that the CQC will want to come and do inspections. It would be necessary to assume that the residents are, or will soon become, highly dependent (needing 24/7 care).

In the UK I believe that at least two qualified nurses are required on site at all times, plus carers sufficient to care for the needs of the residents. Assuming 8 hour shifts you will need to triple that number. Multiply by a further 7/5 to account for weekends. Multiply by a further 52/46 for holidays, sickness and training. Add some for receptionist, accountant, handy man, cook(s), cleaners, manager(s).

That is quite an overhead just for wages. Add to that any mortgage for the property, heating, rates, repairs, office equipment, etc, etc.

With rooms becoming vacant and requiring redecoration between residents, there will not be 100% occupancy. The cost to break even is substantial. Even commercial care homes go out of business quite regularly. I can understand why residential care is so expensive.

Having been a frequent visitor to care homes I know that many / most of the residents most certainly do not wish to be there, and want to be back in their own home. Almost all of the staff do a fantastic job, doing unpleasant tasks without complaint, and doing their utmost to create a friendly and inclusive atmosphere.

The existing care system is very expensive for users. A more informal arrangement with less bureaucracy providing care at home would be useful.