Hacker News: wsh

New comment by wsh in "How do Traffic Signals Work (2019)"

wsh — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 19:28:30 +0000

A typical signal cabinet has a conflict monitor, also called a malfunction management unit, that’s physically distinct from the controller. It supervises the controller outputs and can force the signal to all-way flashing red if green (or yellow or WALK) is shown for conflicting phases or if red or DON’T WALK is missing. More sophisticated units can also detect problems with sequencing or change or clearance interval timing.

New comment by wsh in "Ask HN: Why do many websites use a sign-in code instead of a password?"

wsh — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 04:27:00 +0000

Some B2B websites require e-mail validation at each login as a way to confirm that the user’s organizational affiliation remains valid.

Being able to read mail sent to an @example.com address doesn’t prove someone is an employee of Example Co., of course, but the inability to read such mail suggests that the user’s affiliation may have ended and that access granted by virtue of it should be blocked, at least for the time being.

Single sign-on is usually a better method for this, but it’s not always practicable to set up.

New comment by wsh in "Funding Opportunities with Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC)"

wsh — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 02:24:08 +0000

If you’re wondering, as I was, who Amateur Radio Digital Communications is and how they have money to make grants, it’s the foundation that sold a quarter of the 44.0.0.0/8 IPv4 address block, allocated in 1981 for use in amateur radio, to Amazon in 2019 for $109 million.

New comment by wsh in "My Home Fibre Network Disintegrated"

wsh — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:01:50 +0000

FS.COM Limited (深圳市飞速创新技术股份有限公司, https://cn.fs.com/) was founded in Shenzhen in 2009. They’ve applied to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange; here’s the draft prospectus from a month ago:

https://www1.hkexnews.hk/app/sehk/2025/107950/documents/sehk...

New comment by wsh in "Man Made Troubles (1953) [video]"

wsh — Sat, 20 Dec 2025 07:01:29 +0000

I liked An Answer for Linda (1961), which shows the work of outward toll operators using mark-sensing call tickets at traditional (3CL) cord switchboards. “Watch Billie closely, as she handles a group of typical calls.”

(I won’t spoil the Answer; you’ll have to watch for yourself.)

https://archive.org/details/GjEpnTcLgq1eTUR90yMhdcJMvFmMuw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq1zu4fJaO0

New comment by wsh in "It's a DE9, not a DB9 (but we know what you mean)"

wsh — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 16:50:23 +0000

You forgot SMPTE 170M, which is probably the definitive standard at this point:

https://pub.smpte.org/doc/st170/20041130-pub/st0170-2004_sta...

New comment by wsh in "It's a DE9, not a DB9 (but we know what you mean)"

wsh — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 16:39:28 +0000

RJ45S and RJ45M are ordering codes for so-called “registered jack” configurations for terminal connections to the U.S. telephone network. These codes were defined until 2000 in the FCC Rules (47 CFR § 68.502(e)) and later in the TIA/EIA-IS-968 standard, and they refer to single and multiple arrangements of two wires and a programming resistor on a miniature eight-position keyed jack.

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2000-title47-vol3/pd...

Unfortunately, the “RJ45” part of these codes has become a metonym for the unkeyed version of the miniature eight-position jack and plug, now widely used for Ethernet and other purposes, but strictly speaking, RJ45 refers to a different connector with totally incompatible wiring.

New comment by wsh in "Swedish Campground (2004)"

wsh — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 15:33:26 +0000

Interesting. The left side of the slide at 15:43 in the video is definitely from page 27 of Symbol Sourcebook, but the detail of the ⌘ symbol doesn’t seem to be: not only could I not find the symbol, but also its caption (“FEATURE”) is set in Helvetica rather than Univers as used in the book.

New comment by wsh in "Swedish Campground (2004)"

wsh — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 07:12:12 +0000

Symbol Sourcebook would’ve been my first guess, too, but I just glanced through my copy (7th printing, 1977) and didn’t see the ⌘ symbol. The closest thing in the Graphic Form Section is a symbol for “Atomic d orbital,” but it’s clearly not the same one that inspired Susan Kare.

New comment by wsh in "Ask HN: Any updates on what is happening to io domains?"

wsh — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 19:24:36 +0000

The treaty returning sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius, disestablishing the British Indian Ocean Territory, seems to be on track for ratification:

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-...

The consequences for the .IO ccTLD are still unclear and ultimately will depend on how the United Nations, the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency, and ICANN respond. I’m not aware of anything more definitive than ICANN’s blog posting from November 2024, which emphasizes that “much of the discussion about .io is simply speculation” but also acknowledges the possibility that “a five-year time window will commence during which time usage of the domain will need to be phased out.”

https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/details/the-chagos-archipelag...

I wouldn’t use a .IO domain name for anything important.

New comment by wsh in "The Case for Centralizing Authorization"

wsh — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 19:01:01 +0000

I’ve always thought of Kerberos as a centralized authentication system, to establish users’ identities.

Authorization, in the sense of deciding to allow or deny a requested action by a known user on a specific object, remains distributed, even with Kerberos. For example, a Windows file server, having received a Kerberos ticket showing a user’s identity and security group memberships, consults its own access control lists to determine what operations to allow on files and directories.

The article here argues that those authorization decisions should also be centralized, presumably using the sponsor’s “cloud-native authorization platform,” instead of being made within each service or application.

New comment by wsh in "I tasted Honda's spicy rodent-repelling tape and I will do it again (2021)"

wsh — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 18:21:04 +0000

Both links worked earlier, but they don’t work for me now, either.

Anyway, the data sheet explains how the manufacturer tested the tape’s effectiveness with rats. The Wayback Machine has a copy:

https://web.archive.org/web/20201017204509/https://www.terao...

New comment by wsh in "I tasted Honda's spicy rodent-repelling tape and I will do it again (2021)"

wsh — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 16:42:20 +0000

The manufacturer’s product page, with a link to the MSDS:

https://www.teraokatape.co.jp/english/products/class/class00...

Data sheet describing the “rat prevention effect”:

https://www.teraokatape.co.jp/english/products/Rat_Preventio...

New comment by wsh in "Hello World on z/OS (2018)"

wsh — Sun, 29 Dec 2024 17:31:09 +0000

DFSMS: Data Facility Storage Management Subsystem

DFSMSdfp: Data Facility Product

DFSMSdss: Data Set Services

DFSMSrmm: Removable Media Manager

DFSMShsm: Hierarchical Storage Manager

DFSMStvs: Transactional VSAM Services

DFSMSopt: Optimizer

See ABCs of z/OS System Programming Volume 3 (SG24-6983), https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/pdfs/sg246983.pdf.

New comment by wsh in "Ask HN: Who do I contract to write a EULA?"

wsh — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 05:19:22 +0000

I agree with the advice to ask a lawyer, but it’s sensible to be concerned with license agreements even in early-stage ventures that couldn’t enforce them.

By establishing the company as licensor, an agreement might help the founders avoid personal liability if a customer sues. Later on, it may be desirable to show potential acquirers that, from the company’s inception, its customer contracts included terms to confirm ownership of intellectual property, limit liability, satisfy privacy laws, and so on.

New comment by wsh in "Harvard Railroad Economics Exam (1906)"

wsh — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 20:52:48 +0000

Yes. “Freight collect” means the recipient pays the carrier for transportation; it implies nothing about payment for the goods.

“COD” (collect on delivery) means the carrier collects a specified amount of money—typically, the price of the goods plus transportation—from the recipient, on behalf of the seller, as a condition of delivery.

New comment by wsh in "Ask HN: Best E-Ink reader in 2024?"

wsh — Sun, 07 Apr 2024 00:21:42 +0000

I have the now-discontinued Sony DPT-RP1, which I use with Jan-Gerd Tenberge’s software (https://github.com/janten/dpt-rp1-py). It works well for reading PDF documents without the need for frequent zooming or scaling.

If I had to replace it today, I’d buy a Fujitsu Quaderno A4 (FMVDP41), which I understand has a design very similar to that of the Sony product.

New comment by wsh in ""Stolen" radio tower missing for at least a year"

wsh — Sat, 17 Feb 2024 21:18:47 +0000

> It is not legal to operate a remote transmitter site without [...]

47 CFR § 73.1400(b) permits operation with “a self-monitoring or ATS-monitored and controlled transmission system that, in lieu of contacting a person designated by the licensee, automatically takes the station off the air within three hours of any technical malfunction which is capable of causing interference” (emphasis added).

This doesn’t change the licensee’s basic responsibility “for assuring that at all times the station operates [...] in accordance with the terms of the station authorization,” of course.

> in what ways were they operating noncompliantly?

If the station was off the air and the licensee didn’t notify the FCC within 10 days and seek a silent STA within 30 days, that would violate 47 CFR § 73.1740(a)(4).

New comment by wsh in "165 m private submersible superyacht"

wsh — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 02:58:29 +0000

The website claims “Design, Construction and Operation according to US SUBSAFE.” I’d want that for my submarine, of course, but I wonder if it’s realistic.

I’d understood that SUBSAFE was a comprehensive program applied to U.S. Navy submarines by the Naval Sea Systems Command, not merely a published standard with which one could comply without extensive, ongoing involvement by NAVSEA, which presumably has no mandate to support foreign yacht builders.

New comment by wsh in "Costs of running a macOS app studio business"

wsh — Sun, 24 Dec 2023 22:03:39 +0000

The author writes, about his purchases of computers, phones, and other hardware, “These are not recurring so I can't count them in.”

Here in the U.S., many such items would be considered capital assets, for which the cost would be recognized as an expense over time through depreciation, for both management accounting and tax purposes. It appears Romanian practice is similar; see “Depreciation” on this page:

https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/romania/corporate/deductions