Hacker News: zafka

Ask HN: Folks familiar with infections after TKA

zafka — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:12:49 +0000

I am looking for Ortho/infectious disease practitioners or researchers who have experience with compromised post-op TKA's. specifically: Enterobacter cloacae, and a yeast variety yet to be revealed- Obviously I do not expect medical advice, just looking for any new info in case it has not reached my spouses team. Surgery 1 month ago, after 30 days, wound began leaking- DAIR was performed 7 days ago after 5 days culture showed bacteria, today it was revealed yeast also present. Still waiting on sensitivities. Thanks in advance. My apologies to all those who really don't want to think about this kind of stuff.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49835507

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by zafka in "Creatine uptake enhances antitumor immunity"

zafka — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 18:53:25 +0000

Now I am imagining a 501-C where school children are encouraged to read studies to mice. Children get better at reading technical papers, mice learn more about their options! Win Win!

New comment by zafka in "The US Army Issued Ocarinas to Soldiers in World War II"

zafka — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 23:06:22 +0000

Hi, I have made quite a few "Ocarinas", but not designed for musicians, but rather curio collectors. I started to look into making well tuned ones, but for the place and time i was in, it did not seem worthwhile. I am getting ready to get going with clay again, and I might give tuned ocarinas a try again. Would love to see your site if you have one. Here is a picture of some of the ones I made: http://zafka.com/w5.html This next page shows some stages in making them, nothing to do with the actual sound making. http://zafka.com/fish_photos.html

New comment by zafka in "As SuperAgers age, they make at least twice as many new neurons as their peers"

zafka — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 01:48:05 +0000

This interesting! We entered my Mom into this study. Next month she will be 98. I think her habit of exercising contributed a lot, but the good (lucky) genetics are there too. She used to get carded well into her 30s.

New comment by zafka in "Superintelligence: The Idea That Eats Smart People (2016)"

zafka — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 21:25:37 +0000

It might be childish, but I did laugh at the Ben Carson aside.

Pirsig on: What he did and did not write (2022)

zafka — Thu, 21 May 2026 17:53:06 +0000

Article URL: https://lithub.com/robert-m-pirsig-on-the-book-he-wrote-and-the-one-he-didnt/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48226550

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

New comment by zafka in "Men Who Stare at Walls"

zafka — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 13:56:32 +0000

I have to say that the reworded title is what made me read the article. It is almost poetic. I could see it being a title of a campy movie.

New comment by zafka in "An Introduction to the Codex Seraphinianus, the Strangest Book Ever Published"

zafka — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 02:36:26 +0000

Hmmm, Now I need to find out where my copy is hiding. I really need to reorganize the books again. I savored this for a while, but have not gone through the entire book yet. Sort of like War & Peace - books that everyone must read before they die, and I am saving them for insurance.

New comment by zafka in "Ask HN: What do I do now that software engineering is dead?"

zafka — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 22:10:14 +0000

Hi, I sort of wandered into my career. I started in telecom due to a co-op, and then jumped to a cool job making computers for blind people that was both closer to my home, but also offered the opportunity to see many parts of the business. I ended up working on electronics and software in the medical device field. If one has the aptitude for it, I think jobs that are closer to the hardware will have a much longer shelf life. Get a copy of "Horowitz and hill", if you find that book entertaining, you should be fine.

New comment by zafka in "Drinking 2-3 cups of coffee a day tied to lower dementia risk"

zafka — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 19:25:06 +0000

I am curious(because I get stuffed up a lot also) Do you know what is causing your stuffiness?

New comment by zafka in "A brief history of barbed wire fence telephone networks (2024)"

zafka — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 18:30:13 +0000

When I was a kid, I scavenged a hunk of cable "Ma Bell" had left behind. I spliced together a quarter mile pair of wires to connect the neighbors house to mine and hooked up a battery and microphone on one side, and a speaker on the other. No luck. Then we connected the "speaker side" to the input of my friends stereo, and it was possible to be heard. I was about 10 at that time ( ~1970) and was not very aware of voltage drop. The taps and recording system I put in our basement worked much better!

New comment by zafka in "Simply Scheme: Introducing Computer Science (1999)"

zafka — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 17:39:40 +0000

I know I am biased both by my education and my chosen path. My first computer class was pascal based,my second course was intel based assembler. These were both in community college. When I started my degree in Computer Engineering, the microprocessor course was essentially an assembly course using the Motorola 6800 chip. I was lucky that the main CS courses were taught using C, course work was compiled on Vax mainframes running some unix variant. I used Borland C/C++ 3.0 to do my homework, then would have to figure out what changed when I used the Vax compiler to turn in my work. I really think it is worthwhile to get an understanding of the low level workings of computing. Every now and then I see a nice article comparing different access times for disk, ROM, DRAM, cache which is also important to know for critical code. Embedded for Telecom, Medical,etc.

New comment by zafka in "Coffee as a staining agent substitute in electron microscopy"

zafka — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 16:02:33 +0000

I was turned on to Chock full o' Nuts years ago, and have never turned back. I will drink any coffee in a pinch, but for great mild coffee I stick to Chock full o' nuts in my french press.

New comment by zafka in "IBM Mainframe Business Jumps 67%"

zafka — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 22:34:27 +0000

What jumps out at me is the use of the "constant currency" term. I do not think I have seen that before - Admittedly, I do not study a lot of financials. Is this something that we are going to see a lot of now, due to devaluation of the dollar?

New comment by zafka in "Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids"

zafka — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 15:14:56 +0000

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Design_of_Everyday_Things This book - or its later editions, should be required reading for ALL engineers and designers. Actually for their managers as well.

Humans Near top of list of monogamous mammals

zafka — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 17:37:52 +0000

Article URL: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/dec/10/humans-rank-among-leading-monogamous-mammals-study-finds

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46234449

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by zafka in "Coffee linked to slower biological ageing among those with severe mental illness"

zafka — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 22:37:43 +0000

I wonder if what seems like much higher margins in coffee allow for more articles like this. While I want what they are saying to be true, I wish I did not have to pay $15.00 for a 26 ounce can of coffee.

New comment by zafka in "Scientists find ways to boost memory in aging brains"

zafka — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 20:43:30 +0000

Thanks for your data points. They are quite encouraging. I was blessed with the ability to remember way more information that most of my peers. Now that I have lost some of that ability, I still retain quite a bit, with slower retrieval times usually. Over all, I really have no room to complain. ( although I still do). The skill I value the most though is finding those connections you speak of. I currently don't have a feel for how that has changed, but I think I am still good to go in that department.

New comment by zafka in "Rock Tumbler Instructions"

zafka — Sat, 25 Oct 2025 17:57:28 +0000

You can pick up Silicon Carbide grit pretty cheap online ( impure moissanite ). I have several tumblers, but have yet to finish the process of making polished gems- but it is still on my bucket list :). I have made lots of "sea glass: though. I have taken quite a bit to the local beach ( about 40 miles north of Palm Beach Fl. ) I toss it into the surf, figuring it will make some beachcombers happy. My logic is that once it has been in the ocean a few days, it will actually be sea glass. I would not make that claim for any of the glass that comes straight out of the tumbler though. Next time you visit a craft show and see folks with "Sea glass" Jewelry, note if they have separate displays for "real" sea glass, and man made.

New comment by zafka in "CRISPR-like tools that finally can edit mitochondria DNA"

zafka — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 19:20:04 +0000

> If you look at what happened to experiments with feeding house cats an altered diet in just a few generations.

Can you point to a reference?