Comment by Zababa | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Zababa | Hacker News Reader

Website seems to be down: https://archive.is/vGC6C

Anecdotally, I've visited Chernobyl and I remember seeing somewhere a few empty cans and an empty vodka bottle. Both looked pretty recent. I've also seen the bus that's photographed. There was something inside, the thing with a cardboard cover and metal rings where you can put pages inside (It's called a "classeur" in French, but I can't find how it's called in English). Edit: as some comments pointed out, it's called a "3 ring binder" or just "binder". Thanks. It was filled with text, with different handwriting. Most of it was Eastern European, though I can't tell which languages precisely. I have a few pictures. The bus itself is near an abandonned farm with lots of farming machines left outside to rust.

I also had the chance of being here a few months before they put the second sacrophagus on the central, so I have pictures of the first.

I think the place that marked me the most was the "Monument to Those Who Saved the World" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_to_Those_Who_Saved_th....

One thing that I felt during my time here (two days) was how uncanny everything is. The buildings are still here, sometimes with furniture, but anything that you can easily carry has disappeared. All in all it was a great experience, I'm really glad I took the time to visit this place.

Edit: small "fun" anecdote that I like to tell: I was more irradiated during my plane trip from France to Ukraine and back than during the two days here.

Pripyat is mostly safe to visit, unless if you happen upon one of the unmarked spots where they dumped irradiated equipment or spent fuel. The area is just littered with extremely dangerous bulldozers that they just kind of buried in unmarked spots.

So it’s safe … until it isn’t.

We had geiger counters at all time on us. The most radioactive areas were a buried village, the sand under the douga that was used to wash it, and a can filled with garbage in Pripyat (which was by far the most radioactive things). Probably some kind of trap? Or a form of sculpture?

Yeah, you can definitely do it safely with the right gear and some planning. It’s both less risky on average and more tricky than most people think. Wouldn’t recommend drinking the water if you can avoid it though.

As far as the garbage. Hell if I know.

I was with an organized tour so it was relatively safe. I wouldn't go alone without proper training and equipment though. For the water, we drunk some "local" water at the inn. I think/hope that it's treated properly. Most of the food we ate was also bought by us before the trip.

"Three ring binder" maybe? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_binder

Curious that there are two replies here calling it a three ring binder explicitly, while if I think about it I have only seen them with two or four rings.

According to the wiki article: "A few years later three-ring binders became the standard in the United States"

It's just a ring binder in Britain, which like most of the world has ISO paper sizes and either 2 or 4 rings on binders.

(4 rings for durability, 2 for convenience.)

In US school, we were generally required to have a three ring binder every year for class. Like with #2 pencils, we're vaguely aware other types exist but virtually never encounter them.

And I'd assume they're called "X ring" binders, as opposed to just binders, because "binder" is a fairly generic term.

As for the number of rings: first mover advantage and network effects.

Paper is produced with three rings. Teachers buy three ring hole punches. Soon binder manufacturers target the most common standard. All other standards die off.

I have seen and used four ring binders in America. But three ring was the phrase that jumped out in my head.

The highest form of the art is found in Japan with 20 and 26 ring binders.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41sow2N%2Bi...

The mind boggles.

3 rings: provides redundancy over 2 ring

4 ring: additional stability and redundancy

... 26 ring? At that point, you almost have more hole than paper. Is there a reason?

You have to try it. It is such a joy. The pages turn like butter and never tear out. You can lift the entire binder by a single page. The paper size feels much more human-scale. I exclusively use J-Binders for my notes.

I'd love to try one of those. Three-ring binders are a chore because the holes are so easy to tear with daily use. Sure, they sell stickers that you put over the teared holes to repair them, but why not redesign the binders in the first place?

Exactly. The fact that “reinforcements” exist proves that the manufacturers know that the product design is bogus.

I think rings are kept to a minimum as evenly punching twenty holes in twenty sheets of paper at once would be difficult.

In The Netherlands, in schools 23-ring-binders are quite heavily used. In office environments it is mostly 2- or 4. The nice thing is that they are compatible: if you have 23-ring-paper or 4-ring it will fit in 2 or 4 ring binders. This does not work the other way around for obvious reasons.

Where I grew up, there were two-ring binders, three-ring binders, and four-ring binders.

Two-ring binders clamped at the top of the sheet.

Three-ring binders clamped at the left side of the sheet.

Four-ring binders were plastic instead of metal, and were a geared mechanical slider. One brand was the Trapper Keeper. ("Trappers" being the folders that matched them.)

At some point, the plastic four-ring binders switched to three rings to match the holes pre-punched in the loose leaf paper. But you could still get paper with 2+4 and 3+4 holes pre-punched in the left side that would fit multiple binder configurations.

On a rather unrelated note, those binders are called "fardes à anneaux" in my dialect of French. Translating directly to "ring binders". Languages are fun

That's the first time I hear the word "farde". Thanks for sharing.

It’s a “3 ring binder” or just “binder”

While I agree that the item is ordinarily called a "three-ring binder", and that it always has three rings, I would not call one with a strange number of rings a "three-ring binder". The name hasn't become that opaque.

And a "ring binder" sounds like something else.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com