ajford

So the constant upwards force is providing enough tension to keep the cable in the realm of a rigid body approximation? I would have assumed the force applied to accelerate the payload would also deflect the tether and anchor backwards (in a miniscule amount) and would have built up over successive payloads.

Not arguing, just curious. It's been at least a decade since I've messed with orbital mechanics.

The idea of a space elevator usually requires an orbital anchor point, in which case lifting yourself up the tether would pull you fully out of the gravitational well.

I've not done the mechanics in a long time (not since college), but I believe the tether itself would be providing all horizontal propulsion. Essentially by riding the tether up, it starts pushing you faster and faster. Since the payload's mass would be small compared to the anchor, the drag on the anchor would be negligible.

There's likely some need for thrust compensation on the anchor over time to counteract the delta V lost to the lifting of payloads, but that would all be part of station-keeping and would be there for tether drag as well.

Makes you solely dependent on Google. That's not really a problem, but as we've seen many times on HN and elsewhere, there's always the random chance that Google's automated systems can decide that your account meets some unknown criterion to be locked, deleted, or otherwise preventing you access.

It's rather unlikely, but so is the chance of your house burning down.

That's generally the reason people recommend the 3-2-1 rule. By having multiple separate backup solutions, you're hedging your bets. But as is commonly the case in computing, you have to play the convenience vs security/reliability game here and decide where the line between your time and convenience lies against the reliability of your backups and what risks your willing to take.

Or 'Classical Mechanics' as most university courses refer to it. Newtonian mechanics is an outdated name for simplified mechanics that approximate accurately for "normal" physics situations, at least normal for a human's daily life at this point in time.

The opposite end of this spectrum is Relativistic Mechanics, which takes over when the approximations fall away at realms deviating far from normal, such as high mass systems, those at speeds approaching C, or Quantum Mechanics for small scale like atomic interactions.

Lol. Had one for almost 3 years. Not interested in going back. I personally prefer my Linux laptop and home lab, with my Windows desktop for all things gaming and 3d CAD related.

I appreciate the vertical integration Apple has in all its products, but after feeling like I was fighting the system for almost 3 years, I was happy to no longer have to use it for my work machine.

To each there own though! I'm glad you enjoy it, and I'm glad to see Monodraw get the attention it deserves (it's genuinely a very cool app).

That's less of why the app couldn't be written in Electron and more of why Mac users wouldn't like an Electron app.

Perfectly valid reason why someone would want to write their app as a native app though, and I appreciate that.

Some of those are definitely things Electron gets wrong and should correct. Handling system-wide accent colors is exactly the kind of thing my UI kit (Electron in this argument) should be handling and not forcing everyone to re-invent.

I've never used or even heard of the titlebar file handling functionality and had to search that right now. This is exactly the kind of thing I've said about discoverability. I used OSX for three years daily, and I've been using it on and off as needed since around 2010. Some things that people love and use all the time are just not obvious to everyone.

Another take on it is that Mac decided to go a different path on a few different UI things in the past, and that has persisted to this day.

Look at how *nix, Windows, Sun, BSD, Chrome OS (which is basically a linux anyways) all use Ctrl, Meta (alt), and Shift for their hotkeys, compared to how Mac uses Hyper (cmd).

Also look at how Mac has one instance of an app's tool bar/menu that all windows share.

I'll agree that the consistent UI is a boon, but there's a large lack of discoverability imo, and some things that are just entirely lacking, like the ability to move windows around with hotkeys.

I'd be interested to hear as to why you couldn't achieve the functionality of this app in Electron.

I agree with you that it's almost impossible to get a native UI feel in electron, but that's not always the first priority.

If the end goal of the application is to present a custom interface for drawing on a monospace grid for ASCII art, I'm not sure I see the argument that a native UI is necessary over any cross-platform kit like QT or even an html based UI. I totally agree on shortcuts being a problem. Dealing with those cross-platform can be a headache when sufficient care is not being taken. Especially from an outsider to the platform.

As a long-time linux user, most of the interactions on OSX feel wrong to me, but I know it's me that's the problem. If I were to write shortcuts for the OSX platform, I'm sure I'd get most of them wrong. Conversely, if an OSX developer was writing shortcuts for a linux or windows platform, I'm sure they'd face the same issue. It really benefits to have a platform expert you can consult for testing.

I'm not trying to eschew the need and benefits of native apps here, I was trying to point out the fact that the large amount of hate for Electron (and similar web UI on desktop solutions) have their place.

Heck, this entire app could have been a web app. I'm sure a few out there exist to do very similar things.

There's dozens of ways to accomplish things in the wonderful field that is software development, and the whole "this tech is bad" cargo-cult is more a disservice than anything. There are pros and cons to every decision that goes into an application, and taking a stance against one method without considering the use cases and how it could benefit or hinder runs the risk of loosing out on promising tech or excluding people from using your project.

I've seen Monodraw a few times over the years, and I've lamented the fact that I haven't been able to use it, which is what drew me to make my original comment.

Buddy of mine from college flies with his US passport at all times, even for domestic flights, because he's of Arab decent and constantly gets hassled for it.

So one time we're flying domestic as a group to set up some equipment for a research project. He gets pulled aside by a couple of white TSA agents as part of a "random inspection", out of a line of about 20 people, mostly white or light complected.

He starts getting questioned about where he's flying, why, etc. Then they ask to see his ID and boarding pass. Hands them his passport, state DL, and boarding pass, and they start going off on him as to why he's got his passport for a domestic flight, how that looks suspicious and such.

He responds with "Well, I get stopped for looking Arab every time I fly, so this is a much easier way to prove I'm a US citizen." They stop for a moment and look around at everyone watching, tell him to have a good day and walk away. I'll never forget that encounter.

I get the hate that Electron gets for it's weight and overhead, but this is a perfect example of why Electron has value.

This app has no dependency on native OS for anything beyond writing data. It doesn't need to compile heavy code bases, it doesn't need fast GPU or other access. It could have very well been an electron app, and it would have the benefit of being widely available on many platforms.

I'd love to be able to use this app, but as a Linux and Windows user, I'm unable to. So I'll be searching for an alternative that runs on the platforms I have access to.

That said, no hate on the author for building the tool to their needs and desires. It's a fantastic looking app, and looks well executed. Wish I could use it.

It's one thing when it's removed for violating TOS or when masses report it. It's entirely another when a government in power uses their clout to demand that journalists and advocates are silenced. That is the very definition of attacking free speech.

The failure to see that is why you're being downvoted.

They could be meaning a resume as used in the US. Outside of the US (or at least in a number of European countries) what is called a resume in the US is referred to as a CV (though my understanding is that it's generally a few pages long, not a single page). Though this comes not from first-hand experience, but a lot of in-depth conversations with friends/coworkers from overseas, so I might be wrong here.

Git doesn't work well for binary files, in particular large binary files.

This is the reason so few VFX, graphics, and game devs use Git for anything that needs to version large binary files.

Git LFS can help, but it's not always the right solution.

Print houses are increasingly using the same source and layout files for printed books as they are for ebooks. This means that there is little to no difference or extra cost to produce the alternate media version here.

I totally agree that an audio book has an entirely different production path and it's own entirely different staff and company that needs to make it's own costs back. But that argument is becoming less and less relevant for physical vs digital books.

Many non-traditional/smaller publishers and printers, such as No Starch Press, offer free copies of the ebook version when you purchase the physical copy and offer the digital copy at a reduce price compared to print.

Or they went about developing their own systems. Bosch made their own system that didn't involve slamming a brake into the blade, but SawStop decided to throw some money around and get an injunction against it.

All the evidence I've found is super cloudy, but early reports indicated Bosch's variant predated SawStop's release.

Luckily SawStop's patents expire in a few years so hopefully we'll see other safety mechanisms similar to SawStop without the downsides and greed.

Oh totally, that's why sprinter vans or step vans work well for tools and small goods. But if you're moving sheet goods, pallets/slats of heavy goods, long materials, or things like dirt or gravel, then a truck bed is better.

It's all about using the most suitable vehicle for the job.

They're also optimized for having a driver hand-deliver packages from the back of it hundreds of times over an 8hr shift. That's moving entirely different things than you'd move in a truck. A pickup truck would make a shitty parcel delivery truck, and a UPS truck would be a shitty way to move construction materials.

So the HN title has been changed, but the original article specifically calls out Native English speakers as "the world's worst communicators".

The author could have couched the entire article from the point of view that a native speaker is difficult for non-native speakers to understand. I was simply pointing out that the article points an accusing finger at a particular group, when the issue at hand isn't a particular language, but the situation in question.

This is definitely something that communicators and collaborators need to be aware of, but the article, at least to me, demonizes a particular group even though the issue isn't inherent to that group.

I think a lot of this odd structuring is due to English leaning heavily on borrowed forms and rules that really have no ties to the underlying language.

Not that I'm blaming the language, just think it's curious at how many conflicting and skewed rules have just become a part of the language over hundreds of years.

This article blames English specifically for what is ultimately a cultural difference. This goes for a native speaker in any language.

I speak passable Spanish, and have encountered the same "cultural dissonance" when dealing with a native speaker in a room full of non-native speakers. When you grow up embedded in a language and culture, you don't realize when you slip into colloquialisms and culture references that don't translate well.

That whole business deal the article opens with is a joke. It's not the native speaker's fault, nor the word's fault. It was the recipient who picked randomly when faced with an unclear choice. If you're unclear, as for clarification. I worked with an international collaboration of scientists during college and that was one of things you learned quickly. No one has the same frame of reference you do, so make sure you're all on the same page. Hell, simply rephrasing your understanding in a reply before you take action can clear this up in a single message. "So you wanted us to X? Got it!". Then the other party has the opportunity to step in and say, "No, do Y".

Ah, that good ol' rescue disk! I did something similar in high school. Had a cd binder full of various rescue tools, including a few bootable rescue floppies and such.

Even made some money building custom PCs and doing lighting/window mods for people from my school.

What basic concepts (beyond installing and managing Python env) would you learn by using an interpreter installed locally?

The point, to me at least, seems to be laying the groundwork for even more learning and experimentation in python, while making it as easy as possible to do so.

It also has the benefit that any reader will end up with the same expected environment the guide is written for.

I will say that I totally agree that calling it the "right way" is disingenuous at best, and pure marketing fluff at worst.

That sounds to me like the business owners are failing to pay competitively. If the unemployment benefits are higher than their wages, it's the wages that are the problem. Also, have you spoken to the ex-employees directly? How do you know they haven't moved on to better paying jobs and that's why they're not returning?

I've personally spoken to a regional manager for a chain that owns a number of small restaurants, and they recently faced a similar issue when the brass decided they would move all the drivers to wait-staff pay. They lost EVERY driver on staff when they saw their first check. They could make more money moving to Uber or competitors.

Pay competitively, or the market solves the problem for you. Yeah, there's gonna be the bad apple in the mix that would subsist on Unemployment benefits or UBI, but that minority isn't an argument why UBI is bad.

I don't believe in the argument around the concern that UBI can be raised so high by taxing the rich that it tips the scale. When 1% of the population controls such a high majority of the economy, at what point do you say that they're the problem, not the people on UBI?

I strongly feel like this author hasn't written a shell script in a while... Maybe ever?

Holy shit, I missed that. Wow, I'm beginning to feel like this author didn't even _think_ about doing research for this article.

I know many an engineer and physicist that swear by RPN. I actually used it for a while, and totally see their love for it, but couldn't quite get it to stick in my head.

Sounds more like an entry in `5 useless RedHat articles` to me.

Unix philosophy of 'do one thing well' is why things like `arch` exist. And I've used `arch` in plenty of scripts. Same with `uname`.

I'll admit that `arch` was more important during the early days of x64 introduction than now, but anyone who deals with legacy hw or embedded platforms is more likely to see it.

How much do they make off a set of scam/spam apps? If it's at least a 10x margin over the $99 fee, it just seems like a likely gamble for being worth it. If it's 100x, then it's overhead cost.

At that point, it only hurts legitimate indy devs who aren't gaming the system.

A shitty local bank back home truncated without telling you as well. Didn't realize it until they rolled out a mobile app and my password didn't work. After complaining about it, a friend who worked at said bank as a teller said to try truncating to 8 chars and it worked. :rage:

Apparently it was known internally, as they used some ancient system behind the scenes that would only support a max of 8 chars, and the website just truncated your password and passed that on. The new app didn't truncate and would get an error response.

I'm still holding onto some of my mom's CompSci homework from the early 80s or so. Mostly based on flow diagrams and what amounts to state machines. Sadly no punch cards, though she talked about taking them in to run assignments.

Story goes that she had a campus job cleaning, and made good friends with the guys in charge of running the mainframe by bringing them food and drinks when she stopped by. Which of course meant she could often get them to sneak her stack of cards into the queue overnight.

Details are fuzzy since I last heard the tales over a decade ago, and haven't dug the assignments out in forever.

Not sure where you're located at, but I've never heard unemployment referred to as "substantial". I've known a number of people who ended up on it, and it's generally a percentage of your normal wage, so I don't know how someone can increase their savings while unemployed unless they were blowing money left & right while employed.

Additionally, in most states you petition for unemployment and then generally have to prove you are eligible. All it takes is one spiteful manager to create a paper trail that you were let go with cause, and in most jurisdictions renders you ineligible. Then it becomes your word against theirs unless you have your own proof to fight back with.