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bloudermilk

844 karma · joined February 16, 2011

Developing teams and technology to benefit life on Earth

brendan@sinceresoftware.co • https://bloudermilk.com/

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[ my public key: https://keybase.io/bloudermilk; my proof: https://keybase.io/bloudermilk/sigs/_4Owrm7iVpGQ_BMcKCLFXzTWNzJwosQkUxYwj_CZtto ]

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bloudermilk··on Mastering CSS blend modes
This is a way better article than OP, which is really more of a visual reference.
bloudermilk··on Ask HN: Where to Feature Startup on Spanish, Portuguese, German, French?
To be fair you could say that about all the languages listed by OP. Colonial/imperial histories and all that…
bloudermilk··on Transformer architecture optimized for Apple Silicon
I would gladly install a 1GB+ app on my 512GB iPhone that never gets above 50GB because of iCloud’s remote storage optimizations.
bloudermilk··on AI is making it easier to create more noise, when all I want is good search
I’m just starting down this path myself. Any resources outside of official HF docs you would recommend?
bloudermilk··on Amazon officially becomes a health care provider after purchase of One Medical
Have you called a local urgent care facility? I don’t think I’ve ever paid more than $150 for a visit out of pocket (no insurance) even when I got X-rays for broken ribs. You can charge it to a credit card if you need to and figure out reimbursement from your insurance later.
bloudermilk··on Replacing Mapbox with open source solutions
Love the aesthetics you achieved with your map. Did you blog about the design process anywhere?
bloudermilk··on Anarchist Cookbook (1971) [pdf]
I'm guessing this is primarily a generational thing. Boomers got a very different education in practice than Millennials.
bloudermilk··on Ask HN: What's on your home server?
Maybe hosting this service behind a firewall / on a private network would make the most sense. I notice many people here are running Tailscale at home — perhaps this is why?
bloudermilk··on Amazon packages burn in India, final stop in broken recycling system
Can you share more about your community?
bloudermilk··on Mold linker may switch to a source-available license
Are there any examples of popular OSS projects using a non-commercial-only license?
bloudermilk··on NASA finds super-emitters of methane
It's hard to take this comment seriously when you haven't provided any of the relevant facts or sources to back this claim.
bloudermilk··on SpaceX launches Starlink ‘flat high-performance’ dish for moving vehicles
I’ve experienced these pauses as well but they’ve only been problematic on real time video calls in practice. I wouldn’t trade my fiber for full time Starlink but I would definitely choose it over any Comcast offering (for personal use)
bloudermilk··on AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)
It's the worst when you're talking to someone with AirPods who is doing other tasks while talking to you, like chores around the house. The noise cancellation is perfect until some loud sharp noise then BAM your ear drums get blasted. As an end-user, though, I much prefer my AirPods to my Bose over-ears in almost all situations.
bloudermilk··on Permaculture Water Systems of the Seven Seeds Farm [video]
I was also surprised to see so much exposed soil, without so much as a cover crop. Perhaps we witnessed some transitionary state for the farm?
bloudermilk··on Ask HN: How can I start a business to generate electricity?
Happy you found my comments helpful. If you want to learn more about the technologies and companies behind the energy transition you can check out this list we curate[0]. I would also recommend reading Project Drawdown[1] for a high level overview of the emerging generation of energy technology.

For what it’s worth, the scenario you describe is basically how the state of the art home systems work in the markets that support them. Distributed generation (via solar), energy storage (via batteries), and bidirectional grid connections for feeding surplus energy to the grid. Some companies even aggregate homes to act as a virtual power plant which can be dispatched on demand. There is a ton of interesting stuff happening in this area, I hope you find an opportunity that suits you!

[0] https://climatescape.org/categories/energy [1] https://projectdrawdown.org

bloudermilk··on Ask HN: How can I start a business to generate electricity?
The last thing I want to do is discourage anyone from learning, but I'm afraid you're looking at this (fascinating) field the wrong way. To the extent that this is unlikely to be an interesting intellectual pursuit for you, as it's currently framed.

If you really do want to operate a business generating electricity, start by learning how the power market operates in your area. Unless you live off-grid with a high degree of autonomy, you're likely to find that there are zero opportunities for an individual to enter this market on their own. Providing stable power to the grid requires unbelievable amounts of capital, planning, compliance, person-hours, and way too many other elements to list here.

If what you're actually interested in is generating electricity for yourself or your community, the good news is this is much more approachable. Developing and operating small-scale off-grid renewable energy system for a small home is achievable with off-the-shelf components and a basic understanding of electronics. You'll still want an electrician to validate and perhaps perform some of the work, but it's all pretty basic.

If what you're actually interested in is spearheading a renewable energy campaign for a large community currently dependent on other forms of power, take a look at community solar programs and energy cooperatives. Both are in practice all over the US.

bloudermilk··on Why do tree-based models still outperform deep learning on tabular data?
Damn, this sounds fascinating! Have you shared more anywhere eelse?
bloudermilk··on Ask HN: Higher order derivatives in everyday life?
Fun fact: the derivatives of position after velocity, acceleration, and jerk are snap (or jounce), crackle, and pop.

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth,_fifth,_and_sixth_der...

bloudermilk··on Datadog dashboard for the Texas power grid
Perhaps energy laymen are not the intended audience
bloudermilk··on Soon, life for 40M people who depend on the Colorado River will change
Add to that: proximity to major ports for international distribution and no tornadoes or hail
bloudermilk··on Ask HN: What are some cool but obscure data structures you know about?
Best practice in my experience is to use a timeout on all async operations to handle edge cases 1 & 2 above. The third case isn't possible with JavaScript AFAIK.
bloudermilk··on Ask HN: How do you manage your household cashflow?
I-Bonds are yielding 9% currently with a couple caveats.

https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/products/prod_ibonds_gl...

bloudermilk··on Fran Blanche: This Is Not Legal
Fran was unequivocal in her belief that no one can claim copyright on the content. If you’re referring to the quip she made along the lines of “if anyone” I think you’re missing the point of her video
bloudermilk··on Etsy Strike
Have you written about your experience launching shops on Etsy? A friend and I have a few craft-style products we're itching to make as a side hustle and it sounds like you've figured out some of the tricks of the trade :)
bloudermilk··on Ask HN: Why doesn't anyone create a search engine comparable to 2005 Google?
Assuming OP is referring to Google Venture's participation in at least one of Cloudflare's rounds.

https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/cloudflare-series-d...

bloudermilk··on The NFT Bay is the galaxy's most resilient NFT BitTorrent site!
This is hilarious. Is it a quote from something? Sounds like something Douglas Adams would write
bloudermilk··on Seed investors: the good, the bad and the ugly, from a founder who’s been there
I agree with you but it's worth noting that associates are mostly paid to do research. A big component of that is reaching out to startups as "an investor" to learn more about their businesses, even if there is no intention to invest ever in them.
bloudermilk··on Helion
The real question to ask is, what would they gain from revealing it?
bloudermilk··on Ask HN: Coping with cancer in the family
So sorry to hear about your mother. I just went through this with my father-in-law and will share some of the things we are most grateful for looking back.

* My partner told her employer right away and they were unbelievably supportive throughout the process, giving her PTO, understanding when she wasn't able to perform 100%, and always encouraging her to put her dad first. Not all employers are this great, but you may be surprised by how yours reacts

* We all practiced being in the moment, doing our best to enjoy each moment, especially the little things (e.g. lunch outside in the sun)

* There were ups and downs in his treatment and every "up" was an excuse to spend as much quality time together as possible

* We temporarily moved to be closer to him, both to help provide care and to spend as much with him as we could

I don't know where you are in your career or what constraints you might have, but if you can afford it my advice to you is to put your mother first always. Be transparent with your employer, ask for their support, and don't put up with any bullshit if it comes your way.

bloudermilk··on Helion
They're not exactly looking for investment, are they? With close connections to investors with deep pockets, in a race to commercialize fusion, it's not exactly surprising that they would keep their cards close to their chest.
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