danelectro

Seems like if the "boot.asm" (actually sector 0 of the floppy) could be made relocatable away from sector0, then it could still be functional when stored in a filesystem (including on a HDD) not unlike BOOTSECT.DOS. The remainder of the floppy (sectors 1 through 16 proper) when copied to the same sectors (which are normally blank and unused) on a MBR/BIOS style HDD work just the same as from floppy without having to be in a filesystem themself.

Then you could easily chainload to Floppy Bird on a HDD from other bootloaders (like WinNT5 & NT6), with no changes to the main ASM program.

EDIT: the comments in boot.asm refer to sectors 1 & 2 since they are the first 2 sectors of the floppy, these two are officially numbered 0 & 1 in a disk editor or DD command.

Well, on Android the original Flappy Bird was 894kb in size, and this Floppy Bird is only 8.7kb.

Plus the 8.7kb includes enough utility code to obviate the need to load an OS for the game to run on top of, so the size ratio actually is better than the apparent 100:1.

The TAB key changes the bird's color scheme.

One thing's for sure, today's air-conditioning is one of the most energy-wasteful indulgences among electrical appliances.

Growing up around Tampa, as a native in the old days not only did very few residences have A/C, but most businesses did not either. Mainly just banks and supermarkets.

Most people were from up north anyway, and among them there were two interesting extremes.

"The Adaptable" good life lover. They retired or moved to Florida because they wanted the clean air, slower pace, and natural beauty of the sub-tropical resort environment. They let the fresh air in all the time, and only complained slightly when there was a heat wave and they had to use window or ceiling fans around-the-clock. They weren't about to consider air-conditioning though since they had worked all their life for the resort atmosphere to begin with and had strong desires to get what they were paying for.

"The Snowbird" migratory variety. Can not conceive of adapting to the sub-tropical environment very much, so they only spend winters that far south, generally while it is freezing up north. They didn't need A/C either since they weren't going to be there in the summer.

Kids love A/C though. We would plan our bike routes to include stops for rest at the buildings having A/C, where they had lobbies for us to gather with the retired people to cool off before heading back out.

Even as kids we knew Houston was the most air-conditioned city in the world at the time, then when the Astrodome was built it just emphasized so much the excesses that oil money can make possible.

Anyway, after being in Houston now for over a dozen years without A/C, I can't complain since I've adapted OK myself.

For me it's a no-brainer, I simply can't afford waste, especially wasting overpriced energy. Even Houston natives sometimes have an incredulous reaction and think I must be suffering, especially on 100 degreeF days like this. So more to satisfy them than myself, I invented a solar A/C where "the hotter it gets the cooler it gets" would be my trade or service mark. Don't expect to be building a prototype any time soon, with other inventions more pressing, but it's going to be a good one when the situation is right.

Good primer on an important electronic sub-topic.

Anyone doing audio or other sensor-handling circuitry should be well enough versed in this so that their designs come out just as well or better intuitively in at least this one respect than they do when the equations are carefully figured in advance.

>I wonder if us startup heads are just early adopters

If you are in software, late to the party seems to me unless you managed to get your company going before Microsoft did. After that everyone had an example to follow.

>you would work "gigs" for a while, but this would be prep and apprenticeship for your own launch not your ultimate career path.

I thought this was obvious since the late '60's.

>In that future those stuck in "jobs" in the conventional sense would be the lower classes.

Not lower class but a type of working class who is not lower in recognition or financial compensation than independent entrepreneurs. For the most part since most small businessmen don't earn more than they would if otherwise employed, but being independent has a huge upside for the few who get capital compared to the upside at most employers. Like today.

>You'd also probably have a ton of people on welfare of various kinds.

You do! You do!

Breathing compressed air tastes so funky sometimes, I hope it's just nitrogen causing the narcosis.

Looks to me like the living chamber is pressurized to match the ambient water pressure, so realistically a free diver could enter but would still have the same limited "bottom-time" as when they are using scuba at that depth, otherwise the same decompression regime would be required upon ascent.

The conditioning of air for a relatively closed system should not be expected to resemble or contain the same elements as an ordinary residential application where cooling is the main consideration and moisture removal is a side-effect of the most common apparatus in humid environments.

A regenerative industrial air-drying unit could be adapted, at least I know I could do it, but may not be within their energy budget.

In the article Fortune refers to Hewlett & Packard as "computer whizzes". Negatory.

They were electronic (vacuum tube) whizzes who staked their entrepreneurialism to advanced instrumentation.

Then world war broke out again and government contracts were very good to them.

Later, solid-state electronics came along, and eventually computers and these were adopted early by HP simply because they were . . . well . . . electronic, and HP was a (non-consumer) electronic leader by then.

Computers were definitely not their main thing when the company was still in possession of its true greatness.

If you need someone who is going to be required to handle money efficiently enough to get the most out of each dollar, one of the most worthwhile traits is actual years of experience getting the most out of each dollar.

In mission-critical computing the First Priority is it must not break. Ever.

Instruments have been my life.

It would be good to find out more about your efforts.

Radiotron was good for me.

Nachbauer pushed outward from there also, here's an announcement page:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.audio.tubes/swgQ... (his early links are long dead)

Here starts one preamp discussion:

http://www.ampage.org/homebrew.cgi?cat=sg&sb=&so=hl&page=989...

If you like, then here is the rest of that story:

http://www.dogstar.dantimax.dk

And don't forget this:

http://www.dogstarmusic.ca

With lost artists go lost arts.

Seems like you've got big data problems to solve and data scientists up the wazoo.

I would think the missing element would include avant problem-solvers, regardless of (advanced) degrees or not who are as outstanding in that specialty as the data scientists are in theirs.

I look at it more like de-selecting the non-elite non-insiders.

Ask not how you can avoid recession, ask what you can do for the rest of the country to emerge from recession that they are still suffering from.

Look at that GDP "Growth Rate" and of course you can clearly see as a derivative it's a "Shrink Rate of Growth Rate" and the trend line itself is more meaningful than you would think, especially the greater number of decades you have experienced to correlate with the patterns.

The right-hand y-intercept is fixed by the present day, but the left hand y-intercept would vary related to what year in the past you choose to begin your data series. Good choice anyway IMHO to use ~1950 on the left since so many in the USA who have economic experiences before that time are no longer with us, or seriously retired from productive service even though passive incomes for some survivors of earlier times are doing quite well for now.

Remember that this is corporate growth, and so many corporations depend so much on growth that anything which stands in the way will be disposed of, if a situation of zero real economic opportunity becomes significant, then growth (or reduced shrinkage as a last resort) will be extracted from the citizens either by passing on the costs directly or through government lobbying.

So look at area under the curve or in this case area over the curve which I believe are two different things.

Sharp or extended spikes below the trend are devastating to both corporations & citizens, but corporate shareholders are compensated by the eventual return of growth above the trend, since costs are passed on, the consumers do not share in the prosperity like they share in the devastation.

Anyway, experience has shown that a negative spike like the one in about 1981 will devastate maybe 10% of consumers at least, and for them there will be no recovery for about 25 years at least. Later on in the early '80's a different larger portion of consumers are neutralized. The 1990-91 ruin is still largely with "us" if you were one of the unfortunate ~10% there, otherwise you may not even notice, this is by design. Early 2000's there is a little downward noise, lots of dotcoms and their dependents, but 2008-09 were the worst thing since the Nixon Recession, a huge new group whose futures's ruined for decades to come.

Since each significant spike destroys a different block of consumers, this is adding up, estimate totalling up to almost a majority of consumers who are not just compromised but ruined by now.

And that's not all, Nixon was so incompetent that the currency had to be sacrificed too and that does not appear on the chart. This was huge.

Surprises are in store if you have not yet felt the wrath from 5 years ago. There is nothing more for currency to contribute, loss of property values since then has not extracted its toll proportional to negative area so something else will have to give, and it will have to be big.

In my case I was devastated by natural disaster, leaving me with challenging anti-social obligations.

When I am not worse off than the homeless or domestically compromised, I still help the ones whom I am personally acquainted with, providing cash sometimes or rides in my vehicle.

There are numerous needy individuals I encounter regularly and they are not always worse off than me.

With needy strangers, until I am out of debt or at least have positive cash flow, I can usually be honest, and get an honest reaction when I ask if they have lost everything. If so, it's easy to relate how I'm looking forward to working 12hours a day, 7days a week for a couple years so that I will recover well enough to then have nothing myself.

For someone who is truly homeless, it's usually easy for them to understand that I am non-domestic myself, plus it takes a lot to keep a vehicle on the road so I really don't have anything to spare sensibly.

Since I'm older than most, the sensible beggar recognizes he may be worse off in my position.

This year I often have food with me when I am driving, so I sometimes can share some of my rations or occasionally even have surplus to give.

I am a surplus-seeking individual. My entire (ruined) operation was built with recycled or surplus materials.

One man gathers what another man spills.

I don't plan to beg on the street, I'll learn how to accept financial help from a capitalist instead, and I'm not looking for a donation unless a venture turns out to be a non-profit org. Otherwise I'll make them as much return as they prefer.

But it has to be a generous capitalist with surplus funds to combine with my surplus technology, then we fly. The same backing from a greedy partner could only offer further deficit for me, may still get off the ground but not true flight with that baggage.

I look forward to the time when I can once again exersize my generosity to a greater degree. __________

- now you're considering street performers while I was typing, so I'll post this here. Don't think I'll do that either unless I finally lose critical mass of industrial surplus which could happen any time, but looks like I've got a better chance singing for my supper at my favorite restaurant than I would in the street, which is illegal here except in the (uncrowded) museum district with a very restrictive permit.

sorry this message turned out to be so personal, hope it helps anyway, this one hit "home"

IMHO the best way to bypass the middlemen is to directly put cash into the tip jars of unsigned artists performing live at locations not affiliated with BMI or ASCAP.

There are many types of ambition.

Goal-focused ambition is only one type, it may be the most recognizable, maybe due to the influence of goal-seeking sports competitions.

Goals are great for some games, some of which are competitive. Not everything is a game.

Sometimes a team benefits from a goal more than an individual.

What if you have a goal that is not recognized or appreciated?

What if you've already reached your goals?

What if you have stronger ambition by nature than the goal-seeking type?

What if your goal was to perform without a specific goal while still outperforming those who focused on it?

What if you recognized the factors identified in the original PDF decades ago and groomed yourself to be able to sometimes engage in more effective goal-seeking than the pure devotees, while also outperforming them toward their own goals while yourself being unfocused, whenever you wanted to according to the situation?

This is the main significant conclusion to me.

Simply that losing a major war can mean ultimate removal of the entire political system of the vanquished, even if it does not result in replacement by that of the victor. This is the steepest threat that politicians ever face. This is when all the stops are pulled out, and incentive given to those who "new ideas" might otherwise be discouraged until a larger external threat is looming.

The beneficial element is not the war itself, but the wide & deep threat to the politicians.

This encourages them to unleash the forces of innovation which have naturally been throttled historically to preserve the status quo. These are the powers-that-be, if they weren't that powerful it wouldn't be so.

War is always a net loss. Any small local or focused gains fall mainly to politicians or those politically connected. This is nothing new, it will always be less than 1% of us who have a "Daddy" Warbucks.

For greatest efficiency in creating wealth or innovation, minimize the violence & destruction while doing whatever it takes to make your politicians bend to your will as much as they would to an overwhelming outside force.

Even when threat becomes reality, removing evil politicians pays off much better than merely seeking plunder.

start writing your story down now, and then reveal it later when appropriate

LNG is cooled and compressed to turn it from gas to liquid, and like the bulk cryogenic liquified "fixed gases", it is the cryogenic storage temperature which maintains the liquid state, not the pressure under which it is stored.

This is also true for liquid nitrogen, liquid oxygen, liquid argon & liquid helium.

At ambient temperatures the vapor pressures of these fixed gases are too high for the liquid to be contained by conventional pressure cylinders having tightly shut valves. Instead they are stored cryogenically in highly insulated dewars under low pressures of 35 to 100psi which vent pressures above that to the atmosphere continuously as the liquid slowly evaporates and maintains the reduced temperature of the remaining bulk by self-refrigeration.

That's why these tanks hiss as if they are leaking from the time you have one delivered until the liquid is fully evaporated whether you use it or not.

Carbon dioxide is a different fixed gas since it only has a vapor pressure less than 1000psi at room temperature. So it is available in regular tightly shut welding-style tanks containing 50pounds of liquid at room temperature, or it can be provided as a cryogenic liquid in low-pressure vented dewars like the LN2.

Liquid (anhydrous) ammonia has a vapor pressure less than 1800psi so it can be stored in a tightly shut pressure cylinder itself, stainless steel DOT cylinders are commonly used for lab samples. This is at room temperature, so it is not necessary to be handled cryogenically in order to transport or store ammonia, unlike LNG. As mentioned elsewhere, you wouldn't want to vent ammonia anyway.

>how . . . did you decide

I like to build laboratories, working in an institution would not be as rewarding to me unless I build it myself or it reflects my vision.

>why . . . did you decide

so I could do better practical (paying) work, including better fundamental science (far-future payoff) than was allowed in established academic or industrial institutions.

>when did you decide

ASAP.

Independent and self-funded, I did not miss as much unrestricted work than I would have in academic or industrial labs which are much more restricted.

I consider myself fortunate that I did serve large industrial outfits which were able to pay the bills for so long using only 1 percent of my technical abilities.

Don't try this at home.

In the '70's a research equipment supplier named Instruments for Research & Industry (now part of Glas-Col) would not sell to the military. Company was founded in 1939, I do not know if that was their policy as far back as WWII but it definitely was during Vietnam War.

Since those times as a teenager my greatest hesitation to growth is due to the possibility of my technology getting out of control with negative net consequences, and have put significant effort to avoid that happening.

Over 40years the one constant which would appear to allow growth without this risk is to choose a capitalist more carefully than one would choose me.

I may be weird but I'm not just being weird.

I was influenced by Wall Street (I was a teenage stockbroker) and would still look forward to a corporation exploiting one of my efforts in a positive way if the structure was properly supportive.

An electrolytic capacitor is an electro-chemical device itself. Also, like a battery, if the "electrolyte" is not without solvent then it is a liquid-state device. As opposed to a film & foil capacitor which is a solid-state device. Batteries generate a characteristic cell voltage as a result of a chemical reaction. Capacitors store any voltage up to their maximum rating, electrolytics have higher capacity/size ratio than film & foil due to the chemical help of the electrolyte, but do not generate voltage on their own, only store what is supplied from a power source.

it can be amazing what a non-institutional researcher can do

Back in the late '90's I thought lots of aspiring computer scientists were already using Windows or Linux as they VPN'd from their remote laptop back to home so they could access their personal files and full desktop through VNC. Not much differently than people would do on a commercial scale to their company network when they were away. Mainly dial-up except for the few who had broadband.

I was too preoccupied with natural science, but by 2003 I got a cellphone containing a regular USB GSM modem and would use that plugged in to my laptop to log in to my own desktop PC network using dial-up my dang self. From anywhere having cellular service, no need for a wireless data plan which was not available in most coverage areas anyway. Was good to have a nationwide calling plan which most people did not have either, and it still used up minutes of your monthly allowance.

No FOSS on the laptop back then for me usually, but if you had broadband at a remote location too, Windows XP had everything you needed to VPN back to a regular home Linksys router which normally contained its own VPN endpoint in those days with a new service called DynDNS already preconfigured in the router's firmware. Too bad DynDNS is not free any more but with the router handling VPN, you could still access a home network that was barebones Windows9x, Linux, even DOS.

No need for software, just common hardware and regular Windows features.

Unless you wanted the automated "Assistant" type stuff like in the article, then you would need software, regular users would never call it apps.

Later once 3G wireless arrived, I got a phone supporting that and could get better speeds (when available) than dial-up, and without even needing the laptop when I just wanted convenient recreational use on the small-screen. Never did want to lose the regular dial-up cell modem from my toolbox though, but a number of years ago Tmobile walled it off. So much for Plan B when there is no 4G, which is still not everywhere. Plus, no faxing for you[1] directly from a laptop through a cellphone any more, without having to go through a web service. Clouds got in my way.

[1] I realize now the '80's called and they want their facsimile machine back, but I was out of tape on my telephone answering machine ;-)

Had the INC for my operation which was pretty good until a devastating flood. I was ruined but I kept working in the ruins as an INC until I began to recover after a few years. Then someone else started a new company with a similar name, and that's when I found out my original records were lost because my bank's basement had flooded the same time as my building had. Lost the company bank account and the INC but just kept on going as a proprietor since my clients would support me as an individual by then.

By now have had plenty of time to conceptualize a superior structure over simple INC or LLC but it would have to be a funded joint venture and I'm not where the money is. Yet.

Not every year.

Hey, John Henry is in my family tree!

I'm surprised that nobody has posted any answers to your ASK.

You'd think that those having Kickstarter, freemium, or seed funding experience, especially all 3, would contribute their opinion.

Anyway, I think Kickstarter can not be the BEST approach unless you already have enough backers lined up in advance of your campaign launch to reach 30% of your funding goal if not more.

These need to be established Kickstarter backers of other projects, or supporters who will run right out, register for Kickstarter, and immediately back you financially at their anticipated level as soon as you let them know your campaign is going live. You need to be up-to-date with each member of both classes well in advance, so they can all pile on at the very beginning to give you overwhelming momentum.

Probably best to have all of these well-engaged preseeding supporters not only invited to look at your Kickstarter preview, but giving you positive feedback on your preview and serious encouragement to launch launch launch so they can fund fund fund.

And then after you go live if there is not enough appeal to the general Kickstarter audience even with your early-adopting insider momentum, your insiders then should be capable of each recruiting at least two new serious backers who will commit before the deadline is up. If each only brings in exactly two new supporters, that would only get you to 90% if you started at 30%.

But what do I know?

I would hope it's not frowned upon to post the link to your Kickstarter on HN, but then again who's paying any attention anyway, maybe just do it.

Thanks for posting this Colin.

Once the subject of Soylent came up, I've been thinking of contributing this myself but I don't think I have enough karma to make a difference.

Too expensive for me to use as a meal so I would use it as a supplement. I've been formulating my own mixtures for years and this is one of the helpful ingredients. I test every supplement under extreme conditions, and this is a proven performance enhancer to me.

Currently at formulation #22 according to the label, the website still shows #21 in their JPG of complete ingredients. Take a look at the components to see if you are already getting these in your diet. If not, maybe that's what supplements are for.

Thanks to HN I looked at Soylent, too bad it is not free of artificial ingredients.

Add some of this to Soylent and it sure would make it green though. Now I'm no youngster and I do remember when the original movie of Soylent Green came out. It was in response to the 1970's meat crisis, which was along the lines of the Arab oil embargo. Heck, I even remember when the NFL was still drinking Kool-Aid and only the Gators had Gatorade. By the time I got there they had an extreme system which made it difficult to rise to the top unless you were likely to be able to invent something as popular. Regardless, I've not been interested in popularity but I do formulate my own sports drink too, which has none of the artificial components of Gatorade, and excels in performance trials.