jshprentz

As an engineer, I enjoyed the recipe presentation at Cooking for Engineers [1], which has been discussed here on HN 16 years ago [2], 12 years ago [3], and again last year [4]. In addition to typical step-by-step instructions with photos, the nearly 100 recipes each show a diagram combining an ingredient list (in the order needed) with a timeline showing operations to perform (see [5], for example). Sadly, there have been no updates for about seven years.

[1] https://www.cookingforengineers.com

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=79856

[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2745687

[4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30797907

[5] https://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/268/Buffalo-Chick...

The Monks and Friars Chapel [1], an organization in Detroit, Michigan dedicated to preserving the knowledge and craft of Letterpress printing, lists sources [2] for rollers and other consumables.

[1] https://monksandfriars.org/

[2] https://monksandfriars.org/Rollers-Consumables

The good people at The Alembic Press have compiled an extensive list of typecase layouts (lays) [1].

The hundreds of variations accomodate different alphabets, languages, countries, cabinet sizes, measurement systems, contents (upper case, lower case, both, etc.), and other factors. All are shallow wood drawers with "egg crate" interlocking dividers, easily constructed by craftsmen (and later factories) for over five centuries.

[1] http://www.alembicpress.co.uk/Alembicprs/SELCASE.HTM

The final quote, "... but often, on the ground, it’s one old farmer walking around to collect acorns. ..." reminded me of the the book The Man Who Planted Trees [1] in which a shepard single-handedly reforests a desolate valley by planting acorns and other seedlings.

The book inspired an animated film of the same name [2], which won an Academy Award in 1988. I remember seeing this at an animated film festival about 35 years ago in the Biograph Theater in Washington, DC. Today I rewatched it on YouTube [3].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Planted_Trees

[2] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093488/

[3] https://youtu.be/epTqUnKsuUY

Another way: the Batmobile's Anti-Theft Activator [1] from the 1966-1968 Batman TV series.

[1] https://batlabels.tumblr.com/post/158029360040/anti-theft-ac...

You can read the novel Horrorstör [1]. As of 2020, the film rights have been optioned by New Republic Pictures.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horrorst%C3%B6r

Also see "The Tao of Sir Terry: Pratchett and Political Philosophy" [1] by the same author, J. R. H. Lawless, published on the same website four years ago. The earlier article covers different aspects of Pratchett's philosophy. It was noted on HN at the time with no comments [2].

[1] https://www.tor.com/2019/07/15/the-tao-of-sir-terry-pratchet...

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20471270

I first encountered this word in troff documentation back in the 1980s. Two examples:

A Typesetter-independent TROFF by Brian W. Kernighan, 1982. https://www.hack.org/mc/texts/ditroff-kernighan.ps.gz

Using nroff and troff on the Sun Workstation, 1986. http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/sun/sunos/3.0/800-1321-03A_Usin...

Source code at https://github.com/GerevAI/gerev

PDP-8 computers have appeared in several movies, starting with Three Days of the Condor in 1975. Starring the Computer has a complete list. [1]

[1] https://www.starringthecomputer.com/computers.html#DEC

Clocks with no apparent mechanism are known as mystery clocks. They were invented by French clock-maker and magician Robert-Houdin [1]. He exhibited his first mystery clock at the Exhibition of the French Industry of 1839. Many other makers have created mystery clocks in popular decorative styles of their day [2].

[1] https://www.liveauctioneers.com/news/be-smart/robert-houdin-...

[2] http://www.roger-russell.com/mysteryclocks/mysteryclocks.htm

And this one: https://xkcd.com/2304/

Mark Hostetler's analysis of North American windshield splatters in 1997 is documented in his book, "That Gunk on Your Car: A Unique Guide to Insects of North America." He reports on two dozen types of insects, with photos of them splattered and intact. His work won the 1997 Ig Nobel Prize for entomology [1].

No time to read a whole book? Hostetler's son, Bryce, released a free iPhone/iPad app in 2018 [2].

[1] https://improbable.com/ig/winners/#ig1997

[2] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/that-gunk-on-your-car/id135275...

To counter the Washington Pizza Index, I propose that the United States establish a Strategic Pizza Reserve. Daily pizza orders from Domino's will be stablized at slightly above average demand. Excess pizzas will be frozen and stored in the Reserve, possibly stacked in former missile silos. During peak demand periods, pizzas will be released from the Reserve to supplement the stablilized daily supply. The government may also release pizzas from the Reserve to aid survivors of natural disasters.

>> There is no word in English dictionary with HH (°°°° °°°°).

> Beachhead

Also bathhouse, fishhook, hitchhike, roughhouse, and withhold.

Previous HN discussion in 2020: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25412576

Compare with the 3x3 Fakoo alphabet [1] discussed here earlier [2].

[1] https://omniglot.com/conscripts/fakoo.htm

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33092239

I have used the WeatherBug app [1] on my most recent three or four Android phones. It provides tabs for the current conditions, hourly and 10-day forecasts, and a radar map.

They also have a website [2] and an IOS app [3]. I haven't used either of these.

[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aws.androi...

[2] https://www.weatherbug.com/

[3] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/weatherbug-weather-forecast/id...

> A windowless room with a community bathroom doesn't sound appealing, but at a certain price point it's better than nothing.

Last November, HN briefly discussed [1] Munger Hall at the University of California Santa Barbara, which will be just such a building. Housing 4,500 students, only 32 of 512 single rooms on each floor will have physical windows. The remaining 95% will have virtual windows that simulate sunlight.

The HN linked article [2] includes a floor plan and a rendering of an 8-room cluster with shared kitchen, dining room, and bathrooms. UC Santa Barbara has more information on the project [3].

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29096773

[2] https://www.dezeen.com/2021/11/02/architect-resigns-grotesqu...

[3] https://sam.ucsb.edu/campus-planning-design/current-projects...

You can still buy the X10 Powerhouse thermostat setback controller [1].

"Mounts on the wall under your thermostat and plugs into an appliance or wall receptacle module. Selector switch (low, medium, and high) 'fools' your thermostat into 'thinking' the room is 5, 10, or 15 degrees F warmer than it really is."

[1] https://thex10shop.com/products/x10-powerhouse-th2807-thermo...

> I would love to be able to use a tool like this to create a comic book.

Last week PhilFTW explained "How To Create a Complete Graphic Novel in ONE Day" with Midjourney in a YouTube video [1]. He uses five tools:

- Midjourney (to generate images)

- InferKit (to generate the story text)

- Word (to rearrange the story text to fit into some narrative)

- Comic Life 3 for iPad (to place the images and text in comic book panels)

- Affinity Designer (to design the cover and export everything to print, Kindle, and Blurb)

[1] https://youtu.be/tjj6KsPSHZc

HN considered "What Was Wrong with Display PostScript and NeWS?" in 2015 [1]. TLDR: Poor performance on mid-1980s hardware.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10076724

The project data page [1] shows Food Compass scores for dozens of beverages, grains, fruits, seafood, dairy, eggs, meat, mixed dishes, savory snacks, and sweet desserts. They evaluated more than 8,000 foods.

[1] https://sites.tufts.edu/foodcompass/research/data/

The linked "Introducing Stashpad" blog post doesn't show or tell what this is. Instead visit the Stashpad homepage [1] or watch their two-minute "Stashpad Quick Start Guide" video [2].

I learned that Stashpad is a hierarchical notepad with an attractive interface and an emphasis on keyboard shortcuts. The notes support Markdown. The application can be downloaded after submitting an email address. Stashpad runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux.

[1] https://www.stashpad.com/

[2] https://youtu.be/kqL-QA66p98

Gabriele Doblhammer and James W. Vaupel concluded that "month of birth influences adult life expectancy at ages 50+" in their paper [1] in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

They tracked for 30 years the mortality of all Danes who were at least 50 years old on 1 April 1968 (about 1.4 million people born before April 1918). They also analyzed about Austrians with known birth dates who died between 1988 and 1996 (about 700,000 people born before 1947) and native-born Australians who died between 1993 and 1997 (about 200,000 people born before 1948).

They found in Denmark and Austria that "adults born in autumn (October–December) live longer than those born in spring (April–June). The difference in lifespan between the spring and autumn born is twice as large in Austria (0.6 years) as in Denmark (0.3 years). ... We found the pattern in the Southern Hemisphere to be a mirror image reversal of that in the Northern Hemisphere." British born Australians were statistically closer to the Danes and Austrians.

Their analysis eliminated three hypotheses for these observations: seasonal distribution of deaths, social factors related to seasonal distribution of births, and differential infant survival. Their analysis and other studies of birth weight data led them to conclude that "seasonal differences in nutrition and disease environment early in life [in utero and infancy] could explain the relationship between month of birth and adult lifespan." Over the years, winter and spring nutrition has improved, so "the relationship between month of birth and lifespan seems to be stronger among the older birth cohorts than among the more recently born."

[1] https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.041431898

Andreas Spiess, "the guy with the Swiss accent," analyzed the Helium network in May 2021 for his YouTube channel about electronics and micro-controllers. His video [1] provided a technical description and also analyzed the Helium business case. Spoiler alert: he concluded that the business case for hotspot owners was comparable to a Ponzi scheme.

At the time of his analysis, the Helium network had about 39,000 hotspots with about 32.5 million data credits spent in 30 days by network customers for data transport. At the fixed price of $0.00001 per data credit, that customers spent a total of $325. On average, each hotspot earned a little over 8/10 of a cent from data traffic during those 30 days.

In the 14 months since that analysis, Helium signed up many more data customers and grew the network to almost 920,000 hotspots. Customers spent about 187 billion data credits in the past 30 days at a total cost of $1.87 million. On average, each hotspot earned about $2 from data traffic during the past 30 days.

Hotspot owners also earn rewards from proof of coverage activity: sending beacon messages and witnessing those messages from other hotspots. Proof of coverage rewards were very lucrative during Helium's first year, but diminished rapidly as more hotspots shared proof of coverage pie. Those rewards also diminished in urban and suburban areas as people deployed other hotspots nearby.

The Helium Explorer [2] lets hotspot owners find locations where proof of coverage earnings remain high. These locations are in smaller communities and on the periphery of overdeveloped metropolitan hotspot clusters.

[1] https://youtu.be/nerQCrOam5U [2] https://explorer.helium.com/

One example of top down mobilization was the mass manufacture of aircraft for World War II. This Fox Business video [1] shows how Roosevelt's advisors found the top industry guys to analyze the artisanal manufacture of B-17 bombers, design and build an assembly line factory, and mass produce the bombers at a rate of one an hour.

After the war, Ford made a promotional film, "The Story of Willow Run" [2], that shows the progression from soybean farm to aircraft factory, the redesign of the bomber for manufacturing, and the assembly line processes. The YouTube comments from factory worker descendants are fascinating.

[1] https://youtu.be/zBj4uD1ODO0

[2] https://youtu.be/p2zukteYbGQ

Boston's Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire[1] claimed 492 lives in 1942, so I am not surprised that the city imposes many checks on new restaurants.

Neither the headline, the article, nor the linked Institute for Justice report[2] list the specific steps, forms, visits, or fees. It is hard to know which are superfluous, overpriced, or excessively burdonsome. The report defines "steps" on page 17 (PDF page 21):

> We calculated this metric by totaling the discrete tasks an entrepreneur must complete to start each of the business types. Tasks we counted as steps include but are not limited to: filing a form or application, submitting supporting documentation, scheduling and attending meetings and inspections, and completing ancillary requirements like training or zoning checks.

Of the five business types in 20 cities studied, the report lists fees only for starting a restaurant in Minneapolis. Totalling $13,972.68, the fees are LLC filing: $155, Trade name registration: $50, Building plan review: $1,399.13, Building permit: $2,242.50, Plumbing permit: $207, Mechanical permit: $250, Electrical permit: $251, Sign permit: $156, Sewer availability charge: $8,275.05, Background report: $8, Restaurant license: $535, Food plan review: $310, Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM) training: $99, and CFPM certificate: $35.

We can compare the roughly $14,000 in startup fees (or just $5,554 in Boston) with the $375,500 median cost of starting a restaurant (according to a 2018 survey[3] by RestaurantOwner.com). I don't think those fees discourage entrepreneurs from opening restaurants.

I agree with the report's overall conclusion: cities should make it cheaper, make it faster, and make it simpler.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoanut_Grove_fire

[2] https://ij.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Barriers-to-Busine...

[3] https://www.restaurantowner.com/public/Survey-How-Much-Does-...

Author Daniel Suarez speculates about how Ryugu could be mined in his novel Delta V[1].

Can visionary eccentric billionaire Nathan Joyce successfully mount a mining expedition to Ryugu? Maybe. (I've read only 75 percent of the book.)

The main plot line of Delta V concerns the mining crew's selection, training, and adventures in space. Of course, they must overcome many challenges. Most of the technology is purchased from subcontractors.

Joyce reminds me of D. D. Harriman, the titular robber barron in Robert Heinlein's novella, The Man Who Sold The Moon[2]. Both Joyce and Harriman manipulate financial and legal systems to achieve their dreams. Both must accept watching from Earth as their rockets fly to space.

[1] https://daniel-suarez.com/Delta-v_synopsis.html

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Sold_the_Moon

Cambridge University zoologist Arik Kershenbaum speculates on the form and function of alien life in his 2020 book, "The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy[1]." No time to read a book? Watch his Harvard science book talk[2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Zoologist%27s_Guide_to_the...

[2] https://youtu.be/t4g0wHS2XKM