Hacker News Reader

maston Ask HN: Middle/High-school Computer Science/Informatics curriculum/materials?

The University of Waterloo has the Centre for Education in Mathematics and computing. They have some good material for grades 7 & 8 as well as high school.

https://cemc.uwaterloo.ca/resources/courseware/courseware.ht...

maston Mythos – The Greek Myths Retold

I read the print version of this book last year.

I enjoyed this book although I did find it quite slow and a bit boring at the end. I vaguely knew about some of the Greek myths but learned quite a bit from reading this book.

Stephen Frye tries to tell the stories in a structured timeline that is easy to follow and understand. At times, he tells the stories as if the characters were modern, ordinary personalities. I found these parts to be the best, and at times quite funny.

There is a reference provided at the end of the book that I found useful: https://www.theoi.com

maston Internet in a Box

Nice idea, but as other commenters has pointed out, maybe not the best name. Back in the 90’s when I first connected to the internet, my ISP provided a package called Internet in a Box made by a company called Spry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBox

maston Ask HN: What some good sites to learn the science behind cooking?

I've read a few articles on this site and found it to be pretty informative: https://foodcrumbles.com/

maston Ask HN: What books have you read recently?

Mythos by Stephen Fry.

Stephen Fry re-tells the ancient greek myths in his own style, adding personal commentary along the way. Recommended.

maston Feeder of Lice

I just finished reading a book, “The Fantastic Laboratory of Dr Wiegl” by Arthur Allen, that describes the work that Weigl did before and during WWII. I thought the book did a really good job describing the affects of typhus and the reasons developing a vaccine was so difficult.

Despite the title, only about half the book is about Wiegl. The other half is about Ludwick Fleck. Fleck was jewish and a former colleague of Wiegl’s who also developed a typhus vaccine.

maston Ask HN: What programming language you use the most at work?

Pascal with a small amount of C++. I'm working in the air traffic management industry.

maston Canadian Tire Money

Earlier this summer a man from Saskatoon bought a $800 canoe with a briefcase full of Canadian Tire money. https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/saskatoon-man-buys-canoe-with-...

These days I think they are trying to get people to switch to a credit card rewards type of system. But if you pay with cash you can still get Canadian Tire money.

maston Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

A few years ago I lived in a fairly northern Canadian city. Most people had block heaters installed in their cars and plugged them in when the car would be sitting in the cold for more than a few hours. Otherwise, the car would be too cold to start. Most companies and apartment buildings had outlets installed in their parking lots, and at home people just ran extension cords.

maston Diabetes complications soar in US, but not Canada, as teens become young adults

Is this really true? Is there any proof that companies don't or can't make a profit at European & Canadian prices. US prices are much higher because companies are allowed to charge more.

https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20170602.06037...

maston 737 MAX crashes “linked” by satellite track data, FAA says

The Iridium Next satellite constellation is new. SpaceX just launched the final 10 satellites in January 2019. Even if MH370 had their transponders turned on, it wouldn't have helped.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/14/iridium-aireon-satellites-ga...

maston Ask HN: Great books about the moon?

Two suggestions:

Arthur C. Clarke's "A Fall of Moondust". https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/149059.A_Fall_of_Moondus...

- This might be a bit dated now, but I remember enjoying it years ago.

Buzz Aldrin's "Men From Earth" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1369808.Men_from_Earth

maston Ask HN: What is the salary like for programmers in Canada in 2018?

I think you need to consider more than just the differences in salary with Silicon Valley. You also need to compare the cost of living and other benefits as well. Canada is a huge country and some places are much more expensive (and so require higher salaries) than others.

> miserable weather

The weather is as miserable as we let it make us. Canadians in general love to complain about the weather but I don't think it is that bad. It can be cold or hot, snowy or rainy but most days are quite nice. When I lived in California I missed the changing seasons, fall colours and snow at Christmas.

maston Forgotten Greats of Science Fiction

"The Little Black Bag" was also done as an episode of Night Gallery. I saw this first before reading the story. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0660832/

maston Forgotten Greats of Science Fiction

Judith Merril might be familiar to anyone from Toronto. The Toronto Public Library holds the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation & Fantasy

https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/merril/

maston MH370 Was ‘Manipulated’ Off Course to Its End, Report Says

This sounds like space based ADS-B. https://aireon.com/ http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/ArticleNews/story/GAM/2...

maston Ask HN: Father vacation in New York City with my two sons 14 and 16

What about The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum (https://www.intrepidmuseum.org/). I enjoyed it when I was in New York.

maston Alan Bean, 4th Person to Walk on the Moon, Dies at 86

I have a book, "Misson Control, This is Apollo" (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6082047-mission-control-...) that features a lot of Alan Bean's paintings. I always thought they were quite good but I'm no art expert.

maston GDPR: Removing Monal from the EU

In Canada they definitely still put toys in the eggs. http://www.ferrero.ca/our-brands/kinder-surprise/moments-of-...

maston AstroNavigation – A free course

One of my favourite books is Turn Left at Orion by Guy Consolmagno. It describes the different astronomical objects that you can expect to see and how to find them in the sky. I think it also does a good job of setting expectations because you just won't see Hubble class images from your backyard. The is also a companion website http://www.cambridge.org/features/turnleft/

maston Experimental evidence for compositional syntax in bird calls (2016)

"Fern says the animals talk to each other. Dr Dorian, do you believe animals talk?"

I never heard one say anything," he replied. "But that proves nothing. It is quite possible that an animal has spoken to me and that I didn't catch the remark because I wasn't paying attention. Children pay better attention than grown-ups... Perhaps if people talked less, animals would talk more."

- Charlotte's Web

maston Enough with the dead butterflies

I can understand how an illustrator could be bothered by something like this. It is your job to be accurate yet you see so many examples where others do not meet your own standards.

Slightly off topic (and related to moths not butterflies), but this sites includes wonderful detail on how moths are prepared high resolution scans: http://ottawa.moths.ca/technical.html

maston Just say ‘non’: The problem with French immersion (2015)

In some parts of Canada (Ottawa at least), there is no shortage of French immersion programs if parents want them, and I at least haven't noticed any type of segregation.

When my son started school, we were concerned about enrolling in a French immersion program because he has had speech and language development issues. We were also worried because neither my wife nor I speak French so we weren't sure if we could help him if he had trouble. During the registration we were encouraged to try French immersion anyway and to switch later if he ran into trouble. The school board provided speech and language therapy for him and so far he is doing fine. There is an English stream at his school and the kids from both play together, go on field trips together, etc...

I should note that starting this past year, all kids entering kindergarten are taught in 50% English and 50% French. Only after two years of kindergarten do they have the option of early French immersion starting in grade one. http://www.ocdsb.ca/programs/ele/fi/Pages/default.aspx

maston The cost of using different sites on mobile networks around the world

I don't think it has anything to do with size or population. Compare Canada with Australia. Canada's area is roughly 10 million km^2. In 2015, the population of Canada was ~36 million (3.6 people/km^2). Australia has an area of 7.7 million km^2 and a 2015 population of 24 million (3.1 people/km^2).

These numbers don't even take into consideration of the fact that 75% of all Canadians live within 200 km of the US border. Assuming the population in the south subsidizes the cost for expanding to remote locations it's hard to believe we need to pay as much as we do.

Canadians pay too much because the big companies like Bell and Rogers control the networks and push out competition. They charge as much as they want and we just accept it.

I currently do not own a cellphone (even though I'd like one) because I'm not willing to pay the fees.

maston Ask HN: Letters to Santa

I think so, but I'm not sure. The website says: For our friends writing from outside Canada, please note that we are unable to guarantee delivery times outside Canada. We will do our best to ensure replies are sent in a timely manner. Letters mailed from outside of Canada require postage.

maston No Evidence of Aloe Vera Found in the Aloe Vera at Wal-Mart, CVS

This article reminded me of the story about snake oil. At one time it was considered a traditional medicine. In the early 1900's products were sold claiming to contain snake oil but didn't. This lead to the modern usage of the term.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil

maston Ask HN: Letters to Santa

Address the letter to:

Santa Claus, North Pole, H0H 0H0, Canada

Make sure to include your return address, and Canada Post will make sure Santa's response gets back to you.

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/personal/campaigns/holiday/...

maston How Cheese Curls Were Invented

It's funny, but I have to say that I've never heard the term cheese curls before. People in my area most always use "Cheezies". I guess this is a bit of a genericized trademark thing. The Cheezies brand is quite popular around here, and in some ways their history is similar to the one described in the article.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/incoming/jim-marker-moulded-c...

maston Inside NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain Combat Center

The Canadian equivalent was in North Bay Ontario. I worked there briefly in the '90s. It was an interesting experience. I remember the guards and the bus ride to the bottom always made me nervous.

https://legionmagazine.com/en/2014/11/the-brotherhood-of-und...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?autoplay=1&v=HRvPPnHMsyE