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mealkh

94 karma · joined November 17, 2020

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mealkh··on Our crisis is not loneliness but human beings becoming invisible
I find your wording very poignant.
mealkh··on Ask HN: What are you working on? (March 2025)
I am trying out a few new passive greenhouse concepts as well as experimenting with materials. Similarly, crossing some different brassica for hybrids.
mealkh··on Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (March 2025)
Location: Germany, Lower Saxony (Volkswagen, Talanx, Hannover Rück, Sartorius region)

Remote: YES

Willing to relocate: YES

Technologies: various QA automation tech, various Java-based DSL in financial services decision automation (risk/reward strategy automation), some C# from ages ago, a loooot of scripting and automation tools for workflow automation

Experience: Experienced pre-sales engineer and technical seller at exchange listed US companies in FS, A&D for the DACH market. Will send CV + real name via mail.

Looking for freelance, commissions only business development engagements for companies interested in entering the DACH market. I will help you find your first clients, to connect with your internal sales org - or alternatively can handle more of the sales cycle provided training in using your product and communicating its value. NOT looking to get hired as an employee, freelance only.

Email: onlyuseforforums@gmail.com

mealkh··on Ask HN: What are you working on? (February 2025)
I am building an RPG Maker MZ game with my son, who just turned four this winter. :)
mealkh··on Herd of 170 bison could help store CO2 equivalent of almost 2M cars (Romania)
How are bison different compared to grazing cattle? I am not thinking of factory farmed where dung and urine are getting mixed together (if I remember correctly, that combination causes some reaction that is particularly climate-unfriendly?). Rather, imagine the kind of large herds in Argentina, Paraguay... So cows that eat grass and poop randomly in the wild, not cows that get rainforest soy / endless amounts of cereals.

Do they have different biology, different interactions? Or is a numeric thing, where after a certain point the effect flips and they become a net "negative" (maybe required infrastructure, all the activities surrounding it rather than the animals themselves)?

Or is it actually so that grazing cattle and bison have similar effects, and the old "raising animals is very bad for the climate" is not universally true (and should be corrected to "some ways of raising animals are bad for the climate" or "raising animals is bad for its pollutants")?

I am confused!

mealkh··on Plastic bag bans work
I found this article that seems to paint a contrasting picture. https://archive.is/BCd0w

"Commissioned by the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance, the report acknowledges that the total number of plastic bags declined by 60% since the ban—as its backers hoped. But because shoppers still had to carry their groceries home, they needed alternatives. Mostly that meant switching from the thin plastic film bags to the heavier, reusable bags now sold in many supermarkets.

The problem is that most of these alternative bags are made of non-woven polypropylene, which takes much more plastic to make and isn’t widely recycled. And what about the supposed climate benefits? Well, the study finds that, owing to the larger carbon footprint of the heavier, non-woven polypropylene bags, greenhouse gas emissions rose 500%. The problem is compounded by the way people use these bags. Though intended to be reused many times, the report says 90% of the new reusable bags are used a mere two or three times. So they are piling up in landfills and homes. Think of your own behavior in misplacing bags around the house or forgetting to bring them when heading out for groceries."

mealkh··on Microgravity-induced muscle atrophy: Implications for long-duration spaceflights
What about flywheel training? You can do deadlifts, squats etc with it that will produce large spinal/skeletal load even in the absence of planetary gravity due to the inertia. Something like https://exerflysport.com/ or https://exxentric.com/store/kbox/
mealkh··on Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?
I used to be heavily into building terrains, physical dungeons and other props for tabletop gaming. I wish I still had my old pictures! At one point, I considered taking on commissioned work for castles, fortresses, modular tile-based dungeons...
mealkh··on Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing
Floating license basically
mealkh··on Cheap Land Colorado: What going off the grid really looks like
This is just so bizarre by German standards. It shows we live in a densely populated country: my 3 acres are considered a "kingdom" over here by many, and while it is as remote as it can get neighbours would still be in shouting distance. Probably not possible to be really remote here. Anyway, even such a property goes for several 100k here and is advertised for the "vast area". 100 acres would not be possible under 7 figures, I think.
mealkh··on Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?
For quite some time I thought fireflies were made up, as I have never in my life (and I do live in a rural region) seen one.
mealkh··on Introduction to Dlang [video]
Very cool to see this gaining traction, my favourite hedgefonds-I-never-got-to-work-at introduced D to me and I believe it's one of the more interesting projects in languages right now.
mealkh··on Research shows circadian clock influences metabolism, cell and tumor growth
Would be interesting to see this play out for families with many kids. Just the one toddler already killed my sleep for the last two years, with frequent waking up at night. Can't imagine what it'd be like with 5 kids waking up randomly and crying for milk, potty etc.
mealkh··on Oldest and Fatherless: The Terrible Secret of Tom Bombadil (2011)
Missed opportunity for deliberate typo, 'gone rouge'.
mealkh··on Scots research finds Atlantic plankton all but wiped out
I have to say, this is really concerning. I assumed it was bad, but this sounds really REALLY bad. How would we even go about attempting to coordinate a response to this? Strongarming polluting countries into enforcing compliance? Massive economic uplift projects / infrastructure investments for waste treatment and new materials? Ban of products, trying to catch the job loss somehow? I'm at my wit's end.
mealkh··on Monopoly supplier of critical Pentagon semiconductors shuts down its production
This is very interesting in the context of increasing US-China tensions over Taiwan. https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/military/red-l... I wonder just how much more important Taiwan will be getting to the West if we lose even more of our SC capabilities.
mealkh··on Ask HN: What do you think I should do with Bro.Science domain?
Are you up for selling it? I would love to do some powerlifting humour on it, or make it re-direct to a buddy's domain (he's a personal trainer and it would make it awesome birthday gift).
mealkh··on 'Whitest ever' paint reflects 98% of sunlight
Or the most extreme zebra.
mealkh··on Show HN: Find people to play tabletop roleplaying games with
For anybody interested in Germany / DACH, we had this page for ages: https://www.spielerverzeichnis.org/
mealkh··on Japan to stage Tokyo Olympics without overseas spectators
I have heard air humidity cited as one relevant factor, which was also recently brought up as one of the reasons masks may have a protective effect (humidity from breathing collects in there). Something about keeping membranes being healthier in warm, humid air than in cold, dry air?
mealkh··on To Lose Weight with Exercise, Aim for 300 Minutes a Week
Semi-related life hack: as gyms are closed and I am a tad too heavy to run (screwed up knees from my youthful pursuits), I have decided to emulate the walk to work. I recently started to rent an external office (they come super cheap right now) and leave my work laptop there. It forces me to walk 2x25 minutes everyday. I need to do something after hours? Well, back to the office it is (although in this case I usually dash there on my supercool kick scooter).
mealkh··on WhiteHat Jr’s founder files $2.6M defamation suit against critic
I am a fan of this approach. One should get Google involved, they would probably make very clear that it's all made-up.
mealkh··on Building a roam-like, networked, heavily-customized realtime editor, part 1
My favourite in this space is https://tiddlyroam.org/, very usable, easily extended and cross-platform.