Hacker News Reader

noisedomon Why UPS Trucks Rarely Turn Left

I'm reminded of the one time I drove through New Jersey. Major arterials are all set up like interstates and left turns aren't an option. Usually you have to go further than your destination and take a right to get on an overpass that spits you out in the opposite direction on the arterial. It's very frustrating if you manage to get lost.

noisedomon Opal: Ruby in Your Browser – the Basics

Nice work. I too wish browsers had native support for Ruby.

Like have others have said, I'm really turned off by the `...` js evaluations all over the code. I wonder why that opal-jquery gem doesn't have cleaner ways for interacting with the DOM. Is that the only way you can do it?

noisedomon Skills Kids Should Learn

I enjoyed how on every paragraph you switched between the genders of the subject. Nice touch.

noisedomon Conan O'Brien at Google: The World Has Completely Changed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7TwqpWiY5s#t=36m40s

Who else was astonished at the hair-ball question? I mean, I know it's a casual atmosphere, but that was a seriously stupid question.

noisedomon Facebook’s Gone Rogue; It’s Time for an Open Alternative

If a open facebook clone is released that gets all the bands off of myspace and onto the clone then I think you'll have a winner.

noisedomon The Case for Working With Your Hands

This article reminds me of Philip K. Dick. The main characters in his novels are usually technicians or mechanics. There's something about being a craftsman who's dedicated to his craft that appeals to people with analytical minds.

noisedomon Rest in Peas: The Unrecognized Death of Speech Recognition

Is the problem in guessing phonemes or guessing which word is being said based on the phonemes? I'd assume that phonemes are easy to guess at since it's such a small set compared to the number of possible words.

noisedomon A Robot That Balances on a Ball

Japan is about to have the most awesome grocery carts.

noisedomon Google reveals statistics on government requests of its data

I'm interested to know what book search the U.S. requested to remove.

noisedomon Space shuttle Discovery landing

Here's a shortcut to what we're all really interested in :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22-Ji8_kDwg&fmt=22#t=2m55...

noisedomon Woman Gives Her Autistic 9-Year-Old Marijuana

Reading this just reminds me of Temple Grandin lecturing on her experience with autism and treating autism. There are so many behavioral treatment options in addition to prescribed medicine that can help autistic children.

Video Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wt1IY3ffoU#t=5m20s

I'm not on the mother's side with this one. Try the treatments that have worked for others before you throw weed at the problem.

noisedomon Pomplamoose: Making a living on Youtube

"I guess I kinda don't like how there's such a pedestal for music culture and especially for band culture," he says. "It just feels fake; it feels like smoke and mirrors. I feel like music doesn't have to be like that. It can be something that's very normal and very accessible."

Man this quote from the Pomplamoose guy really does a good job of making a spot-on observation while managing to diss his own band.

He's right IMO. The music and music culture of my generation is self-centered, and pompous (see hipsters). But I still enjoy it. I think by making music that's "very normal and very accessible" you wind up in the land of vanilla like Pomplamoose.

noisedomon Photos of Bird Stomachs

Wow, this drawing makes a little more sense now.

http://www.mattfurie.com/032009big.php?id=03

noisedomon GRE

Best websites:

http://www.drrajusgre.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=15

I'm sure ETS isn't happy about this, but some test takers in India regularly post actual GRE quant questions to these forums.

http://www.quizlet.com

This fantastic site lets you create your own virtual flashcard sets manually or from other people's sets. Once you've got your sets there's a variety of study games they have to help you learn your words. Theres a couple high frequency GRE word lists here that you can hack up into manageable amounts and work through progressively.

Best book: Barron's

I also have a few helpful .pdf's I found during my studies. Noisedom@gmail.com if you want them. Good luck on your test, I take mine in January.

noisedomon James Cameron’s New 3-D Epic Could Change Film Forever

I agree. Those characters make me feel like this movie is a Sci-Fi Channel Original.

Definitely excited to see the new film techniques though.

noisedomon Google Holodeck

The next step is to interface that with an exercise bike.

noisedomon Living in a van - an inspirational story of frugality and achievement

Good for him I guess. Personally, I wouldn't have minded the financial help, but everyone has their own idea of what path to follow for happiness. Kudos for having the discipline to stick with his plan.

If anyone is interested in a CS student counterpart to this guy, follow the link below:

http://www.newhavenadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=14809

noisedomon Vine seeds become gliders with 12% descent angle

Nature is a great place to steal ideas from.

Here's a fine example of seed gliding inspired design:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbuGCgc-JCM&feature=playe...

noisedomon Ruins of Pompeii added to Google Street View

Speaking of cool places on google maps, check out Tristan Da Cunha, one of the most remote, inhabited places on Earth.

Link:

http://tinyurl.com/y88rku4

noisedomon Young engineer launches stair aid

Link to application: http://gb.espacenet.com/search97cgi/s97_cgi.exe?action=View&...

When a house becomes unlivable, moving to a new home or nursing home can be a heartbreak; especially for an elderly person. I think it's great this device can treat that.