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pelagic_sky

515 karma · joined October 16, 2018

Design in NZ
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pelagic_sky··on Ask HN: How can I browse HN in dark mode?
I use the HN Enhance extension in FF.
pelagic_sky··on Show HN: I made a retirement simulator: 125 years of data, 25 countries
I'm in NZ and it worked. It gave me US figures and numbers though. And I find there are existing FIRE calculators already out there that are tried and true.
pelagic_sky··on Ask HN: What non-technical skill boosted your engineering career the most?
Managing up. Telling my boss what they wanted to know before they had to ask me for it.
pelagic_sky··on Show HN: Neil the Seal Game
I regret to inform you but this inst Australia it’s Tasmania. /s
pelagic_sky··on Successful people set constraints rather than chasing goals
About 15 years ago I set a constraint that I would design and publish sets of free vector assets on my website. I wanted a reason to practice vector art, I wanted to give back to the design community. What came from it was recognition and job offers. Last year I tried to set a constraint to write one blog article a month on my experiences in the design world. I failed at that because I wanted to add all the supporting images and just ended up putting too much constraints on myself.
pelagic_sky··on ACE-Step: A step towards music generation foundation model
Exactly. I don’t want AI to make me a song. I want it to switch up my baseline or chords or recommend a fill instrument.
pelagic_sky··on Port of Los Angeles says shipping volume will plummet 35% next week
Seattle ports are currently empty, will be interesting to see if this holds true . https://seemorerocks.substack.com/p/port-of-seattle-empty-ze...
pelagic_sky··on Ask HN: Who decided codenames were a good idea?
Marketing?
pelagic_sky··on Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment
America is massive. And has a huge portion of “wild” country. As much as I want to go EV. All my free time is in the mountains on logging roads and in sub zero temps in winter. The charging networks are not yet embedded in the small mountain towns I frequent and I can’t take that chance.
pelagic_sky··on Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment
Feels more like the typical battle amongst PR, Marketing and Legal.
pelagic_sky··on Comac says Air China is the first customer for C929 widebody jet
Thank you for your reply!
pelagic_sky··on How to have friends past age 30
works for me
pelagic_sky··on Comac says Air China is the first customer for C929 widebody jet
How long would test flights take before it's deemed safe enough for passengers?
pelagic_sky··on Uber raises in-office requirement to 3 days, claws back remote workers
I interviewed with Uber last year and they wanted me in the office two days a week so I could remote in with the rest of the team scattered throughout the US.
pelagic_sky··on A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
I had rented a barebones Jimny last month when I was in Auckland for the week. Not saying it was prone to roll. But holy hell was it feeling like I could roll that bad boy on some curvy gravel roads. I also loved it.
pelagic_sky··on Google's side business is beating Tesla at its main business
It’s funny how Musk has changed from the origins of Tesla where he had a very expensive car just to break into the market and build momentum. And now says that having more cars and cheaper cars means the expensive upstart (Waymo) will never compete.
pelagic_sky··on A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
Ars did a good write up on this as well: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/04/amazon-backed-startup-w...

Definitely something I would consider if they can make it happen.

pelagic_sky··on You Can Be a Great Designer and Be Completely Unknown
As a designer, I know some absolutely amazing artists who just hunker down and produce phenomenal art/designs and I am not fluffing here. As a climber, I also know of climbers who are at the best in the world level, but don’t post sends on IG or muck about in socially promoting themselves. It’s great to know that there are extremely talented people doing their thing and it’s not driven by leaderboards or social clout.
pelagic_sky··on German and British Rescue Buoys for WWII Airmen in English Channel
I didn't see any usage stats in the article. But if the English also made their own, then I guess they were widely used. If any one has any more insight, I'd be keen to know more.
pelagic_sky··on You wouldn't steal a font
Very early in my design education (late 90's) I was taught that fonts are fonts and the more you have, the better you tool set would be. As a graphic designer I definitely made things with fonts I had downloaded. It wasn't till I got my first serious design job at an agency where I quickly learned about purchasing and licensing fonts. Even if I could "find" a missing font, I wasn't allowed to use it. We needed to get the fonts directly from the vendor we were working with and if they were being too slow, we ate the cost and purchased the font.
pelagic_sky··on Finland is painting deer antlers with reflective paint (2014)
Reminds me of efforts to reduce roadkill in Australia.

"The virtual fence is the latest attempt to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions. It uses a line of posts spaced along the roadside, each with a unit producing loud sounds and flashing lights aimed away from the road. Vehicle headlights activate the units, which are claimed to alert animals and reduce the risk of collision."

https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2024...

pelagic_sky··on Breakthrough as scientists pinpoint cause of colon cancer in young people
Exposure to E.Coli from things like under cooked ground beef and spinach.
pelagic_sky··on The Rise and Fall of Toys 'R' Us (2018)
I have quite a few very fond memories of Toys R Us.

My Aunt and Uncle would come visit us and part of the ritual was to take my sister and me there and we got one toy each, under a certain budget. I typically got Muscle Men or GI Joe.

I can still smell that store in my mind...38 years later. And I can still visualize the GI Joe Aircraft Carrier that was holy unobtainium for me and my families budget.

All of this to say...I am thankful I never witnessed the fall. I hit an age where we stopped going and I just never went back.

pelagic_sky··on Where to Find First Users?
I second the feedback on directly reaching out to pixel game developers and getting feedback from them on your product.

Unrelated to your question, here are some thoughts on the product. The forced login will be a barrier to anyone curious to try this out. Yes, you do show examples, but I want to verify that my example would work. And...is this solving a real pain point? I am unfamiliar with pixel game creation. I would guess the hard parts are consistency of style for all assets. And animating the pixels into sprites would also be valuable. Would your product be able to handle these cases?

pelagic_sky··on The California grizzly bear, gone for 100 years, could thrive if brought back
I realize and understand that the grizzlies are "Threatened". But I just don't feel good about reintroducing them anywhere there are people. But this is my personal feelings as one who regularly goes into the North Cascades back country and strongly dislikes grizzlies. So...yeah...ship em all to California. :)
pelagic_sky··on Reddit is experiencing an outage
My Monday morning procrastination plans are now on hold...
pelagic_sky··on Where Does Astronaut Poop End Up?
"it’s cast off from the station along with other ISS trash. It will eventually be incinerated by the extreme heat of atmospheric re-entry, sort of like a meteor. "

I'm actually kind of surprised, but not really surprised, that they just eject it from the station. I figured they would do something more scientific (amusing) like compress it into dry poop cubes and pack it back out and sell it as souvenirs.

pelagic_sky··on A billionaire Russian 'sugar daddy' took over an iconic Olympic sport
Subtitle: Sanctioned tycoon Alisher Usmanov parries Western efforts to oust him from shadow leadership role in world fencing.
pelagic_sky··on Airport face scans could replace boarding passes and check-in as soon as 2028
Was chatting with someone in the air travel industry about boarding pass designs and they mentioned they would never redesign the physical tickets and just skip to paperless verification.
pelagic_sky··on Facebook is just Craigslist now
All I ever hear about Facebook any more is just its marketplace. It's gotten to the point where I might make an account just so I can easily sell stuff locally.
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