Hacker News Reader

tocs3on Repair Cafe – Fix Your Broken Items

Is it growing? Is anyone in Austin TX starting one up?

tocs3on I'll Never Get Y'all to Read the Bible, Will I?

I have been trying to read the Bible for most of my life. I find it hard to get through (at least in my begging to end attempts). Having recently finished Genesis (Creation, Abraham through Joseph). I think many people have a fairly romanticized[1] view of the Bible.

[1]: I also commented in another thread (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49335600) that deals some with romanticism.

tocs3on Los Puesteros, solitary men who look after ranches and livestock in Patagonia

Seeing the photos, the first thing that came to mind was "Wow,really well kept and clean."

tocs3on Los Puesteros, solitary men who look after ranches and livestock in Patagonia

Whoever can enjoy what ever. There is some danger in romanticize things. Romanticizing shows the good in something but leaves out the difficulties. Some may very well enjoy an extremely remote and isolated lifestyle but it is not a Disney cruise of Hollywood movie.

tocs3on Dr. Becky: NASA's mind-blowing new space telescope [video]

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Grace_Roman_Space_Telesc...)

Just in case of time constraints or what not.

As an aside. These sorts of missions have all sorts of objectives, look for dark matter, exoplanets, probe the origins of the universe. I would like to see one or two planned to "take the coolest pictures ever". Giving all the value and respect to those working in science, I sort of just want to see the pictures first(not cgi).

tocs3on Trump has amassed staggering wealth in 'most openly corrupt' presidency

I sometime think we should have two votes for politicians one to get in office and one for how much jail time to serve when they leave (or maybe a bonus). This is more of a joke, but it would be nice to see public servants held accountable to their constituents (and not just the well connected// corporate) for actions while in office.

tocs3on Why Are Rivers So Mathematical?

Also at: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49254249#49254262

tocs3on Why Are Rivers So Mathematical?

Also at: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49254249#49254262

tocs3on Why Are Rivers So Mathematical?

Maybe so, but the wiki article does not get into specifics of rivers or drainage basins. A any rate it is interesting to see some of the math behind the phenomena that we see in the world around us.

tocs3on The USSR in 100 Photographs

I am saying that the 100 photos presented did not look especially austere to me. As some one growing up in similar times in a middle class (more rural) area these pictures just looked pretty normal slice of every day life (with a difference in location and culture). Any pictures of then compared to what is available today to many (next day delivery of almost any consumer item, on credit) would likely look austere.

tocs3on Lost my phone at the office. Claude suggested tracking Bluetooth signal strength

Maybe, I do not know how the number of neurons in a child's brain and the connections compare to Claude and its training but I would think it is comparable. Also, while a child might sleep the brain does not just switch off, there is still stuff going on that adds to the child's development.

I am, here, not counting time for separate instances of Claude (so 10 instances running for a year is not 10 years). So, I think the 8yo is still older.

Full disclosure, I am not a neurologist or computer scientist (although I find both interesting). I would consider fair criticism of this fair and would even like to see what those in those fields would have to say.

tocs3on Lost my phone at the office. Claude suggested tracking Bluetooth signal strength

And Claude is even younger.

tocs3on The USSR in 100 Photographs

Yes, I have heard a lot about the austerity of life in the USSR growing up in the 1980s. Comparing life in the world of today to what was available , even in the US, is going to look meager. Growing up in a small town in the 1980s in the US our local grocery store could be measured in the 100s sqft (that also sold clothing and was a feed store) . Now in the same area I shop in a store that can be measured in acres with a super Walmart down the street that is even larger and a few other giant stores in the neighborhood (Home Depot, Academy, etc). It will make anything of the time look sparse. Again, not trying to say the USSR had an abundance of merchandise but that they were different times.

tocs3on The old world is dying

I think maybe the old world (having seen about half a century) is always dying. For me it was a strange article (but worth the read). The good old days were not all bad and progress is not always the word I think of in these modern times.

tocs3on SpaceX rocket hit the moon: Before and after pics (KASA)

Pics in video.

tocs3on Taylor Farms Cyclospora outbreak triples in size

So, tfa does not really cover this in great depth but it looks like it is mostly over in terms of new cases, at least just looking at the graph. Maybe though it is just a time delay between new cases and reporting.

tocs3on You Don't Want to Time Travel

Might make an ok short story. Astronauts find a body in space dresses in a white lab coat, tie, and horn rimmed glasses. Turns out to be reclusive scientist not seen in years.

tocs3on How the Amish Let Technology in Without Letting It Take Over

I am constantly impressed by what I hear about the Amish. It is not that I know lots about them (I do not) but stories like this make me think there is a bunch of thoughtful Amish. Does anyone have any experience with them? The last couple paragraphs where good. I would like to see government a run a little more like this with more discussion across communities.

tocs3on The Dancing Plague of 1518

A couple previous posts with some discussion:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35509132

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36733488

tocs3on How to Read Mathematics? – A study guide [pdf]

One of the problems (as a non math trained person) papers heavy in math is running into greek letters. Sometimes is a greek letter stands for a well known function that I do not recognize. Then I need to stop and look up what it means. Sometimes I just do not know the word for the symbol so I am thinking "funny squiggle x". It interrupts my thinking and I often get bogged down.

I know I just need to practice but I do wish for an easier way.

tocs3on Trump-branded commemorative passports will become available across the US

Who would want to pass up the opportunity to have a picture of a frowning old man on their passport for 10 years.

tocs3on Fields Medals 2026

Not trying to delving into a deep philosophical question here but...

I asked chatgpt to write a poem about my mothers dog a while back. It spit out a poem that my mother likes and keeps around. When asked, I say chatgpt wrote it. If I asked chatgpt for a proof of the Goldbach Conjecture and it spit out a verifiable proof, I think I would go ahead and give chatgpt credit. Not that I think it is likely. It would be more of some ability (like a robot end effector is able to hold an egg) and monkeys at typewriters.

Maybe not Fields Medal worthy, but worthy of some credit.

tocs3on Fields Medals 2026

Should we be handing out Fields medal to

I don't know, maybe. I would not put Clankers on the same level (or category / level of importance) as people but if they produce the work maybe they should get the credit.

tocs3on Why did renewables become so cheap so fast? (2020)

Depending on lots of things I tend to believe that individual consumers would be the last to see any benefit. Profit will go to the producers first and then the distributors and the consumers will keep consuming.

tocs3on Ask HN: What websites do you visit every day?

News: Hacker News

    AP News

    The Guardian

Weather:

    Goes=19 (Southern Planes https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/goes/sector_band.php?sat=G16&sector=sp&band=GEOCOLOR&length=24)

        NWS Forecast for the day for my zip code.

I do a puzzle at https://pixelogic.app/daily.

tocs3on 2081681993819799846994786333448627702865224538845305484256394568209274196 (etc.) [video]

So, googleplex is useful after all.

tocs3on AI makes Pompeii victim's final moments look real

in the form of a highly cinematic video.

It looks "highly cinematic".

tocs3on SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

I have seen both stars and satellites from suburbs and some urban areas. They are not very remote. There is a lot to see if you look. I do not like the light pollution but as it stands it is not the end of star gazing.

tocs3on What Is Stopping MOFs Being More Widely Used?

I am wondering the same thing. I was reading a paper yesterday,

High-yield, green and scalable methods for producing MOF-303 for water harvesting from desert air

https://yaghi.berkeley.edu/pdfPublications/22ScaleUp.pdf

I might (one day) try to make some. I wonder a little about the useful life span and what sort of downside there would be to making / using this.