danpat

14 ms·

91.
by danpat 12y ago
I'm a new immigrant, I expected it to be like buying car insurance, which seems relatively sane and competitive in comparison. A system like that would sort of make sense. But it's nothing like that. What the hell are open enrol
92.
by danpat 12y ago
Radio Shack definitely missed the niche that Sparkfun/Adafruit and others have filled. However, I suspect that niche is nowhere near big enough to support Radio Shack's size. All those retail outlets can't be cheap to run.
93.
by danpat 12y ago
Depends on which bit fails, but increases in packet loss are a common early symptom of small components no longer acting within their specs. Network cards are subject to lots of signal phenomena that are rare inside the chassis. Long cable
94.
by danpat 12y ago
It's probably the economics of FCC/CE testing vs utility. The testing for unintentional radiators is onerous enough. If you add an intentional radiator, you trigger a whole lot more tests and a whole more cost.
95.
by danpat 12y ago
It's a useful technique if you're not ready to transmit the message yet, but you can safely distribute keys. Think of a spy going out into the field. They carry a booklet with the key. As messages arrive later, they progressive
96.
by danpat 12y ago
Houses with poor ventilation will have problems, but sealing buildings up is good for energy efficiency. "HRV" (heat recovery ventilators) are common and required by code in many cold climates (Canada, northern Europe) which do w
97.
by danpat 12y ago
It's partly materials, but there are lots of factors: - building codes raising the bar, which has brought down costs for what used to be "fancy" materials - improvements in building science - increased energy costs driving de
98.
by danpat 12y ago
Email sent.
99.
by danpat 12y ago
Sure. I run a small business ( http://skitrails.info/ ) offering real-time GPS tracking of grooming equipment at ski resorts. The resorts use the data for operations management, and to prepare reports for public consumption
100.
by danpat 12y ago
I deploy satellite-comm GPS tracking equipment on machinery in the ski industry. What I don't get is why airlines insist on bundling emergency telematics along with position tracking. It massively complicates what otherwise is a prett
101.
Ask HN: Keeping track of sales pipeline for sole dev/founder?
10 points by danpat 12y ago|9 comments
102.
by danpat 12y ago
I do this with some vehicle tracking equipment I run at ski resorts. They run the machines over the snow on a daily basis. After a week or so of passes over the same trail, you get a much better idea of where the average line is. The data
103.
by danpat 12y ago
The "shadow sensor and PID feedback" they're using could be scrapped and replaced with manual control. It wouldn't be as fancy, but it would save you the $60 photodiode. The only other sensor being used is a current sen
104.
by danpat 12y ago
I strongly suspect a working setup could be made for <$50 in electronics parts. The LabJack ADC, Phidgets DAC and Photodiode make up nearly $450 of the total cost. An Arduino, breadboard and a few components could probably do the same f
105.
by danpat 12y ago
From there it's a short hop to having these helmets (by then no longer optional at all) administer other kinds of signals, directly to the soldier's brains: to relay orders, identify targets... and to tell them when to pull the t
106.
by danpat 12y ago
That's not really a good idea. It almost certainly will not produce more electricity than the extra cost of fuel required to actuate any piezo materials. It'd be a net loss, in the form of heat. Better off looking for ways to re
107.
by danpat 12y ago
I've just moved to the US, and I was curious as to what the process was. I'm not eligible to vote. I'm in Idaho where photo ID is required at the polling place. As far as I can see, all I would need to do would be show up o
108.
by danpat 12y ago
You can already do this fairly easily; 1) Download the SRTM elevation datasource for the region you're interested: http://e4ftl01.cr.usgs.gov/SRTM/SRTMUS1.003/2000.02.11/ 2) Load the .HGT files into Post
109.
by danpat 12y ago
I prefer "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Gibbon, by Edward Empire" myself... edit: it's a Monty Python joke people. Perhaps more relevant would be to have a chat with Keith Maniac from Guatemala, who claims he can put bri
110.
by danpat 12y ago
An old friend of mine had a theory that the purpose of emotion was to act as a tie breaker when rational decision making becomes deadlocked. In many situations, no matter how rational the person, imperfect information can lead to two choice
111.
by danpat 12y ago
Sorry, I was thinking more along the lines of gas-powered remote-controlled planes. Look, you're right. Used tactfully, by reasonable people, they would absolutely make a fantastic photography platform, and probably not be too intrusi
112.
by danpat 12y ago
Quiet, slow, ground-level activities are generally thought of as OK. Noisy, fast and elevated things are generally not. As the sphere of influence of some activity grows, more people begin to object to it. The problem with things in the s
113.
by danpat 12y ago
The problem is that you're interrupting the view and the serenity for others while you take that photo. It doesn't take too many people doing that and all of a sudden, the airspace of the park would be full of drones, spoiling it
114.
by danpat 12y ago
It's not like the postfix code is hidden, or even difficult to find. Nothing is being done in secret here. If you want to work on a new feature that'll take a long time and require several people, grab the code, stick it in git,
115.
Ask HN: Personal hardware backup?
1 points by danpat 12y ago|1 comments
116.
by danpat 12y ago
The world is full of stingy-bitey things that use chemicals rather than force, for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irukandji_syndrome Choice quotes: > most cases require intravenous opioid analgesia ... and &g
117.
by danpat 12y ago
Nope, I run http://skitrails.info/ What sports fitness accessory company? It's a pretty small town, I probably know them....
118.
by danpat 12y ago
Super relaxed here in Canmore :-)
119.
by danpat 12y ago
The energy costs of melting snow are huge. It's done frequently for small areas (private driveways, parking lots) where cost efficiency isn't a concern (the wealthy) or where heat energy costs are very low (geothermal sources, i.
120.
by danpat 12y ago
Road engineering is a pretty mature discipline. If this idea can't pass some of the basic known challenges in a thought exercise, why bother testing it? For example, they have no explanation as to how the tiles will be adhered to the

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