frankus

15 ms·

151.
by frankus 4y ago
Is the similarity to a Dragon Curve ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_curve ) a coincidence? This post ( https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/~csk/hat/ ) mentions a substitution system, which makes me th
152.
by frankus 4y ago
I think this is great advice in the short term. In the longer term it’s worth evaluating whether a commitment you made only/mostly to yourself is still serving you, or whether the “you” that came up with the commitment was missing some
153.
by frankus 4y ago
An interesting quirk of TCE is that it's a "dense non-aqueous phase liquid" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dense_non-aqueous_phase_liquid ), which means that it sinks in water generally and groundwater sp
154.
by frankus 4y ago
Once you have electronic commutation it usually makes sense to just make the magnetic field rotate in the stator and keep it fixed in the rotor. That way you avoid putting hot electronics in an already difficult-to-cool area that may also n
155.
by frankus 4y ago
I’m pretty sure they’re describing a wound-rotor synchronous motor. In that case it wouldn’t have a commutator per se but constant-contact slip rings. These last a lot longer since they’re not subject to arcing. The advantage is that unlike
156.
by frankus 4y ago
Just doing the physics in my head, I think it’s slightly less bright than the light source shining on it viewed from the same distance. So probably no more distracting to the person with the light than the light is to the person wearing the
157.
by frankus 4y ago
If the camera has its own co-located IR source, you can just use a normal retro-reflective hoodie like this one https://www.amazon.com/TR-Super-Bright-Reflective-Jacket/dp/... (also great for walking/biking a
158.
by frankus 4y ago
The natural (and probably correct) assumption is that physically demanding work causes higher fertility. While "having lots of children leads to physically demanding work" is super unlikely, it's worth considering whether the
159.
by frankus 4y ago
But there's something to be said for a fuel that's solid under ambient conditions rather than being literally the least-dense substance on Earth.
160.
by frankus 4y ago
It largely depends on how easy it is to get the energy out all at once. A stick of butter represents about 1kWh of chemical energy, and a 2000kg vehicle at 225 km/hr represents about 1kWh of kinetic energy. The latter is intuitively mo
161.
by frankus 4y ago
This could make things interesting for aircraft, where currently they get considerably lighter as they reach the end of their flight.
162.
by frankus 4y ago
Does the new(ish) “unlisted apps” feature allow for apps that aren’t useful to anyone outside a very specific audience?
163.
by frankus 4y ago
Counterpoint is that it requires the shift key, is relatively long (compared to, say, src) and shares the “De” prefix with Desktop. That said, it’s what I use.
164.
by frankus 4y ago
Trying to do everything by myself instead of asking for help.
165.
by frankus 4y ago
IKEA uses them extensively in all of their hardware. If you find yourself, say, assembling a whole kitchen worth of IKEA cabinets it’s worth picking up a few bits.
166.
by frankus 4y ago
VESC (vesc-project.org) is worth checking out if you need (low) triple digit watts and a PMSM/BLDC motor is suitable. You can interface via UART and CAN and a bunch of other analog/digital options as well
167.
by frankus 4y ago
The great thing about PEX is that they made an expensive* tool that makes joining pipes like 90% less skill-intensive. I'd love to see something similar done for electric wiring. I'm picturing something like an electrical box that
168.
by frankus 4y ago
I think the lack of vertical integration could be a part of it. For example the framers don't have much incentive to make things easier for the plumbers or electricians. There was a recent HN post on a shortage of electricians that got
169.
by frankus 4y ago
I think it shows that there's at least a basic cost-benefit analysis taking place, where things that we've learned provide a safety benefit that can be added at minimal cost during construction are required, but bulldozing a house
170.
by frankus 4y ago
Not quite the same situation and probably not reproducible, but maybe I can give you a glimmer of hope: Throughout the 2000s I was in a unrewarding PHP-coding job with a company that was going nowhere and I (extremely foolishly) stuck aroun
171.
by frankus 4y ago
Something along the lines of what circuit breakers clip into should be reliable enough, I would think?
172.
by frankus 4y ago
I mean apprentices are great, but we just got done reading an article about how there's a shortage of workers in the field. You can either train more workers to do it the old way or invent new ways that require fewer workers (or less h
173.
by frankus 4y ago
Maybe insulation displacement isn't exactly the way to go, but some kind of machine that quickly secures a connection onto a cable, either inline or at the end. And then create modular electrical boxes that those connections can connec
174.
by frankus 4y ago
What I'm proposing is that the electrical box (the blue plastic thing that's essentially non-removable in current practice) would have the vampire connection to one or more cables passing into/through it, and the actual devic
175.
by frankus 4y ago
Or even something as simple as studs that come pre-drilled at outlet and switch height (they already come pre-cut to slightly less than 8 feet to be the right height when installed between top and bottom plates).
176.
by frankus 4y ago
I'm curious if there is some productivity-improving tech for electricians waiting to be invented. The following will be super North-America-centric, but: Right now you have to fasten a box to the wall structure, cut the wire so that ab
177.
by frankus 4y ago
The parent forgot the 1/2. So more like 140 mph (or a heavier vehicle).
178.
by frankus 4y ago
Indeed. Kinetic energy in the form of a flywheel has both the advantage and the drawback that it’s relatively easy to release all of the energy in a fraction of a second. Of course you can do the same with chemical energy, but we have good
179.
by frankus 4y ago
It could be a classic information asymmetry (people don't know what they want until they've lived with it, or even know that something better is possible). The same process that has turned most store-bought strawberries into freak
180.
by frankus 4y ago
One common objection I hear is that there's clearly a revealed preference for that kind of housing in North America, because it's still relatively in-demand. But by that standard there's also a revealed preference for airline

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