tomsaffell

9 ms·

31.
by tomsaffell 12y ago
IANAE. Education and housing could both be considered assets (i.e. you put money in, then get it out again later, plus/minus some gain). Not that I'm implying that either are currently a good investment , just that wrt to deflati
32.
by tomsaffell 12y ago
Brilliant!
33.
by tomsaffell 12y ago
If you're paying out on a $10,000 job, the fee is going from $0.25 to $50.00? Is there a way to keep the flat-fee pricing?
34.
by tomsaffell 12y ago
Can you do the following (in this order): 'Provision' a standalone account with just an email address (with zero work by the account holder to-be) > Initiate a charge (to a buyer) that will ultimately be paid out to that stand
35.
HBO takes on Netflix and Amazon with US streaming service(bbc.com)
2 points by tomsaffell 12y ago|0 comments
36.
by tomsaffell 12y ago
Agreed, getting signoff is a skill too. But my comment about engineering using minimal resources was aimed equally at the professional engineer as the students. Imo, he too has an engineering duty to minimize resource use. So it's not
37.
by tomsaffell 12y ago
Absolutely. Though i would consider the factor of safety to be one if the stated objectives too.
38.
by tomsaffell 12y ago
The 900 lb limit you mention is for an 8.5' long 2x6 loaded in compression, where buckling is the likely failure mode, hence the 900lb rating. Looking at the photos, theirs are only a few feet long. A 4' long unbraced 2x6 is rated
39.
by tomsaffell 12y ago
>But oversizing fasteners is only good up to point; beyond that and you're trading off fastener strength which could never ever be used (due to the lack of ability of the wood to sustain those kinds of loads without breaking) agains
40.
by tomsaffell 12y ago
Would it be possible to arc it over an air gap? I.e. allow the energy be dissipated over the resistance of the air? I have no idea whether the power numbers work out, and maybe you'd need to step up the voltage, which adds complexity.
41.
by tomsaffell 12y ago
When I worked on PC hardware at IBM we operated on the rule that the cost of fixing a problem is 1x development, 10x in testing and 100x once sold to customers. Alas, that was before IBM's PC division was bought by Lenovo...
42.
by tomsaffell 12y ago
this is almost exactly the same as me - uncannily so. the asker should 2x all these data points in their tally.
43.
by tomsaffell 12y ago
there's lots of stainless steel bottles and containers out there for when you're on the go. pyrex is also great for food storage in the kitchen / fridge (cheap glass breaks :). small Corelle dishes are ideal for snacks /
44.
by tomsaffell 12y ago
The motor in my LG washing machine is actually DC [1,2]. Sure, lots of other motors in my house are AC, but perhaps they neednt be? Also, San Francisco has a DC power grid downtown, mainly running large DC motors [3] Brushless DC motors are
45.
by tomsaffell 12y ago
EvaporateJS author here - just saw this on HN! Good to see more people getting involved - thanks. Always happy to see questions, comments, and PRs :)
46.
by tomsaffell 12y ago
>Why does her supportive mother suddenly undermine her at such a critical juncture? I had the same reaction as you. Assuming that the mother has the best intentions for Vanessa, and that she know less of the ways of UT than Vanessa (and
47.
by tomsaffell 12y ago
Products for which you are supposedly the target user: tell him why you think you would not not currently use it. Products for which you are not supposedly the target user: you don't know enough to tell him it wont work. (edit) In al
48.
Videopixie (YC S11) is hiring a lead UI and UX designer
1 points by tomsaffell 12y ago
49.
by tomsaffell 13y ago
When I started dating my (now) wife, she didn't negotiate her salary, and was at a company where other people did. I helped her figure out what to ask for, how to negotiate, and how to feel good about it. We built a spreadsheet to arm
50.
by tomsaffell 13y ago
Can you put a number (or range) on what is generous for the first engineering hire? 2%? 3%? 5%?
51.
by tomsaffell 13y ago
>what would be an accurate, but still relatable, reason for a young person to grasp the importance the number 0? If you have one cookie, and you eat it, how many cookies do you now have?
52.
by tomsaffell 13y ago
I share your observations, but take umbrage with this: > It feels like culturally there is a big emphasis on projecting an image that you know everything that needs to be known I don't think it's about projecting an image. My
53.
by tomsaffell 13y ago
Nice work! And to prove they are not phony, time for a game of 'I Spy'! ISWMLE: a cyclist a trash collector possibly a policeman several lit car tail lights Advances?
54.
by tomsaffell 13y ago
My first thought: great - we can retire our in-house multi-part uploader (EvaporateJS) [0] and use AWS's. But digging into the API, it seems like most of the real work of multipart uploading (managing part failures) is not done by the
55.
by tomsaffell 13y ago
Seems like this paper answers some of those questions: http://www.energy.siemens.com/us/pool/hq/power-generation/po... tldr: natural-gas combined-cycle power stations can achieve ~30 min startup times,
56.
by tomsaffell 13y ago
>flush with urine smells, mentally ill homeless, an embarrassing public transportation system urine: no worse than London, where I moved form. mentally-ill: more than London, and it doesnt bother me transportation: bad enough tha
57.
by tomsaffell 13y ago
That, and cities have a higher standard-deviation than suburbs on pretty much any variable you choose to measure: house price, income, race, price of gas, education level, price of a haircut... In my experience cites have the best and worse
58.
by tomsaffell 13y ago
Good question, but I think the answer is in the question: I want to __ask__ people what they __care__ about... How do you open __small talk__ ... I would make small talk about something small, like the weather (I'm British :)
59.
by tomsaffell 13y ago
>our smalltalk starts with "What do you do for a living?" I agree - it's not good small-talk. Since this was pointed out to me (~15 years ago) I've made a conscious effort never to ask people what they do for a living
60.
by tomsaffell 13y ago
>People don't want hobos rummaging through their garbage I have no objection to them doing so at my house in SF. They few I've spoken to about it seemed very nice. >Stealing all of the bottles out of recycling bins... Are yo

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