News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

madvoid

What's more alarming is this site is pretty high up on google when you search for "Staub cast iron".
Re:Linear Algebra Done Right – 4th Edition on Sunday October 29, 2023 @05:24PM (#38062970)
Imagine you're a 16th century Italian mathematician who is trying to solve cubic equations. You notice that when you try to solve some equations, you end up with a sqrt(-1) in your work. If you're Cardano, you call those terms "irreducible" and forget about them. If you're Bombelli, you realize that if you continue working at the equation while assuming sqrt(-1) is a distinct mathematical entity, you can find the real roots of cubic equations.

So I would say that it's less that "Complex numbers were invented so that we can take square roots of negative numbers", and more "Assuming that sqrt(-1) is a mathematical entity lets us solve certain cubic equations, and that's useful and interesting". Eventually, people just called sqrt(-1) "i", and then invented/discovered a lot of other math.

Source: http://fermatslasttheorem.blogspot.com/2006/12/bombelli-and-...

Re:Ask HN: Best Layman's Book on Electricity on Sunday January 22, 2023 @01:03AM (#34474815)
For small scale circuits, I like Scherz's "Practical Electronics for Inventors". For a good high level overview of the grid, along with other civil engineering topics, Grady Hillhouse's "Engineering in Plain Sight" is good. Hillhouse's videos pop up on HN occasionally (e.g., https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34472122)
Re:ZeroStableCoin is out from stealth mode on Sunday June 12, 2022 @01:28PM (#31716339)
I love that the whitepaper doesn't actually have any white pages...
Re:Ask HN: What's the coolest website you know? on Saturday June 11, 2022 @06:38PM (#31709167)
Everything he makes is great, I'd also highly recommend the GPS explanation.
Re:How Swipe Typing Works on Saturday April 23, 2022 @02:30AM (#31131931)
Amen. Due to reliability and lack of updates I don't use it anymore but Nintype was by far the best mobile typing experience I've had.
Recently switched from a Kindle to a Kobo and here are my findings so far:

Kobo Pros:

* Natively handle .epub files

* Overdrive integration for library books

* Dropbox integration so it's quick to transfer files from my laptop

* Pocket integration. Being able to read long form web articles on an e-ink screen is a game changer for me.

* OS is generally better

* Minor, but I like seeing the book I'm reading on the sleep screen

Kobo cons:

* Buttons are slightly worse than the Kindle's

* For the Sage, the battery life is worse than the Kindle. I've heard the other models are better though.

Re:Ask HN: Is Burning Man Over? on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @11:11PM (#30004497)
Burning man being NIMBY about geothermal energy (https://www.rgj.com/story/life/arts/burning-man/2022/01/10/b...) probably has more negative impacts towards the climate than their fires.
I linked to the Reddit page because the creator of the site seems to be active there.
Home automation or LEDs are always a good start in my opinion. Home automation because it's something that will affect your life and you'll notice, LEDs because they're pretty (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29468919).
Re:California plans to turn the screws on NIMBY cities on Monday November 15, 2021 @01:45AM (#29224503)
Thank you for the link. My mayor is on here which I'm very unhappy about.
Re:Buying an MP3 Player in 2018 on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @11:25AM (#26875931)
I got a pair of AfterShokz (https://aftershokz.com/us/) for swimming and in some ways it’s more convenient than an iPod shuffle because the headphones are integrated. I really like the bone conduction tech too.
Re:These 10 companies control all foods you buy on Tuesday March 02, 2021 @09:36PM (#26324031)
I actually think what you eat is the dominating factor in food CO2 production: https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2020/02/Environmental-imp... Transport and processing are fairly minor components overall for all foods. The claim about pesticides and fertilizers I know nothing about though.
I'm planning on buying a printer soon elevation maps are one of the things I was hoping to print - thank you for the awesome tool! Assuming the users are okay with it I think it would be cool to show some of the pics people send you for inspiration.
Re:Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2020) on Tuesday November 03, 2020 @10:32PM (#24986295)
Thank you for the reply!
Re:Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2020) on Tuesday November 03, 2020 @05:45AM (#24978351)
Hi Matt, what kind of work do data scientists do at USDS?
Re:Six arrested after 'Dutch torture chambers' found on Friday July 10, 2020 @09:49PM (#23798717)
"Generally" could mean what you mentioned, or it could mean straight slavery - as the article said there is not good stats. Forced labor is prevalent in many industries, using the US definition of slavery: https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/ListofGoods.pdf Your original claim was that decriminalizing drugs would prevent this sort of behavior. I think the linked report shows that is not necessarily true.
Re:Six arrested after 'Dutch torture chambers' found on Friday July 10, 2020 @12:49AM (#23788247)
Coffee: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/the-hidden... Sugar: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/01/09/brazil.slav...

I do not believe your implied claim that decriminalizing drugs would prevent this sort of behavior is correct.

Re:Openstreetmap, a global map for worldwide insight on Friday July 03, 2020 @06:50AM (#23722880)
+1 for maps.me, it's my goto app when traveling
The word for this general phenomena for those that are curious is Goodhart's law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law
Clinton has been called "The first black president" before: http://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith/clinton/morrison.html
Re:Ask HN: What podcasts do you listen to regularly? on Wednesday September 26, 2018 @06:12PM (#18080693)
Opening Arguments. It's a law podcast that's packed full of information about current events and is very accessible.
Re:iOS 11 has a feature to temporarily disable Touch ID on Thursday August 17, 2017 @02:45PM (#15039613)
I just tried this. On iOS 11 on my iPad, putting the wrong finger three times in a row prompts for a passcode, but, you can hit cancel and then use a correct finger and it will still unlock. So I don’t know if that helps you because it doesn’t require a password after three incorrect tries, just prompts you for one.
This is excellent, thank you! I think one thing that would make it better is a reset button for each visualization. It's always nice to go back to the default without having to reload.
Re:Have you looked at your windshield wipers lately? on Sunday February 12, 2017 @04:51PM (#13631141)
You should watch some of engineerguy's videos on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/engineerguyvideo/videos. He goes over some of these small details in products and why they are there. It's quite interesting!
Re:Ask HN: What do you wish someone would build? on Saturday September 24, 2016 @03:30AM (#12569889)
Why not link to Shazam's page for a song? It seems pretty static to me and includes other semi-useful information, including links to online music stores and youtube. Example: http://www.shazam.com/track/52242019/wait-so-long

Older »