BostonEnginerd (u/BostonEnginerd)

BostonEnginerd commented on A supersonic engine core makes the perfect power turbine boomsupersonic.com/flyby/... · Posted by u/simonebrunozzi

shtzvhdx · 18 days ago

We're using plane engines to generate electricity and my residential bill is almost $0.20/kWh because we invested in chat bots instead of the infrastructure the chat bots need.

Make it make sense.

BostonEnginerd · 18 days ago

Jealous sitting here in MA, where we pay $0.35/kWh and burn a ton of methane to get that.

BostonEnginerd commented on FireDucks: Pandas but Faster hwisnu.bearblog.dev/fired... · Posted by u/sebg

OutOfHere · a year ago

Don't use it:

> By providing the beta version of FireDucks free of charge and enabling data scientists to actually use it, NEC will work to improve its functionality while verifying its effectiveness, with the aim of commercializing it within FY2024.

In other words, it's free only to trap you.

BostonEnginerd · a year ago

I thought I saw on the documentation that it was released under the modified BSD license. I guess they could take future versions closed source, but the current version should be available for folks to use and further develop.

BostonEnginerd commented on TSMC will stop making 7 nm chips for Chinese customers arstechnica.com/tech-poli... · Posted by u/alsetmusic

nindalf · a year ago

Were the PS2s shipped to Iraq for computing or just for soldiers to play during their down time? I feel like the latter is far more likely, especially since we know that soldiers had access to game consoles for recreation.

I can't imagine what general purpose software they'd have wanted to run on a PlayStation 2 from 2000 that they couldn't run on a general purpose laptop in 2004.

BostonEnginerd · a year ago

Do you mean US soldiers? We didn’t have a presence in Iraq in 2000, the invasion occurred in 2003.

BostonEnginerd commented on Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers · Posted by u/greenfish6

poulsbohemian · a year ago

>then the seller will net about 10% higher than if they used no realtor

See this is the bit where a good Realtor makes their money... on nearly every deal I do, I am saving or making more money for my buyers and sellers over what they could either do on their own or what they would get from another Realtor. Why? Because I have a strong analytical approach to the market and I actually do my job. The typical agent waits for offers to come in and makes no effort to negotiate a better outcome for their seller. Likewise, many agents are lazy and have no idea how to advise their buyers on what to offer or how to create an overall compelling offer, IE: what are the possible levers we can use to create a competitive offer apart from cash on the barrel? It makes me cry when I see agents who don't even know what acting in their client's best interest means - but I don't blame them, I blame the public that makes no effort to interview or get to know their agent. Way easier to pick the person from your church or who you went to high school with than to actually interview and ask questions. I often wonder - does the public also act ignorantly when picking a lawyer, an accountant, a doctor, or other professionals?

BostonEnginerd · a year ago

Yes, most of the public uses the doctor which is assigned to them when they have something go wrong.

The trouble is that it’s hard to distinguish between “friendly and nice” and “competent”. This is how people end up paying a financial advisor almost 2% to buy index funds.

It would be nice if we could rely on certification by third parties as a mark of competence, but clearly that’s not enough.

BostonEnginerd commented on A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee theconversation.com/retai... · Posted by u/BerislavLopac

hooverd · a year ago

SWP is trendy and "chemical-free" but in my experience every decaf made with it is lacking something. C02 is neutral. EA is probably the best for fruity coffees.

BostonEnginerd · a year ago

I agree. SWP coffee usually has a very flat profile to my taste. EA is far and away the better processing method.

BostonEnginerd commented on Modern-day spying: sometimes old technology is more secure economist.com/technology-... · Posted by u/hilux

matt_daemon · a year ago

This whole Technology Quarterly was terrifically written and researched for those wanting further reading: https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly

They're all on the Internet Archive to read free, e.g. https://archive.md/Ed12X

BostonEnginerd · a year ago

Just a minor nitpick. To my knowledge, Archive.today is not known to be related to the Internet Archive (archive.org).

BostonEnginerd commented on Feedle: A search engine for blogs and podcasts feedle.world/... · Posted by u/microflash

throwaway14356 · 2 years ago

i've had dozens but just write for yourself. I find it hilarious and humbling but the most enjoyable is ironing out the inconsistencies or gaps in my own thoughts. Have the cake or eat it? It can be left as an open question too. Asking the right questions is useful.

BostonEnginerd · 2 years ago

Every year or so someone will reach out to me based on something I wrote. It’s really gratifying to solve someone’s problem.

BostonEnginerd commented on Intel to Receive $8.5B in Grants to Build Chip Plants nytimes.com/2024/03/20/us... · Posted by u/ece20

kurthr · 2 years ago

The chip supply chain is a lot shorter and more concentrated than the mining supply chain. If you're thinking of "rare earth" metals in particular, it's probably better to focus on the refining rather than digging out of the ground. Between South America, West Africa, and Australia there are lots of mines for most of the metals, but only refining in China (because it has been highly subsidized by both monetary and regulatory means since the 90s). Silicon refining is similarly bottlenecked even though the high quality input material is mostly US sand.

BostonEnginerd · 2 years ago

There's substantial wafer capacity in the US, from silane production, through polysilicon granule production and wafer making. There are several different wafer makers in the US with both 200mm and 300mm wafer capacity.

Some of the silane and polysilicon companies are US owned, but I don't think that any of the wafer makers are US headquartered anymore.

BostonEnginerd commented on CVS, Walgreens Among Companies Flagged by FDA for Selling Sketchy Products gizmodo.com/fda-cvs-walgr... · Posted by u/RadixDLT

BostonEnginerd · 2 years ago

I was in a CVS a few years ago where they were selling a tincture which was supposed to help children stop wetting the bed. It contained mercury. I’m not sure how they could legally sell that.

BostonEnginerd commented on Heat your house with a mechanical windmill (2019) solar.lowtechmagazine.com... · Posted by u/solalf

mschuster91 · 2 years ago

> Renewable energy production is almost entirely aimed at the generation of electricity. However, we use more energy in the form of heat, which solar panels and wind turbines can produce only indirectly and relatively inefficiently. A solar thermal collector skips the conversion to electricity and supplies renewable thermal energy in a direct and more efficient way.

Ooof. What? The first paragraph and it's just utter bollocks. Combine a solar panel or a wind turbine with a heat pump and despite generation losses it will outperform any thermal collectors - there's a reason these got virtually phased out!

And on top of that: local windmills, that may work out on farms in backwater rural towns with no grid worth calling it that, but good luck getting a permit for windmills in anywhere else, and when there's no wind you're straight out of luck whereas an electric heat pump can always be powered from the grid, or in the case of a massive power outage, from an on-site backup generator.

BostonEnginerd · 2 years ago

Heat pumps are somewhat limited in the heat they can provide. For example, it would be difficult for a heat pump to produce several hundred degrees C temperatures for an industrial process.

For applications in their wheelhouse, though, they are absolutely amazing.