Why is a retracting mast preferable to a freestanding rig with, e.g. a roller furling main or a nonsuch style wishbone boom? Is there a physics reason or is this a pragmatic trade-off to fit under bridges and stay out of the way during loading?
Readit Newscjlars commented on Launch HN: OutSail (YC W23) – Wingsails to reduce cargo ship fuel consumption · Posted by u/jmoorebeek
A simple tree chart is a good way to understand this:
https://images.app.goo.gl/2CBG9Se4vPB1jaMY9
Animals in general are only a tiny sliver of life on this planet. What most people think of as 'nature' i.e. large animals that a child can name are vastly outweighed each by worms, molluscs, bacteria, insects, and of course -- by a couple orders of magnitude -- plants.
cjlars commented on Solar panel waste may not be as bad as we thought fastcompany.com/90806146/... · Posted by u/JSeymourATL
>The report projected that the United States would have a cumulative total of 7.5 to 10 million metric tons of solar panel waste in 2050.
This compares to 292 million tons of total landfill waste in 2018 alone [1], putting solar panel waste on the order of 0.1% of total waste produced in the US between now and 2050.
[1] https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-...
cjlars commented on We were a few days away from being settled for life twitter.com/PierreDeWulf/... · Posted by u/daolf
I've been on the other side as a buyer. Although I work with 'main street' companies, not high tech, I think there's a lot of generalizable lessons. One thing to keep in mind is that some buyers have substantially all of their eggs in your basket and others will constantly have multiple deals in the pipeline. When you enter into the LOI phase with someone, you want them to be very motivated to close in order to make the time / disclosure / trade secrets risk worth it, so I would encourage sellers to attempt to enter LOI only with motivated buyers that have a high likelihood of closing the deal. A few hallmarks of motivated buyers per my experience:
- The buyer will also be the CEO: the more the buyer looks like he/she will package your business up and pass it along, the lower the likelihood that they close (and the worse your earn out is likely to perform)
- Good buyer / company fit: similar to point one, do not let people tell you they can run this company. Grill them just like you would if you were hiring a CEO to replace yourself. Buyer / company fit is huge and when they say 'the owner is too important to the company' what they often mean is 'I don't think I can run this well'. Someone who knows and is building a portfolio in your space will often be a better buyer than someone looking for 'diversification'.
- Avoid tire kickers: Background in your space is good, but being a competitor to you is bad. If they could potentially gain valuable insider information as part of diligence, be wary of moving forward.
- Small team size: smaller firms have less in the pipeline and more motivation to close on the deal in front of them. Remember that they have the same KPI (IRR primarily) and runway problems that startups have. For them, no company = no ROI.
- Ensure they're well funded: The caveat to the above is that small teams or solo buyers may not have the funds lined up, so be very sure that they actually have the investors / NW to buy the business before moving forward.
cjlars commented on Social engineering scam that nearly cost me all of my ETH twitter.com/thomasg_eth/s... · Posted by u/floetic
This is just saying “that’s what you get for playing with crypto you degenerate”.
The fact is wires can also be irreversible and you cannot use the court system as a blunt instrument outside your jurisdiction. The value transmission medium isn’t the problem here.
Big difference between manually initiating the transaction and amount vs accidentally signing away everything because of one obscured line of code.
I don't see why wireless braking is impossible. Presumably a system could be contrived that is just as reliable as mechanical (/hydraulic) brakes, i.e. 99.99?%. It could, for example, detect failure (loss of connectivity with lever), warn, and slowly start braking automatically. OTOH if all your hydro fluid leaks out (not likely but not impossible) or your cable snaps there's no official warning system in place or way to recover if you do notice.
Realistically the most common form of total brake failure, I reckon, is when the pads overheat or simply wear out. The most common braking mistake would be over-application of the front brake. The most common cause of diminished performance is a poorly adjusted setup. I feel like smart electronic brakes could help improve all of these problems, although I guess it's possible to have smart electronic brakes that use a long cable as a "button" so what it really comes down to is whether you can make a wifi system more reliable than a metal cable or mineral oil hose.
Plenty of electric scooters have no mechanical brakes and only electric braking on one hub. But since an extra couple feet of stopping power can be a life or death feature, you definitely want breaking on both tires. Even assuming no reliability issues with the electric breaks (hello sudden rain storm), mechanical is a cheap and weight efficient way of adding braking to the second hub.
cjlars commented on Can’t Find a Rolex or Patek Philippe? Blame the Reddit Crowd bloomberg.com/opinion/art... · Posted by u/pseudolus
Virtually everything besides Rolex, Patek, AP and Vacheron is in stock. For anyone on the wait-list or considering going grey market for a high demand model, I'd strongly recommend looking at comparable models from the wide variety of competing manufacturers. Not only will you get a lot more watch for your time and/or money, you'll support the breadth of artistry that makes the industry so vibrant.
cjlars commented on Can’t Find a Rolex or Patek Philippe? Blame the Reddit Crowd bloomberg.com/opinion/art... · Posted by u/pseudolus
Can’t read the article, paywall. What’s the problem with the Reddit crowd?
I thought rolexes were 80’s & 90’s ways to brag about having the appearance of being wealthy. As a millennial I find them ostentatious and do not see the value they provide. Is this what the article is saying?
The headline writer kinda went off the clickbait deep end. The article doesn't event mention Reddit or social media.
cjlars commented on Colorado 'solar garden' is a farm under solar panels npr.org/2021/11/14/105494... · Posted by u/akeck
Has this ever actually been a problem?
I think most of the recent progress has been in lowering prices, while the amount of power you can extract from a square meter of land presumably hasn't changed much. But I don't actually remember any serious commenter suggesting that running out of physical room was ever an actual consideration when it came to solar.
There has been opposition to greenfield developments on environmental concerns, much harder to oppose a dual use installation over farmland.
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-11-03/the-mo...
cjlars commented on Colorado 'solar garden' is a farm under solar panels npr.org/2021/11/14/105494... · Posted by u/akeck
One issue with solar is where we put it all. If it turns out that a meaningful portion of farmland has an excess of solar energy, that takes a big bite out of the problem. Powering the US entirely on solar might take a land mass equivalent to 2% of the country... Only a small portion of the 40% of US land area used as farmland.