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Opossum

58 karma · joined October 24, 2014

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Opossum··on Micronics Announces Desktop SLS 3D Printer, Starting at $2,999 [video]
No. The sintering happens layer by layer. So you can print hollow parts.
Opossum··on Overengineered Japanese Mechanical Pencils [video]
The automatic lead advance works like this: When the lead sleeve is retracted by any amount, it springs back to it's full length and along with that advances the lead by that amount. The way this happens in practice is as you write, the lead wears down till the sleeve rubs against the paper. Usually we write with the pencil at an angle with the paper. This angle causes the lead sleeve to retract when it rubs on the paper and then when you lift the pencil for the next stroke, the lead sleeve will spring back into position advancing the lead with it.

If you're interested in more details and how the mechanism actually works, here is a good link: https://stationery.wiki/Auto-Advance_mechanism

Opossum··on Made in Germany, Co-Opted by China
Their Wikipedia page[1] has some of their sources of funding.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_for_Defense_of_Demo...

Opossum··on Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site
I have a question: Would it be possible to do something like Fakespot for Yelp reviews or just restaurant reviews in general? I can appreciate that the problem is harder than say spotting fake Amazon reviews, but it seems plausible.

Given that there is really no good verification for restaurant reviews, there must be a ton of fake reviews out there. In theory, it would not be too hard to periodically crawl reviews and figure out when/if they got deleted and use that dataset to find patterns.

Opossum··on UGears – 3D Wooden Mechanical Model Kits, 3D Puzzles
Another maker of excellent wooden models is Wooden City (https://wooden.city/).

We built their Ferris Wheel model. It was very well designed, a lot of fun to build and the end result was much better than we anticipated!

The 4x4 looks amazing - will be building that next.

Opossum··on How the Catalan government uses IPFS to sidestep Spain's legal block
For those who want more background into what's going on, here is an excellent video from The Economist explaining the independence movement in Catalonia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaQ4_v0fz6k
Opossum··on Demon-Haunted World
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Tesla in this context. Not only do they make it almost impossible to get a Tesla car repaired anywhere but their service centers, but they also collect a ton of data [1].

[1] https://www.tesla.com/about/legal

Opossum··on [dead]
Anybody have good recommendations on courses or a curated study list for someone new to Design in general? Looking to learn fundamentals before diving into more detail on any specific field.
Opossum··on Alphabet's Project Loon says it will run the program with fewer balloons
Totally agree. This seems like a clickbait title to cash in on the "yet-another-cancelled-Alphabet-moonshot". It's unfortunate that this particular article about this story is on the front page of HN when there are several others[1] that contradict this headline and actually even provide more information.

[1] https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/16/how-googles-project-loon-b... http://www.businessinsider.com/project-loon-x-google-alphabe... http://www.recode.net/2017/2/16/14640470/alphabets-balloon-b... https://news.fastcompany.com/alphabet-uses-ai-to-expand-cove... https://www.cnet.com/au/news/google-alphabet-project-loon-la... http://mashable.com/2017/02/16/google-loon-balloon-internet-... https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/16/google-pr... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-4233028/Alphabe...

Opossum··on Bank of Japan, in a Surprise, Adopts Negative Interest Rate
Does anybody have any good links explaining what caused the population decline in Japan?
Opossum··on Nokia HERE Bought by BMW, Audi and Daimler
Report in English from WSJ: http://www.wsj.com/articles/german-car-makers-audi-bmw-and-d...
Opossum··on Ask HN: How to talk smart?
This TED Talk by Julian Treasure is a great starting point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIho2S0ZahI
Opossum··on The new MacBook
They actually introduced a new line of laptops called the MacBook (so the title is technically incorrect). The existing MacBook Airs and 13" MacBook Pro got minor refreshes. Interestingly no refreshes on the 15" Pros.
Opossum··on Tom Magliozzi, Co-Host of NPR's 'Car Talk,' Dies at 77
Fantastic show! I especially loved the Puzzlers [1]. They had some really interesting ones over the years. Tom will be sorely missed! :(

[1]: http://www.cartalk.com/content/puzzlers

Opossum··on The Scientific 7-Minute Workout
Link to the original research article from ACSM: http://journals.lww.com/acsm-healthfitness/Fulltext/2013/050...