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daverol

1,058 karma · joined June 7, 2020

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daverol··on Ask HN: Are you hiking? How old are you and how many kilometers can you Hike?
Don't judge yourself by city walking - go where there is 'natural world' interest. This will make it less likely to feel like a chore :)
daverol··on Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” synth sounds
Or this acapella take https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MC0XMgTWIg
daverol··on Ask HN: Which book would you pick to re-read for the rest of your life?
Middlemarch by George Eliot - the greatest fiction exploration of how to live a life of integrity and significance in a world that often seems overwhelming and meaningless.
daverol··on Run your home on a Raspberry Pi
At the https://www.raspberrypi.com/raspberry-pi-store/ in Cambridge UK :)
daverol··on A 2000-year-old postcard
This brings to mind the Vindolanda tablets: https://www.thoughtco.com/vindolanda-tablets-roman-forces-in... used by Romans at Hadrian's wall.

Many personal messages, for example:

'Caelum crebris imbribus ac nebulis foedum' - the sky is obscured by constant rain and cloud...

or 'Commilitones mei non dolor. Quibusdam placet mitti iubet' - My fellow soldiers have no beer. Please order some to be sent.

daverol··on Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?
Many accounts sat the in the UK in the early 20th century dentistry was still so expensive that some people chose to have all their teeth pulled to spare themselves a lifetime of pain. Having all your teeth removed was considered the perfect gift for a 21st birthday or a newly married bride. My mother-in-law had her teeth out under this practice.

The foundation of the NHS in 1948 made dental care affordable for all and in the first nine months four million cavities were filled and queues formed outside surgeries.

see: https://bda.org/museum/exhibitions-and-events/nhs70-celebrat...

daverol··on Amazon workers at 100 more facilities want to unionize: Amazon Labor Union
“fear, uncertainty, and doubt”
daverol··on Billy Wilder: The Art of Screenwriting (1996)
Some more Wilder screenwriting wisdom - from Conversations with Wilder by Cameron Crowe.

1. The audience is fickle.

2. Grab 'em by the throat and never let 'em go.

3. Develop a clean line of action for your leading character.

4. Know where you're going.

5. The more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer.

6. If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act.

7. A tip from Lubitsch: Let the audience add up two plus two. They'll love you forever.

8. In doing voice-overs, be careful not to describe what the audience already sees. Add to what they're seeing.

9. The event that occurs at the second act curtain triggers the end of the movie.

10. The third act must build, build, build in tempo and action until the last event, and then—that's it. Don't hang around.

daverol··on Mitsubishi plans to include scene-aware interaction in cars
I had a chatty passenger like this in my car once - never again!
daverol··on Frank Lloyd Wright and the “textile block” construction system (1992)
Textile Block method, so an obligatory 'Blade Runner' mention: https://www.fancypantshomes.com/architecture/frank-lloyd-wri...
daverol··on The elaborate con that tricked dozens into working for a fake design agency
Best guess is that he was trying to parlay others (free/commission) work into a real company by signing design contracts.
daverol··on What I learned during my three days offline
Three days? Some people thought that 24 hours was so difficult it merited a cash reward https://www.reviews.org/internet-service/digital-detox-chall...
daverol··on Post Office scandal: Public inquiry to examine wrongful convictions
https://www.benthamsgaze.org/2021/07/15/what-went-wrong-with... had some reflections on this after the previous High Court trial
daverol··on Post Office scandal: Public inquiry to examine wrongful convictions
Don't hold your breath: Paula Vennells, who was chief executive of the Post Office until 2019, was awarded a CBE for ‘services to the Post Office and to charity’...
daverol··on Decommissioned Atlas F missile silo complex for sale
"We estimate this home will sell faster than 94 % nearby."

I wonder about the other 6%...

daverol··on The Dangers of Dimethylmercury (2019)
Quite: see for example https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12817450-800-the-merc... for an example of the effects of mercury contamination in a building used for Physics research in Cambridge UK
daverol··on Born to be cool: The life and music of Chet Baker
In 1986 he was playing in London: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/aug/17/john-cl...

In 1953 he looked and sounded like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcRXIOvMxdc

daverol··on The bullet effects in Terminator 2 weren’t CGI
There is a blog article about filming this (google translate available): http://culturaaeronautica.blogspot.com/2011/06/roberto-carlo...
daverol··on Would You Manage 70 Children and a 15-Ton Vehicle for $18 an Hour?
Indeed: https://savvytokyo.com/preparing-your-child-to-walk-to-schoo...
daverol··on I Miss the Old Internet (2019)
From the site referenced by that post:

"And every few days, I still get a hit with news.ycombinator.com (no subpages, just the front page) in the referer header. And my heart rate kicks up: what if I'm on the front page? And I go to the front page, and, much to my relief, I'm nowhere to be seen. I've dodged the Cathedral for another day."

And later a good credo for net users: (this site) "doesn't exist for you to debate over, or moral-grandstand about yourself. It doesn't exist to vindicate you, or validate your preconceived notions of who I am, of who I could become. It doesn't exist for you. It exists for me."

daverol··on Ask HN: As a European, what should I expect working for an American company?
Do not be phased when a co-worker offers to show you their gun collection.
daverol··on Berlin buys thousands of apartments from corporate landlords
Sometimes there is no intention to build, just use the German market as a cover for a ponzi scheme, see <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55077709>
daverol··on Sir Clive Sinclair has died
Was the arm wrestling in 'The Mitre' or 'The Baron of Beef'?
daverol··on UK Rail services to come under unified state control
The white paper extols their open data promise which will allow (for example) "Personalised travel offers, like free coffee when a service is delayed"
daverol··on UK Rail services to come under unified state control
Maybe this will remove the need for adjudicating between the companies currently involved - from the White Paper:

"Previous adjudications include, among other things, who was responsible for a train being so crowded that a passenger fainted, causing delays while they were taken off; and whether a pheasant is a small bird (in which case, according to the principles at the time, the train operator was to blame for a delay caused by hitting one) or a large bird (Network Rail's problem)."

daverol··on Time to regulate AI that interprets human emotions?
Of course one can try it out to see if it needs regulating: https://emojify.info
daverol··on Explore the Bayeux Tapestry Online
Meanwhile in the UK Mia Hansson has embarked on a recreation project on her own: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1139246322780314/ So far she has completed 92ft after starting the project in 2016.
daverol··on Dave Prowse: Darth Vader actor dies aged 85
He is remembered for his other iconic role using his own voice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRUBMBi_lp4
daverol··on Algorithmic adjustment of grades causes chaos in UK exam system
Background on the algorithms here:

https://ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2020/08/a-level-results-2...

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