Hacker News Reader

daverolon We Are the Last People Who Know How It Works

I'm still nostalgic for the times when I had to enter the bootloader using the keys on front panel of the PDP-11 to then loaded the OS from paper tape. (not to mention multi pass compilers using paper tape between the phases...)

daverolon Schlitz Is Gone, but First It's Getting One Last Hurrah

Who can forget the CEO Francis J. Sellinger and his 'Taste My Schlitz' commercials https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NPxny7no4c

daverolon Meta Horizon Worlds on Meta Quest is being discontinued

Where will all those Meta Avatars go? Is there a retirement home in the Metaverse?

daverolon The risk of a hothouse Earth trajectory

When I want to motivate myself I look at this https://www.theclimatebrink.com/p/the-scariest-climate-plot-...

daverolon Brutalist Southbank Centre Listed

more context here https://c20society.org.uk/news/if-not-now-when-c20-renews-34...

daverolon The Olivetti Company

I have fond memories from my Acorn days of staying in the 'typewriter' hotel on visits to Ivrea - it became derelict, but perhaps it has been revived...

https://zoningthegardenstate.wordpress.com/2020/10/04/the-pr...

daverolon Bayeux Tapestry Will Return to the U.K. for the First Time in 950 Years

At least I will be able to visit the exhibition and count them myself: https://allthatsinteresting.com/bayeux-tapestry-penises

daverolon Show HN: A 50% Undercut

My mind wandered to these more interesting "undercuts" https://uk.pinterest.com/ideas/lesbian-undercut-designs/9549...

daverolon Panjandrum: The 'giant firework' built to break Hitler's Atlantic Wall

I always preferred the thinking behind the 'Conundrum' used in Operation Pluto. No big bangs but excellent logistics - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Pluto

daverolon The Great Hobby Lobby Artifact Heist

Story also covered in a BBC podcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002883z

daverolon Pixel 4a Battery Performance Program

My Pixel 4a appears to shows 100% battery only in the status line following the update.

daverolon Mushroom Color Atlas

Fascinating the range of effects available by printing using plants e.g. see https://wendyfe.wordpress.com/plants-for-eco-dyeing-and-eco-...

daverolon How do you recognize an expert?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR3f95BGIiA

daverolon Children need risk, fear, and excitement in play

Ah the good old days: https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/dangerous-playgrounds-1900s...

daverolon Dr Strangelove at 60

Dr Strangelove himself seems to be the perfect prototype for a modern tech entrepreneur: The type of mad techno bro who relishes the opportunity to apply his hair-brained schemes to fix real world problems. The worse things get the more he bubbles with excitement and throws out outlandish solutions.

daverolon Post Office plan to sack Horizon IT reviewer kept secret, documents reveal

You might not like their stance on issues, but in today's media landscape The Guardian is as good as it gets: https://www.theguardian.com/the-scott-trust

daverolon The strange disappearance of Mrs Agatha Christie (2022)

For those interested in Agatha's life this book is worth reading: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Agatha-Christie/Lucy-...

daverolon The brain connections between our hands and tongues

....tennis players often shout as they smack the ball. And research shows that coupling hand movements with specific mouth movements, often with vocalization, shortens the reaction time needed to do both.

Perhaps this will help reduce my annoyance when watching a very vocal tennis match!

daverolon The Carrot Problem

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States

daverolon The Sad Bastard Cookbook

for simple recipes (with a touch of nostalgia) look no further than https://www.mostlyfood.co.uk/index.php/cooking-in-a-bedsitte...

daverolon Samuel R. Delany Reimagined Sci-Fi, Sex, and the City

BABEL-17

daverolon Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

Live in a village, get a partner, have children, participate in children's schooling.

daverolon Liubo: Ancient Chinese board game originally played from about 500 BCE to 500 CE

daverolon Learning the ropes: why Germany is building risk into its playgrounds (2021)

These people are amateurs: The USA lead the way: https://clickamericana.com/topics/family-parenting/life-for-...

daverolon With ships, birds find an easier way to travel

Consider this Osprey taking a rest on a boat during migration from the UK to Spain - https://twitter.com/sachadench/status/1569801627757838338

daverolon Just Write

You can also heal yourself with writing: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170601-can-writing-abou...

daverolon LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado

Nothing can beat an original - in this case A4 ‘Sir Nigel Gresley’ https://www.tiktok.com/@francis.bourgeois/video/718707746502...

daverolon Oracle per-employee Java pricing causes concern

Oracle being Oracle - nothing to see here.

daverolon The organ as a wind instrument

Instrument or spectacle? <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98KYMpBx9og>

daverolon The Diary of Samuel Pepys

If you are in Cambridge,UK you can visit the library which holds the books he collected (including his diaries): https://www.magd.cam.ac.uk/pepys He designed the bookcases which hold the circa 3000 volumes shelved according to height. His will stipulated that the books are to be held in the library 'without addition or subtraction'