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paltman

283 karma · joined March 13, 2009

Can be found at:

  https://paltman.com
  https://twitter.com/paltman/
  https://github.com/paltman/
  https://keybase.io/paltman/
[ my public key: https://keybase.io/paltman; my proof: https://keybase.io/paltman/sigs/2jjZW8dTSYQhe1BZ_ELF2yRL2-iOWmA6bDFf5PlIUoo ]
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paltman··on Blend and Haul: Fertilizer Blending Simulator
Built this to explore all the dynamics of our operations at Wedgworth's, Inc. Just for fun. No trackers. Free. All game state in localstorage.
paltman··on Ask HN: How do you handle release notes for multiple audiences?
I author internal software rather than something public, but I think this method still would apply thinking back on SaaS apps I've built.

I use Github generated release notes based on Pull Request bodies and this is more than sufficient for my dev team.

I think have a small app in my different internal web application called `releases` (a Django app) that has a simple model called Release. I hand write the release notes, copy and paste the version number, and select date for each release (sometimes I'll batch add them if I get behind).

But I had write them with my audience in mind (business system users - who care about specific bugs or features; i leave out any internal things that wouldn't be of interest).

At the footer, or a small indicator in side bar, I display the version number that was created through our automated release process (Github Release triggers a release and the tag that is the version number gets set as an env var in my Docker image). Clicking that takes the user to a /release-notes/ page that has a descending order list of the notes that I hand author in the Django admin.

Pretty low tech but I find I like to be able to hand author the notes with the user's in mind.

paltman··on Show HN: I built a platform where audiences fund debates between public thinkers
Great work! Love the concept and implementation!
paltman··on We Continually Delivery Software
*How
paltman··on Polars vs. Pandas – Quantile Method
You can save some memory by moving to Polars from Pandas but watch out for a subtle difference in the quantile's different default interpolation methods.
paltman··on Coupling nitrogen-vacancy center spins in diamond to a grape dimer
Claude, can you please explain this for someone with a high school level understanding of science?

I'll break this down into simpler terms!

You might have seen viral videos or heard about what happens when you put two grapes in a microwave - they create impressive sparks and even plasma (which is like a super-hot, glowing gas, similar to what's in those plasma ball toys).

The key points of this paper are:

First, some background: - When two grapes are placed close together in a microwave, they act like a special kind of antenna or lens for microwave energy - This creates an incredibly intense concentration of energy between the grapes (they call this a "hotspot")

What's new in this research: - The scientists used tiny diamonds that contain special defects called nitrogen-vacancy centers (think of these like extremely sensitive sensors) - They placed these special diamonds between two grapes in a controlled setup - Using these diamond sensors, they could measure how strong the magnetic field was between the grapes - They found that the magnetic field between the grapes was twice as strong as it would be normally

Why this matters: - Previous research only looked at the electric fields between the grapes - This study confirms that grapes can also concentrate magnetic fields - This could be useful for quantum computing and other advanced technologies that need precise control of magnetic fields

Think of it like this: If you put two magnifying glasses next to each other, they can concentrate light into a very bright spot. The grapes are doing something similar, but with microwaves instead of light. The scientists used special diamonds as a tool to measure just how concentrated this "microwave spot" becomes.

---

I don't even try reading stuff like this on my own anymore. Maybe I'm just dumber than most, but I find Claude's explanation so much more accessible.

paltman··on Restoring the Everglades to ensure South Florida's freshwater supply
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/629611-south-florida-fa...

"With nearly 30 years of data showing significant progress, it’s clear that farmers in the EAA have done more to improve water quality in South Florida than any other private group in state history."

paltman··on Ask HN: How do you manage your “family data warehouse”?
I use https://www.trustworthy.com/ and Dropbox and am very happy with this combination.
paltman··on Keep Your Vue Apps Fresh v2
Just solved an old problem again in a new format so decided to jot down some notes really quick in case it's helpful to others.

I'd also be curious to know if others are dealing with this problem in a more elegant or different way.

paltman··on The $100B Dollar Ingredient making your Food Toxic
That's addressed in the video.
paltman··on Django Newbie Mistakes
Can you provide some examples?

I've worked on plenty of large projects and haven't run into places were I've "lost control". Just the opposite, I have found it to be very extensible.

I'm curious if there are cases I haven't hit that you have, though.

paltman··on Ask HN: Best passive income method for a solo developer?
We used to have that but it only accounted for a small fraction of sales. Our customers are large enterprises that have a quotation/PO invoicing cycle that pay by check or wire.
paltman··on Ask HN: Best passive income method for a solo developer?
People find us 100% through Google
paltman··on Ask HN: Best passive income method for a solo developer?
I've been generating income from http://aminosoftware.com going on 11 years now. There have been updates with every release of SQL Server and a handful of bug fixes over the years but it's amounted to about 10 hours of work per year.

Niche was key for this to work.

paltman··on Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2015?
I have been running http://aminosoftware.com for almost 10 years now with a partner. It's not huge money but we do zero promotion and support amounts to a handful of emails a year and pays for my kids private school. Our customers are government and enterprise so purchase through invoice/PO paperwork but that's just a few minutes using a google docs template.
paltman··on Some Turn to Church; Others, to CrossFit
You can be injured doing any activity, especially activities incorrectly. You can also die prematurely from inactivity.

I've been doing CrossFit for 2 years and feel better than I have in decades. I do have a background in weightlifting (college football). However, my wife does CrossFit as well and prior to starting she never touched weights. Again, she feels better than ever. But then again she isn't being stupid about doing movements she is uncomfortable with and isn't loading until she has got the technique down. Furthermore, there are 70+ year olds in our classes, some of them first timers as well. They are obviously not snatching their body weight but scale the exercises appropriate to them.

I guess this just goes along with a general societal trend to eschew personal responsibility and blame externalities.

paltman··on Some Turn to Church; Others, to CrossFit
Thanks for the laugh! :)

"Hazardous". Haha.

paltman··on Some Turn to Church; Others, to CrossFit
LOL at people talking about CF being dangerous.
paltman··on Why Coke Cost a Nickel for 70 Years (2012)
Imagine how expensive coke would be without the US corn subsidy.
paltman··on What is it like to be poor at an Ivy League school?
I attended an Ivy (Penn). Most of my friends were far from wealthy. Many from what most in the US would consider poor backgrounds. It's hard for me to speak on their behalf here, but it's quite obvious seeing them now how radically their lives have changed.

Here is a recent story that was fairly typical in my experience : http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2423782-left-parentless-a...

It seems that there are those who pursue greatness and success and use their challenges and circumstances as motivation to do better and those that see themselves as handicapped and disadvantaged.

Are there pompous kids? Sure. But I believe that exists anywhere and quite frankly, I felt that those kids were the ones who were missing out. Missing out on relationships with people who were not caught up on the superficial, either because they couldn't afford to be, or didn't care.

Anyway, just my perspective, FWIW.

paltman··on Why I Don’t Do CrossFit
I think it's a mistake to apply one-size-fits-all advice to CrossFit. Can it be dangerous? Sure. Can it work well if you are not an idiot? Sure.

Bottom line is, you, as the athlete, must listen to his body first and foremost.

Push through soreness, sure. But acute pain? No way.

The problem is, perhaps, that non-athletes come into CrossFit and haven't learned the difference and are not coached on the difference. As a former college athlete (football), that nuance had become second nature to me and therefore I know when to use the coaching prompts to push through to motivate me and I also know when to ignore them because I feel a potential injury coming or realize my form is breaking down.

I think part of the problem might lie in how easy it is to become CrossFit certified, not with the regimes themselves.

paltman··on Rejecting industry dogma, Costco backs calls to lift minimum wage
just another story of a business getting involved in public policy in order to hurt competitors. costco can (and already does) pay workers more than minimum wage as is in line with their operating philosophy. government shouldn't be in the business of regulating wages, that's an agreement between an employer and employee.
paltman··on So you think you can tell Arial from Helvetica?
Check out http://typewar.com/quests/quest/1/
paltman··on Redactor - WYSIWYG editor on jQuery
I think one of the biggest things I see is the ability to handle uploads/handling of images inline of your content. You still have to provide the server side implementation (see http://paltman.com/2012/08/15/how-to-setup-upload-handler-fo...) but having the ability to browse previously uploaded photos, as well as upload new ones, and have them appear inline with your content with resize handles, is pretty nice.
paltman··on Why You Should Start Using a VPN
Also, check out https://www.vpnod.com
paltman··on How I Write Django Reusable Apps
Here is a post on use of signals that I hope is helpful. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3413956
paltman··on How I Write Django Reusable Apps
Thanks. I'm planning some additional posts to cover these in detail.
paltman··on Deploying Django on Heroku
Gondor (https://gondor.io) now has open sign up.
paltman··on PyCon: Everybody Pays
While I have never spoken at either a DjangoCon or a PyCon, attending them feels like taking part in a community where some members of that community are volunteering to speak and provide some content, the same way others are writing documentation, or submitting patches to open source projects.

The "speaking" part of contributing content to the community is decoupled in my mind in "community-oriented" conferences such as these. There is far more value, at least to me, in these conferences, than the content of the sessions. It's the entire experience, the opportunity to network with others, that is worth it to me. In fact, this past PyCon, I only attended 2-3 sessions all week, figuring that I could watch the content online later and instead focused on interacting with others who I don't regularly see.

Quite frankly, I would see it as a sign that someone probably shouldn't be presenting to the community if their motivation is to get out of paying the nominal conference fee.

paltman··on Mytechne: a site to record the history of programming langauges you've used
Great example of the power of django and piano to quickly build and deploy sites.
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