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thisisbrianson Scientists begin building highly accurate digital twin of our planet

This is an extremely ambitious project, and hopefully turns out to be worthwhile. For complex/interconnected systems, building ~accurate simulations can vastly decrease the cost of decision-making, and I'm very bullish on digital twin technology, generally. Trying things out in a simulation can be a cheap way to guide more detailed engineering analysis and 'rough in' an approach.

As an example, my startup, Bractlet (bractlet.com), uses detailed, physics-based energy simulation (aka "digital energy twin") technology as a tool to optimize HVAC design and controls in large commercial buildings. I'm sure efficacy varies widely by domain, but it's worked extremely well for us so far; we typically help our customers save about 20-30% on their energy expenditures annually, and the digital twin is the bedrock of our approach.

thisisbrianson Show HN: Has Elon Changed his Twitter bio? – toy project

Great little site! Couple notes for ya:

- There's a typo, "frist" should be "first" :)

- Would be great if I could click a button to get prompted to enable the notifications. I didn't get a prompt when I loaded the page, and didn't want to look up instructions for manually enabling the notifications.

Nice work!

thisisbrianson Ask HN: What are your thoughts on Dogecoin?

A lot of folks are long-time holders (hodlers) and I bet many are scrambling to try and cash in on this run. A lot of exchanges (and even Robinhood) have limited or halted Doge trading, and the network is overloaded with folks trying to sync old wallets and whatnot. Very chaotic situation, but I imagine the price will drop once more people figure out how to cash in. The coin inflates infinitely so it's all fun, games and short-term speculation in my view.

thisisbrianson Time-lapse of a single cell transforming into a salamander (2019)

"Personhood" seems a very arbitrary (and not at all clearly defined) qualification here. "Understanding" arises from thinking, not from "personhood". And surely, there are non-person minds that understand less complex things. That they can evolve to achieve person-caliber capabilities incrementally and over long periods of time is well-accepted.

As an aside, we can't communicate very well with the smartest animals, so we don't know how much they can understand. It could be more than most of us think.

thisisbrianson A story about pivots

Stated another way: the goal shouldn't be to build something, but to solve a problem for someone. Building should be a means, not an end.

thisisbrianson A speaker placement tip that speaker manuals get wrong (2017)

Astute. The goal isn't to get the mix sounding good on one particular listening system, but being able to hear the raw, unadulterated signal as well as possible with knowledge of how it will or won't translate in other environments. Always good to have multiple sets of speakers to test those assumptions out in real-time. Interestingly, even the geometry of your specific ears will color the resulting sound that is heard, which is why referencing to commercial tracks is so helpful in the process.

thisisbrianson A speaker placement tip that speaker manuals get wrong (2017)

Yes and no. Your mix is never going to sound as crisp as it does in the studio (ideal listening conditions). Road noise + reverb off the glass + cheap speakers = not as good a listening environment. It's best to build familiarity of other commercial productions on your ideal setup (monitors/headphones/etc.) for referencing purposes earlier in the process, in my opinion. Good to reference on more 'everyday' listening systems, too (personal favorite, the iPhone speaker).

thisisbrianson A speaker placement tip that speaker manuals get wrong (2017)

I laughed at the Toyota test, because there's a ton of truth in there. Got to test the mix on bad speakers to see if it translates...humbling, but necessary for a good mix. I do test in my car (coincidentally, it is a Corolla) as well :)

thisisbrianson A speaker placement tip that speaker manuals get wrong (2017)

Having spent a bunch of time trying to figure this all out myself, as well, some practical tips (confirmed anecdotally by yours truly):

- Place your speakers such that they form an equilateral triangle, with the tweeters pointing directly at your head while you are seated in the control position. Near-field monitors are made for focusing on a 'sweet spot' like this. Using purpose-built speaker stands is the easiest route here.

- Treat the first reflection points with foam, or anything that absorbs/scatters sound (e.g. I hung a huge shag rug on the back wall)

- Break up smooth surfaces (walls/floors/windows) with other absorptive/non-smooth decorations and materials. Rug on floor, couch at back of room, curtains, even a bookcase; all will help absorb and scatter sound.

- A good rule of thumb is to spend as much money on 'treating' the room as the speakers themselves (even great speakers will sound like trash in a room with no treatment).

- When using the speakers for mixing/mastering work, listen at a conversational volume. The lower the volume, the less the room matters (and the room matters a lot).

- You will get far better sound from decent headphones (I have HD650s) than from all but the most pristinely designed/tuned monitor setups. Probably would cost well over $10k and a lot of knowhow to beat the headphones.

thisisbrianson Dropbox to cut 11% of its global workforce

My startup also uses Paper (and we love/have loved it) but are migrating more and more to Confluence recently. I still use Paper for quick brainstorming/organizing for smaller groups and projects, though. The collaborative editing and always-on edit mode make it great for documents in rapid flux, whereas Confluence is better for long-lived strategy and documentation related items.

thisisbrianson We Fix: A DIY Manifesto (2014)

If you do this, ideally do it outdoors and with a fan to blow the fumes away from your face. Burning plastic creates some pretty nasty gasses that you definitely don't want to be breathing in; I learned this the hard way, unfortunately.

thisisbrianson App Will Help You Follow Election Results Without Triggering Your Anxiety

This, 100%. Choose your follows very carefully and you will be rewarded with a goldmine.

thisisbrianson App Will Help You Follow Election Results Without Triggering Your Anxiety

While usually there's some truth in this sort of sentiment, this simply isn't about the election of one individual this go round. It's about perpetuating and legitimizing the overreach of one particular political party that seeks to keep itself in power despite the conventions and rules that should allow it to be removed — see: autocracy.

thisisbrianson App Will Help You Follow Election Results Without Triggering Your Anxiety

This is a distracting and unhelpful comment. The rules (despite attempts to persuade us otherwise) are well-established and not nearly so easy to deviate from, even in this tumultuous time.

thisisbrianson App Will Help You Follow Election Results Without Triggering Your Anxiety

Wish it were that cut and dried, but — depends on the earliest callable swing states.

thisisbrianson App Will Help You Follow Election Results Without Triggering Your Anxiety

I agree. It's thoughtfully done and easier than refreshing a web page. Not worthy of the shade thrown, IMO. If you don't like it, don't use it.

thisisbrianson App Will Help You Follow Election Results Without Triggering Your Anxiety

FWIW, a gym is about the last kind of place that should be open right now, based on what we know about how this particular plague spreads. No judgement from me either way, but take care of yourself out there.

thisisbrianson The No-Code Generation is arriving

This is exactly how we use no-code at my startup. It allows non-programmers to iterate with the product manager on a solution's design before it makes it to the dev team's plate.

thisisbrianson That advice to women to ‘lean in’, be more confident it doesn’t help

Women of HN: how do you think your male peers can best help to close the gaps in tech (and otherwise)? A lot of us want to help, but I fear we are often misguided.

thisisbrianson Ask HN: Essential skill needed to be a programmer?

To be able to write code, you must first be able to read code. This means you must be able to 'simulate' what the computer is doing when it executes a program — or at least the bit of it you're working on — in your own head before you can write it. Tools can and do help with this, but they cannot think for you.

Competence in engineering and architecture come from expanding the capabilities of your mind to simulate more complex programs and to think in abstractions.

thisisbrianson Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

I came here to say basically this. An employer is responsible for its own political positions because of how corporate governance is organized. Employees who disagree with said positions, whatever they may be, are free to terminate their employment if management doesn't agree to be lobbied by employees to assume certain positions. True say comes with ownership.

thisisbrianson Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

I'd argue that a lot of engineering disasters could/should have been avoided by adhering to standard safety practices and engineering ethics. This is very germane to the work/mission of the business and has little to do with the sorts of external political activism that Coinbase is trying to eschew.

thisisbrianson DrawERD makes it easy to visualize your database structure

I have been thinking along these same lines as our architecture has gotten more complex over the years. I've toyed with the idea of adding some sort of comment syntax into our codebases that would allow some level of automation around this idea. Auto-generation might work quite well given the limited context, to your point.

thisisbrianson Boeing whistle-blower says proposed 737 Max fixes aren't enough

So, you think things have improved since then?

thisisbrianson Raspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USB

I, too, would appreciate a brief Google Doc or Pastebin on this if you can spare the time. I've never setup netboot before, but have been interested for years... reply

thisisbrianson The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

This headline is flat-out wrong (and should be changed, please, @dang). About 2.5M young adults in the US have moved in with their parents since February, 2020: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/09/04/a-majority-...

thisisbrianson Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study

Many, many people who follow fasting/ketogenic diets report heightened energy and focus, myself included. This usually comes after the carb/keto flu phase once adjusted to the low carb intake and after the body has gone fully into ketosis. You have to be careful to get enough salt while fasting or eating very low-carb, though, as your body can struggle to hold on to water without those carbs you're used to eating. Consuming too little salt can definitely contribute to feeling sluggish.

thisisbrianson Home Studio Setup Costs Compared – 1980s And Now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H83TxBL3yOE

followed by

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25Zcy8Uu4dw

thisisbrianson Home Studio Setup Costs Compared – 1980s And Now

Ableton is great, especially if you are tech-oriented. I suggest you follow along with a couple video tutorials introducing the basics of Ableton to get started. You can make something decent-sounding with just a few tracks and loops. The basic concepts should apply across DAWs. Have fun, and good luck!

thisisbrianson Home Studio Setup Costs Compared – 1980s And Now

I disagree and think this is changing rapidly, especially in the electronic/EDM scenes. In these arenas, a lot of careers blossom from SoundCloud, YouTube, and having other artists/DJs pick up tracks and play them in their sets. Marketing is still a factor but matters a lot less (many artists even wear masks/helmets). A quality track can (and many have been) made with just a laptop. Martin Garrix released his first hit "Animals" at age 16/17 after one his remixes was picked up by another DJ.

Additionally, music discovery has fundamentally changed because of streaming services like Spotify, as well. Just a couple of days ago there was an article on the front page of HN about how the top 40 tracks on Spotify make up a smaller percentage of the streams than even a year or two ago. Discovery features allow tracks to rise on their merit/listening stats making marketing much less important than it used to be, across genres.

With that said, it's still hard to make it. The barrier to entry has never been lower and thus there is a tremendous amount of competition and talent to contend with now. The determining factor for winning these days seems to be the ability to consistently and reliably release quality tunes over and over again.