Viewing profile — topher515

I recently read “The Family That Couldn’t Sleep” which is the story of the history and discovery of prion diseases. It’s from the mid-00’s so it’s missing the latest research but i…

From the link in other threads: https://www.tsunami.gov/events/PAAQ/2024/12/05/so1aq0/1/WEAK... * Boat operators, * Where time and conditions permit, move your boat out to sea to a…

This is sort of what the Strava "heatmap" map is when you switch it to cycling mode: https://www.strava.com/maps/global-heatmap?sport=Ride&style=... .

Are you familiar with the concept of "pricing ladders"? The point of the entry level product is not to simply be "the economy model", it's to be feature deficient in just the right…

There are many well intentioned regulations that end up restricting the housing supply by making it more expensive to build. Some of them definitely sound good (and are good?), but…

What is most interesting to me about automation in the restaurant industry, is its almost complete absence in the United States. If—as I understand it—labor costs dominate the cost…

Can you explain a bit more about the difference between the anisotropic and isotopic nature of these different zones? Are both of these zones “solid” states of matter? Or does our …

I had a buddy who built a solar e-bike for Burning Man; it had a sort-of roof on top, so it had room for something like four of those flexible 100 watt solar panels[1]. He told me …

Not a flight buff, but... - Jet fuel from NYC to LAX seems to cost ~$10k.[1] - You pay a pilot $50 / hour salary. (+100% more with benefits?)[2] - Double all of that for a bunch of…

But the goal here in setting these prices (from Society’s perspective) is not to maximize Safeway’s profits, but rather to incentive more people taking up carrot farming! Since we’…

Agreed! It seems like exactly searching for special characters could be the "killer app" that programmers need which would get them to leave Google.

This is actually one of the classic "disasters" in Sim City 2000[1]. The "Microwave Powerplant" works by bouncing a concentrated beam of sunlight to earth. It provides plentiful, p…

I just want to take some issue with your characterization of "with mathematical certainty". You're completely right that given fertility rates are under replacement rate—from memor…

I'm not familiar with how pricing precious metals works, but it looks like, as of this moment, gold is priced about 2x more than platinum[1]! Presumably these prices have quite a b…

If you haven't read "The Vital Question" by Nick Lane yet, then you really should. One of the book's suggestions is that an energy-first analysis of life and the origins of life, c…

So if we take for granted that humans really, actually do seem to like free stuff more than we “should”, then perhaps instead of reacting with “lol, humans irrational”, we should m…

It seems like you're conflating two issues here: 1. Old people like to fly small planes and crash them more than others [citation needed?] 2. Small planes emit toxic chemicals that…

Edward Snowden is the last person we should ask to speak out against Russia. Almost every other Russia-resident who might speak out against the invasion could, the next day, show u…

This is quite surprising and interesting to me. Can you provide links where I can read about this and/or try getting it set up for myself?

I don't understand this position. Are you honestly proposing that we permanently require masks in all public, indoor environments? For the rest of our lives? I don't see how you ca…

The way a captive portal works is that the router at the coffee shop sees your browser's DNS request for `google.com` and instead of responding with the real IP address for Google …

You’re suggesting that a cubic meter of stone weighs just 3 kg (6.6 lbs)? That doesn’t sound right.

The bombs were found[1] in the Capitol Hill area—not in the Capitol building. [1] https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-joe-biden-inaugurati...

The point being made above about property rights is much bigger than “does my local police do a good job finding burglars?”. The point is that the government maintains an entire sy…