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Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server

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Re: Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server

#121

Post by kwhitefoot »

> This computer does not physically manipulated electricity.

Sophistry.

The whole purpose of a computer is to manipulate electricity, it is what electronic computers do.

Perhaps it really is kosher (I have no idea, I'm not Jewish and I'm not well informed about what kosher really means) but whatever it is or is not, it is quite certainly not true that 'This computer does not physically manipulated electricity.'

Perhaps the author actually meant something else, if so I'm curious as to what that might be.

Presumably the inclusion of the superfluous word physically means something to the author. To me (B. Sc. Physics) there is no need to include the word because all manipulation of electricity is physical, there is no other kind.

Re: Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server

#122

Post by refurb »

emosenkis wrote: post #25

As on Orthodox Jew, while I don't have anything against this and it sounds like a fun hobby project, I don't like that it misleads regarding what Jewish law actually requires. As several others have mentioned, there is absolutely no problem with keeping a server running on the sabbath - computers aren't Jews (Jewish law only expects Jews to keep the sabbath). If it's Jews working to generate the electricity (most "mo…

Just random observation - when I visited Israel I was astounded how nearly complete the sabbath shutdown is. In the US, the only day that comes close is Christmas Day and it’s still not even close. My wife and I struggled to find dinner and drove around for an hour or so until we found an Arab place that was open. Pretty much the only place in town that was open.

Then sunset comes and everyone comes out. If you travel to Israel, plan for it!

Re: Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server

#123

Post by quenix »

fortran77 wrote: post #119
quenix wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least capitalism actually exists.

Hey @dang -- why are people allowed to mock other people's religion here?

Ah, so virtually every idea known to humankind is able to be critiqued, yet religion—a fundamentally unproven, dogmatic discipline that sows conflict into the world by its very nature—is immune from such criticism.

I don’t think so. There is nothing wrong with criticizing a belief system—it is distinct from more innate characteristics such as race or sexual orientation.

Re: Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server

#124

Post by danans »

rsynnott wrote: post #61
helge9210 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>people or Jews I like the distinction you make here.

Inclusive or, I assume (from my limited understanding, Judaism considers some rules to only apply to Jews, so it would make sense to consider Jews and Gentiles separately here). Total side note, but I’ve noticed that programmers (including myself) are more prone to read English or as xor than, for want of a better term, normal people. Not sure why this is.

> Total side note, but I’ve noticed that programmers (including myself) are more prone to read English or as xor than, for want of a better term, normal people. Not sure why this is.

The English terms 'or' and 'and' used in normal, non-mathematical speech are far closer to the set operations, not boolean propositional logic.

The set operations they refer to are of course context dependent. For example, in a question context, 'or' is asking for the selection of one set or another. In a statement context, it usually indicates that it refers to a member of either set, unless used with the qualifier 'either' in which case the statement once again requires the choice of one set or another.

Re: Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server

#125

Post by jfengel »

verytrivial wrote: post #49

I have never understood trying to get in to heaven on a technicality. Anyway, none of my business! All power to them (except during Shabbat of course.)

Kosher laws have nothing to do with getting into heaven. They're about community. Jews are the people who keep kosher. It's not a sin to fail to keep kosher. You're not jeopardizing the afterlife; Judaism puts far less focus on the afterlife than we're used to swimming in a Christian world view.

That does sometimes lead to a weird performative "more kosher than thou", which I don't believe is really healthy but every community has equivalent behavior. The finger wagging isn't about protecting their immortal soul, but merely making yourself to be the best at the arbitrary rules and therefore somehow to be most beloved by the community.

Re: Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server

#126

Post by ashtonkem »

emosenkis wrote: post #25

As on Orthodox Jew, while I don't have anything against this and it sounds like a fun hobby project, I don't like that it misleads regarding what Jewish law actually requires. As several others have mentioned, there is absolutely no problem with keeping a server running on the sabbath - computers aren't Jews (Jewish law only expects Jews to keep the sabbath). If it's Jews working to generate the electricity (most "mo…

B&H photo (run by Orthodox Jews out of NYC) stops accepting orders during the sabbath in their time zone. You can keep browsing, but you can’t generate work for them. This seems like a decent compromise, and it’s definitely not hurting their business.

Re: Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server

#127

Post by floatingatoll »

MH15 wrote: post #100

The tongue-in-cheek humor of this project aside, it returns an astoundingly antisemitic search result on the home page. See https://wethoughttheywerewhite.tumblr.com/ , a blog dedicated to blaming the Jewish people for the international slave trade. It's awful .

Would you mind editing out the direct link to astoundingly antisemitic content? It does HN no good to link it directly in this case and can only attract negative outcomes (like, antisemites who have a Google Alerts set up for that subdomain name discover this thread when it shows up in Google, or someone on HN gets sucked into the worldview as a result of curiosity, or etc).

Re: Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server

#128

Post by Udik »

emosenkis wrote: post #74
rsynnott wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Inclusive or, I assume (from my limited understanding, Judaism considers some rules to only apply to Jews, so it would make sense to consider Jews and Gentiles separately here). Total side note, but I’ve noticed that programmers (including myself) are more prone to read English or as xor than, for want of a better term, normal people. Not sure why this is.

That's correct; I updated my original comment to mention that the Jewish laws of the sabbath aren't meant to apply to non-Jews (there is, however, a large and rather entertaining body of practical discussion of under what conditions, and how explicitly, one can ask a non-Jew to do things on the sabbath that would be forbidden for the asker themself to do).

> practical discussion of under what conditions, and how explicitly, one can ask a non-Jew to do things on the sabbath that would be forbidden for the asker themself to do

If I remember well, one option is "if someone were to do this job, he wouldn't regret it later" (as in he would be paid for that, but that can't be explicitly mentioned).

Re: Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server

#129

Post by Udik »

rsynnott wrote: post #64
heisbsissi wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a gentile, it seems pretty obvious to me that this is borderline satire. You sound like Devin Nunes apoplectic about how it is not actually one of his farm animals criticizing him on twitter.

I think this sort of thing reads as absurd in Christian majority cultures mostly because mainstream Christianity does not currently have many restrictions which inconvenience people day to day. Back when it did, they did stuff that was at least as weird; did you know that both beavers and certain types of geese were regionally considered to be fish to get around the no meat on Fridays thing?

> mostly because mainstream Christianity does not currently have many restrictions which inconvenience people day to day.

Note however that Islam has similar restrictions but an entirely different way to deal with them (respecting the spirit as well as their letter). My pet theory about the approach of the three main Abrahamic religions to restrictions:

1) Christianity: (loosely) respects the spirit but not the letter;

2) Islam: respects both the spirit and the letter.

3) Judaism: respects only the letter.

Re: Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server

#130

Post by bszupnick »

refurb wrote: post #122
emosenkis wrote: post #25

As on Orthodox Jew, while I don't have anything against this and it sounds like a fun hobby project, I don't like that it misleads regarding what Jewish law actually requires. As several others have mentioned, there is absolutely no problem with keeping a server running on the sabbath - computers aren't Jews (Jewish law only expects Jews to keep the sabbath). If it's Jews working to generate the electricity (most "mo…

Just random observation - when I visited Israel I was astounded how nearly complete the sabbath shutdown is. In the US, the only day that comes close is Christmas Day and it’s still not even close. My wife and I struggled to find dinner and drove around for an hour or so until we found an Arab place that was open. Pretty much the only place in town that was open. Then sunset comes and everyone comes out. If you trave…

I live in Israel and always felt terrible for tourists who accidentally got stuck! Depending where you are you can end up with no public transportation, no grocery stores, restaurants, shops, museums, anything!
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