Obviously a joke/satire site. "This server is powered by 4 car batteries that are charged every Tuesday. This website does not use new electricity created during Shabbat." Shouldn't it have ran out of electricity by now? How many requests can a home server running on four car batteries serve?
Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server
171–180 of 233 posts
Re: Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> And it’s definitely not hurting their business. I would question that conclusion. There have been times in the past I've wanted to order from B&H, but could not because it was on the Sabbath. In most cases, I just keep looking until I found the item on a different website. I'm sure they consider the loss of business worthwhile to comply with their religion, but there is a cost.
This is actually my favorite thing about B&H, because I'll be impulsively browsing on a Friday night or Saturday online, and sure enough coming back one day later is enough to re-evaluate whether I did really need to have that gadget.
I also find it charming that they've managed to become a massive retailer while sticking to their religious values, although there are plenty of examples of that in other chains in the US that don't sit as well with me, personally (Chick-fil-A, Hobby Lobby, etc).
Re: Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
> And it’s definitely not hurting their business. I would question that conclusion. There have been times in the past I've wanted to order from B&H, but could not because it was on the Sabbath. In most cases, I just keep looking until I found the item on a different website. I'm sure they consider the loss of business worthwhile to comply with their religion, but there is a cost.
> but there is a cost. It may be less than you suspect because the regular bubble in their ordering pipeline might give them time to deal with suppliers, maintain stock, improve their website, maintain systems, relax and refocus, etc. I doubt it works out better than not doing it at least economically, but there may be enough benefit to offset most of the costs. The times I've run into the B&H sabbath outage, I just…
>It may be less than you suspect because the regular bubble in their ordering pipeline might give them time to deal with suppliers, maintain stock, improve their website, maintain systems, relax and refocus, etc.
the thing is, the bubble they have includes not doing anything on this list :)
Re: Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server
#174Jews are the most racist people, read the Talmud
Re: Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server
#175Neat. This might not be satire though. To those wondering why it needs to be passively cooled:
Jews and other folks that keep Torah do not kindle a flame on the Shabbat. For those who are very strict about keeping God's commandments (basically orthodox Jews), they avoid anything that would create a spark. This spark is like a very tiny, short lived flame. Any time physical electronic contacts join together (like when turning on a light switch), the argument is that there's a very small spark that occurs. The same would happen with the electric contacts in a motor, such as the motor inside CPU fans, desktop power supplies, and platter hard drives. By running on this physical hardware, they're avoiding breaking the Sabbath as much as possible.
source: I'm a gentile Christian that tries to keep the Torah. So I'm more familiar with Jewish laws than the average person, but don't quote me too much.
Re: Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server
#176Is that a joke? Because if it isn't, I'd hate to tell you but you are wrong. That computer most definitely manipulates electricity.
If anyone is about to take this seriously, check out how a transistor works. It most certainly manipulates electricity. The cpu in that computer has about a billion transistors.
Re: Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd think he has at least a good enough sense of humor to smile about it.
you haven't read the Hebrew bible.
Although in the extrabiblical story of the oven of Akhnai, God literally laughs about human beings' cleverness in interpreting the law:
Re: Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server
#178Is that a joke? Because if it isn't, I'd hate to tell you but you are wrong. That computer most definitely manipulates electricity. If anyone is about to take this seriously, check out how a transistor works. It most certainly manipulates electricity. The cpu in that computer has about a billion transistors.
even a capacitor.
Re: Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ok. A serious question here: Can some HN Jews, enlighten me (a 100%-proof agnostic) on what they actually do on Shabbat? Are you allowed to use the internet? If something in your house breaks, are you not allowed to fix it? Do you just sit around gazing into space just in case something you do is classed as 'work'? I find the whole concept quite interesting.
For Sabbath observing Jews, “work” is defined as a certain set of 39 (?) activities that are defined in the bible and relating to building the “Mishkan”. Generations of Talmudic rabbis then added new interpretations and requirements on these rules to adapt for new technology. eg, the prohibition against using electricity is because it relates to igniting a spark, which is one of the 39 prohibited activities (Or “mala…
FTFYriday night: synagogue (for the men) then big ceremonious dinner (that the women have been cooking)
Re: Kosher search engine powered by 4 car batteries on a passively cooled server
#180As 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…
My understanding is that making a non–Jewish person work on the Sabbath is also forbidden. Granted, this was just a schoolmate of mine in Brooklyn saying this but I have no reason to doubt the claim.
It does seem like electricity gets a huge carveout though as long as the initial startup wasn't initiated on the Sabbath. One sees that with Sabbath elevators where all the buttons are on and you can walk on without pushing a button and walk off at the correct floor. It still consumes electricity, you're just not making a spark to initiate the work.