Life Improvements Since the 1990s • Hacker News Board

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#441

Post by sophacles » Fri, Aug 13, 2021, 1:48 AM UTC

denton-scratch wrote: post #419

unnouinceput wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to forget that Vietnam war was a side effect of the Cold War. USSR and US fought through proxies in Cold War, Vietnam being just one instance. Another one before was Korean War which resulted in splitting that peninsula. I'd say your 20k is a bit low, might want to reconsider it with at least one order of magnitude. Oh, and since we are splitting hair here about numbers, US started a 20 years war as result o…

I think you maybe have misread me! I wasn't "splitting hairs" about numbers; I don't know where you get that from. I thought my estimates for Cold War casualties were pretty generous - I didn't want low estimates to get in the way of my case. But I think my case stands even if 100,000 died in the Cold War. If you're going to argue that every mid-20thC "hot" war was just a campaign in the Cold War, well I'm sure the c…

What do you think the cold war was?

What do you think Vietnam was about?

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#442

Post by bewaretheirs » Fri, Aug 13, 2021, 2:12 AM UTC

JimTheMan wrote: post #409

perardi wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And catalytic converter theft is also rampant. Well that sure seems to be true. https://www.motortrend.com/news/catalytic-converter-thefts-n... “According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, the pandemic has seen a rapid rise in catalytic converter theft. In 2019, an average of 282 catalytic converters were stolen every month; in 2020 the average had risen to 1,203—and that's just an average. In December alone, 2…

I wonder how much this is an American phenomenon. I've been reading about it on here quite a bit, haven't really heard any news of it in Australia. It feels unreal to read. Like, crime must be higher in Chicago/LA etc than I realised.

Happening outside the US, too:

UK: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/apr/26/uk-catalytic-c...

France: https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/europol-supports...

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#443

Post by bcantrill » Fri, Aug 13, 2021, 2:13 AM UTC

thundergolfer wrote: post #439

bcantrill wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard to know -- but something that definitely struck me was that we at Sun did much better technical work in the bust (2001-2005) than the boom (1997-2001). (It's hard to say anything definitive about this as there is so much there that's specific to Sun and the group of technologists I was working with, but it certainly didn't make me long for the boom!) As for the progression of software development, this may…

I'm early enough my career to not at all find it trite. Open-source has certainly been the most exciting and fulfilling aspect of my software work so far. If I was thrown back to the 90s with knowledge of 2020s open-source culture, I'd be frustrated as hell. I didn't fully appreciate how important open-source is as a 21st century movement until I read The Cathedral and the Bazaar this year. Hearing the open-source de…

Yes! The final two frontiers (or, among the final two frontiers, anyway) of proprietary software are firmware and EDA software. I am (as you noted!) very bullish about both, and I think that open firmware + open EDA will lead to a new golden age of HW/SW co-design -- it's a great time to be a software engineer, and it's only going to get better!

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#444

Post by _carbyau_ » Fri, Aug 13, 2021, 2:30 AM UTC

guntars wrote: post #373

wolverine876 wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is what's happening with open source hardware. For example, VESC and ODrive both quickly had knockoffs in all the usual places. The maintainers were somewhat understandably irked by this, but if you ask me it's exactly what should be happening. That is fantastic (at least as far as I understand it). What a fantasy of open source that not only do people download your code and compile it, but they download your…

Agreed. I'm working on some hardware that I intend to open source and prepare a ZIP with all the files necessary to order your own boards from some place like JLCPCB that also does assembly. For the user it's a matter of dragging the ZIP to the manufacturers site and filling in some details. But that also means that they can easily swap out parts and customize it any way they want. Together with a 3D printer to make…

I find there is an amazing amount of stupid/marketing-segmentation designed stuff.

It started(and continuing) with 3D printing and now looking into KiCAD...

I would absolutely be interested in projects with your approach.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#445

Post by JimTheMan » Fri, Aug 13, 2021, 2:38 AM UTC

bewaretheirs wrote: post #442

JimTheMan wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how much this is an American phenomenon. I've been reading about it on here quite a bit, haven't really heard any news of it in Australia. It feels unreal to read. Like, crime must be higher in Chicago/LA etc than I realised.

Happening outside the US, too: UK: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/apr/26/uk-catalytic-c... France: https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/europol-supports...

Probably only a matter of time before it's a thing here too...

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#446

Post by tristor » Fri, Aug 13, 2021, 2:38 AM UTC

dhosek wrote: post #393

tristor wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much agreed. I thought induction was going to be the miracle technology that would make a kitchen both highly productive and capable while increasing safety standards markedly over working with open flame. I was all in on getting a high-end induction range to replace my older radiant electric range, and thanks to a friend's advice I decided to buy a freestanding single-burner induction cooktop to try it first.…

We're in the process of designing a new kitchen and I had thought that we might do a hybrid cook surface: use a six-burner space to have a 3–4 spot induction cooktop and a 2-burner gas cooktop. Hearing these accounts, I'm beginning to reconsider (certainly, there are some things, like roasting chili peppers that can only be done effectively on a gas range).

Induction is fantastic for boiling water, so if I were to get my dream range it'd be a 36" with a convection electric oven and two induction burners at high wattage (3600W) and 4 gas hobs w/ at least one gas hob being a tri-ring style burner.

I think having 4 gas and 2 induction would be better. You can use the induction with a disc-bottom stock pot for making pasta or other things that require boiling large quantities of liquid. Induction is bar-none the fastest way to boil lots of water. Gas can be used for most everything else. Induction is really good with disc-bottom cookware generally since disc-bottom cookware tends to be very even and counter-acts the induction unevenness, but it also retains a lot of heat and doesn't run heat up the walls like typical clad cookware.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#447

Post by minikites » Fri, Aug 13, 2021, 2:40 AM UTC

thegrimmest wrote: post #427

minikites wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>progress to benefit the vast majority of us who do make it So what level of sacrifice should be required of those that don't make it? Going back to the AIDS example, government involvement was delayed because of bigotry, because it only affected people who didn't make it. Our economy is currently propped up by low wage workers both locally and globally who aren't making it. We don't do a good job at taking care of t…

> So what level of sacrifice should be required of those that don't make it The same as it has always been for all living things: pain, suffering, and death. > low wage workers both locally and globally who aren't making it Pretty sure quality of life is up by pretty much every measure for "low wage workers" both locally and globally. > none of this is new, but it doesn't have to be this way. > We know how to solve m…

>Pretty sure quality of life is up by pretty much every measure for "low wage workers" both locally and globally.

Wages are stagnant and certainly haven't kept pace with productivity. They can buy more TVs because electronics are cheaper, but costs for basics are going up. Metrics don't capture "having to pee in a bottle" because of work demands.

>You could have made this statement at any point in history, and people might agree with you. If this is the only way it ever has been, why do you think it doesn't have to be this way?

Was it true in 2500 BC that they had the resources to feed everyone on the planet consistently? 1500 AD? We can feed everyone now, yet people go hungry in the wealthiest nation in the world. Has it been true at any point in history since the industrial revolution where we could provide healthcare and advanced education for everyone in an industrialized nation? It works for many of them, but not the wealthiest one. Are we doing everything we can to solve these problems? I understand life is about prioritizing and understanding tradeoffs, but food and healthcare are among the most basic needs for a healthy individual and education is one of the basic needs for a healthy society.

>There is no known solution to ingroup/outgroup tendency, sociopathy or naked self-interest.

So why do we structure society to encourage and reward these behaviors instead of trying to mitigate their effects?

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#448

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Aug 13, 2021, 2:41 AM UTC

wolverine876 wrote: post #132

BurningFrog wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say the costs outweigh the benefits, and the benefits often go to the politically connected who can influence the regulations.

> the benefits often go to the politically connected who can influence the regulations The benefits go to a lot of people, or you could say that voting makes you politically connected. Politicians must balance many interests, including those of the politically connected and of the voting public. You don't want to be the politician who failed to protect your constituents.

[deleted]

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#449

Post by tristor » Fri, Aug 13, 2021, 2:43 AM UTC

globular-toast wrote: post #406

tristor wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much agreed. I thought induction was going to be the miracle technology that would make a kitchen both highly productive and capable while increasing safety standards markedly over working with open flame. I was all in on getting a high-end induction range to replace my older radiant electric range, and thanks to a friend's advice I decided to buy a freestanding single-burner induction cooktop to try it first.…

This is my primary frustration with induction too. I use heavy cast iron and stainless steel clad aluminium cookware. This isn't some cheap thin stuff before people think it's the pans. The induction ring will make a hot spot hotter the sun in the middle of the pan while leaving the edges without any heat whatsoever. It's a complete nightmare for doing something like frying an egg, searing meat or anything really exc…

I do think some of that is alleviated with a better quality induction cooktop. The one I used was able to be tuned to a particular temperature and had a temperature probe, so you could set it to maintain a liquid at exactly 130F for instance.

The problem is how uneven it is. It sounds like in your case the induction coils aren't spaced out far enough or have enough coverage for the size of your pan. This is a real problem on many induction cooktops, where a 10" or 11" burner will only have a 7" induction zone, which is horrible if you are setting a 12" or 13" skillet on top of it. On the higher end though, you can get dual-zone burners where they have a ring on the outer edge of the burner and an induction ring towards the center, and this helps a lot. It's still two hot rings rather than heat spaced across.

I've played around with several cooktop types and read a LOT on the topic, and my finding is that radiant electric ceramic cooktops are the most even, but the slowest to change temperature, because they essentially heat the glass which heats the pan to some degree. By the same token disc-bottom cookware is the most even, but the slowest to change temperature. The least even cooktops are induction, even the better induction is much less even than gas or electric coil. The least even cookware is definitely cast iron. Using cast iron on induction is the worst case scenario, but if you use disc-bottom cookware and a high end induction cooktop you can salvage it.

Also, watch out, induction has a tendency to warp or crack cast iron and carbon steel cookware, which if warped makes it basically not work at all on induction.

But all that said, just using gas is better across all types of cookware, and you can do things like use copper cookware for ultra-fast responsiveness and easy falling to simmers.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#450

Post by a1369209993 » Fri, Aug 13, 2021, 4:04 AM UTC

dhosek wrote: post #393

tristor wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much agreed. I thought induction was going to be the miracle technology that would make a kitchen both highly productive and capable while increasing safety standards markedly over working with open flame. I was all in on getting a high-end induction range to replace my older radiant electric range, and thanks to a friend's advice I decided to buy a freestanding single-burner induction cooktop to try it first.…

We're in the process of designing a new kitchen and I had thought that we might do a hybrid cook surface: use a six-burner space to have a 3–4 spot induction cooktop and a 2-burner gas cooktop. Hearing these accounts, I'm beginning to reconsider (certainly, there are some things, like roasting chili peppers that can only be done effectively on a gas range).

> a 3–4 spot induction cooktop and a 2-burner gas cooktop.

Actually, that's probably a reasonable design. Induction is fine for boiling water (or water-like things - soup, sauce, water-with-pasta-in-it, velc), and that's probably the largest single class of cooking tasks. The problem with a induction stove is that you can't do non-boiling stuff at all, but if you have gas burners, that's a nonissue.

Although as tristor notes, it's probably better to have 2 induction and 4 gas than vice versa - if you're running out of burners, using a gas burner where you'd normally use a induction burner is less of a problem than vice versa, and if you aren't, you can just use whichever are better suited to what you're currently doing.