Ask HN: Your biggest non-technical hack/discovery • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Your biggest non-technical hack/discovery

#31

Post by abalashov » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 4:34 AM UTC

zackattack wrote: post #13

For many years, jamba juice was running a promotion: buy a $25 gift card, get a free jamba juice. So one day I bought a gift card, got my free razmatazz, and was about to head out on my way when I doubled back. Me: "I'd like another $25 gift card please." Cashier: "That will be $25. What is your free smoothie?" Me: "Peach pleasure." And then I would pay with the previously purchased gift card, creating an infinite lo…

They did not arrest the recursion by specifying that the free jamba juice offer did not apply to gift card purchases?

Re: Ask HN: Your biggest non-technical hack/discovery

#32

Post by abalashov » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 4:35 AM UTC

thesethings wrote: post #20

* Cooking: Ramen can be used not just for soup, but for stir-fry. * Travel: Any supermarket is your fee-free ATM. (cashback) (US) * Travel: In the middle of your urban trek and have to pee? Hotel lobbies usually have clean, open bathrooms. (Specifically talking about the one you're NOT staying at, when you're wandering for 10 hours in a foreign city, and don't want to go all the way back to "base.") * Travel: Hotel l…

Supermarkets require a purchase to provide cash-back, do they not? That would seem to amount to some sort of fee, even if it's a lot smaller (e.g. a 50 cent pack of gum).

EDIT: I suppose I am referring to precisely that aspect of them which would otherwise be "ATM-like" - namely, that the function is to dispense cash on demand, and that the fees in question would otherwise go solely toward paying for the privilege. Cashback is a nice way to stock up on hard currency, but it is technically a side effect of making a purchase, not an ATM, even though in practice the side effect does not entail a "fee" in that you meant to buy whatever you're buying regardless.

Re: Ask HN: Your biggest non-technical hack/discovery

#33

Post by vital101 » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 4:40 AM UTC

The remote for my car has a very weak signal strength, so sometimes when I forget where I park I place the remote underneath my chin and press up. My head (skull + fluid) acts as an antenna and voila! There's my car!

You might look like a fool doing it, but I promise it works!

Re: Ask HN: Your biggest non-technical hack/discovery

#34

Post by MikeCapone » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 4:47 AM UTC

thesnark wrote: post #17

I made a portrait of my girlfriend out of dice. http://www.elusivesnark.com/2008/11/carolines-dice-portrait....

Good job!

Where did you get the idea? Did you come up with it yourself, or is it something that was already floating around?

Re: Ask HN: Your biggest non-technical hack/discovery

#35

Post by noonespecial » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 4:50 AM UTC

If you hold a coin halfway into some older parking meters for a while, it will think its slot is jammed and registers "out of order." Most cities won't ticket an an out of order meter. Free parking. All day.

Re: Ask HN: Your biggest non-technical hack/discovery

#36

Post by thesnark » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 5:07 AM UTC

MikeCapone wrote: post #34

thesnark wrote: post #17

I made a portrait of my girlfriend out of dice. http://www.elusivesnark.com/2008/11/carolines-dice-portrait....

Good job! Where did you get the idea? Did you come up with it yourself, or is it something that was already floating around?

I got the idea from this page:

http://4c.ucc.ie/~hcambaza/page5/page5.html

The number of dominos I would have needed would have cost too much, so I decided to use dice instead.

Re: Ask HN: Your biggest non-technical hack/discovery

#37

Post by dryicerx » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 5:20 AM UTC

Chemistry hack.

Distilling Alcohol. I wasn't of age at the time, actually was still in high school, and had a hard time getting alcohol, so I decided to make it my self.

Designed and built a reflux still with embedded temp sensors, a condenser, and one-way air locked gasoline containers for fermentation. I used sugar and yeast to ferment giving me ~10% abv, then ran it through the still 5-6 times to get ~90% abv... it was rocket fuel. I also sent the final samples to a chem student I knew to test for methanol as a precaution. Finally filtered several times through activated carbon to get any final impurities out.

It was the best vodka I've ever had so far, no burn and extremely pure ethanol. I only made a handful of batches before the excitement of it ran out.

Re: Ask HN: Your biggest non-technical hack/discovery

#38

Post by stcredzero » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 5:22 AM UTC

dylanz wrote: post #22

thesnark wrote: post #17

I made a portrait of my girlfriend out of dice. http://www.elusivesnark.com/2008/11/carolines-dice-portrait....

Wow... this is beautiful!

Not to take away from the accomplishment, but I think most of the credit goes to the model's parents. (Intended spin is as a compliment.)

Re: Ask HN: Your biggest non-technical hack/discovery

#39

Post by keefe » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 5:31 AM UTC

Human beings have a nearly infinite capacity for self deception. I am not a special, unique exception. I must be merciless in my self observation. The only way forward is to look at where I am and make a simple, realistic plan to take me towards my goal. Underestimating cost in time, effort and money leads to failure.

Re: Ask HN: Your biggest non-technical hack/discovery

#40

Post by Shooter » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 5:31 AM UTC

I made all of the public area lights at a major hotel and convention center strobe for about an hour during an international science fair. The hotel had a huge glass atrium with elevators and several thousand bulbs, so it was quite a spectacle. It looked like a single huge strobe light had landed in the city center.

It made the news, and I won our (informal) pranks contest for that year. I felt it mostly made up for my loss the previous year (the shaving cream dipped in liquid nitrogen and then packed into a competitor's car was a poor showing, prank-wise. It was unoriginal, it ruined the upholstery of the poor car, and it wasn't as dramatic of an effect as one would think for the trouble. Too much of the shaving cream never expanded after can removal and thawing.)