Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit | metaprinter's commentslogin

30% is 16.5 Billion gallons.

OP is saying that much rain got into a reservoir that sits on top of an ancient volcanic caldera and has no rivers flowing into? Unexpectedly? and they didn’t think to stop pumping water in from the South Branch or release some water?

The math ain’t mathing.


It's not at full capacity yet, they are pumping into it daily (around 200 million gallons) until it is. Only spruce run reservoir upstream of it fills naturally (and is spilling currently).

Operations data for the reservoir updates every morning during workdays, so we'll know Monday if they paused pumping into it after the quakes, I don't have any better than daily numbers for it. Letting the water down isn't an option, most of the downstream gauges on the south branch were just at or near flood stage. River gauges available here: https://water.weather.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=phi


Just to follow up on this, there was another way to tell they maybe shut the pumps off for a few hours after the quake (and I linked it in the same comment). The downstream gauge: https://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=phi&gage=...


This is gonna be a mechanical turk 100% guaranteed


reminds me of these maps from the 1800s showing how long it takes to get places from NYC by horse. http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist110/geography.html


oooh, you an play with the settings from the hamburger menu


Just to be clear that animagraff is showing specifically how a 4cycle gasoline-powered reciprocating engine works. Diesel engines account for roughly 50% of automotive vehicles in the world.


Isn't diesel also 4 stroke? I know it has no spark plugs for ignition and there are differences but the main principals would be the same.



I'd bet most people in the US over ~20 or so have heard the sound of, or ridden in, a vehicle with a 2-stroke diesel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfI6ipuPQQE


That one, the 6V92TA, does the 'TA' imply it's Turbo Aspirated?

Those things sound amazing. And oh so dirty!


I robotC for weekend Lego NXT / EV3 classes.


"...so that means firing off a kilogram (or so) of self-replicating molecular nanotechnology which can build the infrastructure you'd want to live in (compute on) at the destination."

i just got a chill thinking we are living that exact thing in this simulation O_O


My best argument against living in simulation is similar to the argument against the intlelligent design or solipsism - if you could simulate anytning, why would you simulate this?

So many things in universe make sense if they have happened by accident, but make no sense to include in an intentionally created simulation.

If I would have the power and intelligence to create/simulate a universe, there's no way in hell I would make the world to work like this.


"if you could simulate anything, why would you simulate this?"

I want to agree... but then... I look at Youtube and wonder why a large portion of that gets made.

With the computing power we have NOW... look at all the stupid stuff that gets made. Imagine 50 years from now.


Well, making a silly youtube video for no reason is not the same as making a world where millions of sentient beings suffer/die for no reason.


Have you saw those YouTube videos about genetic algorithms teaching a thing to walk of fly? You may think: this thing do not suffer or feel any pain in repeating millions of times the same moviments just to fall on the floor less and less, no problem at all.

Advance a thousand years in the future and someone may happily simulate the world where you live among trillions of another things trying to evolve.


Yes and no. I'll agree that simulating a universe isn't the same as making a stupid video...

But I stand by my assertion that people waste a LOT of time doing stupid stuff.

There are projects that do AMAZING things and are spectacular. Then there is the other 95% of Youtube.

I'm sure there will be some AMAZING simulations... and then there will be the majority of them...

The real question in my mind... is which of those simulations are we in... an Amazing one... or a subpar one used for comparisons.


Simulating a universe like your own except simpler would let you spot-test solutions to problems, and study analogous of issues in your universe to greater depth.

We do economic simulations all the time, with weak-minded agents.


An argument from personal incredulity is still a logical fallacy. It's easy to see why this line of reasoning doesn't make sense.

If we're living in a simulation the thing most likely to running the simulation is ourselves, in the future.

It's easy to see why that would be valuable, e.g. this could be a simulation to see what happens if a war broke out in 1914, and all the downstream effects on that happening.


I think simulations will be used to help people live more productive / happy lives in the future. Imagine having many "lives" worth of experience, perhaps from many different periods throughout history, and you're still only 16 years old.

Not just the "matrix" flavor where the goal is to learn specific skills. I'm talking about being born, growing old, and dying in a simulation many times in a matter of hours? / days? / weeks? and being able to recall those experiences / decisions and their rewards and/or consequences once you're back to living your "real" life.


do you know the series "Rick and Morty"? reminds me exactly of this part: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szzVlQ653as


None of that was original, but I read the very best (Vinge, Drexler, Stross, Schroeder).


Good grief. They don't use the word 'terminated' either. They just say the positions were 'eliminated'.


"Salary can't and shouldn't be compared accross the globe." I disagree. If the hiring company is looking for the best candidates in the world, then they must be prepared to shell out comparable 'global' salaries.


It depends at which level

At a "unique/very few in the world", yes, location only makes your (high) salary goes higher. But then you have 6 digits in your salary regardless if it's in $/€/£

At a "specialized position" (I guess several people on HN are here), you absolutely don't need to offer the same salary regardless of geographical position, but it has to be competitive.


I disagree to your disagreement :p

The talent war is continental rather than global. There are plenty of VISA issues and legal troubles that make it impossible for a lot of people to work in a lot of countries [and for those who do, it's preventing them to get the top end of local salaries].

Thus there is no global salary.


there is no global salary. But if a company in say, New York City, needed a special skill, you can bet they would pay NYC prices to get it regardless of location. For the rest of us saps, your comment rings true (this coming from a guy who makes less due to his location)


A top notch engineer might not want to move from Poland to the US, even if she gets paid 5-7 times as much there. She would give up all her family life and friends, and that's not for everybody. Hence, a Polish company won't have to offer 170k, or even 100k. They only have to get the upper hand of, say, German companies that are reachable via a daily commute, or require only one day per week in the office. I think 60k would do in that case? (Naive guess)


I sometimes feel like i'm the only person in tech who loves driving and loves internal combustion engines.


I didn't enjoy driving until I got an elecrtic car, a Fiat 500e. That was enough fun for me to blow a hugely unnecessary amount of cash on a fun ICE car, a BMW m235i. I enjoy every day I spend in it, but I doubt I'll ever buy another gas car, as this one will bridge me to the future. I may take it to the track if I ever find the time and the right people, but it's unnecessary.

Gas cars can be fun, but if you look at what's actually sold, nearly none of them are fun. Those who love driving will continue to be a small minority, just as they are now.

Edit: I recently had the chance to drive the autobahn, and the most fun car I could get was a BMW 420d. It wasn't nearly as enjoyable as the skiing that it brought me to. So maybe I'm not that big of a driving fan after all.


You can build an app that makes ICE sounds as you accelerate in your electric car.


Fake engine noise is a thing. Ford now puts it in their trucks.[1] A DSP synthesizes V8 engine sounds, which are played through the audio system. Here's how to disable it.[2] (This is for engine noise inside the cabin, not for pedestrians. Outside noise generators may be required for very quiet cars, but they will shut down around 35MPH.)

Modern engines just are not that noisy. People need to get over this. They got over sudsy laundry detergents. In the 1960s, it was a selling point for detergents that they generated lots of foam. This was a holdover from the soap era. Laundry detergents don't need foam to work, but people expected them. And customers wanted long-lasting foam, which resulted in sudsing agents which would survive all the way through the sewerage disposal plant and into lakes and rivers. That resulted in EPA regulations which ended the suds wars. Now, nobody wants suds from laundry detergents.

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/americas-bes...

[2] http://www.f150forum.com/f118/active-noise-control-fake-engi...


Virtually everyone I know in tech loves cars. Most fellow sysadmins I know still insist on manual transmission cars, in fact. Most of my fellow car club members and performance driving instructors/enthusiasts are techies.

I plan to go straight from manual transmissions to electrics; I don't see why I'd ever buy an automatic. I don't see electrics taking away from the fun, at least not necessarily. I've driven lots of fun electric cars. My last purchase wasn't electric-suitable (wanted AWD, range, etc). But my next one will be.

I've always worked in west coast tech hubs, but never "in the city", where all the car-hating hipsters live.


I don't think you are alone. It seems most people on HN live in hub cities and don't, understandably so, like the commute in the cities they live in. So this is a means to remove that pain point. It should also drastically lower accident rates which seems to not get as much attention. If you have a self driving car who should pay for the liability insurance and if it passes enough safety tests shouldn't the premium be much lower??

That being said I absolutely love the idea of self driving cars for my aging parents!


You are misunderstanding the situation here. I personally love something like a nice road trip, prefer manual transmissions, and whatnot. I just hate commuting everyday by car. It's completely inefficient and has negative impacts on health. Are you suggesting you enjoy driving in traffic as well?


I take it you don't live in San Francisco, then?

I didn't really mind driving until I moved to the Bay area...


California is home to some of the best driving roads in the world. And there are plenty of great ones in the Bay Area. Most of us don't commute on them, but they're not far away.


Sure so go rent a really nice car and drive them once a year. There are only so many people who's hobby is actually driving that they would do it over 1/3rd of the weekends in a year. If you live in say the bay and never drive except to go hit these great roads then no reason to actually own.

Or buy a motorcycle. Small, actually much more fun to drive.


No, there are at least 2 of us

Driving a Tesla isn't boring either of course


Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: