Sonthun's comments

Sonthun | 9 years ago | on: Tesla Flips the Switch on the Gigafactory

Plus, they didn't miss on production. They missed on deliveries. From a quick read of the article, it looks like most of the miss has been produced and is currently in transit or waiting to be put in transit. That bodes well for their first quarter target.

Sonthun | 9 years ago | on: Yitang “Tom” Zhang and fame in mathematics

I can't endorse the movie "Whiplash" because it is so crass, but it takes an interesting look at what it takes to be truly great. I don't think we "miss" people like Lin and Zhang because they make themselves. Intelligence and skill really make a small part of the overall requirement for success. Hard work, perseverance, preparation, and choosing the right problems to work on are really more important.

Sonthun | 9 years ago | on: Breakthrough in the quantum transfer of information between matter and light

"This comment box is too small to state it." Can you write it in the margin instead?

Sonthun | 9 years ago | on: Liquid assets: how the business of bottled water went mad

The softened water is for more than just comfort of use though. It keeps the hard water from depositing in the pipes and any of the devices that have water pass through them. It was interesting when we installed a better softening system that our water heater started putting out hotter water since the elements got cleared of the deposits. It also stopped making creepy sounds.

Sonthun | 10 years ago | on: From liquid air to supercapacitors, energy storage is poised for a breakthrough

In addition to the comments above about solar/wind inconsistency, it is also a lot cheaper to run baseload power plants constantly rather than to ramp peaker plants up and down. So, if they can store the baseload power and then tap it later the total cost of electricity will come down. Plus, storage makes it easier to level the grid to make output match demand.

Sonthun | 11 years ago | on: Show HN: Napwell – We Want to Help You Sleep Better

I read this week that the average person falls asleep in 7 minutes. 7 minutes!!! If I could fall asleep in 7 minutes I would get a lot more sleep.

Sonthun | 11 years ago | on: Google’s Balloon Internet Experiment, One Year Later

Has anybody seen any specs on these? Weight? Number of batteries? Solar panels?

Sonthun | 12 years ago | on: Using the wrong dictionary

I've heard this advice from other sources and I always assumed they meant that it is the wrong word if and only if you weren't already aware of the word. I use a thesaurus when the perfect word is just on the tip of my tongue but it won't come out.

Sonthun | 12 years ago | on: Using the wrong dictionary

He lists the http://machaut.uchicago.edu/websters website as a way to read the 1913 Webster's dictionary. As soon as I saw that I started looking for a plugin to put in my Firefox search bar. Turns out they offer a plugin right on the site: http://machaut.uchicago.edu/plugins

Sonthun | 14 years ago | on: Cancer-Fighting Goodness Found in Cholesterol, Study Suggests

I wonder if there are any studies looking at cancer incidence in people with high cholesterol.

Sonthun | 14 years ago | on: Can you make yourself smarter?

Thanks for that article. In the abstract, they seem to state that they believe the conscientious didn't improve as much because they developed specific strategies for the particular game. So, they basically gamed the system instead of improving organically. It looks like you could vary the game rules and objectives to keep the conscientious from developing those strategies.