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poulsbohemian | 7 months ago | on: Stone blocks from the Lighthouse of Alexandria recovered from seafloor

Without exploring etymology, what strikes me as interesting here is that buildings are generally structures in which we live or work. Mausoleums and pyramids are interesting in this regard because they are the opposite: they are places for the dead. Perhaps it is this use rather than the actual form that is cause for debate in the description of building, given that a building can take so many forms even in our agreed definition of the term.

poulsbohemian | 7 months ago | on: Data on How America Sold Out Its Computer Science Graduates

Given that one must be a citizen to vote, this doesn’t appear to be the right angle through which to call out the Democratic Party. If you were to speak with Democratic Party leadership, I believe the emphasis would be on attractive talent from around the world to keep American businesses competitive. Certainly if there are problems with these visa programs, it’s worthwhile to bring them up to elected officials and push for changes.

poulsbohemian | 8 months ago | on: Finding a 27-year-old easter egg in the Power Mac G3 ROM

>There was also this cozy, whimsical feeling of the classic Mac OS that got lost during the transition to Mac OS X

Yes. It was so personal and so fun to be able to customize things like sounds and window colors, and to have Oscar the Grouch sing every time you emptied the trash. That whimsy and wonder is exactly what's missing in modern computing; the devices are more personal, yet more sterile.

poulsbohemian | 8 months ago | on: Recent CS grad unemployment twice that of Art History grads

Only with hindsight will we know if this is momentary or systemic. Back after the dotcom crash, there were several years of struggle and hustle for new grads, and many people never really got any footing. The past roughly decade has been an anomaly in terms of compensation, number of jobs, etc.

poulsbohemian | 8 months ago | on: Ask HN: In 15 years, what will a gas station visit look like?

>I know people that routinely travel in EVs between Mendocino county and San Diego county. Roughly the distance between NY and Georgia.

I would assume they are forced to recharge multiple times over that distance, which might be fine - you'd have to refill with gas/petrol over that distance as well, but the difference between 10 minutes verses an hour or so unless I'm really missing both the range and time to recharge for EVs.

poulsbohemian | 9 months ago | on: Apple announces Foundation Models and Containerization frameworks, etc

I'm guessing you are coming at it from the perspective of a laptop user and likely a power user. The majority of the population just needs to scroll social media, message some friends, send an email or two, do a little shopping, maybe write a document or two. For this crowd an iPad is plenty. When I was a software developer - yeah, I had a Mac Pro on my desk and a MBP I carried when I traveled. Now as a real estate agent, an iPad is plenty for when I'm on the go.

poulsbohemian | 9 months ago | on: Ask HN: In 15 years, what will a gas station visit look like?

Do you live somewhere in the east where states are close together? If I want to travel across my state, I'd have to plan a recharge somewhere along the way for nearly any electric vehicle. To fill up with gas would take ten minutes; as far as I can tell, any EV is going to take >30 minutes. Not saying that's a gating factor, but it's certainly something to consider. Likewise in states with more continental weather, there also appears to be some concern about extreme cold causing issues with charging and/or battery service life.

poulsbohemian | 9 months ago | on: Car companies are in a billion-dollar software war

I can't speak to car electronics design or anything about the capabilities of Tijuana or Ciudad Juarez, but your comment had me reflecting that in the mid/late 90s those of us who were in b-school went from all about Mexico to all about China overnight. With NAFTA et al, American manufacturing was going to be all about developing factories in Mexico and moving good back and forth between the US and Mexico for design and finishing. Then once China joined the WTO it was absolutely an instantaneous pivot to China instead. Maybe all that's old is new again?

poulsbohemian | 9 months ago | on: How AppHarvest’s indoor farming scheme imploded (2023)

Maybe not on a per-acre basis, but when you consider the acreage needed for commercial farming, it's untenable for the "family farmer." As a real estate agent, can I find you a generic alfalfa field that might kick off some vacation money? Sure - $11,000-15,000 an acre. Why is wine $500 / bottle? Because that farm ground is $70,000 / acre in some cases. You want to produce wheat, potatoes, canola, legumes? Now you are talking somewhere between hundred and tens-of-thousands of acres to actually be a player and make any money, so even at $15,000 / acre you are talking millions of dollars just to get in the game before you buy that $500K+ harvester, etc.

poulsbohemian | 9 months ago | on: How AppHarvest’s indoor farming scheme imploded (2023)

Farmland is stupidly expensive. The equipment and inputs (fertilizer, fuel) are stupidly expensive. Growing outside, you are forever at the whims of the weather rather than being able to control each detail of production. Fields inevitably have parts that have variable soil and water conditions. When you look at what a country like the Netherlands has done with greenhouse growing, it's pretty compelling. Was AppHarvest the answer? Apparently not, but that doesn't negate that there are indoor models that work.

poulsbohemian | 9 months ago | on: America's College Towns Go from Boom to Bust

True - but my alma mater (midwest liberal arts school) has had a CS program since the 1970s and added programs like data science over the past decade, plus always had a 3+2 engineering partnership with another school. In the small PNW town where I now live, the liberal arts college added a CS program a few years ago plus also had a 3+2 engineering partnership for decades. So my point is - even for those students who wanted to do something STEM related, these liberal arts schools started augmenting their programs a long time ago.

poulsbohemian | 9 months ago | on: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

There are long-term stay hotels that generally cater to business clientele, plus most of the chains have a laundry room somewhere on premise for guest use.

poulsbohemian | 9 months ago | on: How “The Great Gatsby” took over high school

> Game Of Thrones

I think Game of Thrones is actually a great example of why we shouldn't be teaching Game of Thrones... I made a historical reference to Savonarola the other day, and when the person didn't know what I was talking about, I said "You know when the religious zealots in GoT take over the city..." GoT is really at it's best if you have an understanding of English history (War of the Roses, etc) such that you can pick up on where all of the references come from - I have no idea if Martin intended Savonarola as his muse, but my point is that historical references and books of the past are the foundation blocks of modern literature and cultural references, so I'd much rather see them taught, as the kids can pick up on modern lit on their own.

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