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There is a neat solve for the thermal problem that York Space systems has been advocating (based on Russian tech)… put everything in an enclosure.

https://www.yorkspacesystems.com/

Short version: make a giant pressure vessel and keep things at 1 atm. Circulate air like you would do on earth. Yes, there is still plenty of excess heat you need to radiate, but dramatically simplifies things.


This seems to be a way to identify and create a 'periodic table' of different machine learning approaches... importantly identifying 'gaps' between approaches which may yield new ways of doing various learning techniques.


Honestly, and I feel like a promoter… but get either a hackpack from Mark Rober or as otherwise mentioned, mindstorms from LEGO.

Crunch labs: https://www.crunchlabs.com/

As someone in the industry (I literally can call myself a Robot Master having a Masters Degree in Robotics), these simple “kid kits” are phenomenal. When you first start out, the hardest part is knowing the hardware is actually going to do what you tell it to do. Simplifying the mechanical engineering/electrical engineering so you can immediately create real world actions makes a huge difference in giving you motivation to keep going.

Once you have the basics in place and you understand mechanisms, sensors, and some algorithms, you can move on to other parts of robotics.

However, keep in mind robotics is really about system thinking… you have to understand trades between sensing, thinking, and acting. But most importantly you have to remember you are dealing with the real world… you can’t as easily write a unit test and know that a particular actuator will behave exactly the same way every time.


My kids have loved watching Mark Robers videos, have the subscriptions (one of both the backpack and crunchpack), and we uploaded our video for SatGus.

If you have young kids (6-15) these are perfect educational tools. Highly recommend. Only downside is some of them are a bit “mischievous”. For example a “Bobbie trap” that launches balls at whomever tripped the wire. Good times…


We just started watching Mark Rober videos. I started with some random old videos and they were great. Nice educational content in the middle of an entertaining video.

Then the algorithm handed us some more recent videos and they felt like a pivot to Nickelodeon style content: We watched Mark Rober run through a green slime obstacle course with a lot of loud noises and action, but basically zero educational value.

So as someone new to this: Any tips? Should I be sticking to old videos only if I want some educational value? My kids only watch with me as an activity we do together, so I’m always looking for good videos that can keep us away from the content farm stuff.


He's gone all in on the Crunch Labs brand, which is kind of built around the younger audience. This isn't a bad thing, but it does mean that older edutainment enjoyers kind of age out of his stuff. Not to say there's no value in them, but there will be more of an entertainment focus than prior edutainment focused videos.

I recommend checking out Stuff Made Here; great build videos of engineering principles in an entertaining fashion to show building cool complicated stuff.

Xyla Foxlin, a wonderful maker, also posts educational videos between her projects, like an in-depth look at how plane wings work.


> Stuff Made Here

Whenever I am feeling smart or particularly talented, I like watching Shane's videos. I'm swiftly reminded that I have no idea what the hell I'm doing and carry on.


He doesn't either, does he? But he's great in outlining how to get to the point of having enough idea to go through with his project.


That's me reading Hacker News every day.


I like that he still shows the struggle, so it’s not like he’s pretending to know it all. I find this helps give me perspective when I’m in a similar situation, where everything seems to be going wrong.


Veritasium is cool, too!

I like practical engineering, but my kids aren't ready for how awesome Grady is... yet.


Put Technology Connections in your pocket for when they are ready.


Great recommendations. Steve Mould is another in that vein, and Kurzgesagt (though quite different stylistically) is one of my favorites and could be something you’re looking for.


Steve Mould has a great vibe. Combination of a sort of subdued humility and intelligence.


I’m 37, and his Hack Pack stuff has been pretty fun. Sure, it’s easy, but fun.


Do the skills build on each other where they need to be done in order?

I got a subscription, but wasn’t super interested in the first one, so it’s still sitting in the box. Then the other boxes started showing up. I now have a full year’s worth and haven’t done a single one, because I feel like I should start with the one I’m least interested in.


They don’t… just do whichever one you are most interested in doing. Each box more or less stands alone (at least that is what I am observing from my kids assembly of them)


They use some similar ideas (a servo is still a servo in a different context), but they are totally independent of one another. Do the one you find most fun!

They’re all good though, tbh.


The first squirrel video might be the best youtube video ever. Surprising, entertaining, informative, accessible. I'd start there!


The best ones seem to be the year or two just before the launch of Crunch Labs. Decent educational content, lots of excitement for engineering and science, and no real shilling. Lots of the newer stuff feels like it was created or edited by the Mr Beast team.

Some of Mark’s cameos on other channels since Crunch Labs started have been good, though.


Take a look at the "Maker Secret Santa" series of video's. It's a yearly collaborative series between a bunch of different maker channels. It can give you a great idea as to what makers you'd like to follow.


Reminds a bit of Mr Beast


i had the same experience. my solution was to configure youtube kids to only show my whitelist of mannually approved videos.


Same! Mark Rober is what changed my mind about YouTube for kids. He's a wildly popular creator that's even shilling a product and yet... I'm ok with all of it? He seems to very legitimately care about sharing getting kids excited about STEM, and if he gets rich doing it: great! The product is less offensive than the sugary cereal I watched commercials for while watching Saturday morning cartoons as a kid. Definitely one of the few YouTube channels I let my kids watch unattended.


There's shilling a product because someone handed you a bag, and then there's building a product you believe in. You feel okay with it because it's clearly the latter versus another NordVPN commercial. Even if the product ends up failing (and I am under no predilection to believe this will) he has presented nothing but honest enthusiasm towards his goal that you can't help but root for it.


This has been a pain point for us and our development process… not all versions of Nvidia drivers are the same… even released ones. You have to find a “good” version and keep to it, and then selectively upgrade… at least this has been the case the last 5 years, folks shout out if they have had different experiences.

Side note: our main use case is using cuda for image processing.


Just to plug a friend… Velo.ai does similar things… but has other stuff going on: https://www.velo.ai/

Interesting to see how these two would compare, but my first (light) glance points to velo.ai being further along…


It seems to me that if SLS goes… so does Gateway. That said, one thing to note: There are not that many stable lunar orbits. Unlike the earth, the moon is very lumpy. It is the reason why most lunar orbiters end up doing a planned crash as their end of (relatively) short life. From that standpoint, orbits that are a bit further out are much more appealing to have relatively low delta v requirements.

All that said, once Starship is regularly in use for lunar delivery… I suspect we will have a fundamental new paradigm for space.


There are low lunar orbit frozen orbits that don't do that.


Reading this, this line deeply resonated: “People that out of necessity grow a thick skin with not fitting in and being OK standing out.”

I think this is a pre req to trying to do what a founder is working to do: Change fundamental belief states of the vast majority of people. It is extremely uncomfortable to stake out a position no one else believes in… yet. It requires courage (and thick skin) to get people through the disbelief curve.


They insist likely due to the “Kleenex” effect. Couldn’t find a good reference, but once an item becomes generic, it can loose copyright.

Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/24/smarter-living/how-a-bran...


Not copyright, trademark. Two very different things, with very different laws.


Sure, gp misspoke in saying "copyright" but correctly linked to a relevant article about trademarks and was correct in the sentiment that owners of widely used brand names need to be vigilant about their intellectual property.


You can find a reference by looking for "generic trademark"


Question: If this change goes into effect, will it effectively open up banking for all the cannabis related/cannabis adjacent companies? Seems like a really smart move to bring them into the financial system.


No, it won’t, as the federal government has repeatedly pressured banks to cut off banking to legal, but ‘undesirable’ industries (as well as cannabis). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Choke_Point


This makes medical cannabis possible, but only under the same rules as pharmaceutical drugs. It does not address recreational cannabis at all, and most medical marijuana retailers are also not pharmacies.


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