HackerNews Summary (2023-06-07 03PM)

Source: nanochess/bootOS: bootOS is a monolithic operating system in 512 bytes of x86 machine code.

Summary
Creating a new branch using an existing tag name may lead to unexpected behavior.

Facts

🚫 Creating a new branch with an existing tag name may cause unexpected behavior.

🤔 Git commands can accept both tag and branch names.

🙅‍♀️ It’s generally better to use unique names for tags and branches to avoid confusion.

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Source: Astrud Gilberto: The Girl from Ipanema singer dies at 83

Summary
The person mentioned in the statement is annoyed by someone falsely claiming to have discovered their singing talent.

Fact

🤥 The claim of discovering the person’s singing talent is a lie.

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Source: Quick VPN setup with AWS Lightsail and Wireguard

Summary
The article discusses using VPNs to tunnel traffic through another country or server and suggests using AWS Lightsail for hosting and Wireguard protocol for secure tunneling.

Facts

💻 AWS Lightsail is a quick and easy way to host a server on the cloud.

🔒 Wireguard protocol is a relatively new and performant option for secure tunneling.

👨‍💻 The author assumes the reader is terminal-savvy for the tutorial and requires an AWS account, generated keypair, and Wireguard client.

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Source: The Cuboid: A DIY air purifier that’s better than a box-fan

Summary
Meet the Cuboid – an air purifier that uses four HEPA air filters and a relatively weak 8-inch inline booster fan to reduce noise and electricity consumption. It performs better than a box-fan-based purifier on low speeds, has a 6.9-minute half-life for PM2.5, and costs $70 for all filters.

Facts

🌬️ The Cuboid uses a relatively weak inline booster fan to reduce noise and power consumption.

🔇 On low speed, the Cuboid is very quiet.

💰 The Cuboid air purifier costs $70 for all its filters.

🔝 The Cuboid is better than box-fan-based purifiers at removing particles.

⚡ The power consumption of the Cuboid is lower than that of a box fan, especially at low speeds.

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Source: Grass Makes Better Ethanol than Corn Does

Summary
Farmers in Nebraska and the Dakotas have planted large tracts of land with switchgrass, a native North American perennial grass, and have proved that it delivers more than five times the energy required to grow it. A grass that only needs to be planted once would deliver an average of 13.1 megajoules of energy as ethanol for every megajoule of petroleum consumed, meaning switchgrass ethanol delivers 540 percent of the energy used to produce it.

Fact

🌾 Farmers have planted huge tracts of land with switchgrass, proving that it can deliver five times more energy than required to grow it.

🍃 Switchgrass yields 13.1 megajoules of energy as ethanol for every megajoule of petroleum consumed growing it.

🏭 The US is partially funding the construction of six cellulosic biorefineries, costing a total of $1.2 billion.

👨‍🌾 Switchgrass can be grown on marginal land, avoiding risks associated with biofuels, such as reduced diversity of local animal life and displacing food crops with fuel crops.

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