Yet another Hacker News

40 points Element_ 2 days ago 16 comments

Eupolemos 2 hours ago | parent

This is not really a HN subject, I think - that said, I really love this dude.

Popping up in my subscription-feed after 5 years was a highlight <3

And it def. IS nerdy :D

kotaKat 2 hours ago | parent

There was an almost NASA mission control-esque moment in a lot of my hacker-adjacent circles and chats when this video popped up.

If anything, we're all celebrating he's still alive!

beloch 2 hours ago | parent

Despite his best efforts, still alive.

ytxm 53 minutes ago | parent

He epitomises exactly who I'm hoping to bump into on the odd occasion I'd walk into a pub alone out of boredom. 50% everyday gentlemen 50% off the wall mentalist. Love his humour and mad schemes

xattt 2 hours ago | parent

Spoiler: it becomes a compact one-time use railgun.

ablation 1 hour ago | parent

I seem to remember a few years back this guy made a lot of noise about a "free energy" (ahem) device he'd invented and claimed he was giving the plans to China and Russia as a way of getting back at the UK government for some slight or other, then promptly dropped off the face of the internet in protest(?) I guess he's back.

voidUpdate 1 hour ago | parent

IIRC it worked by using a big gyroscope to stay stationary while the earth rotated, causing 1 rotation every 24 hours. So not technically free energy, just taking it from the earth

I was quite worried that he'd gone off the deep end when he published that video

shaaaade 47 minutes ago | parent

The way I understood his "free energy"-device back in the day, was supposedly trying to induce a current into a set of coils from the very tiny discrepancies between the earth's rotation and that of its magnetic field. How the gyroscope would play into it, is anybody's guess (alignment, I suppose?). Obviously, none of this would work, and I don't think he was in a particularly good place back then.

thenthenthen 20 minutes ago | parent

I saw an artwork like this before, maybe by Anish Kapur?

cedws 1 hour ago | parent

That’s not a very charitable interpretation. He was distraught about not being able to get his wife into the UK and was lashing out. He removed the video, he knows it was silly. Hopefully the situation was sorted.

ablation 1 hour ago | parent

It's just what I remembered, clearly I had no recollection of that part. My sympathies with him if he was in some kind of strife.

freshollie 2 minutes ago | parent

His wife is mentioned as being behind the camera in the latest video, so it sounds like it was sorted.

grishka 8 minutes ago | parent

I remember him showing a cube with an outlet and a switch that could power a lightbulb. He eventually revealed that inside were just a bunch of lithium ion cells taken out of disposable vapes

bArray 1 hour ago | parent

Good to see him doing well. I think he single-handedly keeps the national grid on their toes.

The most powerful circuit I ever made dealt with 100A continuous and 200A peak at 24V, this guy is is simply on another level I can't even begin to wrap my head around.

jcims 25 minutes ago | parent

He’s alive!!!

emsign 9 minutes ago | parent

Popped it