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Whole-body ultrasound captures full cross-sections in 10 seconds

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-body-ultrasound-captures-full-sections.html
2•PaulHoule•10m ago•0 comments

DeepSeek V4 Pro: The First Chinese Model at the Frontier

https://foodtruckbench.com/blog/deepseek-v4-pro
1•nnx•12m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Better Design – 28 Shadcn design systems (OSS, MCP: Cursor/Claude Code)

https://github.com/marvkr/better-design
2•marvinkr•14m ago•0 comments

The Physics Behind the Thumb on Hose Trick

https://practical.engineering/blog/2026/5/5/the-physics-behind-the-thumb-trick
3•sohkamyung•15m ago•0 comments

VECT: Ransomware by Design, Wiper by Accident

https://research.checkpoint.com/2026/vect-ransomware-by-design-wiper-by-accident/
1•gnabgib•16m ago•0 comments

Apache HTTP Server: HTTP2: double free and possible RCE on early reset

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-23918
1•IncandescentGas•16m ago•0 comments

We Analyzed 20 Most Common Fake WordPress Plugins. Here's What They Do

https://blog.imunify360.com/20-most-common-fake-wordpress-plugins
1•shaunpud•18m ago•0 comments

Izeria.com a website/app to discover spots and gamify visiting your local area

https://www.izeria.com/en
2•eltados•19m ago•3 comments

Human brain changes after first psilocybin use

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-71962-3
3•karma_daemon•22m ago•1 comments

Ubuntu Is Run by "N00bs" (and It Shows)

https://techrights.org/n/2026/05/05/Ubuntu_is_Run_by_N00bs_and_It_Shows.shtml
1•amcclure•23m ago•0 comments

How much of the scientific literature is generated by AI?

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03504-8
1•warbaker•25m ago•0 comments

IronMap – Self-hosted fitness tracker with community gym equipment database

https://github.com/bhman792/ironmap
1•bhman79•25m ago•0 comments

An atmosphere around a tiny, icy world beyond Pluto

https://apnews.com/article/pluto-atmosphere-kuiper-belt-c6b0ec2e0631f47c25ce18479b14e1ed
3•tcp_handshaker•33m ago•0 comments

AI tools could enable bioterrorism

https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2026/05/05/how-ai-tools-could-enable-bioterrorism
4•pseudolus•33m ago•1 comments

AI Has America's Oldest Monopoly Problem – Part 1

https://easydays.substack.com/p/ai-has-americas-oldest-monopoly-problem
5•marcammann•36m ago•0 comments

How SSA Makes Long Context Practical

https://subq.ai/how-ssa-makes-long-context-practical
3•sirobg•37m ago•0 comments

Ukrainian forces test direct-to-device satellite imagery for frontline troops

https://spacenews.com/ukrainian-forces-test-direct-to-device-satellite-imagery-for-frontline-troops/
4•tcp_handshaker•37m ago•0 comments

When a Search Stack Starts to Strain

https://www.searchplex.net/blog/when-a-search-stack-starts-to-strain
3•eskimo87•37m ago•0 comments

Beware the Man of One Study (2014)

https://www.slatestarcodexabridged.com/Beware-The-Man-Of-One-Study
3•caminanteblanco•46m ago•0 comments

CommFuse: Hiding Tail Latency via Communication Decomposition and Fusion

https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.24013
3•matt_d•46m ago•0 comments

Google Confirms Critical Android 0-Click Vulnerability

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2026/05/05/google-confirms-critical-android-0-click-vuln...
4•turrini•46m ago•0 comments

Firefox Gets FIPS 140-3 Power: WolfPKCS11 Unleashes WolfCrypt in NSS

https://www.wolfssl.com/firefox-gets-fips-140-3-power-wolfpkcs11-unleashes-wolfcrypt-in-nss/
3•aidangarske•46m ago•0 comments

What I gained with a new number / What I lost with a new number

https://shub.club/writings/2026/may/new-number/
2•forthwall•48m ago•0 comments

Cooperating in a Conversation

https://wilsoniumite.com/2026/05/04/cooperating-in-a-conversation/
2•Wilsoniumite•54m ago•0 comments

Cary Elwes Struggled After 'Princess Bride.' Al Pacino Set Him on Right Path

https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/cary-elwes-mia-peacock-22f9c450
3•petethomas•54m ago•0 comments

The dead hang delight: simple exercise can change lives (2024)

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/aug/04/the-dead-hang-delight-how-this-quick...
2•toilet•54m ago•0 comments

The Cult of Male Miata Drivers (2022)

https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/men-who-drive-mazda-miata
2•herbertl•54m ago•0 comments

The collaborative software development playbook for remote and distributed teams

https://open-and-async.com/
3•mooreds•55m ago•0 comments

Looking for feedback on AI content in R/programming and the April no-AI trial

https://old.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/1t4odyl/looking_for_feedback_on_ai_content_in/
2•birdculture•56m ago•0 comments

Approximate location sharing gives you more control in Chrome

https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/chrome/approximate-location-chrome-on-android/
1•xnx•57m ago•0 comments
Open in hackernews

Millihertz 5 Mechanical Computer (2022)

https://www.srimech.com/MHZ5.html
95•gene-h•1y ago

Comments

thechao•1y ago
I've always wanted to build (distinct) mechanical computers out of the following kinds of elements:

1. Spur-gear differential; and,

2. Shishi-odoshi.

Both of these are saturating mechanical devices that can be used to build NAND gates; the latter, I think, would be very pleasing, if exceedingly slow.

For the spur-gear differential, you'd need to up-scale the output by a factor of 2 (since the output is half-speed), and use a locking wedge to build a one-way gear out of one of the spur-gear differentials. However, it has the nice property that the logic is made entirely out of a single element: the spur-gear differential.

Similarly, for the shishi-odoshi: you're going to have to do a bit of analysis (drilling a hole in the bottom part of the bamboo ladle), to figure out the in-flow and out-flow to build the basic AND gate, and then balancing out the NOT gate, to build your basic NAND. This is, obviously, very finicky; but, I supposed, that'd be quite a bit of the charm of a Zen computer garden?

hnlmorg•1y ago
A shishi-odoshi ALU would be amazing to see…and hear too.

I love that idea.

blackhaz•1y ago
I wanna run my neural net on shishi-odoshi.
rightbyte•1y ago
Has any computer been built out of spur-gear differentials? Like maybe some sort of adder circuit, not necessarily a full instruction executing computer. The only uses I could find was what seems to me like the differentials being part of some sort of analogue computer.
thechao•1y ago
Spur gear differentials are naturally adders (with carry!); so, traditionally they've only ever been used for analogue logic. They're overly complicated for digital logic: you need two spur gears to build a single gate (NAND) to perform a single binary operation. If you want any sort of reasonable lash characteristics you're going to need ~60 teeth. At that point, two 60 teeth spur gears give you a 3600-valued adder. That'd take something like 300+ spur gears in binary: it just doesn't make any damn sense.

I think the last time I looked at this, if I used the cast spur gears available I needed a staged approach to "start" the computer and a 1100 hp motor to run it.

rightbyte•1y ago
> a 1100 hp motor to run it

Oh, ye that sounds impractical. A really big truck engine more or less.

thechao•1y ago
Convincing Mrs. thechao that we needed to drop 80000$ on a blown V8 to build a 4b 3 function calculator didn't workout, BTW.
rightbyte•1y ago
Well I want to be on your side but I think one need to keep the dreams not within grasp but at least in sight.
jcgrillo•1y ago
A huge steam engine might be the ticket, that'll solve your starting torque problem
byronknoll•1y ago
I built some logic gates using water and a 3D printed "seesaw" that tilts to the left or right: https://byronknoll.blogspot.com/2022/06/water-computer.html
thechao•1y ago
Beautiful! Thank you!
QuadmasterXLII•1y ago
the shishi-odoshu seems like the more promising avenue. The key question in mechanical computing is never designing gates, its designing power amplifiers.
eccentricwind•1y ago
What a gem of a site Thank you for sharing
mrandish•1y ago
I just smile hearing the term "Millihertz Computer". I'd love it if building and designing mechanical and analog computers grew as a hobby/educational activity as I find them both fascinating and somehow satisfying.

Also, this 1950s Naval Training film explaining the fundamentals of how mechanical fire control computers work to solve complex problems is excellent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1i-dnAH9Y4

256_•1y ago
I was incredibly surprised to find that this actually is a computer. Normally when you hear about a "computer" constructed in an unusual medium, it turns out to just be a binary adder or an analogue computer. I've learned to expect disappointment.
ryukoposting•1y ago
About 8 years ago I visited TU Chemnitz and they had a lab making similar things to this. It wasn't clear to me what the goal was, but it was very cool nonetheless.
ogogmad•1y ago
Is anyone going to produce a proof-of-concept Analytical Engine?

Will robots (which will hopefully soon be available) be able to do it?

tenthirtyam•1y ago
This brings to mind two stories: Exhalation by Ted Chiang (short story), and the Three Body Problem (specifically the human computer) by Cixin Liu (novel length).

Exhalation really gets me thinking about what it means to be sentient & self-aware. If the neurons in our brains could, even in theory, be simulated by logic gates then, equally in theory, a Turing machine could be sentient. I can even imagine a bunch of rocks being sentient: https://xkcd.com/505/