dietlbomb

Location: Moving to Hannover, Germany in March, 2026 to resolve 2-body problem.

Remote: Preferred.

Willing to relocate: See above.

Technologies: Matlab/Simulink, C/C++, Control systems, Kalman Filtering, GNC, satellite and defense experience.

Résumé/CV: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sqR9kl9aXUwGAuCUuMaywBbs...

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/john-dietl-79bb106

I am a dynamics and control systems engineer based in Dryden, NY. I have worked professionally for 13 years, first at Raytheon Missile Systems, and most recently at L3Harris Technologies. I have recently held a Top Secret/SCI clearance from which I was debriefed after moving to a project not requiring a security clearance.

I am currently searching for employment in Germany. My wife has accepted a position at Leibniz Universität Hannover starting in April 2026.

dietlbomb

anno scorsodiscuss

The OP should have mentioned Osweald Bera. He's the author! Always be promoting!

dietlbomb

2 anni fadiscuss

This reminds me of "Don't Shoot the Puppy". https://www.addictinggames.com/funny/dont-shoot-the-puppy

dietlbomb

2 anni fadiscuss

Is it worth learning JavaScript before learning Elm?

dietlbomb

2 anni fadiscuss

X1 Carbon running Arch and DWM. Works great, except I haven't configured it to suspend without draining the battery yet.

Love the computer. Can't stand a laptop without a pointing stick. :)

dietlbomb

2 anni fadiscuss

I used an iPod nano 6g for years. I loved the tiny size, the clip, and the fact that it didn't have speakers (no accidental noise in the office).

I use my phone for mp3s and podcasts now, but I'd prefer the iPod if it weren't dead (and I could update it from Linux). I find myself going into shops with my family staying in the car, and it would be nice to take my phone without having to turn off the music for them.

dietlbomb

6 anni fadiscuss

I've tinkered with CL for numerical analysis, but always have had trouble picking good libraries to help. Do you have any recommendations for good libraries for scientific computing (especially some that will run in Windows)?

dietlbomb

6 anni fadiscuss

Do you know if Lush is still usable? I wonder what's stopping people from developing in it.

dietlbomb

7 anni fadiscuss

That's not the Great Pyramid; it's the Pyramid of Khafre.

Neat rendering though.

dietlbomb

7 anni fadiscuss

If we were to eliminate the biannual clock changes, why would it matter which time base we switch to? Organizations would surely set their business hours appropriately for either choice. Does it matter what the number on the clock is during sunset? If you prefer permanent DST, why not just wake up an hour earlier (obligations permitting)?

Me, if we were to eliminate the clock changes, I'd pick permanent standard time, because it more closely matches astronomical time.

The question of whether to retain the biannual clock changes is another issue. (I'm for the switches, because it's the least painful way to coordinate everyone getting up earlier in the summer.)

dietlbomb

9 anni fadiscuss

I see stories promoting kite energy harvesting every couple years. They never address (one of) the primary obstacles to a functional unit: transmitting the energy to the ground. They usually hand wave the problem by saying there will be a conductive tether, but they don't mention the challenge in designing a tether that is strong enough to hold the kite, while also conductive enough to transfer power, while light enough for the kite to stay airborne. The usual solution for ground based power transmission it to use a high voltage, but that requires significant insulation separating the conductors, usually air. Other materials tend to fail under high voltage. So they will be limited in maximum voltage, and be forced to have a larger diameter conductor. It would be too heavy and won't fly. Tldr; this is probably a scam.

dietlbomb

10 anni fadiscuss

I agree with PG that Mississippi probably isn't the right place for a startup hub, but it is disappointing that he contributes to the spin that Mississippi's religious liberty bill represents intolerance. It's these sort of religious protections that allow people of differing beliefs to live together, as opposed to the enforcement of secular norms found in jurisdictions that are supposedly more tolerant.

dietlbomb

11 anni fadiscuss

Because clean energy and fossil fuels fill entirely different demands. Fossil fuels (and nuclear and hydro) supply useful energy. Clean energy (apart from small niche uses) does not. The demand for fossil fuels is driven by the demand for energy. The demand for clean energy is driven by politics.

dietlbomb

11 anni fadiscuss

This reminds me of college professors calling homework assignments "homeworks". Initially, these professors were all immigrants from India, but the usage spread during my years in grad school. I wonder if this is evidence of a cultural shift at Microsoft caused by hiring so many H1Bs or even influence from their tone-deaf CEO.

dietlbomb

11 anni fadiscuss

The new favicon resembles some sort of gay pride logo. It's a bit off-putting.

dietlbomb

12 anni fadiscuss

That only 10% of the energy used by a lightbulb is converted to light does not mean that the bulb is wasting energy.

dietlbomb

12 anni fadiscuss

The US already uses the metric system. It is taught to every child in school. Engineers and scientists use it as their default.

What the soi-disant pro-metric faction really wants is to stamp out the English system from the culture. Why can't they tolerate people measuring themselves, their recipes, their temperatures, and their vehicle speeds in their preferred units?

dietlbomb

13 anni fadiscuss

Librarian activists use the word 'ban' differently than everyone else. To most people, to ban something is to prohibit it. To librarians, to ban a book is to keep it out of stock. This may still be morally wrong in some situations, but it is dishonest of these activists to conflate such an action with book burnings and other more radical forms of information suppression.

dietlbomb

13 anni fadiscuss

Does it strike anyone else as odd that everyone in the Silicon Valley software industry has nearly unanimous views on social policy? I've never been to Silicon Valley, but I have spent my entire life and career among engineers, and I have observed diverse views on such issues as gay marriage, climate change, abortion, etc.

dietlbomb

13 anni fadiscuss

8. "The Valar would prohibit the eagles from such a direct intervention against Sauron."

I am surprised that this argument comes up as often as it does, because I am aware of no textual support for this idea. The eagles quite frequently involve themselves in the fight against Sauron (or against evil in general):

They rescue Bilbo, Thorin, & Co. from the orcs and wolves. They participate in the Battle of Five Armies. They rescue Gandalf from Orthanc. They rescue Gandalf again from Zirak-Zigil. They directly attack the flying Nazgûl during the last battle. They fly into Mordor to rescue Frodo and Sam.
Given all this heavy involvement, it would be extremely surprising if the Valar specifically prohibited the eagles from flying the Ringbearer into Mordor. Tolkien nowhere mentions such a prohibition.

The only support I can see for this argument is very indirect: namely, that the eagles are said to be the representatives of Manwë, and in the Third Age, Manwë is maintaining a policy of the Valar not intervening directly in the affairs of Middle-Earth. But the eagles do often intervene in the struggles of Middle-Earth, and there's no indication that they were under some restriction in this case. If the eagles were prohibited from being involved directly in the struggle against Sauron, we might expect that they would have withdrawn to Valinor long ago rather than remain in Middle-Earth.

This is the actual reason, but there is more evidence to support it than the OP gives, but like most things Tolkien, you need to read outside the usual narrative to find it. The best explanation for this is how the rules of Manwe govern the wizards, particularly Gandalf:

Emissaries they were from Lords of the West, the Valar, who still took counsel for the governance of Middle-earth, and when the shadow of Sauron began first to stir again took this means of resisting him. For with the consent of Eru they sent members of their own high order, but clad in bodies of as of Men, real and not feigned, but subject to the fears and pains and weariness of earth, able to hunger and thirst and be slain; though because of their noble spirits they did not die, and aged only by the cares and labours of many long years. And this the Valar did, desiring to amend the errors of old, especially that they had attempted to guard and seclude the Eldar by their own might and glory fully revealed; whereas now their emissaries were forbidden to reveal themselves in forms of majesty, or to seek to rule the wills of Men and Elves by open display of power, but coming in shapes weak and humble were bidden to advise and persuade Men and Elves to good, and to seek to unite in love and understanding all those whom Sauron, should he come again, would endeavour to dominate and corrupt. Unfinished Tales, Ballantine paperback, p. 406.

The Valar are allowed to send the the wizards to Middle Earth with the consent of Eru, with constraints on what the wizards are allowed to do. This implies that Eru, the overarching God of Tolkien's universe, has a plan for events in Middle Earth, and that he doesn't want the higher powers (the Valar) to interfere directly.

The eagles are also servants of the Valar, and are not permitted to directly interfere with events. Discounting the events of The Hobbit, the eagles only show up to help when everyone has already made the right decision informed by faith and hope. When the eagle finds Gandalf on Zirak-Zigil, he had just sacrificed himself to defeat the balrog and he had been returned to Middle Earth (clear Deus ex Machina there too). When they attack the Nazgul in the last battle, it was after Aragorn and the other leaders had committed their armies to a "hopeless" last stand. When they flew into Mordor to rescue Frodo and Sam, it was after they had finished the quest.

There are multiple times where the intervention of Eru in the events of Middle Earth are implied. Gandalf hints that Bilbo was meant to find the ring. Gollum steals the ring and falls into the fire. A wind out of the West blows away the smoke cloud that appears when Barad-Dur crumbles (and the smaller smoke cloud that appears when Saruman is killed). So the prohibition against direct Valar action in Middle Earth is no small thing.

Would it have been nice if the eagles were discussed more in the book? Probably, but it was pretty long already.

If you are interested in this sort of stuff, I recommend listening to the Tolkien Professor podcast.

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