Top all-time · #1940
Lyle Zapato
Personal blog · zapatopi.netdesignculture
Lyle Zapato writes Zapato Productions intradimensional, a personal blog at zapatopi.net about design and culture. Since 2008, 41 different Hacker News readers have linked it 47 times, most often “The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-04-20, and you can follow it by feed.
Website of Lyle Zapato: creator of MindGuard, maker of icons, scourge of the forces of mind-control, humble servant to the Lord Kelvin, and champion of endangered tree octopi everywhere.
Most-linked posts?
- The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus9 people · 10 mentions · first linked 2020-09-18
- /belgium/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2014-08-13
- Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-11-24
- Belgium does not exist (1999)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-07-16
What Hacker News says?
In 1902 Kelvin was more blunt about (i) balloons being more promising than the idea of aeroplanes and (ii) neither of them having any viable future http://zapatopi.net/kelvin/papers/interview_aeronautics_and_...
Comment linking /kelvin/papers/interview_aeronautics_and_wireless.html
on “Elon Musk: Boeing 787 battery fundamentally unsafe”Submitted Belgium does not exist (1999) as a story · 6 points
HN discussionThe Ken Olsen quote is taken way out of context. He was thoroughly aware of personal computers in 1977. He was referring to behemoth home automation systems: http://www.snopes.com/quotes/kenolsen.asp The quote attributed to Lord Kelvin is a significant paraphrasing of a letter he wrote in 1896: http://zapatopi.net/kelvin/papers/letters.html#baden-powell
Comment linking /kelvin/papers/letters.html
on “Elon Musk: Boeing 787 battery fundamentally unsafe”Submitted The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus as a story · 3 points
HN discussionA Tree Octopus Renku by Lyle Zapato [0] wisteria on pine -- a tree octopus climbs there's a spectacle! I am one of today's lucky 10,000 — thank you! [1] [0] https://zapatopi.net/blog/?post=201104210388.a_tree_octopus_... [1] https://xkcd.com/1053/
Comment linking /blog/?post=201104210388.a_tree_octopus_renku
on “Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)”Submitted 10 days a week anyone? (A Guide to Metric Time) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionThe story completely misses that this period coincides with a temporary expansion of the habitat of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ The devil of the trees and terror of all loggers, forest rangers and apparently windshields.
Comment linking /treeoctopus/
on “Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)”Submitted The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus as a story · 2 points
HN discussionhttps://zapatopi.net/metrictime/
Comment linking /metrictime/
on “Why are there 5280 feet in a mile? (2009)”Submitted Obsoletias (2022) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionDo you mean the great Nemester? https://zapatopi.net/nemester/
Comment linking /nemester/
on “Shlinkedin – Satirical Social Network”Submitted The 10 Day Metric Week as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThat's a joke website. eg: http://zapatopi.net/belgium/
Comment linking /belgium/
on “Salmon Cannon Fires 40 Fish a Minute”Submitted Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThere have been several Personal Rapid Transit [1] systems proposed with this sort of technology, e.g.: http://zapatopi.net/inteli-tube/ [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Rapid_Transit
Comment linking /inteli-tube/
on “Salmon Cannon Fires 40 Fish a Minute”Submitted The 10 Day Metric Week as a story · 2 points
HN discussionRelated: Giant Pacific Tree Octopus https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ (one of the classics of the early internet)
Comment linking /treeoctopus/
on “Giant Pacific Octopus”Submitted Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus as a story · 1 points
HN discussionThanks all, for these references! My wife is into cephalopod intelligence. I'll forward this to her and ask if she has any other recommendations. I do know there are a couple of websites for cephalopod enthusiasts: https://zapatopi.net/cephnews/ https://tonmo.com/
Comment linking /cephnews/
on “A Cephalopod Has Passed a Cognitive Test Designed for Human Children”Submitted Mind Guard as a story · 1 points
HN discussionOf course, we do have tree hugging octopus today: Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus! https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ (j/k)
Comment linking /treeoctopus/
on “The Silurian Hypothesis”Submitted The 10 Day Metric Week as a story · 1 points
HN discussionAny scientist's understanding of what is possible and what is impossible relies on currently understood theory. It happens rarely, but our understanding of what is possible at even the most basic level is sometimes upended (such as the discovery of nuclear forces, quantum mechanics, and relativity). The most prescient of scientists come clean on this fact when making predictions. "It seems, therefore, on the whole m…
Comment linking /kelvin/papers/on_the_age_of_the_suns_heat.html
on “A virus could increase lithium batteries capacity by 10x”Submitted Saving the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus as a story · 1 points
HN discussionRe:belgium, link https://zapatopi.net/belgium/#CITIZENS Just wanted to say, the people of the Congo want to know who made up Belgium.
Comment linking /belgium/
on “Full Body Teleportation System”Submitted Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus as a story · 1 points
HN discussionOh boy. This could be hours of fun down the rabbit hole. Profiles on the "inventor" include: https://steemit.com/history/@scubasteve/who-is-inventor-john... https://zapatopi.net/blog/?post=200604284330.st_clair_hyperi... And you don't wade in. It's a hard head-first dive off the 30-footer.
Comment linking /blog/?post=200604284330.st_clair_hyperinventor
on “Full Body Teleportation System”Made me think of the old classic "Belgium Doesn't Exist!" or "Land of Sprouts and Chocolate, I Think Not.": http://zapatopi.net/belgium/
Comment linking /belgium/
on “Is there a Belgium? (1999)”Already debunked: http://zapatopi.net/blog/?post=200511112730.afdb_effectivene...
Comment linking /blog/?post=200511112730.afdb_effectiveness
on “On the Effectiveness of Aluminium Foil Helmets: An Empirical Study”People out here in Seattle say something similar :) http://zapatopi.net/cascadia/ edit: and, just to tie it all back together, check out where Goodspaceguy is from: http://zapatopi.net/blog/?post=201007306418.pre-decision_201...
Comment linking /blog/?post=201007306418.pre-decision_2010
on “I'm not a spammer, I just need to blast these potential customers”
