Top all-time · #7983
Tinkerings
Personal blog · tinkerings.orghardwarescience
Tinkerings is a personal blog at tinkerings.org about hardware and science. Since 2016, 10 different Hacker News readers have linked it 15 times. The last post was in 2023, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (6) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Tinkerings for its multi-part series on Roman dodecahedrons, which one commenter says is a puzzle or game, and for a 2015 post about acquiring a scanner. Comments are mostly bare links.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 6 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
A space for my musings and tinkerings.
What Hacker News says?
Gavin Smith (Robots and Dinosaurs) has a theory that they are calendars. He has an interesting series of articles in which he tries to recreate their use. https://tinkerings.org/2020/06/17/roman-dodecahedrons-part-i... https://tinkerings.org/2020/06/17/roman-dodecahedrons-part-i... https://tinkerings.org/2020/12/25/roman-dodecahedrons-part-i... https://tinkerings.org/2020/12/25/roman-dodecahedrons-part-i...
Comment linking /2020/12/25/roman-dodecahedrons-part-iv/
on “No one is certain what Roman bronze dodecahedrons were used for (2018)”Submitted Restoring an unusual vintage clock display as a story · 70 points
HN discussionOr free - if you're in the right place at the right time (and have the right reputation and friends...): https://tinkerings.org/2015/11/15/in-which-i-acquire-a-scann...
Comment linking /2015/11/15/in-which-i-acquire-a-scanning-electron-microscope/
on “Plastc will cease operations and will not fulfill any pre-orders”Submitted Guiding Ships with Moire Patterns as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThe fact that it has no clearly discernible purpose is evidence for it being something to be enjoyed for aesthetics, spiritual purposes, or, most likely I think, entertainment. Attach some string and it is a durable, highly portable puzzle and even two-player game: https://tinkerings.org/2020/06/17/roman-dodecahedrons-part-i...
Comment linking /2020/06/17/roman-dodecahedrons-part-ii/
on “Roman dodecahedron: 12-sided object has baffled archaeologists for centuries”Submitted Buckminster Fuller’s Map – A Lasercut Dymaxion Globe as a story · 2 points
HN discussionhttps://tinkerings.org/page/2/
Comment linking /page/2/
on “Roman Dodecahedron”Submitted Cause I’m a Rocket Lamp… as a story · 2 points
HN discussionhttps://tinkerings.org/2020/12/25/roman-dodecahedrons-part-i...
Comment linking /2020/12/25/roman-dodecahedrons-part-iii/
on “The Mysterious Dodecahedrons of the Roman Empire”There is a part 3 and 4: https://tinkerings.org/2020/12/25/roman-dodecahedrons-part-i...
Comment linking /2020/12/25/roman-dodecahedrons-part-iii/
on “The Mysterious Dodecahedrons of the Roman Empire”https://tinkerings.org/2020/06/17/roman-dodecahedrons-part-i... My hacker friend solved this. It's a calendar.
Comment linking /2020/06/17/roman-dodecahedrons-part-i/
on “The Mysterious Dodecahedrons of the Roman Empire”This guy (Gavin) built a physical version of the same music visualisation spiral. Fixed at 12 notes per octave and no ability to act as input. He feeds it with MIDI from a standard keyboard. https://tinkerings.org/2021/11/20/spiral-music-visualization...
Comment linking /2021/11/20/spiral-music-visualization-using-teensy-or-python/
on “Microtonal Spiral Piano”
