• CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    3 days ago

    Hmm, it probably depends what you think is weird, but I have one in their on the feasibility of extracting ammonia from biomass. There’s also one on early steam turbines by a fellow named Geoff Horseman, which is a fun name.

    Edit: Oh, I also have a professional critique of my dating profile photos. That’s weird in a different way, since I actually got that done, and it unexpectedly came as a PDF.

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 day ago

        Yeah, it came with ghostwriting for the text section.

        Man, I have no idea what people are looking for from dating profiles, and what I got back from the seasoned pros just reinforces that. Left to my own devices, I went terse and impartial. What they wrote seems cheesy and boastful to me, but I guess comes across as confidence to others. Which just means it’s money well spent, I suppose, because I haven’t gotten any complaints since.

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        edit-2
        3 days ago

        It’s a beast too - 202 pages. From the part I read, I could probably make one that kinda works, but that’s it. Unfortunately the author didn’t go into the details I was hoping for, like why exactly steam turbine airfoils are hook-shaped. One neat thing is that they have a nice little formula for comparing totally different turbines over time to show how they gradually do more with less.

        The ammonia paper is weird because it’s a super impractical and difficult idea - normally you fix nitrogen in a big Haber-Bosch plant and turn it into biomass. Both came up because they’re applicable to primitive tech stuff.

        I have more and probably weirder, but the things I care about tend to be moved out of the download folder.

        • SubArcticTundra@lemmy.mlOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          3 days ago

          I can definitely relate. I have several PDFs of advanced textbooks from when I wanted to learn some very niche skill. The latest one is an economics textbook from when I wanted to learn about different types of auctions and the maths/game theory behind each.

          • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            1 day ago

            Oh hell yeah. As originally a maths person, the Vickrey-GSP-VCG auction continuum is great; very satisfying. Have you looked into fair cake cutting algorithms as well?