I find this segment to be particularly insightful:
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.
You got your dating photos critiqued? And it exists as a paid service?? You fascinate me Sir.
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.
Ok, the second one is definitely a wierd(ly specific) PDF and I dig it!
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.
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.
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?
CIA sabotage handbook.
Should add the poor man’s James bond. The anarchist cookbook. The army survival manual. There is an old army improvised munitions manual.
There are lots of fun reads that should probably be held onto.
In my mailbox…My arrest warrant from the Dutch police.
I have the working draft of this year’s List of Items for the Official University of Chicago Official Scavenger Hunt, the world’s largest -and probably weirdest- annual scavenger hunt.
“Countries where suicide is outlawed.pdf”
What the fuck, Bahamas? Life imprisonment?
Well, if they went for the death penalty it’d be obviously ironic.
Historically, I have a vague memory of knowing the fact that some places did actually do that, although I should check.
Germanic-sphere countries historically liked to kill people for stealing bread, so I guess it’s not too disproportional. You have to think the person going “yes please” would make the whole lynchmob atmosphere hard to keep going, though.
Do share if you find it, I’ve mostly turned up works by critics with a quick search.
