Comparing it to Leetcode is completely off. On Leetcode, you're running an isolated algorithm that doesn't need any access to internal repos or staging environments. But a CI/CD sandbox that reviews PRs by definition has to have serious permissions, or it won't be able to build anything.
I think he's a product of his time (pre-internet). He stopped because he felt he hit the limits of what he could create, and while a large part of it was the restrictions the newspapers put on him, it was also that he was running out of ideas. It's something he's specifically said in his very rare interviews, and he seems to enjoy living a very quiet life.
While webcomics are thriving, they don't quite have the same cultural impact that every kid growing up had for a few decades where the newspaper would be out on the kitchen table and the kids would nosedive for the comics. When I think about it, it was a brilliant move for newspapers. As I got older and closer to being an adult, I started reading the rest of the paper.
There were several excellent comics, but only C&H has stood the test of time and I am so proud that my 8 year old daughter recently pulled down the books are started getting lost in them. Sometimes the restrictions and limitations produce creativity in their own right, and I often wonder if something like C&H could even make it in today's cultural environment (both from a political point of view and in the modern social media landscape).
This is actually a tool used in construction. A chamber filled with chalk and a coiled line. You hook the line to one end of your item, pull the chamber across, make it tight, snap the line.
Early humans fill me with awe with their ingenuity.
Consider the planets. They noticed that among thousands of stars these five move funny. Of course it helped that most of them are very bright and don't twinkle. On a clear sky even Sirius often doesn't twinkle though.
The Tajima ones [0] are phenomenal, though the hook leaves a longer blank stretch than I'd like. They make a super nice snap knife too. Highly recommend Tajima for anything they make. Annoyingly, they don't sell a rip saw, only crosscut.
"Perfect" is doing some heavy lifting here. The string is always a non-straight catenary curve, unless infinite force is used to pull an indestructable string.
A laser beam* across the room will show the defect in the string straightness. It's more than good enough to fool human eyes, which are not good at judging slow gradients (such as all the touristy "mystical anti-gravity locations" where balls roll apparently uphill). Therefore, the snap-line is good enough. But not perfect.
* Gravity of course still affects the laser beam's straightness, but on a level good enough to fool electron microscopes, so we can give that a pass.
Yes it will be a catenary but it is not a problem if the purpose is to mark the ground.
If the purpose is also to measure the distance between the 'pegs' and one uses the length of the cable in between, then it can be a problem. That's why survey chains are expensive.
If we get real picky, no physical method will really be accurate because straight line is a mathematical abstraction. It can only be approximated in the physical world, much like a circle.
Light paths come closest, although they 'bend', they bend in a way that is 'straight' with respect to space-time.
You can usually put enough tension on the string to make any droop negligible. But yes modern laser levels are a better if less tactile option in some cases.
I assume they were talking about 75159 right before it retired.
I think that was when Lego speculation was just becoming a bigger thing.
Now, I don't think something like that could retire with stock being on the shelf.
I grabbed Betrayal at Cloud City (75222) from my local Lego Store after it retired because they still had one in stock. I don't think I'll get that lucky again.
Especially with the push for exclusive Gift With Purchase (GWP) sets. It's become slightly ridiculous.
But I'm not a speculator, I'm just a dude who likes assembling plastic bricks.
Wow. I do not want to knock collectors but I will never understand them. That particular set worth 10k looks kind of crappy to me. I understand the star wars crossover appeal but still. And I have three kids and have bought countless sets. Every bday and xmas times 3.
We have an even simpler version of this called "Derby Dash". It's basically just the race portion of the board with dice.
It gets used a fair bit, but mostly because it is zero-player. Not to get too much into it, but since neither of us can influence the outcome, it's a good way to imitate a fictional competition fairly.
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