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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: August 9th, 2023

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  • All the successful theories were developed from experimental results. From real data.

    This is not really true. Lots of very well tested theories in physics came from math first, and then experimentation upheld them.

    Einstein developed general relativity based on mathematical principles (Riemannian geometry and the equivalence principle) with little direct experimental input. And then successfully predicted the light of distant stars bendng around the sun.

    Paul Dirac formulated a relativistic equation for the electron. The math naturally predicted the existence of a positron which was discovered years later.

    Peter Higgs and others proposed the Higgs field to explain why particles have mass within the Standard Model, in 1964. It wasn’t detected in experiments until 2012.

    Maxwell’s unification of electricity and magnetism led to the prediction of electromagnetic waves. 20 years later Hertz detected them.

    Just months after Einstein published general relativity, Karl Schwarzschild found a solution predicting black holes. With no data at all! Sure enough, we’ve observed them and their effects many times.

    Mathematics often leads the way in physics.










  • Fusion 360 is fantastic. It’s free for non-commercisl use. I’ve been using it for years and have zero complaints. It’s polished and powerful.

    People complaining about it for ideological reasons have a point, but I disagree that it’s in some sort of “enshitification spiral”. It’s exactly as usable as it was 5 years ago. There are very few features locked behind a paywall, and they aren’t important to the average maker.

    You can even use Fusion to run a CNC router. For free! With all the polish of commercial software.

    Everyone I know at my local makerspace uses Fusion. I don’t know a single person who uses FreeCAD. A couple people use TinkerCAD. There’s a very large community of Fusion users and getting help is easy.

    I am 100% in favor of FOSS. Give FreeCAD a try. I used it years ago because it had a plugin to make convolute gears with a couple of clicks. But don’t shy away from Fusion just because of all of the haters on here. Give it a try yourself. I think you’ll be impressed by what you get for free.