Posts by jake

"Do I get any prizes for the trifecta?"

No. You forgot "in the cloud". C- Must Try Harder.

Re: Time for a rebrand

You may or may not be aware, but a certain so-called "pizza" chain has, in fact resurrected said long-dead advertising mascot. Saw the commercial on DearOldTelly about three weeks ago. Something about self-driving delivery vehicles.

It's not just television and movies ... seems even the advertising writers can't come up with anything new and have resorted to resurrecting the old shit.

_{But who cares? It's cheaper, faster and much tastier making pizza yourself.}

Re: Two answers to pigeons.

That's roughly 17.75g/year, or ~50mg/day.

Output subject to change according to input, of course. Especially during cotoneaster, pyracantha and boxwood berry seasons.

Re: 10,000 UK users and 60 arrests?

"I am led to believe that some criminals live in other parts of the UK too..."

Yes, they do. But have you not noticed that the cops always raid all premises simultaneously in these cases, so none of the perps can warn perps in other locations?

If they only arrested 60 people, that was the total number of people in the list that they could gather anything on. Time for a new list, methinks.

Re: As usual in these sort of matters Ben Franklin has words of wisdom...

Ol' Ben probably borrowed that from Romeo and Juliet, Act 2 Scene 4:

"Is your man secret? Did you ne'er hear say/Two may keep counsel, putting one away?" —Shakespeare

Re: 10,000 UK users and 60 arrests?

"Anyone actually hear of any other uses for EncroChat apart from the nefarious type..."

Well, it looks like the Cops couldn't drum up any charges against around 9,940 of the UK userbase. After doing the incredibly difficult math(s), it would seem that roughly 99.4% of all users in the UK are not using it for illegal acts.

Re: "His palm and fingerprints were analyzed from this picture"

No. They can see them in the photo. You can easily duplicate this with your own phone, should you care to try it.

Re: Hard cheese

Typical criminal, figured he was too good for the cops to be casein him out. He certainly doesn't seem to know Jack about anonymity. Perhaps he should have whey'd the consequences of his actions.

Re: Carbon neutral

"the thing that annoys me is the assumption that a public charger has to be 50kW or more to be any use. I'd rather car parks were equipped to charge 7 cars at 7kW a piece than 1 at 50."

Thge thing that annoys me is that prats like yourself assume that because one certain size fits your model, we should all march in lockstep with your needs, despite our needs being very, very different.

Re: Carbon neutral

"Pickup trucks tend to already weigh an absolute ton... "

It's not the weight of the truck. It's the payload. Enough battery and electric motor to replace my existing dually tow vehicle's powertrain will seriously eat into the GVWR ... and drastically diminish the range. Both are non-negotiable.

Re: Carbon neutral

"Electric will give you all you could ever want."

For s short period of time. Very short.

"it's not as if space/weight are important"

I suppose Ford went with an all aluminum body for it's health?

"Milage quotes are always unladen"

Intelligent people ask questions before making major purposes.

"And what is that - fleet operators are lining up for the tesla semi?"

Hardly "lining up", with fewer than 1% of existing trucks looking to get replaced with pre-ordered Tesla vehicles ... and I seriously doubt that 1% will be removed from the roads, rather they will be repurposed or sold-on and continue delivering goods.

Re: The overwhelming majority of the ongoing maintenance cost and effort is ... the ICE itself

"Brakes, suspension, steering, tyres, heating, cooling, AC, bodywork, trim, interior, safety features, electronics, driveshafts, differentials, axles, ball joints, control arms, linkages, possibly a gearbox."

"So how many of these parts are permanently (and ultimately terminally) damaged if you fail to replace consumables on a regular basis?"

All of them except the purely cosmetic bodywork, trim and interior. The safety features and electronics are too generic to comment, but things like anti-lock brakes depend on the fluid working properly, and the electronics might require the battery being topped up in order to see the proper voltage (you might be surprised how finicky modern cars are about exact voltages and proper grounding).

Re: Carbon neutral

"Those long journey charges are where the rapid charges come in"

Do they have one of those anywhere near Quincy, California? Or Alturas? Or Douglas County, Nevada?

Re: Carbon neutral

Oh. You said the D word. Greenaholics hate diesel ... ESPECIALLY when it makes sense.

Look to long-haul transportation, where economy makes for profits.

Trains: Diesel

Trucks: Diesel

Aircraft: Jet fuel (basically, diesel)

Shipping: Bunker fuel (basically, diesel)

Do the math(s) & follow the money. Diesel powered vehicles are the absolute cheapest form of long distance transportation known to man, from a TCO point of view.

Re: Carbon neutral

"I'd recommend you wait until the generation where they fit airbags, cos' they don't have them at the moment either..."

Speaking as a guy who owns, breeds, trains and takes care of horses for other people, I'm here to tell you that a large percentage of horses come with airbags. That would be the idiots paying me. According to my Great Grandfather's diaries, this has been true longer than cars have been around.

Re: Carbon neutral

"But probably not suitable for most "motor car" applications - not due to the technology, but due to the end-users not affording them the due care and attention that they need."

I rather suspect the noise factor would vastly outweigh piddly little details like lack of preventative maintenance.

Re: Green vehicles...

"Ev battery modules can (and are) re-purposed for use as static storage."

Firstly, that's just sweeping the problem under the rug. Those batteries are in the process of dying, and will need to be properly disposed of eventually ... but there is no actual recycle chain in place as of yet. And not much progress being made, either ... just stop-gap measures like "static storage".

Secondly, only idiots purchase used Tesla batteries for static storage. The only way to go in that department is Lithium iron phosphate.

Re: ICE - still the way to go

"Apart from the raw materials competing with some of the poorest people on the planet for food."

That's a whole nuther kettle o'worms ... and frankly one that's far more important then this kerfuffle over ICE vs EV.

Re: Carbon neutral

"A decade old Honda or Toyota would be an order of magnitude cheaper and won't require all that much maintenance and fuel if just used for short local trips."

Indeed. This place came with a slightly used 1988 Honda CRV, with 15K miles on the clock. Dreadful vehicle. But I decided it would be handy to keep licensed and insured as a thrasher-runabout, parts runner, emergency Vet/feedstore transportation, spare vehicle if the field hands need one, etc. Costs me all of $120/year to license, and I didn't even notice an increase when I added it to my insurance.

Today, the awful thing has well over 400K miles on it. Total maintenance has included tires as needed, a yearly plugs/filters/fluids change, belts and hoses twice, brakes & wheel bearings once, and I've changed the timing belt twice. Other than the tires (which all vehicles need), that's well under $100/year in maintenance. It still gets just under 30MPG on the freeway, and passes the bi-annual smog check with flying colo(u)rs. Only an idiot would even think of swapping such a tool for an electric car.

Re: Carbon neutral

"I've not found any significant downside to that feature"

Most of the wear and tear on an engine occurs when it is (re)started.

Re: Carbon neutral

Us farmers/ranchers often have pumps at home. I have five[0] ... farm-only gas and diesel, over-the-road gas and diesel, and 100LL. It's silly not to when you have the space/zoning. Buy in bulk when the prices are low. Basic economics, innit.

[0] The homemade ethanol I'm experimenting with in various engines is in 55 gallon drums, as is the used cooking oil that I've been useing in various pieces of equipment for over a decade.

Yes, cars spend a lot of time sitting around. Often near an electrical outlet. Unfortunately, California (for example) is an awfully large place ... when I need a refill, I'm often 500 miles from home, and I'd like to get there before dark. Sitting around for several hours watching my car charge is not an option ... especially not when there is no handy outlet. Especially when there IS a friendly petrol/gas station where I can fill up and be back on the road with an empty bladder and clean lights and windows in under ten minutes.

Re: Carbon neutral

"Can I just point out that electric vehicles were around before the internal combustion engine was invented, and were pretty popular when the alternatives were horse and steam."

True. But the obvious benefits of the petrol/gas ICE system won out over the long haul. Those benefits have not gone away, nor have EV benefits improved very much, religious arguments notwithstanding.

Re: Carbon neutral

You do know that starting an engine is where the bulk of the wear occurs, right?

Re: Carbon neutral

2,000 orders. Wow. Sounds like a lot, eh?

The fleet of over-the-road Semis in the USA runs to around 2 million. Truckers in general are not exactly flocking to sign up for these things, for all kinds of reasons. Range being predominant. Projected Total Cost of Ownership being number two. Number three? Only 4 wheels. Not a lot of traction when hauling 80,000 lbs at 60MPH+ ... or driving from Reno to Sacramento in the rain. Number four? Skepticism about the weight of the battery pack eating into the payload. Etc.

The Tesla Semi is a showcase vehicle built by somebody who saw a Semi on the highway, once, but has no idea how they are used in RealLife. It won't sell, outside a few niches.

Re: Software Engineers

Good thing your nanny-state know exactly where you are, at every minute of the day, and what your habits are.

1984 wasn't fiction, it is an instruction manual.

Re: Carbon neutral

I take Clyde, the Percheron, and attached Buckboard to town fairly regularly.

Contrary to popular belief, one can still purchase a new buggy whip. Also please note that Clyde is Solar Powered and his emissions are fertilizer.

Re: ICE - still the way to go

"Where does the energy for distillation come from?"

The Sun.

I wonder what would happen if ...

... these very same people justifying Apple and Tesla retroactively reducing the capabilities of their already purchased products discovered their milkman in the Larder pulling the top 200ml out of each pint "because milk fat is bad for you".

Re: Carbon neutral

ICE vehicles are not complex. All they are is an air pump, when you boil it down to basics.

That's not jealousy. That's an attempt to explain science to the religious.

Re: ICE - still the way to go

Same here in the States. It's still cheaper to make your own. Initial installation and approval means jumping through hoops, and lots of t crossing and i dotting, but that's all a one-off. The quarterly paperwork is a bit of a pain the first couple times through, then it just becomes something you do, like any other tax forms.

Ah, yes.

The infamous Mother Jones article. Also known as Ralph Nader's attempt to make up for his complete fabrication of the "unsafe at any speed" Corvair myth. Unfortunately, he found yet another non-problem car to vilify. In all reality, the Ford Pinto was as safe, or safer, than every other car in it's class ... if somewhat uglier.

Perhaps the folks who like conspiracies would do well to investigate these two cases ... and ask themselves why they, just perhaps mind, should question the authority of a non-engineer making claims about the engineering aspects of vehicles ... especially when that person doesn't even care enough about the subject matter to ever bother acquiring a driver's license.

Re: Software Engineers

I go to pubs that accept money.

Re: Carbon neutral

Personally, I like to keep the AC compressor running at lights. Keeps the interior cool in the summer, and the windows de-fogged in the Winter.

Re: ICE - still the way to go

Running on (near) 100% Ethanol means you can turn up the boost and advance the timing a trifle. It is also easy to make at home, burns cleaner, and is more efficient than gas/petrol. It's also a renewable energy source. Not a lot to dislike about Ethanol as a motor vehicle fuel.

Re: Carbon neutral

"Why the fuck are you letting your car idle in neutral?"

You'll probably learn this bit of esoteric knowledge the first time you take a driving lesson.

Re: Stupid names

It's actually a rather small bit of rock, as such things go.

Here's a picture of it. ... The family portrait's also worth pondering.

Re: Oh come *on*...

"The performance of said 4-incher will be considerably improved by lubrication and a good mounting."

Not necessarily. I watched a guy use an aerosol lubricant on the pot-metal adjustment screws on the back of his 1960s Edmund Scientific 6 incher. Ruined the reflective surface ... on the bright side, re-silvering didn't cost very much.

_{Sorry, even HE doesn't know what he was thinking!}

Re: Stupid names

"Indeed. For millennia the moon was the only interesting thing to watch after sunset"

Of course. That's why all the visible planets are named after the Gods, and various other astronomical phenomena all have special places in myth and legend ...and yet Luna/Selene/et ali was usually named after a second-class, female goddess, usually the consort of the Sun.

"Maybe along with the "Blue Moon", which is an additional full moon in a year"

Actually, it was originally an extra full moon in any one calendar quarter. Today, since roughly the 1940s, it represents an extra full moon in any one month. Precise etymology unknown, but possibly originated in the fertile mind of the editor of the Maine Farmer's Almanac in the mid 1800s.

While I'm at it, the term "Super Moon" originated in Dell Publishing's "Horoscope" magazine in 1979. Now THIS one is truly a stupid name, for all kinds of reasons. Almost as stupid as the term "king tide".