Posts by jake

"the key is to keep the user in control which is something that companies are starting to fail to provide."

Starting? Where have you been these last thirty years or so?

Re: We did manage to raise eyebrows at Boots one time

Hopefully the plan wasn't to find out if they blend ...

Re: We did manage to raise eyebrows at Boots one time

Cable pulling lube and KY aren't interchangeable ... For one thing, KY is water based, and you probably don't want that in your electrical equipment. Horses for courses & all that.

As a side note, soap isn't a lubricant. It's a surfactant. You kiddies reading this might want to learn the difference before you do yourself an injury. Or worse, injure somebody else.

Re: Steady on

"not really so bad they'd veer off the road killing people?"

Well ... not unless the mounts for the steering box rust out completely.

I have friends who would intentionally purchase an old banger to register, insure, and then leave in that spot indefinitely just to make the point.

Re: To be fair..

When you haven't got a real musician on the payroll you just have to fake it.

Teslas run Linux, not DOS.

HTH

Re: most unreliable motor vehicles since the Austin Allegro

You gotta wonder at kids who think that 60 is "old" :-)

Re: Horse and buggy

It takes more than one or two horsepower to augment the battery when an EV is towing ... there are youtube videos on the horrors of towing with a Tesla.

Re: Horse and buggy

I wouldn't upset my horse by placing him in such an environment.

Re: Funny headline

Bacon is a vegetable, isn't it? I'm pretty sure Jacques Pépin said so, so it most be true.

Re: EVs = bad for planet, bad for poor people, bad for practicality

Can I tow with it? If so, what happens to the range?

How does it work on non-paved roads?

It's very overcast, and has been for a couple weeks. What's my range now?

Re: EVs = bad for planet, bad for poor people, bad for practicality

Many places in this world are prone to brownouts due to lack of enough electricity to go around. What do you think would happen in those areas should a decent percentage of cars require grid power?

As a side-note, here in California PG&E has taken to powering down the grid during high wind conditions. It would seem they are worried about sparking wildfires. Turns out that turning off the power is a hell of a lot cheaper than doing routine maintenance. Do you think your National Grid is not keeping a close eye on this money saving caper? (I have friends with Teslas who were without power for ten days straight last summer (Callistoga area). Lots of fun for them, I can tell you.)

Re: EVs = bad for planet, bad for poor people, bad for practicality

But you trust the propaganda advertising marketing of the agency charged with selling you on EVs?

Re: EVs = bad for planet, bad for poor people, bad for practicality

Regardless, it's not going to happen in the government mandated time provided.

Re: EVs = bad for planet, bad for poor people, bad for practicality

"Many routes that used to be relatively direct now need the passengers to go via the local hub to get to places."

I used public transportation in Blighty for almost a year. I found it made life much nicer to go via the local Pub to get to places.

Re: EVs = bad for planet, bad for poor people, bad for practicality

"Put it that way: do you need a car in a city?"

I just got off the horn to several friends who live in cities[0]. They are all very vocal public transportation advocates. They use it to get to work, grocery, medical, etc. All of them also have cars. I asked them a simple question: "Are you ready to give up your car?"

All of them very emphatically answered "No!". When asked why not, they all replied a variation on "I need it to get out of the city on weekends!". Not one of them. Not a couple of them. All ten of them. So that covers that.

[0] Santa Rosa, San Francisco, Redwood City, Fremont, San Jose, Sacramento, San Diego, Eureka, Fresno and Santa Barbara.

Re: EVs = bad for planet, bad for poor people, bad for practicality

And to get rid of most of the other 50%:

0) Online gaming

1) Advertising/Marketing

2) Gambling (including stock markets)

3) Bad driving videos

4) Other stupid human tricks

Re: If it was me...

The hint is in the OR portion of SORN ...

Re: If it was me...

ElReg does have AC accounts with unique identifiers. Mine is "jake".

Re: Charging

Some of us poke our noses outside a 15 to 20 mile radius.

For example, I routinely do the 680 mile round trip between Sonoma and Solvang in a day. If I don't run into too much traffic, it means about a dozen hours on the road[0][1]. Not a hell of a lot of time for recharging in there.

[0] Turnaround time for the drive isn't all that high ... The chill-chest is programmed to make sure the cryopreserved semen is up to temperature when I get there.

[1] I fly it if the distance/time is any further than this. It's a rough job, but somebody has to do it.

Re: Charging

"I have a weekend car in my garage that has soft iron valve seats so it doesn’t even like unleaded fuel. I’m considering having that converted to EV"

Far, far cheaper to have hardened valve seats installed. Increases the resale value of the car, too, unlike an electric conversion. While you're doing the head(s), look into installing new fuel system bits & bobs that will make conversion to alcohol easier.

Re: Strange terminology

"Well how do *you* level the output of your hamsters if not with gears?"

With a very small manually operated muck fork, of course. The newfangled geared versions only exist to separate Millennials and Hipsters from their money.

Let's face it ...

... who really needs the infrastructure you describe? I'll bet you a plugged nickel that all of them own their own infrastructure and wouldn't touch AWS (or any other so-called "cloud") with a ten foot pole.

I suspect that if I found an issue with APC's firmware, it would have been in acceptance testing, and it wouldn't have made it into production. Twice. There was no third time; I took APC off the approved vendor list.

Re: highlight the importance of using reliable tech

4a. Put them on before continuing. We wouldn't want any accidents.

Sinuses, Shirley.

_{Not to make a molehill out of a mountain, of course.}

Well, she's a Jersey, and a bit of a drama queen ...

Probably exactly the opposite of the specific ones. Human nature, innit.

Horsehocky.

See my post, above.

Re: Webcams?

"I am feeling slightly nauseous at the thought that people are reading this post naked."

Are you also one of those people who feel a need to be offended on behalf of others?

Re: Naked coding? Sounds Agile...

Never turning on the heat is a false savings ...

Proper insulation and a solar powered GSHP cost almost nothing to run, maintenance is nearly nil, and the entire house is a constant 70F (21C) 24/7/365.25 (bedrooms cooler at night) ... with no fuel or electricity costs whatsoever. The thing paid for itself in about fifteen years, and has been essentially free to operate ever since. (I do my own maintenance, not that there has been much. Filter changing and duct cleaning, mostly, and I had to replace a wire that a squirrel had gnawed through once.)

Re: "toiling away in the buff"

Yet another reason to live in Sonoma ... 75F (24C) here yesterday. Still picking summer squash, chilis and tomatoes. Went surfing the other day. Decided to have a look at Maverick's, but the break was MASSIVE ... I'm too old for that shit ... Went and pissed off Khosla by picnicking at Martin's Beach instead. Lovely day out :-)

Re: a "growing new interest in nude cleaning in British society"

Cleaning others is inefficient ... The Wife and I discovered years ago that showering together and "helping" takes a good deal longer than showering separately.