There's no mystery, really, to the climate change deniers. Many who voted for Trump are older in age. They won't be around long enough to experience the worst effects of climate change, so they basically don't care.

They care about abstract debt, though. At least they say they do.

Not to change the subject but many climate deniers I talk to name our federal debt as the #1 issue for the wellbeing of our country, not the environment, not climate change, nor greenhouse gases. Perhaps because it's been drilled into their heads by TV, radio and other news sources for years.

There are no wealthy interests doing the same for climate change, at least not nearly to the same extent.

I read a story about a dog who chewed through an EVSE cable. The dog was fine. The cable was toast, though.

The J1772 standard is rather safe, because no power is applied until a signal is detected. Moreover GFCI outlets are mandatory for applications where an EVSE would be installed.

I worry far more about a fire starting in my gas water heater than any kind of electrocution from my EVSE.

When (if) that day comes, the market will look completely different than it does today.

EVs now are expensive because they are new. You can't find them on the used market older than 5 years old.

You can't find _any_ cars on the used market less than 5 years old that don't cost thousands.

Even still, we bought a used 2012 Leaf for $8k. Not a lot of money. We aren't low income but we aren't rich, either.

I'm going to bet you've never driven a Volt. Bought mine for about $25k after incentives, which is a pretty common price for a new car, especially one as loaded with features as mine.

They really are quite nice to drive. Very quiet and smooth. Very low maintenance. Chevy probably has made a few cars in their 100+ years that could be considered a "pile of crap" but this is not one of them.

Also, I have a degree in math, and have made detailed calculations of my total cost of ownership. There are some assumptions baked in like future maintenance costs and electricity costs that can be difficult to predict, but at least electricity prices do not fluctuate nearly as wildly as gasoline does.

Let me guess--your boss drives a Tesla?

Teslas have required frequent maintenance because TMC is in the process of figuring out how to manufacture cars. If you buy a battery electric vehicle from an established maker you won't have these problems. My Volt and LEAF are both virtually maintenance free.

Should have also mentioned--most electric vehicles will never need a battery replacment. H2 vehicles on the other hand must have their tanks replaced due to regulations.

Hydrogen power is a dead end. Nearly all of it is derived from fossil fuels, there are too few stations, it is difficult to store and expensive to compress. It will be a market failure.

Get used to the electric future, it is coming.

Try that with their servers. Their Linux driver support is extremely lagging.

Even today if you download new drivers for an MD array, they bundle Java 6. Which was end of life over 3 years ago and is incapable of interoperating with modern TLS implementations. If you care about securing your systems and use Dell drivers, disable as much as you can and live by the CLI.

Let's set some ground rules for debate, m'kay?

"Spending on social programs is highly correlated with keeping people in poverty."

Do you have any evidence for this claim? Studies? Data? Facts?

The information I have shows a strong correlation to the opposite: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/The_Antipoverty_Effect_of_Government_Spending_Vector_Graph.svg

"...because we can print money..."

The government doesn't "print" money to spend, it issues currency. Printing presses and paper money exist these days to accommodate small transactions. When is the last time you bought a car with cash in hand? Or your employer paid you in cash?

I'm making a nit, but it's important to be precise with the terminology. Or you lose credibility.

"You don't understand economics."

Umm... you don't know me, nor what I read, or studied, or what my credentials are. You're making a broad assumption based on a Slashdot comment.

In general, if I don't feel qualified to post in Slashdot I stay quiet. I don't need to spread any more misinformation than there already is.

My statement about public spending is a verifiable fact. There is no theoretical bounds to spending given a fiat currency in the post Bretton Woods era. The gold standard is long gone.

"Is it any wonder the more we pay for welfare, the less likely people are to get off of welfare?"

You raise the example of welfare, which I did not. It is one possible type of social support among many. (Personally I favor the Job Guarantee--provide work to all those who cannot find work.)

To examine this issue in depth you need to look at the causes of poverty. If an individual is unemployed with no prospect for work, welfare can provide sustenance but without unemployment they may never escape from poverty. But if you provide work, public or private, you have a path to independence. For a single parent raising children without support (too common in this day and age), child care and education may be the key. However these have to be accessible, if not by private means, then through social support.

They don't change major version numbers, ever. New features may be patched in as long as the risk is minimal. That's what they call "major". Maybe they should have worded it "noteworthy changes" instead.

Unless you're running a desktop, who cares? My CentOS servers don't run Wayland, X, or any kind of graphical desktop.

PayPal didn't back off, the PCI Council did. The PCI DSS standard previously offered an exemption for existing sites that could not easily deprecate TLS 1.0 that was to expire June 2016. Now that has been extended 12 months, and PayPal is following suit.

Oh I'm worried about debt. I'm worried about my auto loan, though that will be paid off soon enough. I'm more worried about my children's student loans and the long-term impact on their finances (postponing retirement savings, home buying etc.)

Did you mean the "public debt"? I don't worry about that, I worry about politicians who use it as an excuse to cut social programs and ensure those who live in poverty remain in poverty. The US is a sovereign nation with a fiat currency. They literally issue currency to cover federal spending, and match it by issuing bonds on the open market to create the illusion they are "borrowing" to cover their spending.

In other words, the risk of the public debt to our grandchildren is no greater than the risk on our generation due to spending from the era our grandparents were alive (including massive spending during WWII which fostered a generation of prosperity).

It's bad enough our politicians and their paid economists start lies about the debt. It's worse when responsible citizens spread the lies.

Regardless, if Earth is too damaged to be inhabitable in 500 years, I think humans will have far greater worries on their hands than political boundaries. Stop fretting over the debt and who is in office, and work instead on FIXING THE PROBLEM.

Thank you.

Yes, it can. But then you no longer have a ZEV. You still have to worry about NOx emissions.