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Comment Re:Actually doing it is harder than writing a rule (Score 1) 120

> The states ABSOLUTELY have to rezone things

They absolutely do not. Would be nice if they did, maybe, but the chargers usually get installed on private property and, other than local building permits, requires no government intervention. Even on government property there's no need for the government to get involved beyond giving permission (via a contract.)

> because while we pretend that private companies do that stuff, in effect they are government-sanctioned monopolies

They are still private companies and the state cannot compel them to build anything. To the extent there is any state control, it's almost entirely economic. They are not operated or managed by the government, only regulated.

> I'm pretty sure a charging station needs to sit on land, no? Who buys it?

Nobody necessarily needs to buy any land; If it's private property, then it's up to the owner to install the chargers. If it's public property, the the government that owns that land will put out an RFP and contract out the development of that infrastructure to a private company. Now, is it possible that some private company would seek to purchase property explicitly for this purpose? Sure, I guess, but that's usually a poor business strategy compared to piggybacking off of an existing business and cutting a deal with the existing owner. EV chargers by themselves are not much of a business.

> Quite often where there are private companies actually involved

If by "quite often" you mean "always" then yes.

> RFQ

RFP. Request for proposal. Assuming the construction is the state's responsibility at all instead of just offering cash incentives to private developers, they will seek a turnkey solution from a vendor who can coordinate everything from groundbreaking to ribbon cutting, then contract the maintenance as well. States generally do not have the excess manpower sitting around to do that work on top of the other charter-obligated responsibilities they're already underfunded to do. Source: It's in the fucking article and the underlying law that they bid out the work. (See subsections starting at "[[Page 135 STAT. 550]]").

"An eligible entity receiving a grant under this subsection shall only use the funds in accordance with this paragraph to contract with a private entity for acquisition and installation of publicly accessible electric vehicle charging infrastructure ..."

In other words, the government, tribe, territory etc. that gets the funding is obliged to hire someone who knows what the fuck they're doing to install and maintain everything. The government's involvement is essentially limited to outlining approximately where the stations should be located and explaining to the feds how their plan complies with the requirements to get the money.
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Comment Re:Three docs that were (Score -1, Flamebait) 350

> For the FDA to imply that ivermectin wasn't safe for human use when they had approved it to be, they should have been sued.

They were saying to stop eating veterinary ivermectin sold as a dewormer.

There's a world of difference between a doctor prescribing a human-formulated drug for off-label use and eating tablets or paste you bought at the local Tractor Supply intended for livestock.
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Comment Re:Are chargers compatible with any brand? (Score 1) 120

I doubt whether there was ever much chance of a worldwide unified standard. The CCS Type 2 special trick is support for 3-phase AC, which is more available to European residential buildings. Meanwhile, Japan and China are (supposedly) transitioning to ChaoJi, which is also known as CHAdeMO 3.0 but has a completely different plug from existing CHAdeMO. If I understand correctly, ChaoJi re-uses the same pins for AC and DC power much like the Supercharger/NACS plug and should provide similar benefits.

Comment Re:Are chargers compatible with any brand? (Score 2) 120

> For instance, can a Tesla super charger charge a BMW or GM EV and vice versa?

This isn't an issue in Europe; The EU had the sense to force Tesla to use the CCS2 standard before they became entrenched with their proprietary connector and protocol. All EVs in Europe use CCS2 so you can use any charger from any brand no problem.

In North America, Tesla is opening up their network to other manufacturers and other manufacturers are gearing up to have their vehicles use the J3400 connector. Ford and Rivian owners already have access to the Tesla network via adapters. Everyone else is expected to follow in turn. In the coming years all vehicles sold in NA will have the J3400 port. The caveat is older Tesla stations that use the old protocol need to be physically replaced with compatible hardware, so it's still not 100%. Yay "free market!"

If you drive a Tesla, you can use every charger out there with an adapter.

Worth noting that this is only possible because the EU forced Tesla to use CCS2, which is identical to CCS1 except for the physical connector, so all Tesla vehicles produced after late 2020 already use the underlying GreenPHY protocol that connects vehicle to charger. Not only does this mean all vehicles are physically compatible with both networks via adapter, but it actually makes V2X possible for Teslas if they ever get off their ass and implement it.
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Comment Re:Are chargers compatible with any brand? (Score 2) 120

The short and simple answer: Here in America (where the article is referent to) we're starting to get that problem sorted, but give it another few years.

The more detailed answer: CHAdeMO (used mostly by the Nissan Leaf) is in service but getting phased out. CCS Type 1 (not compatible with CCS Type 2 used in Europe!) was the official standard for cars that weren't Tesla or Nissan, until everyone decided to bail on it and switch to NACS. So CCS Type 1 will soon be on the way out, but that's going to take A While (as of today brand new CCS Type 1 cars are still being produced and sold). NACS is semi-compatible with the older Tesla Supercharger standard—meaning that newer Supercharger stations support NACS as well as legacy Teslas, but older Supercharger stations don't support newer non-Tesla NACS cars, and NACS chargers from companies other than Tesla won't support older Tesla cars.

Also there will be adapters. Adapters for everyone, yay!

Comment Re:Gateway Pundit, seriously? (Score 1) 214

Let's set aside that FOX News - which is only one part of News Corp owned and operated by Rupert Murdoch (see my last post) - boasts viewerships roughly equal to CNN and MSNBC combined which undermines your argument quite substantially...

CNN is not left. At least, nobody left of center considers them left... they have been carrying a lot of water for the Republicans over the past decade in a cynical attempt to appear more "balanced" which actually tanked their reputation.

If you're going to include ABC, NBC and CBS then you'll need to include Newsmax, Infowars, OANN and Blaze because those all exist and they are all comparable in terms of reach and actually larger in terms of influence. Basically you're confusing number of outlets for influence of those outlets, while simultaneously ignoring just how many right and far-right outlets there are. You also ignore how virtually all right-wing media is centrally controlled by a handful of individuals (again, see my previous post), meaning they are more coordinated in their attempt to warp your perception of reality and push their agendas.

So the only issue I see here is you apparently need to lie to make your point (as right-wingers are wont to do)... which consequently means you do not have a point.
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Comment Re:Gateway Pundit, seriously? (Score 1) 214

> could that be because the left runs the media?

What "Left" runs the media? Rupert Murdoch owns like half the newspapers and new media companies on the planet. Sinclair Broadcasting probably owns your local TV news station(s). Go ahead and block Sinclair scripts from your web browser and see how many news sites stop working. Conservative to far-right talk shows dominate broadcast radio and podcasts in ratings.

What left-run media are you talking about? That's a real question.

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Comment And so... (Score 1) 14

...the ouroboros of AI fuckwittery has finally caught its own tail. "Garbage In, Garbage Out" applied recursively.

People who use AI to write science papers will use this detection tool to refine their methods to avoid detection, which of course will require tweaks to this tool to detect the improved AI written papers. Repeat ad nauseam.

And nothing of value was created.
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Comment Re:So did Tesla Motors lie... (Score 1) 214

The issue appears to be collision repair costs. This is probably in large part to Teslas use a lot of aluminum which is harder to repair, so body components are more likely to be swapped out entirely rather than be hammered back into shape.

I have to wonder if reluctance of repair shops to work with EVs thanks to all the fear mongering is also a factor, though you'd think Hertz would have enough clout to work around that.
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Comment Re:Gateway Pundit, seriously? (Score 0) 214

I don't want to imply causation, but there is an overwhelmingly strong correlation between "right wing" media and lies, sensationalism, and defamation. It's at the point where assuming the two are synonymous is going to be more often correct than not.

It's not too difficult to find "left wing" media that is equally untrustworthy, but for whatever reason it never gets the mainstream traction that "right wing" disinformation enjoys... and you very rarely find anyone on public message board and forums tripping over themselves to defend it.

> and keep the same narative. If it doesn't, then it is clearly misinformation

Well, when the "narrative" in question is objective reality then yes, anything that doesn't "keep the same narrative" is indeed misinformation... and when a particular source has developed a reputation for misrepresenting the facts then it's fair to be critical of it, is it not?
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Comment Re:Streisand effect, of sorts (Score 0) 428

> If you want to sell sneakers, remember that Republicans buy sneakers too. So best not to try to attach a political valence to tour product.

Hey, remember when Nike made a deal with Kaepernick for their ad campaign? Remember when Republicans lost their god damn minds and started shredding/burning their Nike branded athletic wear in protest? Nike's net worth increased like $6 billion dollars as a result. So maybe it is best to try and attach a political valance to your product. Apparently making conservatives throw fits of impotent rage is very profitable!

> Similarly, there'd probably be a lot more liberals who have a gun in the house if the NRA hadn't attached itself to the Republicans so tightly.

Oh dear sweet summer child... liberals own guns too. Lots of guns. We just don't fetishize them like conservatives do because we're not desperately trying to convince ourselves we're worthy as human beings.
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Comment Re:Excellent Illustration (Score 1) 64

> Rather like the way light can appear to be either particles or waves depending on how you measure it?

No. As in we literally get different answers depending on the method used.

One method of measuring distances is to use objects in other galaxies that have a known brightness, like a specific type of star or supernova. By comparing the observed brightness to what we know it should be, we can determine how far away it is. Combine that with a phenomena called red shift (the doppler effect applied to electromagnetic waves due to the universe expanding) and we calculate the rate of expansion of the universe.

The other method is to use the cosmic microwave background. We have a detailed "map" of the early universe's structure, and we can use that to mathematically model and calculate what the structure of the universe should look like. We refine the model to make it match the universe as we actually see it. That model includes how fast the universe is expanding, so that's one of the things we indirectly measure using this method.

As of about ten years ago, these two methods gave essentially the same result. As our methods improved, however, the results started to diverge... and now it's at the point where the difference between the results as so different they can't be explained by errors in measurements alone. The harder we try to check and verify either method, the more confident we are that either method is correct, but the more divergent the results become.

This means something, somewhere, is wrong. Nobody knows what it is yet, but there's a lot of things to verify and some theories to test yet.
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