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Comment Re:Really? (Score 1) 517

As it was explained to me by the engineering dept. at SoCalEdison, the more power I use, the more it costs them, so they'd rather I used less, and if I used none at all that would be perfect.

Incidentally Sam's Club has started putting little wind generators on the lampposts in their parking lots. Manager at the one I frequented in SoCal told me this had already dropped their power bill by 5%, which is significant if you're in retail (even bulk-wholesale-priced retail).

Comment Re:C=128 (Score 1) 167

In later models, i.e. well after the 6502 was obsolete for general purpose computers, there was an 8 register that you could set to change which page was regarded as zero page. If that had been available from the start, it would have saved me a lot of time looking for locations that didn't zap the MS Basic interpreter on our Commodore PET. I seem to remember that the floating point accumulators were considered the best bet.

Comment Re:6502 to Z80 work per clock ratio (Score 1) 167

The 6502 had special addressing modes for accessing the bottom 256 bytes of memory. Addresses in both the 6502 and Z80 were 16 bit, thus taking two read cycles to get a whole address into the CPU so that you could then get the content at the address. However, with the 6502, "zero page" addresses could be read in one read cycle. Not only that, but pairs of zero page locations could be used for indirect addressing. They could be treated as a set of (slow) address registers.

When I first came actress the Z80 after having programmed the 6502 for a while (as a hobbyist), I was quite shocked at how all over the place its design appeared to be and I actually found it a little harder to program at first because there was more to learn in order to use the CPU effectively.

Comment Re:Rent a Tesla for $1 (Score 0) 335

While I agree that not allowing the test drives is stupid, the whole dealer thing was to protect the consumer from purchasing a vehicle and not having any support for it. If the dealer requirement is removed so direct sells are allowed, expect an influx of inexpensive vehicles from SE Asia with no means of warranty repair or service. Yes, buyer be ware, but really, is it a good idea for the masses to be purchasing vehicles from Amazon?

I just popped in to find the token looney leftist who would inevitably show up to explain that anti-competitive crony "regulation" laws are really there to help the consumer.

Looks like Dcnjoe60 won....

Comment Re:LEDs should be date stamped (Score 1) 602

I've had CFLs all over the map too, from with lifespan in months to over a decade. When they fail, first they get dim, and at that point the transformer is also getting too hot. I pitch them then as a fire hazard (I've had 'em seriously brown the lamp socket).

On thinking about it, tho, CFL and incandescent lifespan was about the same in a given fixture or socket. I put one of each in several fixtures (both open and enclosed, some old, some new), and in the 13 years I owned the house, not a one of those burned out. Conversely anything I put in the open porch socket burned out in a few months, regardless of the season. The large open desk lamps, always in 3 to 5 years. How much a given light was used didn't seem to be a factor.

Comment Re:Its not the CFL/LED (Score 1) 602

I've found that the first symptom that the transformer is going bad (without going around burning my fingers on 'em) is that the CFL gets dimmer. Without fail, those have overheating transformers.

I've had 'em last anywhere from a few months to over 12 years. Perhaps significant, incandescent lifespan was similar in the same sockets.

Comment Re:Oh good (Score 1) 907

There's a guy north of Los Angeles who did that with junk property -- sold it over and over with owner financing, and the expectation that the buyer would default. Last I heard he'd sold the same junk lot five times and made way more than he had in it.

Comment Re:Oh good (Score 1) 907

Back in the ancient times of carburetors, the way most Fords came from the factory, they'd start easy but stall when idling. If you fixed that, they'd idle good but would take two tries to start. (Which I found preferable to having to restart in traffic.)

I like your solution, with the warning light and delayed disable. I'll bet these lenders' liability insurers would prefer it too.

Comment Re:Oh good (Score 1) 907

Just for comparison with the cost of a monthly loan payment, I figured out that major maintenance on my old truck averages around $700 every three years. This includes stuff like having the engine and transmission rebuilt.

OTOH, liability insurance (at best rates) over the lifetime of the truck has so far come to four times what I paid for the truck brand new, in 1978.

Comment Re:Don't stop there (Score 1) 410

That's a damn good point. How is a kid to learn to think critically about a controversial topic if all he learns is that studying an unpopular or discredited viewpoint (which is to say, reading one of these books) gets him punished? That might create a radical, but it won't create a critical thinker.

Comment Re:In school: BAN EVERYTHING outside public domain (Score 1) 410

I think the AC makes a good point, in that if schools stuck to public domain works for teaching purposes, there'd be more teaching and less pushing of modern agendas.

But teachers could make better choices regardless. A lot of the novels we had to study in junior high onward were, bluntly, dull. That does nothing to encourage kids to read. There are plenty of classics that would attract young readers, if only they knew they existed. Why must it be The Scarlet Letter? why not Scaramouche, which is at least a fun read? or if you want symbolism and social themes, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, where at least something happens to keep young minds attentive (I read it when I was 12, so it couldn't be too bad for that). My 8th grade teacher understood this, which was why our studied classic was The Scarlet Pimpernel.

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