This is what we had installed back in 2019 and don't regret it at all. They put 714 feet worth of pipe under the ground (two bore holes) which runs through the foundation to the heat pump. When its 100 we have no problem keeping the house around 70 and when its -10 we keep the house around 68 without issue. Definitely don't miss oil and natural gas.

Any user who had to endure the "quirks" of IE will happily dance on its tomb.

But what will clueless corporate IT drones now mandate? What is the most annoying, buggy browser around now that IE is no more?

I've been remote for around 8 years now with occasional travel to an office. I wouldn't trade it for anything other than a massive increase in salary. Not that it matters since my nearest office is 5 hours away in a different country.

The company I work for (software, about 500 employees) is taking an "if you want to" approach. Offices are opening, they'd like to see people but no plan to force people back. Considering that over the last 8 years we migrated heavily from a must be in office policy to almost 50% remote (including vps) it makes sense. I want to say maybe 5 years ago the company did surveys at each branch about satisfaction. Most offices ranged from 55% to 65% satisfied. They had remote do this I guess to not have us left out but the results ended up being something like 92% of remote employees were satisfied.

Kids aren't stupid. If it shuts down every day from 12 - 3 they aren't going to consider it magic.

It absolutely is the case in most civilized states. Parent poster is being overly dramatic.

Username checks out.

Also... agreed although I'm not at risk of going back to an office being that the nearest one is 5 hours away and in a different country.

I'm in NY and schools have been open although with various configurations depending on the school and local cases. My youngest has been in school every day since September with only two closings due to cases. My oldest has been full remote but could go in a hybrid option if we wanted.

Maybe I've played too much KSP but with the amount of hardware spread out over the solar system why do we not have a large dish in Earth orbit to act as a relay to the ground?

This is an age-old question. Engineers always seem to be hard-pressed to explain what they are doing all day long.

This can lead to problems when the people asking the question are non-technical AND have the power to defund projects or departments they don't understand.

My favorite comic strip on the topic (oldie but goldie): http://revoltingregulations.bl...

Take my neighbor. He retired. He has a very small social security, some stock that has declined sharply, and a sizeable savings account that produces currently almost no interest.

How exactly could that person spend his money on "durable and valuable goods"? What kind of goods, and how will he still be able to pay the bills?

The elderly would be the first victims of such a stupid policy, just like inflation victimized them in the 70s.

Who says individuals don't get charged? That's the whole point of negative-interest rate policies. Bank accounts above a certain amount are already charged negative interest in Switzerland, for example.

As for Japan, there is currently a quiet run on banks due to negative interest. Japanese people hoard cash and buy safes.

Of course it will backfire. People will have to save more fore retirement since they cannot count on positive interest to produce gains. Hence consumption and growth will decrease further.

That's why these bozos want to ban most cash. They don't want you to withdraw your cash when the negative interest policy hits.