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Comment Damn (Score 1) 40

My latest vaccine shots had the 6G upgrade, to take advantage of the higher-speed web access when the networks upgrade, but if they're selling those frequencies to high-power carriers, then I won't be able to walk into any area that handles AT&T or Verizon. :P

Seriously, this will totally wreck the 6G/WiFi6 specification, utterly ruin the planned 7G/WiFi7 update, and cause no end of problems to those already using WiFi6 equipment - basically, people with working gear may well find their hardware simply no longer operates, which is really NOT what no vendor or customer wants to hear. Vendors with existing gear will need to do a recall, which won't be popular, and the replacement products simply aren't going to do even a fraction as well as the customers were promised - which, again, won't go down well. And it won't be the politicians who get the blame, despite it being the politicians who are at fault.

Comment Re:Resonate with customers (Score 1) 78

This was a pre-emissions model (the car wasn't new when I got it). The only pollution control I remember it having was a PCV valve. After adjusting net vs gross HP, the 5.7L engine was rated for similar power as my current (non turbo) 2.5L. It also probably burned through 2.5X the fuel, and produced orders of magnitude more smog.

The new car is probably heavier, but I assume that a wider power band and more efficient transmission give my current car the overall edge in performance specs. The old car probably had better bottom-end torque, so it could do burnouts easier. That, along with the loud noise, rattling chassis and very scary handling characteristics probably made it feel faster than the current car, but that's nothing but psychology.

Comment Re:This is the way. (Score 1) 127

Diminished maybe, but not all that much.

I think we can reasonably assume that if there's a huge blackout, it won't last forever. A lot of smart people will work hard on getting things up and running again. A few years ago in the USA it lasted for a bit longer, what was it, a week or two? Recently in Spain it lasted a few days. But all those power stations and power grid operators don't just shrug and go home. So getting through those days is probably all it takes for any reasonably realistic scenario.

And you can build things up piecewise. I've got my solar now. The next thing will be a battery. Once I have that, I can think about an electric car.

Comment Re:Imagine explaining solar (Score 2) 127

And most humans donâ(TM)t work at night either, making addressing that demand a bit easier.

I've recently started looking at my power consumption on a 15-minute graph, and it turns out that power usage isn't all that much less during the night. In fact, at times it is higher because all the lights are turned up. But even at night, there's the fridge and freezer, the house electronics, security cameras, etc.

Turns out the stuff I need for work - a notebook and an external screen - barely register.

Comment Re:This is the way. (Score 2) 127

You are totally wrong.

I've installed a really small solar array and on sunny days I produce more electricity than I use. I'm sure it'll be a lot less in winter. BUT - I have a wood-burning heater which needs only a bit of electrical power for its control system. I'm pretty sure I can produce enough of that even in winter. So in theory, with the addition of a battery to cover the night, I could survive even if the power grid went down for an extended time.

Solar as a provider of independence doesn't mean everything needs to run on solar. Sometimes, it's just an enabler for another system.

Comment "A" I ? (Score 1) 57

So, in a nutshell, AI runs the risk of creating unrealistic relationship expectations and simulate perfection? No way. That's a completely new thing in the world. Romance novels, movies, gold diggers or marriage swindlers or just, frankly, a whole lot of ordinary people into "presenting themselves" in order to "score" a good catch, rather than being authentic and looking for a good match - I'm sure all of these things are hypothetical, don't already do essentially the same thing just with a lot less processing power, and cause the same issues.

But hey, this one has "AI" in it, so hype!

Comment Re:Speed it up! (Score 2) 11

Where did I say I was expecting similar performance? But Python is slow even for an interpreted language especially given its usually compiled to bytecode first. I would expect similar performance to Java , not run at approx 1/100th the speed of compiled C!

1/100 the speed of compiled languages is typical for interpreted languages.

Non-ancient implementations of Java are fully compiled. Toy benchmarks and Java programs carefully written as if there were no automatic memory management (and don't call standard libraries) can run just as fast ac C code.

Java can't directly support features that depend on dynamic typing and similar flexible run-time behavior that interpreted languages. However, many Java developers sorely miss those features, so they heavily use the reflection APIs and various "beans" frameworks to work around the pre-compilable static typing. This can actually end up running *slower* than Python because many of those Java features are dog slow.

You can already get implementations of Python that do JIT compiling like Java. They often run in the ballpark of about 1/10 the speed of C.

Comment Re:A significant reason I bought an electric car (Score 1) 363

Was to to have a way decouple from the petroleum supply chain and its volatility. An electric car coupled with rooftop solar and suitable battery storage is a good way to declare your energy independence.

This. I've started with solar. Now that in good weather I produce more than I consume, I'm thinking about adding storage next. Once you have solar power with storage, an EV or at least a plug-in hybrid becomes a logical next step.

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