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Comment Re:Congratulations! (Score 1) 37

New Glenn is about the same capacity as Falcon Heavy, maybe a touch less, both with full reuse. But SpaceX has also demonstrated recovering Super Heavy, which is a LOT bigger. You could pretty easily slap an expendable second stage on Super Heavy and the highest launch capacity ever.

If my conversions of crazy American units are correct you could stick an entire fueled New Glenn on top of Super Heavy and launch it.

Comment This does sound like a good plan (Score 1) 7

Anybody else ever play You Don't Know Jack with three other people? I think that was the first really clean and comprehensible party quiz game, and a YDKJ title seems like it would be a good fit here.

Pretty much any cellphone can now do a decent imitation of a Wiimote (besides the sensors, you could also use camera data) and it would also be hilarious to see people accidentally chuck their phones across the room while bowling.

Comment Re:Obvious questions (Score 1) 59

It doesn't seem likely. The AI companies would have you believe that more compute equals smarter but they're already hitting dimishing returns pretty hard.

That's almost beside the point though. Railway and fiber companies built out more infrastructure than was immediately useful but then a bunch went broke and the survivors concentrated on making a profit. The big AI companies are in that first phase where they're trying to build stuff faster than everyone else. Next inevitably comes the part where they try and actually make a profit. If that involves ever more intensive investment then great, we've got a new industrial revolution, just like your semiconductor example.

Comment Re: A waitlist? (Score 1) 38

Marketing say so! They would never lie.

Mozilla keeps thinking that they can make Firefox popular without the nerds somehow. But all the shit that makes it better than other browsers is nerd shit, so they need nerds to advocate for it, teach other users how to use those features, etc. Meanwhile they seem to actually be trying to alienate us. Just like in the movie, here it the pulse, and here is their finger, far from the pulse, jammed up their ass. Pretzel?

Comment Re:Flying Car? (Score 2) 30

You are correct, they absolutely, positively do not have a flying car. They have a drone that comes out of a cybervan. And it's six-wheeled to boot, which would be cool in an off road vehicle but absolutely sucks on pavement. I did not bother to look up whether it has rear steering because IDGAF about it even if it does, even though that would be kind of neat. The rest of it is dumb.

Comment Re:What about top speed? (Score 1) 83

Also, the only realistic way to create a true "unintended acceleration" without pedal misapplication is something getting stuck in the pedal or the pedal getting stuck down

I see you didn't read the Toyota unintended acceleration report by the Barr Group, and have nothing of value to add to this conversation.

Comment Re:What about top speed? (Score 3, Insightful) 83

Nearly every time they investigate, the person mixed up the pedal and the brake. When the car starts accelerating, in their panic they push said "brake" (actually the pedal) harder, and keep pushing it to the floor trying to stop the car.

Then these people shouldn't be driving. If they are unable to put their foot on the correct pedal, what else aren't they doing?

The demise of the sitck shift rears its head again.

Comment Re:What about top speed? (Score 1) 83

Also, the only realistic way to create a true "unintended acceleration" without pedal misapplication is something getting stuck in the pedal or the pedal getting stuck down, which is not actually a subtle thing (again, these things have happened, but they're dwarfed by how often people hit the wrong pedal). Just sensor readings alone don't cut it. As a general rule, pedals have multiple sensors reading the pedal position (typically 2-3). They have to agree with each other, or the target acceleration is set to zero. A sensor failure doesn't cut it. Also, Hall-effect sensors are highly reliable.

Oh, and there's one more "failure mechanism" which should be mentioned, which is: creep. Some EVs are set to creep or have creep modes, to mimic how an ICE vehicle creeps forward when one lifts their foot off the brakes. If someone forgets they have this on, it can lead to "unintended acceleration" reports. There have been cases where for example the driver gets in an accident, but not intense enough to trigger the accident sensors, and the car keeps "trying to drive" after the accident (aka, creep is engaged). People really should not engage creep mode, IMHO - the fact that ICEs creep forward is a bug, not a feature.

Comment Re:What about top speed? (Score 4, Informative) 83

All the person in these "runaways" had to do was lift their foot off the accelerator. Or even leave their foot on the accelerator and just press the brakes, as the brakes can overpower the motor (think of how fast you accelerate when you slam on the pedal at highway speeds vs. how fast you slow down when you slam on the brakes).

Regulatory agencies the world over are constantly getting reports of "runaway unintended acceleration". Nearly every time they investigate, the person mixed up the pedal and the brake. When the car starts accelerating, in their panic they push said "brake" (actually the pedal) harder, and keep pushing it to the floor trying to stop the car. In their panic, people almost never reevaluate whether they're actually pushing the right pedal. It's particularly common among the elderly and the inebriated, and represents 16 thousand crashes per year in the US alone.

If your car starts accelerating when you're "braking", get out of your panic, lift your foot up, then make sure you *actually* put it on the brake, and you'll be fine.

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