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Comment Re:Ok... Actual truck owner's opinion.... (Score 0) 146

175hp / 131KW to maintain 65mph with the trailer seems quite a lot.. how big is this thing?

It takes about 25hp for a car to cruise at highway speeds. In the US a big TT is 8 feet wide (possibly less a few inches) and around 11-12 feet tall. The overall height including the crap on top like a satellite dish has to fit under 13'6" to be sure it can clear "all" overpasses, this is the national standard. The front of it is sometimes up to 13' and just doesn't have anything sticking up on top of that part, especially in a 5er. Plus you've got a lumpy truck in front of it, and space between them, and the back is just a big flat rectangle with a square box bumper sticking out from it so you're pulling a big vacuum.

Comment Re:full-size electric pickup (Score 0) 146

The F150 was always a full sized truck. The early F100 was a smaller pickup, but even it got up to full sized by the end of the run. Originally the Ranger was just a model of F150, then they made a smaller Ranger pickup which wasn't based on it.

The modern F150 isn't much bigger except that it's longer, because people didn't respond well to the shorter hood. There are multiple possible reasons for this. I have personally heard people complain about the appearance. I have personally worked on a short hood F150 and it's fucking nightmare doing engine work, so I sure wouldn't buy another one.

What I want, but I doubt that a) it would sell or b) you could make it meet crash standards, is something like the old Jeep FC (Forward Control) pickups. Sitting in front of the front axle is weird, but you do get used to it. We have a diesel pusher bus, I've only driven it a handful of times, and I'm almost used to it already — and you sit literally multiple feet further forwards in there. ("First to the scene of the accident", they say.) Cabovers are much shorter, and if they have a tilting cab, also much easier to work on. A big part of the problem with a truck with a useful ("long") bed is the length, it's hard to parallel park it anywhere.

Comment Re: What exactly is "Steam" anyway? (Score 0) 157

For people who like Windows for whatever reason, it makes some sense. It's gotten expensive to upgrade PCs, if you put in much more GPU then you probably need a new power supply for example, and most people will never upgrade their CPU. But it makes sense for people to want their game console to be able to do PC stuff, so they don't need a separate PC. In particular it could be a reasonable option for students, who will often be required to run a bunch of Windows software anyway.

For me it makes none, because the machine will be surely locked down hard, and I don't want anything I can't run Linux on when I get tired of using it for its intended purpose.

Comment Re: What exactly is "Steam" anyway? (Score 1) 157

I've been hearing rumors about the next Xbox functioning more like a PC. I don't know if that's wishful thinking bullshit or what but it could be a clever way to shoehorn Windows back into some people's lives that would otherwise switch to Linux at least for non-gaming purposes. There's lots of people out there who use a cheap PC to do PC stuff, and game mostly on console.

Comment Re:Princess Bride (Score 1) 157

I prefer GOG because you get an offline installer that you can keep forever.

It's not difficult to back up all the pieces and parts of a game installed in Steam on Linux. If it's a Linux game then everything will be contained within some Steam data directory, except probably your save files. If it's a Windows game, everything is absolutely in a small number of well-understood directories, including the runtime. Better yet, most of those are happy to run without Steam, except of course for notable examples which use it for something.

None of this is meant to crap on offline installers, which are great. If I can get the same game for around the same price on GOG or Steam, I choose GOG.

Comment Re:Google is Awful Already (Score 1) 91

For some reason the US seems to have really bad map data.

Recent US Census map data is fairly decent. OSM is generally quite good here now also. But I do think there are certain classes of road which are generally only updated occasionally at the federal level if municipalities do not self-report changes.

Comment Re:Was this relevant to the theft? (Score 1) 85

Has it been determined whether the IT situation was related to the theft that occurred?

If their IT security was this halfassed, then their physical security probably was too. They could have solved the IT security problem by hiring someone competent to do an audit, and then follow their recommendations. They obviously skipped at least one of those steps. That kind of sloppiness doesn't occur in just one area, it has to be systematic.

Comment Re:Google is Awful Already (Score 1) 91

Google does generate some of its own data, from satellite imagery and Street View images, but it has to rely on third parties for some stuff too

Google used to tell me to drive up someone's driveway and take a bridge that didn't exist in Kelseyville CA. What's frustrating about this is that one of their street view cars had passed by that driveway, so they had enough information to know that it wasn't a valid route, but they didn't bother to process it in that way and kept recommending a route that didn't exist and which would have saved maybe one minute if it had.

Google spent a lot of money gathering the data it needs to dramatically improve their routing information, but doesn't bother to do so.

Comment Re:They dont care about debris (Score 0) 29

(The climate change industry) has proven time and time again they don't care enough to mitigate the debris they create. From lithium batteries

Lithium batteries are extremely recyclable.

to massive growth and production,

Of what?

their actions speak louder than their weasel words.

What about your missing words?

Americans used to ruin the US just because it was cheaper

???

You need an editor even more than Slashdot.

Comment Re:What exactly is "Steam" anyway? (Score 1) 157

I only use Steam (The software, as opposed to the store, which can be used through the web) because I'm forced to do so. I'd rather not. While it's possibly the least crap of the game store apps, it's still crap. It shouldn't even have a browser in it. It should be calling out to your browser. AFAICT the Steam updates still don't resume if the download is interrupted, which is weird AF to say the least. This isn't a problem on a healthy modern connection but if your connection is flaky then you can't even get Steam installed, or updated. Game downloads resume so once you get it installed you can do game updates over even a poor connection, but not a Steam update.

Comment Re: I'd love to use GOG more (Score 2) 157

I buy games on Steam and then do all this stuff to make them work better on Linux. But I also buy games on GOG. And I have games on Epic and EA too, and Lutris does all those too.

I initially got ProtonUp-Qt specifically for use with Steam, because it is the best (easiest) way to install steamtinkerlaunch.

Comment Re:What exactly is "Steam" anyway? (Score 1) 157

Steam is definitely not literally a monopoly. Most people don't seem to know either of the most important things about monopolies, which is 1) what one is and 2) that it's not necessarily relevant whether they are, because antitrust doesn't require a monopoly. It only means you're abusing a somehow dominant position in a market.

With that said, I've been using Steam for a lot of years. I've had many technical problems with it, but I'm not aware of any way in which they are abusing their position. I haven't exactly been looking for this information either, though, and I do see that the article mentions a lawsuit I seem to remember something about.

I think 30% is a lot, but I don't think Steam is really doing anything to prevent anyone from releasing anything else anywhere. They also allow a whole lot of content that is frankly surprising for a mainstream game site, they are ultra-liberal about permitting whatever and I think that's pretty amazing. I do worry about the whole thing packing up one day, but that's a whole other discussion. Are there really any complaints about Valve that have legs?

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