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Comment Re:What happens to other MD11 pilots? (Score 1) 39

Don't pilots usually train and certify on just one type of aircraft?

Absolutely not. In fact before you even get to flying larger aircraft you're certified to fly smaller ones without even considering that multiple different certifications are done in parallel since pilots do not always fly just one aircraft. It's not many, but it's usually more than one.

Comment Re:Diesel cargo ship? (Score 1) 45

Bunker fuel isn't a fuel. It's a name for a different set of fuels that ships use. Among those is Heavy Fuel Oil (which is effectively banned now), Marine Fuel Oil (what you are talking about, a low sulphur and slightly lighter variant of HFO), and ... Marine Diesel Oil (actual diesel which all container ships need to run on when they get close to port because you haven't been allowed to burn HFO or MFO anywhere near populated areas for a long time now.

And while it certainly used to be sludge that is left over, these days there are increasingly tighter restrictions on what MFO can contain, and it is very much starting to look more and more like diesel in composition (the last decade or so many refineries have focused on equipment upgrades precisely because they would no longer be able to sell their sludge to the shipping industry).

It's not incorrect to call these ships diesel powered. In fact for some of their journey the only difference between what they put in their engines and what you put in yours is the colour (colour denoting that the fuel was exempt from local taxes and may only be used for marine purposes)

Comment Re:"despite damage to one of its sails" (Score 1) 45

It uses "semi-rigid sails" and from the photo I can see they are whoppers, far too large for manual operation. Probably they are managed with hydraulic or electric actuators and it looks like they are on swiveling platforms.

Not just that the masts are fully hydraulically operated, the masts are tiltable to 70 degree angle so that the ship too so that the ship which normally stands 90m tall can get under bridges or other infrastructure with only 42m height.

When the masts are tilted it looks WEIRD. https://www.neoline.eu/en/why-...

Comment Re:how did it take us THIS long? (Score 1) 45

It's amazing to see that we're only just now discovering we can use the power of wind to move boats around!

You make it seem like we were able to do this easily before rather than acknowledging the engineering feat this is. Here's some comparison for you:

The Neoliner Origin is the longest cargo sail ship ever made, 20m longer than the France II, it has a taller main mast *which is retractable so it can maneuverer under bridges*, and has 25% more cargo capacity than the France II as well. There's a lot of engineering involved in getting something that big to move around flexibly, especially when it comes to compatibility with modern harbours.

That's where the good news ends. Despite everything this ship has a pittance of the capacity of modern cargo ships. It turns out that heavy things take a lot of energy to move through water which is fine when you have little more than 50 drunken scurvy infected sailors and some spices to haul, but not so much when you're shipping 9000 cars to another country.

Comment Re:Banks dogfooding their own shit customer securi (Score 2) 72

It sounds like they have employees on premises who they aren't paying to be there despite the employees being unable to work due to their own incompetence. The method of login really is secondary to this story. Fun fact a few years ago I used to arrive at the office at 9:15 but got paid from 9:00. Yes legally they were required to pay us the time it took to walk from the parking lot all the way into the control room. But then we have worker protection laws in my country.

Comment Re:My girlfriend asked me to replace her M$ Window (Score 1) 72

The system was so finicky to the point of being unusable. I was speechless. I fundamentally don't get why people even use W1ndows for regular stuff these days.

Weird. I seem to have no problem with my Windows machine at home. Rock solid, boots up quickly. My work machine on the other ran runs like a molasses on a cold day. Interestingly so does my colleague's work MacBook. 99% of the problems with Windows are either not spending more than $200 on your hardware or letting corporate IT get anywhere near it.

You think Microsoft's telemetry is bad? Just wait and see how fucking slow things get when your IT starts cramming their own spyware (and Teams) down your throat. Using an alternative doesn't save you from that.

Comment Re:What? how long can that possibly take? (Score 2) 72

Oh, it's Windows. Nevermind .. my bad.

Oh aren't you clever. No Windows boots in seconds. Their problem was tokens, VPN access, corporate software for call management, and likely a PC loaded down with corporate spyware slowing the entire thing down. Any other system won't help at all against this kind of rubbish.

But hey, MS bashing have a +5 informative.

Comment Re:How stupid are Mozilla? (Score 1) 46

Knowing them, they hired some AI wiz kids who wanted to move fast and break things. Meanwhile the poor engineers who are slowly making really important and valuable improvements to the core browser aren't getting any help. Maybe some vibe coded Javascript engine updates are next on the list.

Comment Re:Developing AI to research biology is good (Score 5, Insightful) 22

You can't trust these billionaires. Musk said if someone explained how he could end hunger for $6 billion, he would do it. He was presented with a credible plan by the United Nations' World Food Program, and quietly forgot about it his promise.

This feels self serving. What are the chances that if they discover some miracle cure for cancer, they charge top dollar for it?

Comment Re:As you would do (Score 1) 173

Clearly some of their customers want EV trucks. But why don't more of them want them?

Could it be because Trump doesn't like EVs, and because Republicans have done everything they can to stifle installation of the infrastructure that makes owning an EV convenient?

Comment Re:All I can say is duh! (Score 1) 45

It's about half the size of the larger cargo ships too, but still quite competitive. I'm sure they can scale up, Running costs should be lower due to less fuel use (it still uses some around ports).

Speed isn't such a big deal for this sort of thing, that can be worked into the logistics. Maybe they will have drone ships eventually anyway, so it's not even costing any more in wages.

Submission + - World's Largest Cargo Sailboat Completes Historic First Atlantic Crossing (marineinsight.com)

AmiMoJo writes: The world’s largest cargo sailboat, Neoliner Origin, completed its first transatlantic voyage on 30 October despite damage to one of its sails during the journey.

The 136-metre-long vessel had to rely partly on its auxiliary motor and its remaining sail after the aft sail was damaged in a storm shortly after departure.

The French-built roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) cargo ship, which has two semi-rigid sails, first stopped at Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a French overseas territory near Canada, before continuing its journey to Baltimore in the United States.

Neoline, the company behind the project, said the damage reduced the vessel’s ability to perform fully on wind power. The company’s CEO, Jean Zanuttini, said the crossing was a valuable experience in handling large sail surfaces across the North Atlantic, especially during late-season storms. He added that despite the difficulties, the ship showed strong resilience by reaching its destination with only a short delay in Saint Pierre.

The Neoliner Origin is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 90 per cent compared to conventional diesel-powered cargo ships. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), global shipping produces about 3 per cent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.

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