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Submission + - Goodbye Sun; Goodbye Clouds

christoban writes: In what may be an issue for Sun-obscuring strategies to combat global warming, it turns out that during solar eclipses, low level cumulus clouds rapidly disappear, reducing by a factor of 4, researchers have found.

Submission + - EV owners have to drive twice as much to break even, study suggests (www.cbc.ca) 1

sinij writes: The study, published in the most recent edition of the journal Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability, set out to determine how long it would take a driver to recoup the higher up-front cost of buying a new electric vehicle (EV).

Its authors concluded that to break even over seven years — roughly the average time they said people own a new vehicle — EV drivers in B.C. would have to drive 64 kilometres daily, nearly double the average 34 kilometres a day a motorist drives, according to Statistics Canada.

Comment Low Value Offering (Score 1) 94

Life insurance is a low value offer for many, and it's value is inversely proportional to wealth. Term life policies are especially low value compared to whole life. As I got older, I dropped my term policies as they became more expensive, and kept my whole life as dividends now pay the premiums almost entirely. Younger policy owners have different priorities than older people in many cases. The choice between life insurance and rent/mortgage, car payment, and other household expensed or life insurance for someone in their 20s means the life policy is likely the first item to go away. As many employers offer some level of life insurance, that can erode personal policies. Also, as younger workers reach their 30s and may have been contributing to retirement plans through their job, they are more able to self-insure against death, again eroding the need for those policies.

Comment Regardless if this was necessary or effective... (Score 1) 60

There are aspects of capacity planning that were seemingly ignored. You can have a system that can accommodate 1 million users, obviously across multiple nodes, but if you forget that all of those users may login at the same time you've failed. The initial wave forces you to dedicate more resources initially than you need during a steady-state. Who else remembers the "NetBIOS waves" we used to encounter when we first connected corporate LANs across all locations with centralized Windows NT domains? We knew exactly when the slowdowns were coming, you could set your watch by them.

Comment Re: No one would listen to AM in an emergency (Score 5, Insightful) 262

No one under 50 perhaps. The rest of us go right to the AM clear channel (nearly âoecoast to coastâ powerhouses) stations for news and weather, especially when driving.

A replacement for AM broadcast radio would need to be as bulletproof, specifically meaning it is a distributed system that doesnâ(TM)t depend on infrastructure such as the internet that can be compromised. FM radio is a poor option due to its limited range of 20-50 miles in the best conditions. Shortwave has been dead in this country for almost a century (and used mainly AM mode anyhow for scheduled programming).

Comment Re:Can't afford a 50 thousand dollar car (Score 1) 202

The idea that you “need” turn-by-turn navigation to get from Oregon to DC is somewhat absurd itself, leaving out the charger part of it. A quick glance at a map can show the various Interstate routes to get there. The entire Interstate numbering system is designed for ease of travel purposes. Even numbers east-west, odd north-south, loops and spurs are three numbers. Food and fuel stops are found at exits and/or rest areas.

Comment Re:Can't afford a 50 thousand dollar car (Score 0) 202

I'm with you, I'm fine with my ICE vehicles and in fact I prefer them. I know how they work, when they break I can generally fix them, I don't have a looming battery replacement cost over my head, I don't have to plan an extra 20-30 minutes for every few hours of driving to "refuel" since it takes less than 5 minutes. I'm good.

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