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Comment Re:Open airplanes (Score 4, Informative) 506

Unfortunately, most airplane accidents and incidents are due to pilot error, ATC error and maintenance mechanic error (I think in this order). Problems with hardware or firmware that are unrecoverable in spite of following proper procedures are pretty damn rare. For example, AF447 was not directly caused by any hardware failing - it was due to the pilots not following procedures and good practice.

Comment Re:come on (Score 1) 530

Recruitment process must be a two-way street or you're doing your part wrong. You must learn about the place of employment, and the controversies are part of it. The sales clerks aren't there to recruit for the company or to answer such questions. Recruiters - are.

Comment Re:Proper analogue for Visio next? (Score 1) 211

It's only recent that Visio format is supported at all. Give them some time. It's a lot of work. Note that LibreOffice is, at the moment, IIRC the only piece of software that can open the early Visio 1 and 2 format files. Not even Microsoft Visio can open them (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, of course).

Comment Re:Live a day in my shoes (Score 2) 211

You should know basic programming upon exiting high school. Yeah, the sad state of K-12 curricula are something to lament another time.

So, what tool do you use to diff your spreadsheets? How do you ensure that there isn't a bug in a column of otherwise "identical" formulas? How do you ensure that whatever column you've filled with imported data still has this imported data in it? Where's your log that shows that you haven't unlocked some cells by mistake and messed them up "subtly"?

Spreadsheets provide a semblance of productivity and an illusion of efficiency. Once you go from fucking about with it to being serious, spreadsheets are a gift from hell. It takes very little to audit a couple pages of code. Good luck auditing a spreadsheet that has tens of thousands of cells filled with formulas.

Once you use spreadsheets in an auditable and professional way, you end up with a VBA script that starts with a blank slate and does everything you'd otherwise do by hand. At that point you may as well write it in Python and generate the xlsx, ods or maybe just pdf for printing/visualization.

Most people, evidently yourself included, use spreadsheets like if they were a magical object that's guaranteed to read your mind and do exactly what you want. It's all too easy to fuck up if you're not careful, and unfortunately Excel by default doesn't come with policies that prevent you from fucking up. How one earth can anyone be sure that your projections aren't just line noise? Excel promotes development with no process, where there's no assurance about anything. That's one little reason why our financial industry is so fucked up. People trust Excel results, no questions asked.

Comment Re:Depends on the energy source duh! (Score 1) 775

I just used the 60% figure as given by the parent. Even with a 40% efficient power plant, 5% electrical transmission losses (U.S. ballpark), and a 70% efficient car, we get 27% overall efficiency - worse than an ICE, but then there must be some oil-rig-to-tank inefficiencies in refining and transit that the mere ICE efficiency doesn't take into account.

It really looks like at the moment electric cars are about as efficient as ICE cars, when it comes to the overall amount of waste heat generated in the entire process - from extracting the raw energy source (coal, crude) to pushing the car along the road. The EVs are probably much better when it comes to non-CO2 pollution, though, and can only get better as more efficient power plants get deployed. There's not much you can do to an ICE at the moment.

Comment Re:Depends on the energy source duh! (Score 1) 775

I have modified my Volvo S80 for steering wheel gear shifting.

The location of the gearshift is different, and the clutches are hydraulic. Otherwise it drives just like a manual. The mechanical linkage of a manual transmission gear shifter is, as far as I'm concerned, an obsolete artifact belonging in a museum, together with the dry clutch that's used with it.

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