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Comment Re:Something is missing (Score 1) 359

I think I figured it out. The algorithms also calculate more efficient routes so that drivers get to each dropoff without driving on the same parts of road more than once. The no left turns part is a separate benefit that just reduces wasted time and idling. EX: You are in your mother's basement and need to get a snack from the kitchen and drop a package in the basement toilet to prepare for your DOTA match running on your PC in the room next to the kitchen. You travel to the kitchen to get a snack, but oops, you missed the potty on the way, so go back downstairs to the bath room. You then go back upstairs to play DOTA. So much wasted effort... The algorithm might tell you to stop at the potty on the way to the stairs, then go upstairs to get the snack and play your game. You did not step on any part of your path more than once (assuming you lept off the potty when finished and landed on the stairs instead of walking out the door).

Comment Re:Verizon is going to get in trouble (Score 4, Informative) 139

A single unit in my condo complex had a major fire due to a faulty fan. The complex was built to code and fire damage was limited to the source unit, and a little to the unit above (vinyl flooring got too hot). However, our WHOLE complex had to move out for 2 months while they repaired all of the smoke damage done to many units in the building. Burning rugs and mattresses release a lot of toxic soot, and firefighters opening the fire proof doors to ensure everyone was out allowed enough smoke to travel and stick to everything.

Comment Re: hmmmm (Score 1) 129

Having to keep buying new unnecessary devices for the kids due to greed/stupidity of the manufacturers is stupid. However... Amazon has created the kids version of the Fire which creates a separate "user" for parents and kids. The kids would need to login to the parents shell to use the credit card. This essentially resolves the issue central to this article for future purchasers of the Fire, as long as they buy the crappy kids version. Ideally, ALL of the new Fire models would support this system of logins which should make everyone (in the future) happy. Personally, I would favor a simple 4-digit PIN option for whenever the system wants to access stored credit cards.

Comment Re:Lack of friends (Score 1) 146

He also happens to be quite handsome (of course I am not impartial in that). It is amusing to see how many of the little girls at the dance school go out their way to greet him (while he hardly acknowledges their existence). I think he will be OK.

Haha. I think of my 4 year old the same way. The girls in his school always approach him to say hello, and he usually just ignores them. When I tell him "June said hello to you buddy. Say hi to June.", he looks at her and says "Say hi to June.". I joke to my wife that he will charm some sweet girl with his looks when he is older and she'll be willing to look past his "quirks".

Comment Re:Repetition leads to suicide (Score 1) 146

Of course, feeling empathy and being able to express it are two different things. I'll often feel extreme empathy towards someone, but won't be able to find the words to let the other person know how I feel.

This is something I struggle with too. I tend to get overwhelmed and end up just saying nothing sometimes. I very often resort to (sometimes long winded) emails to get my feelings out. My 4 year old might be too young to really see how he will be in this regard, be he always approaches the person "having an issue" with a look of great concern, but does not say anything to them.

Still, he deals with things that I've never had to deal with and takes other things in stride when I struggled with them. For example, he dives head first into social situations even if he doesn't fully understand how he's being inappropriate. I was always more socially-timid, afraid that I'd make a misstep and embarrass myself.

I have a similar situation. My son jumps right into social situations and actually LOVES observing what everyone is doing. He is totally unaware of his "social mis-steps", such as not saying hi back when someone says it to him, or repeatedly saying what someone is doing over and over when excited. At times, he also resorts to humming and "flapping" in excitement (though not as intense as I've seen in some other children). When I was his age, I used to hide behind my mother in similar situations. I have also been socially timid all my life due to "over thinking", and have learned to "put on an act" to hide this fact in most situations. In fact, many people are very suproised to hear that I am so socially timid.

Comment Re:Repetition leads to suicide (Score 1) 146

I was very intrigued by reading your response. My 4 year old son is on the spectrum, and we still don't have a great understanding of "how he works". I was always confused about his intense empathy for others, which appeared to go against what I considered to be typical autism. Much of your post mirrored behavior I see in my son. Though I have never been considered autistic (just ADHD), I had often encountered intense panic/stress as a child when being forced to introduce myself to new people my own age. To this day, I still get stressed out and "snappy" if plans change and I thrive on daily routines. My son and I both love "novel situations". I feel like I learned something new today about this complex condition, and will do some more research. Many thanks for your post!

Comment Re:Fake Reviews and Libelous (Score 2) 210

I just right-clicked on the images of those people on yelp and did a google search for the image... You were not kidding. Those are all from news/stock photo sites! Most of these are clearly fake and malicious reviews. This guy has every right to sue, and I hope news sites posting this story add an addendum about the fake stock profile photos so people don't wreck this poor guy online.

Comment Re:The future is coming. (Score 3, Informative) 214

All of this info can be read over at the battery university website. It's actually a very interesting site if you are into battery technology.

Why laptop battery life has very little relation to life of an EV battery:::
1) Laptop batteries have no active cooling. The battery will disable itself right before it gets hot enough to blow up. As a battery goes over 100 degrees F, it's life span starts to plummit.
2) Laptop batteries have warranties that last only a few months (instead of 10 years), so are over-driven/abused in order to inflate the laptop's run time. Draining the battery below 40% and charging above 90% can cut battery life by more than 50% (Depending on how often and how much this is done). If the laptop battery dies in a year due to the abuse, oh well. We can just buy a new one for $50.

Why an EV battery will last 2-3 times longer than a laptop battery:::
1) Many states require a 10 year warranty on the EV battery. If the capacity drops below a threshold (I think 70%), it is considered faulty and replaced for free. Manufacturers thus engineer the battery management system to baby the EV battery.
2) An EV battery is designed to work in frigid cold and extreme heat without killing itself. They are engineered to be very robust and will be actively cooled if they get warm.

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