And whatâ(TM)s the percentage of homes that have A/C? Hah: thatâ(TM)s probably half the problem behind this power outage. Try Western Europe, where temperatures in the UK, France and Germany reached this or far more where homes donâ(TM)t have A/C. I was happy if I could keep my home office room here in London to 30 degrees; our bedroom didnâ(TM)t get below 31 several nights. Our homes are designed for keeping heat in. It was above 40 not so far away across the Channel.

Is latitude really an issue for solar in Canada? There are plenty solar farms dotted around the English countryside. London, in the south of the UK, and at 51.3 degrees north is further north than of most of populated Canada. That's the same latitude as the southern tip of Hudson Bay. It's halfway between Calgary and Edmonton, but north of Vancouver and a long way north of Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City.

If you'd said snow cover was an issue, I wouldn't have objected ;)

Apparently there are no tips involved!

Variable speed limits are a feature of the UK's smart motorways, yes. But variable speed limits existed before and they still exist in many other places today.

Normally, when people in the UK talk about smart motors, they're thinking of all lane running, which is exactly what you also did in your first comment.

Other people breaking the law isn't justification for doing it yourself. If you collide with somebody going slower than you because they're abiding by the speed limit, you're at you're at fault, you will be the one prosecuted. There's no excuse for speeding, even if don't like the driving conditions.

TFA is about variable speed limits, not what the UK calls smart motorways. You're either mistaken because you've got hung-up on an overloaded term, or you're just plain off-topic.

Variable speed limits work well in the UK, although lack of enforcement and the increasing number of dickheads and shitty drivers who exceed the posted limit or do stupid things like constantly changing lanes can sometimes undermine their efficiency. We seriously need more enforcement by the police and less of the rage bait culture wars claiming the woke are fighting a war against drivers.

Or maybe a bunch were snapped for Ukrainian remote gun turrets.
https://www.businessinsider.co...

As far as I'm aware, Child Reference Numbers (CRNs) follow a different format to NI numbers. Do you have experience otherwise or can point to somewhere online that explains this?

This doesn't say how things are implemented, but suggests that CRNs and NINos are different:

Most people are automatically given a National Insurance Number as they approach the age of sixteen. This is because when a claim to Child Benefit is made, the child is allocated a Child Reference Number (CRN) for HMRC/DWP use only. From the child reaching age fifteen years and nine months, HMRC notifies each child of their NINO.

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-intern...

Further on, it somewhat confirms what I said about children whose parents didn't apply for child benefit:

Some young people may not be included in the automatic registration process. See NIM39305.

Providing they are over age 15 years and 9 months they should

• use the "find my NINo" digital service to trace their National Insurance Number or
• contact the National Insurance registration Helpline on 03002003500.

Children who have not been part of a Child Benefit claim or a Tax Free Childcare award will need to apply through DWP.

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-intern...

NI numbers are automatically allocated three months before a child's 16th birthday, but only when the parent's have claimed child benefit. Everybody else has to apply for an NI number, if they want to work. Theoretically, somebody could get by without an NI number, but Iâ(TM)m sure that's a niche reserved for people with silver spoons.

it were as simple as an extension cord do you not think I would have thought of that?

I live in the UK on a post-war terrace*, which means no driveway. It also means that if I wanted to run an extension cord from my house to my car it would cross a public footpath, so there's no charging at home for me at all. Oh, and I work from home as well, so charging an EV would need to happen at the local supermarket (the 90p/60p option I mentioned in the other thread), in a small shopping park (the cheaper option I mentioned, which has been out of order for the past few weeks) or next to a coffee shop on a nearby industrial estate (which I didn't mention because they won't even tell you what they charge without downloading an app, so fuck 'em).

Being the UK, there's a patchwork of regulations and interpretations and/or enforcement of them. The situation is also changing relatively quickly due to the government realising this is a problem.

60% of homes in my council (vs. average 40% nationwide) don't have off-street parking. I've seen a lot of people with cables across the street, mostly under cable protectors. But even these form a trip hazard could leave owners liable to personal injury claims not covered by typical home insurance. We can now get cable channels installed across footpaths, which look like the right idea and might be suitable in street if your council allows it. The funny thing is, I remember seeing these kinds of things as a child where my grandmother lived in Plymouth, but these I think were for drainage.

https://www.richmond.gov.uk/ne...

https://evfleetworld.co.uk/ric...

A 17,000-word expose

What is it: expose or exposé?

Ah fuck, /. canâ(TM)t handle that. No wonder itâ(TM)s written wrong. Where are the anti-Apple trolls to tell me to turn off smart quotes? As if that would help?

Itâ(TM)s not that simple. There are still AVC patents in force in multiple places for several years more.

Dolby has been a patent troll for decades. Theyâ(TM)ve had more lawyers than engineers for years. I worked for a company that was effectively killed off by their changes to third party access to AC-3 DirectShow decoders nearly 25 years ago.

Tencent? Chinese companies prefer VVC over AV1, and not just because it achieves better compression ratios. It was developed by an international standards body, not a group of America
companies, no matter how "open source" they claim the process to be, and subject to American export laws. Licensing and royalties are secondary after that.

Social media? /.? The site frequented by 50 and 60 year olds who live in their parents' basements building Beowulf clusters and fantasising about pouring hot grits on Natalie Portman?

No doubt this will be one of their crap UI changes that doesn't actually improve usability nor attract new users as their market share continues to decline. Why about fixing some real issues? Or how about invest in maildir support in Thunderbird? How many years has this page said it's experimental? There are two warnings on the page telling you that you will lose your data if you use it, FFS.