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Comment Re:Worthless fucking statistic. (Score 3, Informative) 51

I doubt that seriously. The big Iberian Peninsula outage already mentioned happened because a "reliable" power source was not decoupling correctly from the grid. France right now runs into electricity problems because its "reliable" nuclear reactors have to be shut down because of excessive heat making the cooling of the reactors problematic.

Your "reliable" power sources are not reliable, they are inert. This is not the same, and if conditions change quickly, or aren't within specifications, they fail in a big way.

Comment Re:DST is Dumb (Score 2) 238

Which might be true for the Southern U.S. states, true.

On the other hand, we tried this in the 1970ies already, and it was abolished immediately after the first winter, after traffic accidents during morning rush hour had risen sharply, and school children had to wait for the school bus in the coldest time of the day (and the school bus took longer because of all the icy roads anyway).

Comment Re: They should do the same in The Netherlands (Score 4, Interesting) 238

Permanent standard time is ideal for human health and balance of daylight throughout the day.

That is not true. Left without clocks, humans in median latitudes tend to sleep longer in winter than in the summer. A standard schedule throughout the year is not healthy, except you live close to the equator, where the day length does not vary much during the year.

Comment Re:They should do the same in The Netherlands (Score 1) 238

It's not only that. It's more that then, the very short daylight is concentrated in the evening, because you get up an hour early, during the coldest period of the whole day, and then you are wasting the daylight in the afternoon, when it is too cold anyway to have any outdoor activities which could profiteer from the light.

Comment Re:DST is Dumb (Score 2, Interesting) 238

Not having DST, especially in regions away from the equator, is also dumb. You have to deal with the fact, that the Sun rises in the summer much early than in the winter, and getting up in total darkness and not having any daylight until late in the workday like DST in the winter is as annoying as trying to go to bed when it's still bright outside.

So either you abolish a strict day schedule and adopt during the year, which is not only two switch days a year, but multiple times, or you have some kind of switch between Summer time and Winter time.

Comment Re:They should do the same in The Netherlands (Score 5, Insightful) 238

If the Netherlands did this, they would reverse it immediately after the first winter. Not getting any sunlight until past 10.00 AM is so annoying, and the cost of road maintenance because rush hours is when everywhere, there is still ice on the roads, will be prohibitive.

People complaining have simply no clue how it is to have DST in the winter, and can't imagine.

Comment Known this for our Solar system since the 1980ies (Score 1) 43

No surprise here. Many important molecules for Life on Earth are quite abundant in the Solar system, especially in the icy worlds of the outer Solar system. It would need some serious scientific argument to rule this out for other planetary systems. Now we have proof that at least the building blocks for Earth-like lifeforms can form spontaneously anywhere in the Universe. No panspermia or other wishful thinking based theories required.

Comment Re:between 165k and 222k usd? (Score 1) 49

There are regulations nevertheless. The limit is 8 hrs of consecutive driving, after which a 30 min break is required, and 11 hrs of maximum driving after an 10 hrs break. It would make sense to split the 11 hrs into two 5-6 hrs periods with the 30 min rest in between. With 60 mph, this gives a driving range of 360 miles on a charge. A commercially available Mercedes eActros 600 with 600 kWh of charge would easily be sufficient, requiring a 30-80% charge within 30 mins. Or you go for the 14 hrs total, and split the 11 hrs of driving into them, giving you for instance a 3 hrs drive/1 hr rest rhythm, and requiring you to recharge for 180 miles during the stops, which means that you could drive that schedule by charging solely at 350 kW chargers.

Comment Re:between 165k and 222k usd? (Score 2, Informative) 49

You don't actually need an MW charger to recharge a semi. Any normal car charger will do. And while most of them max out somewhere around 400 kW, it's still plenty to go from 10-80% in about 40 mins. Just do the math: 400 kW for 40 mins is about 270 kWh, or about the amount you need to go from 10-80% on an 400 kWh battery. That would be sufficient for about 250 miles with a semi.

German YouTuber Elektrotrucker does international hauling throughout Europe for more than a year now, and he regularly recharges at a normal car charger.

Submission + - Europe's New Entry/Exit System Is a Mess, and It's Not Going Away (nytimes.com)

An anonymous reader writes: European bureaucrats are standing firm on a security program that has led to long lines, confusion and missed flights at airports this summer, despite an urgent plea from the aviation industry to suspend it.

The Entry/Exit System, or E.E.S., requires members of the 29-country Schengen open-border area to collect biometrics like face photos and fingerprints from travelers upon arrival and to confirm their identities upon exit. Since the system took full effect in April, airports and airlines have reported widespread chaos — including hourslong security checkpoint lines and confusion over procedures — and have feared the headaches could worsen as peak travel season begins.

The problems led senior officials from the European aviation industry last week to ask the European Union to suspend the E.E.S. requirement this summer. The system is "undermining Europe’s reputation, European tourism and connectivity," said the open letter to the president of the European Commission.

But on Tuesday, European Commission bureaucrats officially rejected the request in a meeting with industry stakeholders, saying that the new system’s security advantages outweighed its inconveniences.

E.E.S. is used in the 29-country Schengen area, which includes 25 European Union members as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The system applies to most visitors to those countries who are traveling for a short stay (up to 90 days in a 180-day period), regardless of whether they have a visa.

Since the system began to roll out across Europe in October, travelers have encountered an inconsistent set of procedures, taking anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. Some airports have self-service kiosks where travelers can register their biometrics. At others, border control officers manually register travelers. Only two countries, Sweden and Portugal, currently allow travelers to use a dedicated app. E.E.S. is intended to be an automated system, eventually.

"At present, the system is failing to deliver one of its core objectives: facilitating efficient border crossings while maintaining the smooth functioning of Europe’s transport network," the aviation officials wrote in the open letter urging the European Union to act.

Summer travelers are being forced to “endure needless passport control chaos,” Neal McMahon, Ryanair’s chief operations officer, said in a statement.

“Passengers and families should not be used as guinea pigs for a half-baked passport control system that risks creating long queues, missed flights and unnecessary stress at airports this summer,” he added.

In Rome, the airports have already been suspending biometrics collection on a near-daily basis this summer, said a spokesman for Aeroporti di Roma, which operates the city’s airports. Rome Fiumicino, Italy’s busiest airport, expects around 11 million passengers in June and July, which could be up to 180,000 passengers on peak days, the spokesman said.

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