Ah I'm not too surprised that below surface level there were reasons this wasn't a good idea. It's been weird, not all that long ago the rural areas around here were protesting against solar power, that it'd use up good farmland somehow, and now they're covered in data centers instead.

See at least this could be some good they'd be doing on accident instead of burning a bunch of natural gas for no good reason, and it'll be useful post bubble.

I mean we're getting to the point where the aliens from V wouldn't be any worse for us

I think MS is the only one that tried that, it was kinda neat but hampered by software side and more fragile than the current folding phones are https://news.microsoft.com/sur...

I'd have guessed that in previous years, with tech manufacturing supplies being what they are at present that may just be how many they could get put together at that price point without impacting components going into their more traditional offerings they know will sell.

You can get them repaired locally around here, with a new screen being a same-day repair, but this is a major metro area. I think next time I'm going to get a non folding phone, though. It's cool and all but I've had to have the screen repaired about once a year and my extended warranty just ran out. It's a Fold4, I've heard some of the newer ones are more reliable.

They leaned pretty well into children's content. While most of the stuff we've been watching as adults lately has been on AppleTV or HBO, I think the latest Netflix shows I enjoyed enough to recommend to others that weren't Stranger Things level blockbusters were Blue Eye Samurai and Midnight Mass. Haven't gotten around to Lord of the Flies yet. But all of these are silly to pay retail for, for what we have anyhow the best deals have been bundles with the mobile plan. May be able to get something through your ISP, as well. Gets it down to what you'd pay to rent a movie digitally (who does that would be my question? a few more weeks and it'll be on one of the monthly sub services). In the end, buying on disc and ripping to a media server is always the best deal.

Bundling with mobile provider has been a good bet for us, one of our phones is on an older Verizon plan mostly because it is the only way left to get D+ for cheap. Once that goes away I can't see us keeping it year round. Looks like T Mobile has some good deal bundles too.

Yes and even if you wanted to run it on a dryer circuit you'd need the heavier duty outlet, but a buddy at work and I were talking about our BEVs and he even took his level 2 out and repurposed the circuit for a hot tub. We were going to get a level 2 for our BEV but the electrician kept having conflicts pop up and then we realized even with a 20 mile commute and not getting to 80% each morning it worked out well enough. If we are planning a lot of road trips for the weekend we use the level 2 at the gym and get it topped up the rest of the way, only used a fast charger once for fun and it was so fast we didn't have time to finish shopping before I had to run out to move the car. It's surprisingly worry free, I was almost disappointed because my plan was to do a subpanel in the garage and improve the setup for the woodworking tools but it isn't worth the trouble until maybe if we get another BEV. Even then I'm not certain.

I don't need to read a book to know he talks out of his ass all the time

Yeah I think it is Entertainment As Business that makes them risk averse. Say what you will about pretentious artsy stuff but it's at least going to be interesting even if it rubs you the wrong way. Won't make as much money or sell action figures, though.

I've heard this said but I don't think it is all that true the more I think about it, even in the boonies most houses are going to have a clothes dryer, and they'd only need that level of power if they want Level 2 charging at home, whereas Level 1 is going to be sufficient for lots of folks and just uses a regular outlet. You don't see large densities of apartment buildings that would need outlets for each parking spot in a garage in low density areas. We've been fine with level 1, I didn't even run a dedicated circuit for it and the biggest nuisance has been if I forget to unplug it and am running the shop vac and helical planer and trip the breaker (which those two can do by themselves if I set too aggressive a cut). But some self sufficient out in nowhere place is more likely to be the sort of setup where they're running welders and other DIY or farming equipment and a car isn't going to be as demanding as all that.

When we traded in one of our gas cars for an EV one thing we immiediately noticed when getting back in our gas van after tooling around in the car was the smell! Like you get used to the smell of car, the rubber tires, the leather or upholstery, but the absence of burning fuel was not too noticeable in and of itself, but getting back in the other car was pervasive, like visiting a smoker's house. Needless to say we'll be replacing the van with an EV whenever the personal income and economic outlook allow.

A lock out-tag out box is a fantastic idea

And when the municipal police go to see what evidence the campus police have and they shrug and point to a heap in front of the campus police station and that's about it. One frat, a box of black trash bags and a box of nitriles from a campus lab and it is done in an hour or two.