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Comment Re:It's a moped (Score 1) 146

E-bikes ARE mopeds by definition. MOter / PEDal powered vehicles. They should be regulated as such.

Here at least mopeds have a LEGAL definition, part of which is the ability to go a maximum of 50 kmh. E-bikes are limited to 32 kmh. Most likely your area has (or should have) a legal definition of these terms. Of course the cops here have tried to define an e-bike missing a pedal as an unlicensed motorcycle but EVENTUALLY the courts told them NO.

Comment Re:They're more dangerous than any other vehicle.. (Score 2) 146

I now consider e-bikes to be the most likely vehicle I'm going to be hit by, either as a pedestrian or a biker, because they're fast and often times *practically silent*.

A conventional bike can be faster than a legal e-bike and is just as silent. I used to cycle at speeds of up to 38 mph (never had a bike that wouldn't start to shake too hard at that speed to go faster) and the only time my e-bike ever reached that speed was on a long steep hill. I've had groups of cyclists going by me on a shared path with a 15 kmh speed limit doing about 3 times that yell at me (doing 15) "Your dangerous on here", who was the dangerous one? Me obeying the law or them at 3 times the speed and their heads down only occasionally looking where they were going?

Comment Re:more anti-ebike BS (Score 1) 146

Want to ride but are too lazy to pedal? Fuck you, drive in the street with the other motor vehicles, fucktard. You have no business on the sidewalk and the bike lanes. Incidentally, die in a battery fire while you're at it, disgusting tub-o-lard.

Have you considered that some of these e-bike riders may have INJURIES (not related to cycling) which prevent them from pedalling? I'm in that category (though I don't currently have an e-bike). Pedalling a bike makes that injury permanently worse. It isn't laziness but injury. Here the e-bikes have limits that mean quite often cyclists would pass me by. Others may not be able to afford a car (or have a place to park it) or just not like driving.

On the dog issue I've seen dog owners off one side of a biking path in the dark with no lights and their dog on LONG leashes off the other side of the path with no consideration that a cyclist might come along and not see that thin leash in the dark. Many times it has only been my being very aware of the fact people might come out of the bushes had me see something (not always aware of what) and come to a near stop that allowed me to avoid injuring the poor dog (and myself). But it was the dog owner breaking the law not me.

Comment Re:Legal/illegal bikes (Score 2) 146

I don't really care what you see, the statistics don't lie.

But liars do statistics. When presenting statistics on the increase of e-bike injuries they never like to give the comparison to the increase in e-bikes. More e-bikes should mean more e-bike injuries but in the cases I have seen the rise in injuries is far slower than the rise in e-bikes. As e-bikes become more common people in general (drivers, cylcists and pedestrians not just riders) become more used to them and the accident rate compared to the number of e-bikes DROPS.

Comment Re:Most actors of the 1960s didn't get residuals. (Score 1) 81

this appears to be an urban legend, although oft repeated.

In the last years of her life, she was pretty much pleading for help for her medical bills.

Have you considered that the rates set back in the 1960s may not have allowed for inflation over the next 6 decades? What was lucrative then likely wasn't 50 years later. Depending how she invested she might no longer have been well off.

Comment Most actors of the 1960s didn't get residuals. (Score 5, Informative) 81

I've been called a liar many times because I tried to tell people that most TV actors in the 60s didn't get residuals. Dawn Wells (Maryann on Gilligan's Island) did because her manager/husband asked for them and the studio thought it would flop so they said OK as they didn't expect to pay them. Don Adams of Get Smart was offered 30% ownership if he would take the lowest wage the unions would allow and he took it, his estate is probably still collecting, again the studio thought it would flop.

Others with popular TV shows never saw a dime from reruns. Which is one of the reasons such shows are still on TV, the studios not needing to pay residuals can offer them for less money than newer shows.

Comment Re: Full reusability, crewed and rapid turn-aroun (Score 1) 95

Well that is a lie. The Saturn V payload was 140,000 kg or 155 short tons to LEO and 50 tons to lunar orbit. So, yes, the Saturn V could bring 140 tons to orbit.

So the 140 tons has no fuel to adjust its trajectory into lunar orbit. None to land the LEM and return the LEM crew module to orbit and match with the command module. Also no fuel to send that command module back to Earth orbit (and enter that orbit) or to deorbit the capsule. Poor astronauts could never come home.

Comment Re:what's it for? (Score 1) 95

Is this spaceship needed for the moon, or only for Mars? Seems like maybe this is too large a leap to do in one bite.

The same booster is used for LEO, Moon and Mars. The 2nd stage will have specialized variants for all of the above (most for Earth Orbit). For the moon they need the LEO tankers and HLS. The current 2nd stage is cargo to LEO and prototypes for both tanker and HLS. (HLS is the Lunar craft).

Comment Re:Doesn't cost billions... (Score 1) 95

Umm... what about the $4 billion from NASA?

Starlink only turned cash flow positive last year.

More accurately Starship and Starlink were funded by private stock sales to raise capital and income from Falcon 9 and NOW Starlink is helping the funding while selling more stock privately hasn't been needed for some time.

Comment Re: Doesn't cost billions... (Score 1) 95

1) hydrogen instead of methane for 2nd stage.

Wouldn't have gone that way. Falcon 9 and Starship both use the same engines for both stages. Cheaper development as you only need to worry about ONE design failing to work out not TWO which either one failing puts your program years behind. Simplifying the launch system by using 1 type of fuel not multiple types (Vulcan uses THREE counting the SRBs). You can use the same construction materials for all stages not different ones for each stage. They don't need insulation between the Methane and LOX tanks but would between Hydrogen and LOX. Lots of benefits by using the same fuel and engines for both stages.

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