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Comment Re: What? how long can that possibly take? (Score 1) 181

Yes, if you're a self employed plumber, you get to make all those decisions for yourself. OTOH, if you hire a plumber from a plumbing company, then you aren't the employer, you are the customer, and you can be assured that the plumbing company absolutely does make all those decisions for their technician. They likely provide a vehicle and a tablet with pre-installed route selection software that is tied in to pre-installed billing software.

Comment Re: What? how long can that possibly take? (Score 1) 181

If you're on the clock for the commute, then they get to tell you what route to take, and they & their insurance gets to tell you what car you're allowed to drive, both for safety reasons and because if you're on the road while on the clock, then you're a public facing representative of the company. Also, there's the mandatory classes to maintain your defensive driving cert, and the mandatory vehicle maintenance inspections to ensure your car is safe enough to be used for company paid transportation. Sometimes it's better to keep your personal life personal.

Comment Gene editing for adults (Score 4, Interesting) 21

With this trial and the clinical trial for the mRNA weight loss edit, it's nice to see this technology used to take away problems in people's lives. I'm wondering what the limit is on gene editing for adults. Can they patch the APOE gene that makes early onset Alzheimer's?

Comment Once they make the effort to get H2 by itself (Score 1) 76

Maybe they'll be motivated to understand that you get much better efficiency from it with fuel cells than with thermal expansion. South Korea apparently understands this: The Shinincheon Bitdream Hydrogen Fuel Cell Power Plant in Incheon can produce 78.96 MegaWatts of power. The hydrogen fuel cell power plant in Gyeongju will produce 107.9MW of power for $550M to build. Scattergood produces 800MW from three turbines. Google tells me that it takes 44 to 53 tonnes of hydrogen per hour to produce 250 MW from a gas turbine. Google also tells me that 48 tonnes of hydrogen per hour will produce between 639 MW and 959 MW via fuel cell. I think the extra energy would be worth the investment, considering what a PITA it is to get H2 by itself in the first place.

Comment Re:Nope (Score 4, Insightful) 47

I completely agree with that concept. However, the reason for believing the dark matter is out there in the first place is on account of the effect of its mass. So if the dark matter isn't itself glowing, but its mass is re-routing light that had been traveling a different path into going on a path that causes us to see this glow, then it's not the dark matter that's glowing, but it is the dark matter that's causing (us to see) the glow.

Comment So if I make the shape of a parabolic reflector (Score 1) 52

out of fiberglass and paint it with this paint, then 96% of the incoming solar radiation will go to the focus. I can boil water at the focus and run a steam turbine. Right? Didn't Sandia come up with a catalyst from which a block of metallic foam could be made that, at a couple thousand degrees, would split water? So, if I pump the limp steam from my turbine through the focus of a second reflector...

Comment Re:I don't understand what the issue is. (Score 1) 265

I think the issue is that the "anti-DEI" people in the government believe that they're the ones who get to decide whether you're being "neutral towards everyone" or "discriminating against their buddies." Who would want someone from the government who appears to have an agenda and a chip on their shoulder to come in having the opinion that it's their job to second guess your decisions and micromanage your behavior? Better to plan for a future where those people stay home. Plus, it's USA, which means after another election cycle, the people wanting to perform cultural regulation that's at odds with the mission statement might not be participating for a while, so waiting can look attractive.

Comment If the big expense is transmission (Score 1) 75

Then maybe decentralize production a bit. More competent people running more production facilities could compensate in a small way for some jobs lost to AI. Somewhere there exists a consultant who knows where reducing the economy of scale with the now less expensive production meets the expense of maintaining a given amperage network of transmission. I expect there's a point where fewer amperes doesn't make transmission cheaper and one where more watts doesn't make generation cost per watt significantly cheaper. So, utility power can be kept as inexpensive as it's going to get. If the power production is decentralized and not connected to a public facing network, the decentralization should make it harder to sabotage also.

Comment Jobs at sea are like that (Score 1) 151

7 12 hour days a week, company provides the food, the living quarters, the laundry. The key is that after a couple or three months, you get a month or two off, with few thoughts about work. I started out on 3 on / 1 off. Now I'm on 2 on / 2 off at a higher rate. It works, and I wouldn't want a job that didn't have the time off in big chunks. Being shackled to 2 days off a week, 2 weeks off a year would feel a lot more like slavery to me than having those 114 days off as 3 38 day vacations (giving an 84 days on 38 days off cycle). I think it works. I've only been doing it since 1988.

Submission + - Japanese convenience stores are hiring robots run by workers in the Philippines

John.Banister writes: Teleoperated robot workers are here! No more worries about immigrants taking jobs, as the jobs themselves can be exported. Anything that isn't done by the cheapest labor can be exported to where the skilled labor is cheap. And, what better way to train AI replacements than the encoded stimulus and response of teleoperation?

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