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Comment Re:limited use case (Score 1) 44

This is probably to compete with Halon gas in data centers, where you can't use sprinklers at all . . .

I've worked on many small data centers / server rooms ranging from 5,000 to 200,000 square feet, designing HVAC and plumbing mostly, but also a little fire protection, and all of them had pre-action sprinkler systems, as back-up to gaseous fire suppression systems or as the only fire suppression system. Water-based sprinkler systems were often required by codes, including, surprisingly to me, in an emergency generator building that housed six 3 Megawatt diesel generators operating at 4160 Volts originally designed with a CO2 fire suppression system. (just have to hope not being in that space when the sprinklers go off if the generators are running)

Comment Re: nice, but what about (Score 3, Informative) 44

Technically you a right (the best kind of right) as a halon system won't push out all the oxygen (it can theoretically operate effectively at concentrations of less than 10% of the air), but it will displace some air, does interfere with respiration, and is heavier than air so it can pool in the breathing zone and suffocate you. (It can also cause frostbite from it's expansion from a liquid in the tank to a gas coming out of the nozzles.)
And Halon is no longer used because of its' ozone-depleting characteristics, but its' replacements have similar issues.

Comment Re: simple question (Score 1) 221

And you probably paid two million for a house because you lived in one of the big cities

LOL. When I did live in the big city, I lived in a house that I bought for about $54,000 in the early '80s (with a 12.125% interest rate) and went for about $175,000 when I moved out in 1999. I now live in an sort of mixed exburban / small town / farmland area about a 55 mile train ride to the big city downtown, in a house probably worth about $350,000 now.
And, yes, when I was a kid, back in the '60s, the big city air was pretty bad. But, thanks to the establishment of the EPA under Nixon, not so much now. Too bad the Republicans are currently trying to reverse a lot of the anti-pollution laws that Republicans had a big hand in creating

Comment Re: simple question (Score 1) 221

I can guarantee you that is not realistic to go to an office daily using anything other than a car in North America.

To the contrary, I had a 43 year career in North America making my daily commute by subway, elevated train, and commuter railroad. (though I did have to occasionally drive or fly to remote jobsites)

Comment Re:Try being the victim of wagetheft (Score 1) 98

If the company's costs are largely based on hours, whether estimated for a flat fee or actual for billing, it's going to track hours, salary or not. It's very common for certain salaried professionals to be paid for overtime. Sometimes that's straight-time pay, sometimes compensatory time off, sometimes something else.
(IANAL, YMMV, different states may have different laws.)

Comment Re:Try being the victim of wagetheft (Score 1) 98

I'll try that again:

If you're paying salaried employees by the hour, they're not salaried employees./

Not strictly true. It's very common in my field (consulting engineering) to pay, as one of my employee handbooks put it, "1/80 of the bi-weekly salary for every hour over 80 worked in that two week pay period". As a professional, I was exempt from overtime rules, but employees would not be happy working overtime for free when fees collected by the company were generally based on hours worked (whether estimated for a flat fee or actual for hourly projects)

Comment Re:Try being the victim of wagetheft (Score 1) 98

If you're paying salaried employees by the hour, they're not salaried employees./blockquot Not strictly true. It's very common in my field (consulting engineering) to pay, as one of my employee handbooks put it, "1/80 of the bi-weekly salary for every hour over 80 worked in that two week pay period". As a professional, I was exempt from overtime rules, but employees would not be happy working overtime for free when fees collected by the company were generally based on hours worked (whether estimated for a flat fee or actual for hourly projects)

Comment Re:So ... (Score 1) 116

I mean, if they are not firing the laser at Commercial or GA aircraft indiscriminately, why would the FAA need to close the airspace? And, right off the bat for 10 days?

10 days because there was a previously scheduled meeting 9 days in in the future to discuss protocols for using the laser in coordination with the FAA in order to prevent shooting things down that shouldn't be shot down. But the 12-year old boys in ICE/Border Control decided they couldn't wait to try out their new toy to shoot down a 'dangerous' balloon, showing that they really do need those discussions plus some actual training. Of course a 10 day shutdown wasn't sustainable, it seems to have been more of a shot across the bow.

Comment Re: Microsoft sucks (Score 3, Interesting) 37

My car insurance already uses AI chatbots. Couldn't get it to understand needing roadside assistance (part of our policy). Also couldn't handle that we were from out of state. And at one point got into their "press # if . . . " routine that didn't have an option for our non-crash-related situation. Ended up having to hang up and call our rep in our home state and have her handle it, which she had a hard time with also, but at least she could bypass the chatbot. In the end we got assistance from a friendly stranger, instead.

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