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Comment Re:not the same (Score 1) 104

was 535 megawatts, equal to adding a big hydro dam or a half-sized nuclear reactor at a fraction of the cost

It's really not the same, for a number of reasons.

Well, yeah, but most of the differences are advantageous. The power is basically instantaneous, can be cycled quickly, and has no ongoing environmental negatives. The batteries work as both a source and sink. Ongoing operational costs are far better. The batteries are distributed across the state, which means better robustness.

The main difference is these batteries store power that was generated by something else and can only provide power for hours. The hydro dam or nuclear plant is generating power and can do it continuously. That's why the cost comparison makes no sense.

Comment Re:Can he do everything by executive order? (Score 1) 149

Executive orders are just supposed to be the President defining how the rest of the executive branch is supposed to carry out the laws created in the legislature.

For whatever reason, the compliant legislature and judiciary have decided that he can do whatever he wants. We thought the rules would save us, but that depends on the powerful having the will to enforce them.

This EO doesn't actually change anything. From the article: The Securities and Exchange Commission must consider ways to facilitate access to alternative asset investments by participants in defined-contribution retirement plans," a summary of the order released by the White House said. It directs the Labor Secretary to consult with her counterparts at the Treasury Department, the SEC, and other federal regulators, and to "re-examine" previous guidance.

So the order is for the relevant authorities to look into it. What's the problem with this?

Comment Re:How is this an EO? (Score 2) 149

Since when do financial regulations happen at the stroke of the president's pen? This is ridiculous. Is this some kind of shitcoin pump and dump attempt?

They didn't. From the article: The Securities and Exchange Commission must consider ways to facilitate access to alternative asset investments by participants in defined-contribution retirement plans," a summary of the order released by the White House said. It directs the Labor Secretary to consult with her counterparts at the Treasury Department, the SEC, and other federal regulators, and to "re-examine" previous guidance.

So the relevant agencies with the authority are deciding how to proceed.

Comment The sky is falling, etc (Score 0) 149

Already there are posts here about how the sky is falling, you will lose all your money, etc, but it's just fear-mongering. Savers are already at liberty to put their money in whatever asset class or asset class mix their 401K provides. Expanding the available asset class choices in itself doesn't increase your personal risk.

Comment Re:This ruling makes no sense (Score 1) 99

Or Facebook(and all advertisers) need to get out of hoovering up data from anywhere they can... arguing that Meta isn't really eavesdropping because they record data from too many places to notice is a weak argument.

Meta didn't secretly hack into Flo and start collecting data or acquire this through some kind of tracking tags. Flo sent it to them intentionally. Regardless it strains credulity to think the California legislators in 1967 intended to write a law that applies to this situation when the internet wasn't even commercialized until 1995 and lawyers didn't give this theory a shot for another 30 years.

Comment This ruling makes no sense (Score 2) 99

This is just a cash grab from lawyers trying to leverage a 1967 law meant to prevent eavesdropping on conversations. https://www.americanbar.org/gr...

The three-part test in the jury ruling specifically refers to "conversations" being overheard and/or recorded using an electronic device. How is Meta "eavesdropping" on conversations? Flo used Meta's tools to voluntarily send Meta data. They knew what these tools did and how the data was used. The FTC investigated Flo for their practices, not Meta. As per the FTC article:

"In its complaint, the FTC alleges that Flo promised to keep users’ health data private and only use it to provide the app’s services to users. In fact, according to the complaint, Flo disclosed health data from millions of users of its Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker app to third parties that provided marketing and analytics services to the app, including Facebook’s analytics division, Google’s analytics division, Google’s Fabric service, AppsFlyer, and Flurry.

According to the complaint, Flo disclosed sensitive health information, such as the fact of a user’s pregnancy, to third parties in the form of “app events,” which is app data transferred to third parties for various reasons. In addition, Flo did not limit how third parties could use this health data.

Flo did not stop disclosing this sensitive data until its practices were revealed in a news article in February 2019, which prompted hundreds of complaints from the app’s users.

The FTC also alleges that Flo violated the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield frameworks, which, among other things, require notice, choice, and protection of personal data transferred to third parties."

Comment Re:94% of users cited "excellent" or "above averag (Score 1) 152

Nearly 300,000 filers used Direct File for the 2025 tax season, and 94% of users who completed an IRS survey rated their experience as “excellent” or “above average,” according to an internal IRS report obtained by Nextgov/FCW.

From the linked to article:
The IRS is reportedly ending the Direct File, but a report obtained via the Freedom of Information Act says that 94% of users rated their experience as “excellent” or “above average.”

TFA is light on details, but the article it links to is solid. And it makes me curse the currently corrupt GOP all the more.

300,0000? So what. Ten million people filed Federal returns for free using TurboTax in 2024, and TurboTax does the state return for free too. The other free services were used by millions more. Given all the comprehensive free options available it made no sense to spend millions to develop DirectFile, or to spend many millions more to enhance and support it

Comment Re:FreeTaxUSA is a free and proven alternative (Score 1) 152

At the risk of sounding like both a shill for a real company, AND a shill for something that sounds like a scam, FreeTaxUSA has been a viable alternative to TurboTax and H&R Block and KreditKarma for 10+ years now. Federal filings really are free, and state filings are around $15. For a few years I was doing my complex taxes and my simple taxes on both TurboTax and FreeTaxUSA and they always came out the same, except for the price I was paying for the software.

I agree that the IRS removing their free Direct Filing program is a bad but predictable move for this bad but predictable administration, but there are still great options out there.

DirectFile was nowhere near as good as the services you listed so it is unclear why removing it is bad

Comment This means nothing. (Score 1) 80

The court knows it has no authority to do anything here. It's just virtue signaling and wishful thinking. The article ends with:

But the question remains whether the ICJ opinion will be respected. "[The ICJ] is an institution that is subject to geopolitics – and it relies on states adhering to its judgements, it doesn't have a police force," said Harj Narulla, a climate barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, which also represented the Solomon Islands.

When asked about the decision, a White House spokesperson told BBC News: "As always, President Trump and the entire Administration is committed to putting America first and prioritising the interests of everyday Americans."

Comment Re:WSJ source? (Score 1) 90

1 is highly unlikely.

The preliminary report makes it pretty clear that while how they got to CUTOFF is unknown, their manual movement back to RUN was well established, and several second delay between each immediately after the pilot asking the copilot why he had shut the fuel off.

So really, your possibilities are 2, 3, and 4.

2 seems impossible, but who knows.

And it sounds to me like Mary Schiavo's position is based on a 1 happening

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