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Comment Corrections (Score 3, Informative) 13

Duke 3D's soundtrack was not exclusively the work of Bobby Prince; Lee Jackson, Apogee's go-to music guy, also did some of the tracks, including the title theme, Grabbag.

Prince used not only his MIDI skills but also his experience as a lawyer to ensure his 'inspired' derivatives were as close as legally possible to the originals. The relationship between individual tracks is often very clear and sometimes even hinted in the metadata of the source files.

Comment Re:Hybrids are kinda "ick" .... (Score 1) 140

Double the complexity and a rolling compromise.

No it's not. Definitely not. This is a common misconception, especially about Toyota hybrids, and probably hybrids in general. I myself used to think that. But I, like you, was completely ignorant about how it actually worked and why it's absolutely not a rolling compromise. It's a combination of a highly-efficient atkinson cycle engine with a incredibly tiny, electrically-operated CVT. Far from a compromise the engine, batteries, and electric motors allow the car to get incredibly high mileage both in highway driving and city driving, all while maintaining the perceived performance of a much-less-efficient traditional Otto cycle engine.

YouTuber Technology Connections did an in-depth explanation recently, and also WeberAuto has a fanstastic demonstration of how simple and effective the system is.

Comment Re: If they can't figure out EV (Score 1) 140

Parts of Norway definitely get that cold.

I've long thought that EVs for cold climates should have integrated diesel heaters to keep the batteries and cabin warm in the winter. Wouldn't take much diesel at all and it would give the batteries the same range in winter as summer. Seems like a no-brainer to me. I know in Canada people do install diesel heaters for cabin heat on EVs sometimes.

Comment Re:necessary (Score 1) 120

Correct. American consumers care about cheap goods more than anything else. That's exactly what I said and what is driving everything! Manufacturers off shored their goods because they know that cheaper goods sell and that was the easiest way to lower their costs and jack up their profits. Again, though, it's all driven by the consumer. Consumers could (and sometimes do) punish American companies who offshore their production, but generally do not.

Comment Re:necessary (Score 1) 120

Chinese products are in the American market because American consumers demanded it! Quality is low because American consumers demand it. Given the choice between one decent-quality good at a high price and low-cost, low-quality goods, American consumers will pick the low-cost ones every time. If you want to change that you need to persuade them to your point of view, rather than ramming taxes down their throats. But the problem is deeper than that. American companies produce low-quality goods too. Anything to boost profit. The Harvard Business school has destroyed American industry and ethics. I recently installed a brand new Eaton home electrical panel. It is the most cheaply made thing I have seen in a while---thin metal that cuts you and the whole thing bends when you install breakers. Built to the lowest possible cost they could. Every possible shortcut was taken, profit was boosted to maximum.

As for toxic influence, I'm outside looking in and I see a tremendous amount of toxicity and immorality coming from your country's leadership that I desperately want to keep out of mine, although my hope is in vain as MAGA toxicity is flooding across the border and infecting the minds of many of my friends and neighbors. It's really sad to watch the moral destruction.

Comment Re:Do you declare unaccessible bitcoins to IRS (Score 1) 51

Gemini tells me that as long as the guy doesn't spend any of the bitcoins since this was a transfer only at this time, there's nothing to report to the IRS. He didn't buy any bitcoins or sell any bitcoins. wallet transfers are not counted by the IRS as a transaction. No past taxes or back reporting is necessary. When he does finally sell these bitcoins, he'll have to pay capital gains on 100% of their current value since his starting value ("purchase" if you will) was zero presumably. He'll want to make sure he has established a virtual paper trail now for any future time that he finds himself needing to pay taxes on this.

Interesting stuff. Wish I had some bitcoins to find on my hard drive.

Comment Do you declare unaccessible bitcoins to IRS (Score 1) 51

Wonder how the IRS treats something like this. They were worthless files on a backup disk for all these years until Claude unlocked them and now they are worth something. So while he always had them, no reasonable person would ever claim you should have to file a 709 form over them.

Comment Re:Good (Score 2) 65

Actually, at the extreme scales, which is the total volume of the observable universe, the universe is quite homogeneous. As I recall, to the order of 1-in-10000 variance. This is why Inflationary cosmology was developed, to explain the distinct lack of lumpiness in the universe, which is what we would expect if the Big Bang alone were responsible.

Comment Recreating traditional controls can be useful (Score 3, Interesting) 98

At first I thought this was really dumb. Besides, how can you patent something that's non-existent. But then I figured it can be useful to recreate familiar controls and how they feel. Makes it easier, especially in competition, to back and forth between different types with no loss of skill and reflex. I mean these are recreational machines. Let them have fun regardless.

There is precedence for simulating the action and feel of controls. Happens in aircraft all the time to help ease the burdens of type rating. And I realized that all my newer tractors on the farm no longer have a clutch in the same sense as the old dry clutch days, yet they still have a pedal that simulates it electronically. Technically they call it an inching pedal.

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