Meanwhile, Walmarts are full of - well not shoppers, but people escaping the heat. They've got air conditioning at home, but US$0.40 per KWh costs too much to use it anymore. Sigh.

Google Maps designed their algorithm to be greedy, to grab every new edit from any willing users. But it won't let users remove stuff. Even stuff that should be removed.

It gladly accepted a neighborhood trail years ago, so I tried to get a trail segment taken off after a landslide blocked it, he county park taped it off and put up sign boards with their county permit to close the trail. Google rejected that edit.

My unlucky friend contributed a few dollars to a US political candidate and ended up on the Federal Election Commission list. Their name, address, phone number, amounts, dates, and more are in the publicly accessible database. Their US mail box exploded with solicitations, and their phone number got swamped in cold calls. Appreciate their attempt to get involved in the debates of the day, but it came at a big cost. See if you're there too: https://www.fec.gov/introducti...

There's been a landslide on a minor hiking trail nearby, the County that manages the park has posted and cordoned off the trail. I submitted the update to Google Maps on June 6. My "suggestion is being reviewed", but they're looking really biased towards growing their maps, not cleaning them up or making them safe.

This article's map shows lots of the days spent stuck in the doldrums out beyond the Galapagos Islands. Still impressive. https://pressfrom.info/us/news...

Grade school students need to hear without bothering the class. Charging & frequent loss preclude wireless. We've worn out quite a few headphone jacks, and these are name brand Dell, HP, and Acer chromebooks. Keep the jacks, and toughen them up to survive an indoor classroom.

Batteries and the cloud are both mentioned, but the biggest problem is the process that let an update go out without running the power consumption regression test. Yes, it might take hours or even days, but on a limited power budget bad things happen when you don't test.

My latest lights came on a reel. It might take 20 years for fixture design to catch up with new technology. LEDs can fit lots of places that bulbs don't, like underneath the rod you hang your clothes on(!)

Even with Steve Jobs showing up at city council, permits still might sink Apple's mothership. And if they register it in Lyberia and moor it in Mexico for a while they might escape property taxes too.

I want one too, so I can report that wannabe racer or road boulder with a single click.

Just don't recharge alkalines in a charger for nimh, they leak and ruin the charger(!)

GM's finally seeing the light, I want a Volt. But PG&E's regulated rate structure will put me at 400% of baseline and US$0.35 / KWh to charge it. $5.00/gallon gas is still cheaper(!)