Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Comment Those who ignore history (Score 5, Insightful) 122

There is a history of what we would now call industrial engineering and human factors going back at least as far as the first written records that shows that working more than a reasonable number of hours per week for any length of time leads to colossal decreases in productivity and quality, not to mention safety. If you have to work 18 hour days for two or even three weeks to get the crop in, yeah, that will work, but trying to keep human beings on this kind of schedule for very long leads to failure, burnout, and health problems up to and including death.

Comment They will just use a different visa (Score 1) 82

There are dozens of visas. If one is effectively ended, they will use another. The L-1 can be used in many cases.

The L-1 visa is a nonimmigrant visa for tech workers who are transferring from a foreign, affiliated office to a U.S. office of the same company.

So some guy is hired by an Indian staffing firm over in India, the transferred over to the US where he is contracted to work at Microsoft by the same staffing firm. I think MS partners with, at least, one of these firms.

That is just one loophole, there are many others.

If Trump was serious, he would charge a 20% additional fee on the salaries of all visa workers.

Comment Re:Here come the edge cases! (Score 0) 264

I'm glad you looked up the real number as I usually see estimates of 65% of USians or something like that living in apartments (zero of which have chargers installed in the parking lot of course).

But what you are saying is that no progress can be made on the other 66% who can install a home charger until absolutely every possible case is covered, which is not out of touch but simply pro-Big Oil propaganda.

Comment Re:Legacy auto is clueless (Score 1) 264

Beg to differ a bit: while GM made some missteps, particularly in handing the VOLTEC technology over to their PRC subsidiary and dropping it in North America, they took their time to develop a well-engineered and manufacturable EV platform for the next 10-15 years. The problem is their executive team is now living in fear of what a fascist regime could do to them if they don't toe the line and that has given the anti-progress faction at GM operations HQ the chance to counterattack and put anchors on EV marketing and sales. Really a shame and it will cost them dearly over the next 20 years [1].

[1] the anti-progress faction at GM will be well-retired to their backwoods Michigan cabins with their 2,847hp offroad pickup trucks by then

Comment Waking up 10 years from now (Score 1) 264

There's only one question in my mind: when the United States wakes up 10 years from now and realizes we have fallen 20 years behind in basic and applied science, EVs, public transportation, and re-creating our built environment to center humans instead of machines (ok, we're already 30 years behind on that last) WHO ARE WE GOING TO BLAME?!? SOMEONE DID THIS TO US - THEY MUST BE PUNISHED!!!

Comment Re:Just speculating. (Score 0) 264

"Electric vehicles are one of those things that are a really good idea in theory but out in the real world they are just simply unworkable. "

EVs are like the apocryphal bumblebee: they don't work in theory, yet millions of people use them every day with no more serious inconvenience than ICE vehicles experience from time to time (e.g. the mythical 'range anxiety' = running out of gas on a back road).

I've had people give me long lectures about the un-usability of EVs while I have driven them across the city, errands, and back on purely electric power in my PHEV.

Comment Same reason children prefer margarine? (Score 2) 151

They tested cookies made with butter vs cookies made with margarine, to see if children could tell the difference. Children could tell the difference, and preferred margarine. They believe the reason is: children are used to margarine, so butter tastes odd.

My guess is: if people are not used to drip coffee, it's not going to taste right.

Comment Are CA charging stations a PITA to use? (Score 1) 278

Here in CO, I can fill up my gas burner with just a credit card, or even cash. Even at a gas station that I have never visited before. Any gas station will do, I don't need to find a station that uses some special nozzle, or only accepts certain apps.

But to charge my EV at a charging station, I need to download apps, and join a network, and maybe jump through other hoops. It can take a half hour before I can even get started. And not many charging stations accept my CHAdeMO standard, so I need another special app to find those. My phone better be well charged.

Slashdot Top Deals

"You'll pay to know what you really think." -- J.R. "Bob" Dobbs

Working...