Posts by MachDiamond 15380 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Aug 2012
"Whilst they are putting the price up, they might also consider changing the name to more accurately reflect that is actually little more than a glorified lane-assist"
The tier 1 lane assist, unfortunately named "autopilot", is being discontinued so if you like any of that, you will have to continue to pay and pay and pay.
"At what point does that turn into a ban on Tesla Financial Services from keeping any vehicles?"
Likely never since it's a great loophole for rich bastards to drive poorly and just have somebody paying the fines on their behalf. Late for a meeting? No problem. Want to see how fast the leased sports car can go? UK Autobahn time!
"so not permanently deprived of it (so not technically theft))"
In the US, it's still a theft if you get it back. To have another set of laws around "TWoC" is just more ink wasted. Some US states do call it "Taken without consent", but that's a lot to do with how disjointed the laws can be across such a large country.
"Which is what happened: the registered keeper was Tesla Financial Services."
In the US, the registration on a leased car will show the leasee with the lessor's information in another set of fields. I expect the UK could update how they record vehicle registrations to they know who's in control of the car.
"anyone know why its a fly by instead of orbiting?"
It's a "free-return" trajectory so they will come back without having to make any maneuvers at the moon.
It's much simpler and far less expensive to test a crewed vehicle without orbiting the moon. Doing everything with no human testing all in one go would be very risky. They have already sent one Artemis rocket around the moon with nobody on board.
"Even aiming for compatibility between Dragon and Starliner would have involved NASA having to referee years of arguing between Boeing and SpaceX."
That's not the way to do it. NASA would lead the design and contract out for the build. While contractees could contribute to the design, NASA makes the final decision, no arguing.
"Next time they are offered snake oil by tech billionaires, they might keep their money in their wallets and not be such mugs."
Yes, but it makes sense to the kids and we are afraid of looking like decrepit old dotards.
I'm not going to say that it "won't" work, but I'm not seeing a good reason why I should buy it. I'm also seeing a rising tide of "no-buy"/"Zero-buy" memes on YouTube to tame bloated households and budgets.
"Kids learn their way around a school in the first few days of term and can escape a fire faster than most people."
The problem is that the school has to know where those kids are, especially in an emergency. If the school doesn't know, there will be much gnashing of teeth and months of enquiries.
Tech is all nice and shi, but knowing how to do things, once the purview of grandfathers, is a fading skill set as the supply of said grandfathers is diminishing each year. Mine taught me how to properly build a fence and design/build a small bridge. The bridge is still on the property over 40 years later. Summer's spent at my dad's had me as the local labor force with G'dad as the foreman. Many projects were accomplished.
"there is no paper fall back for some of these process."
There should always be paper. It's fine that attendance is computerized, but there needs to be backups on paper for an emergency that are placed somewhere to be grabbed in the event of needing to evacuate students. If news gets out of something, parents will come flocking in (blocking emergency services) and kids will wind up everywhere with no good way to quickly check them off to do an accounting.
The number of students makes no difference. 1,500 isn't that much harder to track vs 300 if thought has been put into the workflow.
"The fence is also to keep intruders, like local drug dealers, off site..."
A fence is a good way to limit access points, but electronic gates? Good Grief. It locks people in as well as out.
In many places, drug dealing within a certain distance of a school is another layer of penalties and should illicit a better response from a police department (if there is one). If the neighborhood is really bad, a LEO should be stationed on campus and doing some sort of visible patrolling. Having that physical presence should be a level of deterrent.
"If your printer is borked, do you stop lessons in case you can't print out lists of pupils?"
The class list doesn't change every day so it should be quite easy for a teacher to have a copy at all times with no access to a printer. It would be easy enough to make a daily register with a spread sheet to get through any IT failure.
I know when I was in school that teachers had backup lesson plans in case an outside activity was prevented by weather, the power was out, etc. Learning didn't stop for something that wasn't easy to anticipate and work around. Testing days were nearly carved in stone so we needed to have had the lessons under our belt one way or another.
"And notebooks that are remotely adequate for gaming, are either power hungry, overheating gremlins, or must be tethered to a power socket to unleash the full multipliers, or all of the above."
Not just gaming, but photo editing, video editing, FEA/BEM and CFD. I have a 13" MBP, but my daily driver is a 27" iMac for common tasks. For real work, I have an expanded MacPro and a fat PC for 3D CAD. A laptop won't cut it and I've been spoiled rotten for many years with multiple large monitors fixed at an ergonomic working height. The laptop goes with my on trips and to pre-process media files while I drive back to the home office from the field.
"That is why you "vote" with not visiting the enshittified sites. "
That works up to the point where you have no choice. If I'm having issues with a web site and it's barking at me to install Chrome, I either skip them or have to use a dedicated computer for that purpose if I can't go elsewhere.
"run up against enshittified web sites that have forgotten the web is supposed to be a universal platform and fail in a wide variety of ways"
I've run across this numerous times to the point where I have a miniPC with Cinnamon whose only job is to run a Chrome browser. I hadn't been able to find competitive online software that wasn't optimized to run only on Chrome. For the particular functions, there just isn't anything else that can run stand-alone or for a price that let's me resell the outputs to my customers. I'd never install Chrome on my daily drivers.
"I can only conclude that Elmo has always been scum"
When E. Musk invested $6.5mn into Tesla, the first thing he did was demand $7.5mn in changes to the nearly finished Roadster. They should have had him by the collar and headed for the door at that point. It's been mountainous driving since then, but the road is on the downhill right now and there has been some problems with brake fade.....
"That would go a long way towards keeping semi-sentient and up customers out of trouble."
And where would you find those sorts of customers?
They've been sold all of the advantages and convenience of the Widget + and aren't paying any attention to the risks.
Most of the time I'm of the mind to just throw up my hands and declare "that's what you get for being a complete prat".
"A phone is a device that, by design, needs a network to communicate."
Yes and I was trying the other day to explain to somebody why Ham radio is still viable. He's young and didn't get it.
I use my phone often enough, but I'm also licensed for commercial and amateur radio communications. In most emergencies, I can reach somebody when cell service may be completely off-line.
"escrow - either of funds or of code"
Good luck with that. Even if the code was in escrow somewhere, that might not be useful until bankruptcy courts have made rulings or the assets of the company have been sold. In the mean time, no access to your IoT junk. It's landfill or it takes so long that you've made other arrangements.
Many of these shutdowns also happen very quickly and without notice. The company might be hanging on hoping for a buyer or additional money from somewhere. When the first creditor comes calling, that's it. I'll wager that the "cloud" system is just rented (AWS, etc). That provider isn't going to hold onto the data for much time if the bill hasn't been paid. While the execs may have been collecting their pay up to the end, they may have been putting off payables so there's no grace time.
"There is unfortunately a near future in which this problem applies to almost all cars"
Not only are you bummed you dropped your $2,000 mobe and the display is wrecked, you now can't make it home as you need the app to use your car or show your train pass.
I was watching some videos on taking Amtrak and every one of the presenters was saying "get the app" and the better ones that one should make a screen shot of the ticket to show the conductor. I always print my tickets and keep at least one spare copy somewhere. Those copies don't need power, network connections and are not as likely to get nicked.
"86 comments on an article about inflatable space tents and not a single hit for Bigelow?"
Well, they ain't around anymore and haven't been for a while. The last new posting on their site was in 2019 along with a banner about "investigating the paranormal" discussion with Robert Bigelow.
"For all the negative comments , an inflatable structure inside a lava tube is probably the only viable way to build a large structure by shipping it from Earth. They have had inflatable structures on the ISS for a while."
Using some sort of inflatable sealing "bag" inside a lave tube would be a quick method to make the tunnel airtight as long as there isn't a really sharp bit that starts a rip propagating. I expect it won't be perfect and will need some touching up.
Pressure cycling from heating and cooling will be a problem if there isn't a way to moderate pressure changes to compensate. Anything that's worked mechanically over and over will give out at some point. Add in very low temps and the issue can be made worse. The sorts of rubbery compounds used on Earth can be an issue in the coldest climates. Something baking in the sun can also heat up and make the material far less strong. I'm getting a vision of a car wrap done poorly in the summer sun.
"but how to make an omlette, or scrambled eggs? "
Those are easy. Freeze-dried and reconstituted/cooked eggs can be almost indistinguishable. I've only done a small amount in my freeze dryer and it works well. At some point when eggs are on offer, I'm going to do some much larger, full-tray, batches as a hedge against the next eggpocolypse. A fried egg seems to be a challenge.
For a pancake, cook in advance and freeze. There's the option of making them fresh by using a measured amount of batter in an enclosed cooker similar to a waffle.
This reminds me of the mad inventors trying to come up with the best way to make a burger flipper. The job's been done. Put the patty between two cooking surfaces and don't flip at all.
"They really don't have to do anything much, nor do they have to pretend to deliver on those $1M deposits"
Legally, there's a difference between a "reservation" and a "deposit". A reservation can be pretty dodgy and without much substance. A deposit is more defined. Buyer beware of the words being used (officially). For something costing $1mn, I'd pay a bloodsucking attorney some money to review the documents first.
"Why does this business model remind me of Virgin Galactic?"
A big problem with VG was they initially thought they could scale up the hybrid rocket engine from Starship One while overcoming some of the issues it had. To that end, they designed, tooled and built an airframe before the rocket engine was done. Rather than stopping, getting the engine right and re-designing the airframe, they continued tweeking the engine and building airframe parts with the hope they'd get it sorted. Didn't happen. The final choice was to go back to the 50miles high = space rather than the modern definition of 100km. The rubber fuel motor vibrated too hard towards the end of flight due to inconsistencies in the way the fuel would burn. A Nylon fuel grain worked better, but required a He moderating gas and that took up two paying passenger seats. The flight test with the Nylon fuel grain is the one where a mistake by the co-pilot caused a loss-of-vehicle accident and a loss of the co-pilot's life (and structural oneness).
The White Knight Two carrier plane also had all sorts of issues and is in need of replacements/updates without having paid it's way as planned.
"Radiation, again not really a problem for the occupation durations expected, people have lived in the ISS and earlier space stations for months with no radiation problems experienced"
Well, yes, ISS residents have had issues. The station is still within the Earth's magnetosphere too.
People may have to pay for their own EVA suit which ramps up the cost a wee bit.
Obviously, it's a scam. There's experience with people in space on space stations that goes back ages now, but not on the moon. There's going to be lessons learned that can't even be guessed at until it's being done. I expect there will a bunch of overcompensation for things that might become a problem to cover for those unknown gremlins and it will take time to learn how to run a habitat efficiently.
Whenever I'd build a new bit of kit for my manufacturing company, the first iteration took ages, cost too much and needed updating from day one. If there was a next one(s), the time and cost would drop precipitously and it would work better. I also learned that there was a value to getting something that works well enough into operation as quickly as possible since not having it was more expensive than having something a wee bit dodgy. Too dodgy and v2 would need to happen quickly.
"Given enough time I am certain Lunar tourism will take off. "
Yes, and will likely start the same way as people booking trips to ISS. The cost will be so high that the pool of people that could even go once is vanishingly small.
If commercial enterprises are found to be profitable, there will be more non-governmental people going and those that really want to visit the moon might build the credentials to get those sorts of jobs where they could be selected. Those people will be cleaning loos and doing laundry/chores along with everybody else, not preening tourists that will expect those things to be done for them.
" I don't think any country is going to break the treaty for these guys' benefit."
Once there's a real possibility of things such as off-Earth habitats, the existing space treaties are going to wind up being re-written. The "maybe someday in the future" date will arrive with different attitudes and politics. The benefit might be as a flag-of-convenience base for the sponsoring nation if it helps them catch up with the US, Russia, China, India and Japan that have space programs that might be able to accomplish a permanent presence on/in the moon.
"Unless you do something that puts dust on it and there is something that constantly rubs that dust I don't see how you could make a hole."
One of the few technical things that are plausible in The Martian was the airlock blowing out after being used so often. Any inflatable balloon on the moon will expand and contract while rubbing on a bed of broken glass.
Radiation is an issue. Maintaining a livable temp will be an issue. Anything hitting the moon isn't slowed down or burned up by an atmosphere first.
Schlepping a bouncy castle to anyplace off-Earth is a dicey proposition and comes with loads of risk.
"My argument is that private communication is or should be a right,"
In most of the first world, it is. Private parties intercepting communications are committing a crime. Police need a warrant if the carrier (telco, etc) doesn't just hand them stuff for the asking. A judge needs to decide if the information they've been presented is sufficient enough to issue a warrant and outline who/what/where/etc. An overly-broad warrant might turn into a problem for prosecutors as a higher court judge may call it a fishing expedition and throw out the evidence. Any other evidence that stems from that is also barred (fruit of the poisonous tree).
A "crime" such as blasphemy is decided at the time of accusation. "Sedition", maybe there's a defense.
"(3) Always encrypt and decrypt on air-gapped workstations (so the PLAIN text is off-line)"
An investigator seeking a warrant will get one for all electronics devices and paperwork they can collect in possession or control of the perp. Air-gapping is good practice to prevent online snooping, but could be useless if the adversary can collect up all hardware and have a good rummage.
Hmmmm, The head unit in my car is an aftermarket Android unit. Would the coppers even consider it?
"I would like to see the transcripts to see if his claim involved having a proper warrant to search his chats."
You will also want to carefully read the ToS of the message service to see if they give a rodent's backside about you and if they make any guarantees they'll not hand over any transcripts just for the asking.
The police only need warrants to compel surrender of something. If they show up and ask politely and it's given to them, no warrant needed. Get detained for drink driving and while they might need a warrant to get a blood sample against your will, if you volunteer one, they don't.
In many places, you can buy a transcript of the trial and can "see" all you like. I would expect that any defense would question the providence of all evidence used by the prosecutor. I'd expect it was all on the defendant's phone/laptop and a warrant was issued to search those devices.
"And that refineries on the gulf coast are capable of refining them."
I'll have to do some more research. The crude oil in Texas is typically an "intermediate". Light is preferred since it's much easier to turn into transportation fuel. Heavy grades need a lot of "cracking" to shorten the HC chains into lighter fractions and that takes loads of energy and catalysts. This is why tar sands are a mess besides a lot of them being loaded with all sorts of nasty byproducts (sour). Yes, you can make petrol from tar sands, but the eROI is ghastly. (energy Return on Investment).
"Ask for a short article about xyz, and you will get one of some sort."
A lot of those responses are the same sort of thing you get from fortune tellers/horoscopes. Bland and generic prose with "xyz" mentioned can be a short article made with no identifiable ingredients. All byproducts, no vitamins, zero fiber and you're hungry again 20 mins later.
"Surely schools are more than capable of implementing such a policy for themselves if they believe it is best for the kids."
It's easier for the school to be able to just say it's out of their hands. The objectives are also national: Better education, less well-being issues, etc.
Most early education needs to be soaked up rather than looked up. Later, there is value to looking things up, but not during an exam or recalling something that was part of the last night's homework. With more and more voice input tools, reading and writing can suffer if not practiced and if the information returned is incorrect or not appropriate to the questions being asked, how would one know? One of the main tactics of multiple-guess quizzes is to quickly eliminate the couple of "not even wrong" outliers and consider the remaining choices. If you've done the revision, the correct answer should stand out or at least trigger a gut feeling. If you just press the easy button after school/uni, that's up to you but the imposed drudge work will have forced at least something through the thick skull up to that point and maybe that's enough to keep a marginally more clever person from tricking you out of your money.
I really should take up working somewhere at the till and seeing how much I can make each week by short changing people. With so many people thinking arithmetic is hard, I'd be in a new car in little time.
The little faces of the fast food workers really glaze over when I seem to hand them too much money and force them to punch the numbers into the register. It amazes them I can do "the math" in my head to get back a tenner instead of a wodge of change.
"Go ahead and try. Then find yourself facing the wave of helicopter parents who abosutely have to have tabs on their sprogs at every moment of day."
It's been my observation that most problems with kids stem from problem parents.
I was a free-range kid and feel I turned out pretty good. On my way out, I'd tell mom that I was going over to Stan's and we were going to the gully to mess around (fish, catch snakes/lizards, boy stuff). An electronic tether would have been a buzz-kill.
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