CalRobert

5 ms·

91.
by CalRobert 2mo ago
Fair, Deutsche Bahn is awful. Went to Berlin with them last November and instead of getting in at 9:00 PM we got in at 1 AM, which was especially horrible given we had a 6 and 8 year old with us.
92.
by CalRobert 2mo ago
In many instances there are alternatives. Amsterdam to Berlin is served by good rail (except when DB are crappy) and flight options. NYC to DC or Boston. Maybe, someday, SF to LA, and others.
93.
by CalRobert 2mo ago
Hell why even travel when you can just see Venice on a screen.
94.
by CalRobert 2mo ago
If it results in more and fitter offspring it will be selected for.
95.
by CalRobert 2mo ago
Reminiscent of the toxoplasmosis life cycle.
96.
by CalRobert 2mo ago
Data engineering started off as just another discipline in software engineering, but then the BI people got jealous and anyone who used sql started calling themselves DE. The term is fatally cheapened.
97.
by CalRobert 2mo ago
“. If I predict that in 2027 LTE cellular phones will be everywhere, 5G will be available for high bandwidth applications, and fallback to satellite data service will be available at a price, you won't laugh at me. It's not like I
98.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
Balls to the van der Waals
99.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
OK, but window AC and also mini and multi split systems, which are also like this, work just fine in wooden houses, so I don’t see the connection. I had multi splits in a wooden house in Ireland. Edit: re-reading… I guess it depends on the
100.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
I had a 1200 sqft house built for about €180,000 in Ireland.
101.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
Concrete houses suck and Europeans need to get off their high house about them. I own a concrete brick house in Europe and I’d strongly prefer a wooden American one. It’s hard to insulate, hard to alter, uglier, has a terrible embodied carb
102.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
I miss async communication. People apparently think it’s rude if I slack them at 4 AM but it’s on them to turn off notifications. I don’t even have slack on my phone. Nevermind people complaining about out of hours emails.. just don’t read
103.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
TIE Fighter even had a novella that worked in-came commands in to the story. I recall SimEarth having a multi-hundred page spiral-bound manual (though my memory is hazy) I pored over them obsessively.
104.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
I prefer to be able to slack my direct reports without thinking “are they going to get this on the toilet? Is this going to make them panic?” It’s ok to wait a few minutes.
105.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
Perhaps mistral will save us all from sounding like Californians. But sure it’s grand, you know yourself :-) (Haven’t lived in California in a long time now)
106.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
That seems pretty unfair. Why not make the original test pen and paper then? (Or at least a typewriter, offline computer, etc - my handwriting is awful)
107.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
If you can train a system to detect these patterns, presumably you can train systems not to generate text which matches them? I do struggle at times with thinking my own writing looks like AI. But I’m an average Californian who went to coll
108.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
Yes, for a time, there is a temperature difference between indoors and outdoors. Air conditioners push heat outside. But they reach equilibrium eventually. (At night, or I suppose in the autumn). Similarly heat pumps (which is what air cond
109.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
OK, but I don't see how that addresses what I was getting at? As a thought experiment, imagine you attach a heater to the solar panels (maybe it's a sunny day in winter). Do you get free energy for heat?
110.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
Right, but assuming conservation of energy holds then the net should stay the same, right? Unless solar panels have lower albedo than the roof they’re sitting on (considering how many roofs are flat black tar that seems unlikely…)
111.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
Ah, unless you refer to shifting the release of heat from inside to outside earlier in the day?
112.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
Right, but energy that would have heated the roof goes towards powering the aircon (which likely is on the roof itself), which then emits the same amount of heat, no? Say a roof is absorbing 10000 watts. You install solar panels that absorb
113.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
Ah that looks awesome, thanks!
114.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
I hear you, but when their choices are “flawed solution that exists” vs “perfect one that doesn’t” they will pick the former most of the time.
115.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
Well, sure, but that goes without saying?
116.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
https://www.budgetthuis.nl/energie/gratis-stroom
117.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
Well, they can try it out and see if it does what they want.
118.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
Incidentally the Netherlands has this too, at least with some providers (Budget Energy for one). I get free electric from 12:00 to 17:00 on weekends.
119.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
If you’re using rooftop solar then presumably the net heat generated by your aircon is the same as the amount your roof is no longer absorbing. Otherwise you just described a perpetual motion machine?
120.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
This is heat that would have escaped the house anyway

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