CalRobert

8 ms·

151.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
"Once of age, no need, come of age, can remove." This seems very naive to me, to be honest.
152.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
Ironically 99% of them don’t meet legal requirements. They serve no purpose.
153.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
Ironically when I was in high school I was fat and hated pe but biked about 20 minutes to school every day. Now in middle age I still bike everywhere and am in better shape than most of my peers.. Turns out I just really really hate running
154.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
... Ireland?
155.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
True, but it was, until 2008, a somewhat less lopsided relationship. Europe is becoming a museum and a retirement home. Young people leave to make their fortune and maybe return to have a family or avail of healthcare. And while I have noth
156.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
Was looking for this. It’s a great short story (it starts with real events and then predicts the future) leading to European fealty to US . Seems increasingly plausible.
157.
by CalRobert 3mo ago
We’ve definitely had it since, sadly.
158.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
"SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, had arrived in the country on frozen lobsters from Maine that were sold at the Wuhan market" ..... I know, strongly, that this is purely an anecdote. But this was kind of crazy to see.
159.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
It always seemed weird - where does the water go, after all? I gather it isn't turned in to H2 and O2. I assume it leaves the data center hotter than when it came in, which seems like the real issue?
160.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
I think they meant to cull them
161.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
the interior units are very quiet in my experience... What's wrong with heating air? It was the norm in every house I grew up in...
162.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
It may waste energy, but if so, it's wasting y kwh of energy per day (or joules), at a probably-variably rate of x kw, where y is x * 24 (for kwh)
163.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
Fair - good reason to use solar and batteries too. The cynical side of me almost wonders if the current approach is designed to reduce health care and pension costs by disincentivizing installation of a technology that saves elderly people.
164.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
Yes, which is why we should stop installing them and use air to air heat pumps instead, which do both. Bonus - you can throw your bulky, ugly radiators out too!
165.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
The rules in NL at least are 45dB during hte day, 40dB at night, at property line. Our machine in "silent" mode is around 42dB ~60cm from the unit, and we can get it to 40dB with a little distnace from property line and a sound ba
166.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
I really think Irish planners are climate change deniers. The ones in Offaly at least certainly didn't take it seriously ca. 2020.
167.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
Strange then then places with lots of rain and wind (Ireland, Netherlands come to mind) hate eaves. I guess it keeps builders in business. Ironically when I had a 200 year old thatched cottage it had 'eaves' by virtue of the thatc
168.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
Grumpy old German and Dutch boomers whine if the AC isn’t literally inaudible. Modern ones are very quiet but will still get complaints.
169.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
True, though the places I lived in California (Sacramento, San Luis Obispo in particular) all had eaves. Covered patios were common too.
170.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
Even now planners are forcing people to build horrible ovens that make no accounting for heat. The planners in Ireland laughed when I talked about over heating in our self built house due to lack of eaves.
171.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
The most bizarre thing to me is that here in the Netherlands I can get a subsidy for a heat pump if it heats radiators, but not if it’s a multi split air to air heat pump. Because the latter also happens to be an air conditioner. It makes n
172.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
Well maybe we'll get small cars again because the fine for violating CAFE is now... $0. https://environmentalhealthsafetybrief.sidley.com/2025/07/08...
173.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
They might be thinking of e-bikes that aren't regulated (at that point basically an electric motorcycle) If not then maybe downhill....
174.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
Nothing against old people but when the city gets greyer and greyer because young people can't move in and old people stay in 3+ bedroom homes it's not great.
175.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
"The car is designed for urban settings and has a top speed of 50 kilometers (31 miles) per hour." I don't think range will be an issue at that speed tbh. Cool little transport but not really a "car" in the way we t
176.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
You can do that, but now it's just "I was here first" which eventually turns in to "I'm old" (after all, young people were not there first, by virtue of not existing when rent control was enacted), which doesn&
177.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
There was a dot net crash too??
178.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
So far I’ve been fine politely declining. Haven’t been back to the US in a while though.
179.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
In Amsterdam it led to them getting sold
180.
by CalRobert 4mo ago
This is true, the prices do drop. In Amsterdam at least it meant low income renters getting evicted so that people with roughly 2x their income could buy their former homes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t05cFv02pzY is an

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