hwillis

77 ms·

811.
by hwillis 7y ago
That's totally backwards. The short version is that due to advances in manufacturing and metallurgy, there is no longer an advantage to scaling manufacture beyond a relatively small point. Economies of scale is not really a result of
812.
by hwillis 7y ago
> You could dump the core onto the seafloor and not really have to worry about anything except the fuel elements eventually corroding and polluting a small area. Absolutely not. What you're saying is true for nuclear disposal - if
813.
by hwillis 7y ago
Probably quite high- many pickups are utility vehicles for contractors etc. and drive less than a couple hundred miles a day. Electric trucks might need a low range gear for extra payload torque, but they'll be much more torquey than
814.
by hwillis 7y ago
In one ear and out the other. Bury your head all you like.
815.
by hwillis 7y ago
The USPS is fantastically more efficient than private mail. The entire insurance industry relies on Medicare to even begin negotiating prices. Even Amtrak, for all its faults, is far better at providing service than private trains. In oth
816.
by hwillis 7y ago
Major bills are dictated by party leaders and administrations, very rarely by normal senators and congresspeople. He's been in the senate since 2007, 13 years. Before that he was a congressman for 16 years. He was an independent exce
817.
by hwillis 7y ago
It worked for electricity.
818.
by hwillis 7y ago
He's a senator, not a governor or state congressperson. Literally his job is to accomplish things at the national level, not the state level.
819.
by hwillis 7y ago
Lol you are absolutely wrong. Li-ion cycle life is typically rated at 99% depth of discharge, rarely at 98%. That means .5 to 1% of maximum capacity without damage. Deep cycle lead acid is damaged permanently at less than 20% capacity.
820.
by hwillis 7y ago
An li ion battery of the same capacity will supply less cranking current, but you can make it slightly larger (still much lighter and smaller than SLA) and make up for that difference. It's only below -30 Celsius (-20 to -40 depending
821.
by hwillis 7y ago
Cheaper yes, better not really. IIRC li ion is better in every way except low temperature performance.
822.
by hwillis 7y ago
> that would require batteries costing thousands of trillions. Hilariously disconnected from reality. That would be tens of petawatt-hours. The world uses tens of petawatt-hours of electricity annually .
823.
by hwillis 7y ago
> For the average person, the batteries need to be recharged at least at a similar rate and range to filling a gas tank. The top Model S can charge at 250 kW, or 15.4 miles or range per minute. Theoretically the fastest gas pumps in the
824.
by hwillis 7y ago
Ultracapacitors are HIGHLY unlikely to ever be used as a main power source for any vehicle. 1: The performance is just not there, has no indication that it will improve revolutionarily, and is growing slower than batteries. Formula E uses a
825.
by hwillis 7y ago
More that the satellites are in fixed orbits that are relatively low (250 km) and moving at thousands of km per second. Even if the target is directly below them, they need to rotate quite a lot to see it for more than a few seconds at a t
826.
by hwillis 7y ago
The picture Trump tweeted was from a satellite with a resolution of at least 4 inches. They can definitely see your cell phone, but they can't read it- at least not from space.
827.
by hwillis 7y ago
They've got the best kind of connector I've seen[1], with soldered joints on both sides of the board and a little wrap around, but it's still not as solid long-term as the USB-A keys. Over time the solder will start to crack
828.
by hwillis 7y ago
Sure, but integrating cords into manufacturing is a huge pain in the ass and usually done by hand. Honestly I'd rather see something kind of like this[1], where the body was totally flush with the computer (or as close to as possible)
829.
by hwillis 7y ago
Yeah, with a waterproof connector. However there's a reason yubikey uses just a float board connector and most of those itty bitty wifi/bluetooth usb-a dongles have custom connectors: the connector and solder joint are much more
830.
by hwillis 7y ago
> Sounds like these psychics serve as a low key religion for these people. I think that's a reasonable comparison, and I think both should be judged on the same basis- by the overall impact. Psychics may be good for some people. Ps
831.
by hwillis 7y ago
This comment is wrongheaded on several levels. 1: Jet fuel makes water when burned as well: by mass it is ~18% hydrogen, and by energy content it produces 55% as much water as pure hydrogen. The fuel itself is vastly less relevant than the
832.
by hwillis 7y ago
To my knowledge (electrical engineer) there is no usb-c connector with solid strain relief. I haven't been looking for one specifically but I've been looking at upgrading a project to usb-c. All the usb-c connectors I know have s
833.
by hwillis 7y ago
I'm actually with you on the dynamics thing- the actual oscillations are slower and smaller, but they're cubically harder to deal with. A small oscillation in a full-scale orbital rocket can shred the skin like gossamer. Howeve
834.
by hwillis 7y ago
I wonder which one used less energy in 1999?
835.
by hwillis 7y ago
> My brain gets tired around 10pm like a normal person, but then it gets a "second wind" and is up happily until 3-4am, with intensely increased clarity of focus. Not saying this isn't your natural predisposition, but FWIW
836.
by hwillis 7y ago
A 15.5 gallon tank is 58.5 liters. A Tesla S/X module[1] is 15.84 liters for ~5.3 kWh. If you could cram every inch of space with batteries it would come to just under 20 kWh. Not that much, and it will degrade quicker because you&#
837.
by hwillis 7y ago
damn, that's amazing. I don't think my hands or eyes will keep up with me at that age. Hell, they carp is already getting my wrists. At least I'll still have metalworking!
838.
by hwillis 7y ago
$46/kg, or $21/lb. Probably not worth a gym membership, but it would be the most money I ever saved taking a dump.
839.
by hwillis 7y ago
maybe , but that's also pretty unlikely. For reference here's where musk talks about it: https://youtu.be/sOpMrVnjYeY?t=3156 No real indication he means a spiral. There are a lot of problems with a spiral. Th
840.
by hwillis 7y ago
Its a two stage rocket. The top bit separates. Cranes are far and away the lightest way to move something up and down. Wires are incredibly strong for their weight; five times stronger than normal mild steel. Thats due to the stress exer

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