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Comment It is the worthless content that is killing it (Score 1) 93

I search for some morsel of information, like an exchange rate or elevation of a place or whatever. Then each results either obscures the data with paragraphs of repetitive word salad, in the end not having anything relevant to the query. Google destroyed the utility of their search engine for the sake of monetizing everything. The same will happen to "AI".

Comment Re:An opportunity for a private certification (Score 3, Interesting) 249

UL would be the most likely candidate. In dealing with UL Certifications in the past, it is mostly a money grab, so it would be right down their alley to offer it.

I'm so happy for the EnergyStar ratings on ceiling fans. Without it, we would never have brushless DC motors on them. My ~10-year old ceiling fans drew 180W on high speed; my new ones draw 15W with better motors and more aerodynamic blades, moving a lot more air in the process. Certification programs like Energystar really do help make better products possible.

Comment Re:CAUSE of the outage not CLEAR (Score 2) 138

Most of these things are down to human error (and squirrels). San Francisco lost power for 8-12 hours back in the '00's because someone forgot to remove a grounding strap on a transmission line prior to re-energizing a circuit. Things like that can either stress a transformer or cause a failure. The former leads to a reduction in service life, as do things like leaks in the oil gaskets either causing a loss of oil or entrance of moisture.

Comment I hate this (Score 1) 95

I have several VMs that only boot up weekly or monthly for a few minutes and then shut back down. If they fail to update the certificate then the next boot the web interface is inaccessible. It pushes me back to insecure protocols, which even on my LAN I consider a stupid risk.

Comment Re:The uncertainty this fat fuck is causing (Score 1) 230

The uncertainty is part of the game. The outcome really comes down to who has the best hand. I have no idea what the answer is, and my stock portfolio hates what Trump is doing, but will hope that there is actionable relief coming.

I am a liberal but I do acknowledge that from a national security perspective the lack of domestic production of critical materials and equipment is unsustainable. I just fail to grasp what happens in the next 10 years before such capacity will exist.

Comment Re:USD17k, for just a heat pump? (Score 1) 132

But that heat pump system gives you air conditioning as well.

A smarter approach would generally be to add a heat pump ductless mini split in a living room or space with high heating load and keep the gas furnace for really cold days, just using the fan to circulate air.

All that said, current costs are too high, and that is a problem if you want to increase adoption. It is a shame that new houses are built with gas, but it take a lot more information to understand why. In the US, there is a significant supply chain shortage but I don't think that is a global issue-- it might be related to the refrigerant change.

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