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Comment Re:So basically...You need a Lawyer (Score 4, Interesting) 92

It's why people hate using Apple Subscriptions. Because Apple makes it too easy to subscribe and unsubscribe to services - you get a neat list of all your subscriptions, and you cancel by turning off that subscription. A dialog pops up to confirm, what the end date is (your subscription is active until it expires). But it's just one click, no muss, no fuss.

Of course, companies hated it because Apple kept a lot of user details private and kept them from doing "retentions". Lots of people used it even though it was a costlier option (since most companies added the Apple tax to the subscription fee if you used Apple). It was just so easy to cancel - you do it without talking to anyone or anyone trying to get you to resubscribe.

Apple made it too easy that companies hated it, so pretty much only Apple uses it.

Comment Re:Lines up with recommendations by Jonathan Haidt (Score 1) 80

Apparently it's leading to a renaissance in landlines. Kids will need to communicate, but they don't need a smartphone. So some parents simply get them a landline so they can make phone calls to their friends.

This works for younger kids to keep in touch, but who don't wander too far away from parents, so likely adolescents in elementary school. Instead of a smartphone, they get a landline.

Older kids like teens get old school flip or feature phones. This lets them talk to their friends, make and receive calls so parents can keep track of them, etc. They can get the smartphone once they turn 18.

Comment Re:not arcane (Score 1) 34

Actually, Funai (the last maker of VCRs) greatly simplified the VHS tape mechanism over the 30 years they made it. The last machines they made in the 2000s are extremely simple mechanically and since Funai was the only maker of them, they are practically all identical.

So if you gather a few of the new old stock players still available you have a collection of players with spare parts. And they are very mechanically simple - sure there's some oddball shaped cogs and sprockets and gears that perform the complex operations in a simple way. but they beat what an 80s era VCR had in mechanical complexity.

The last VCRs often only had 3 motors - the one driving the rotary head, one driving the capstan roller and the takeup spools (and do the fast-forward/rewind). The final motor handles the tape insertion, loading and threading, and ejection of the tape. All of it done with precisely engineered injection molded gears designed for easy mass production.

An 80's era VCR has easily a half dozen motors more with dozens of switches, limit sensors, and other things. The gears and cogs are much simpler, but the mechanism and timings are so much more complicated and has to be coordinated by a processor.

And head cleaning is easily done with the lid off - you can easily clean the heads on the drum with a little isopropyl alcohol and a q-tip.

It's a magic of mass production that the final VCRs gave great performance and everything had been simplified to a single sided circuit board and a mechanism consisting of only a few gears and motors. The complexity of operation has been simplified to a plastic gear that choreographs the operation.

Comment Re:This is great but misplaced (Score 1) 117

Literally, the other drivers leaving reviews at the site disagree with you. When was the last time you were there? Here's all the reviews:

Feb 28, 2025
MKF
Tesla Model Y
NACS (Tesla) 16 Kilowatts

Dec 8, 2024
ProphetM
Tesla Model 3
NACS (Tesla)
Another great charge under the windmill at this wonderful museum!

Oct 1, 2023
SJacks
Fiat 500e 2013
We have a standard J-1772, and there was none of this plug type supplied at the ~4 charge stations (2 plugs each). Most if the plug-types were the CCS-Type 1. This station info should be updated.

Sep 9, 2023
tesla3joe
Tesla Model 3
Tesla
After hours use the service entrance. Charger is under the big windmill.

Jun 9, 2023
TessieK
Tesla Model S
This place is open and working! I called first to make sure the gate was open. Andy answered and was so sweet. He greeted us at the gate and took us to the charger.

Nov 24, 2022
rsager
Tesla Model 3
Arrived when museum was closed and the gate was locked so there was no access to the chargers. their phone message said their hours were Friday through Sunday? But that we could arrange visits to the museum on other days.

Aug 27, 2022
AmericanVanilla
Tesla Model Y
Tesla 6 Kilowatts
Maximum 24A Charger

Aug 27, 2022
blackmamba
Tesla 6 Kilowatts
We were in a pretty tricky situation in this area on the way to Vegas. Charging facilities are fairly limited in this area but this location helped close the gap to get to the closest super charger in needles. It seems that the charger can be accessed at any time of the day. The location is scenic with art installations by the host museum. Watch out for wild life. Leave a donation this service is seriously needed (and appreciated) in this area.

Mar 1, 2022
Sperry
Tesla Model 3
Great stop
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Dec 30, 2021
EVJerry
Tesla Model X
What a neat Historic Route 66 spot where my Spirit of Tesla - 2017 Tesla Model X used the service entrance to get to the windmill for a Level 2 Tesla destination charger (5 kW atv240 volts)...along with 120- volt Level 1 outlet. I will be back to visit this exquisite "Study The Past" historical site.

Dec 13, 2021
Nyroc
Chevrolet Bolt EV 2017
Tesla
Nice place to go back in history. Very enjoyable
The Tesla Destination is now housed in a shelter. I didn’t test it with my adapter but looks in great condition.

Nov 21, 2020
bee_harris
Tesla Model 3
Tesla

Apr 28, 2019
ProphetM
Tesla Model 3
Tesla 239 Volts 24 Amps 5 Kilowatts
Inaugural charge from their new Tesla Destination Charger! Output is 24 amps max (30 amp breaker).

Mar 12, 2019
ProphetM
Tesla Model 3
Wall 118 Volts 12 Amps 1 Kilowatts
Great historical museum on Route 66! Just 120v right now but 240v planned soon.

Comment Re:Bad news, gentlemen... (Score 1) 75

Cheating isn't irrational, it's a perfectly rational response, especially to things that are perceived as random - to reduce the risk.

Cheating in gambling games is rampant because it's rational to want to put the finger on the scale to tilt the balance in your favor, and not the house's.

Cheating in multiplayer games takes many forms - from cheating the matching algorithms so you can get cannon fodder for an opponent (this is especially if you are planning on "showing off" via streaming or other thing), so you appear better than you are to your audience who them rewards you with "chips" or other currency counterpart. Or you might cheat to get an edge by having intelligence not normally available, again making you look better.

Cheating might even help you win, providing you can avoid careful scrutiny. That's why election ballots are often counted in the presence of others and cameras to verify the vote - it's much harder to cheat when there's a lot of scrutiny that goes on.

Cheating to gain an advantage is a common rational reason to cheat, and many forms rely on sleight of hand to perform some action which might be missed by even a camera without careful observation.

The only time cheating isn't rational is to have fun. But a lot of time, fun can be hard to obtain. Even people who don't cheat, game developers often decry how people will optimize the fun out of your game.

Comment Re: Yay (Score 1) 117

My car has a built in charger map; you don't need an app. And for at least their own network, Tesla payment on Superchargers is the simplest thing imaginable: just plug in whenever you want and disconnect whenever you want, without doing literally anything else. All chargers should work this way for all EVs (with credit cards / apps only as a backup).

Comment Re: Yay (Score 1) 117

When I road trip, I just plug into the wall (though we are 230V). Gives like a half charge overnight (and because you're not arriving on empty, you leave at somewhere between 2/3rds and completely full). Also, when traveling to see sights, there's (at least where I am) commonly chargers at the parking lot, so while you're out doing whatever for X minutes/hours, your car is also getting charged.

A couple years ago I drove around Iceland (one of the least densely populated countries on Earth) in my Tesla while friends and family were in an ICE vehicle. I was waiting on them just as often as they were waiting on me. And this is a model I got at the start of 2020, using a battery pack that had been little updated since the car first came out in 2017, at a time when most of Iceland's chargers were still 50kW.

Comment Re:From the 'investing-in-the-future-department... (Score 4, Insightful) 37

Worse yet it's going to make glasses even more expensive.

For those not in the know, EssilorLuxottica is basically the monopoly for everything glasses related. They're the reason you spend hundreds of dollars on 2 cents of plastic for a frame, and why mass produced optical lenses cost hundreds of dollars each.

And they own the vast majority of stores that sell glasses - from the ones your optometrist sells (about 100% of them), to several huge chains like LensCrafters. Its basically a worldwide monopoly.

Sure, you can save by going to independent stores, of which there are a few chains, but they are much more limited in their offerings.

Glasses frames are just cheap pieces of injection molded plastic, or a few dollars worth of metal. They hold a lens. There's nothing high-tech about any of it, yet they cost hundreds of dollars apiece. More if you want them molded with some designer's name on it.

LIkewise, the lenses come from well known lens manufacturers - Nikon, Canon, Zeiss, etc., who make them by the millions, likely their main source of income over say, camera or projector lenses. There's no reason what is effectively a cheap piece of optical plastic coated with well known coatings (anti reflective, etc) should also cost hundreds of dollars. They don't require the precision assembly of a multi-stage camera lens which cost about the same amount of money. It's just a lens.

Granted, someone needs to cut the lens to fit the frame, but even that's generally machine controlled - the machine finds the optical center and using the lens template (the fake lens in the frame) and your prescription cuts the lens as needed. A process which may be done on site, or automated at some factory.

So yeah, it's concerning because the world doesn't need more expensive glasses. It's a pure profit item likely rivalling margins of popcorn and soda at movie theatres.

Comment Re:Bad idea⦠(Score 4, Informative) 50

I wish Colossal would just be more honest about what they're doing. They're not "bringing back lost species"; they're inserting just a handful of genes into modern species, genes which have the most impact on physical appearance. This is very different from bringing back the species itself, the entire genome. I'm glad that Slashdot's blurb at least had lots of caveats ("to resemble", etc).

(I won't even say that what Colossal is doing is useless. Their modified animals certainly seem a better starting point for future engineering efforts than just starting from scratch; at the very least, they'll be the right size for e.g. gestation / ovogenesis of the further modified progeny)

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