Renewable energy has made stunning advancements in the time I've been a Slashdot reader. In the early 2000s a situation like this seemed utterly impossible within my lifetime. Now here we are 20 years later with sometimes too much renewable energy on hand. It's amazing.

I think it's only getting more and more obvious now that for renewables to really take over steady/dependable energy generation duty, some affordable and dependable method of reliably storing excess energy during sunny or windy days needs to be achieved.

So let me get this straight - US economy is fine with ditching local workers for workers in other nations with cheaper labor forces, despite the loss in productivity due to language gaps, time zone differences, and cultural differences. BUT when Americans work away from the office it's OMG PRODUCTIVITY!!!!

Horse crap. These back to work full time arguments are cherry picking data and I have suspicions the real motivator behind it are organizations who desperately want corporate real estate to be the cash grab it has been in the past, and the taxes that go along with it. With a side dose of taxes from people commuting/lunching/buying stuff during the workday.

A better indicator of company health is corporate profits - and those certainly are not suffering due to working from home the last few years. In reality 5.7 hours working form home just means people are getting their work done in that time and cutting out the lunch breaks, bathroom breaks, chatting with Karen for 30 minutes per day as she walks by, surfing the internet from one's work device for another 30 minutes per day.

When 'meat replacement' made out of plants is significantly more expensive at the grocery store than true meat, that is a problem. I have a vegan daughter that we attempt to accommodate, and every time I've purchased these replacement meat products at the local grocer they are significantly more expensive per pound that regular beef, and extremely more expensive than chicken. I think taste wise they are close enough that most people can enjoy it, but that price is a killer.

They are being made from a pound for pound cheaper plant product vs raising an animal and the price should reflect that if there is any hope of getting most people to change.

For a series (requires Paramount +) I have really, truly liked "1883".

For a planet bound species to become capable of interstellar travel it seems likely they would require most of the traits mentioned in the the article in some capacity.

There is a building trend among the typically youngest generation entering adulthood in western culture that is frowning upon eating animal flesh for luxury. The 1st world food industry sees it coming. So preparing meat replacement products is on their radar and we are only seeing the beginning. They aren't focusing on making it healthy, just so it allows the growing number of vegetarians to continue using their restaurants.

I picked up Hulu Live this year just for the NFL season.

Getting the local channel games plus ESPN games is enough for me. Totally worth not having to battle Direct TV's subscription pricing games every 6-12 months to keep the pricing reasonable.

I have been an on/off subscriber to Direct TV over the last 6-7 years or so. The service is pretty nice, but the way they bill customers is just so aggravating. Not that it's very much different than how other internet providers work - but there is no internet service here to make the battle for reasonable rates every 6 months to a year worth fighting.

Geniuses at Direct TV: Offer a 40-50 dollar a month FOR LIFE package that I can get all my local channels and some basic cable sports channels and not have to call you up and argue about why my bill is now 2x as high as last month once every 6-12 months. The old method of promotional offers, then jacking up the pricing later is ruining you. There are too many cheaper streaming competitors for people to put up with it.

Precious few "followers" of either party actually cares about sifting through information for truth. Indeed precious few even have the capability in education or analytical thinking skills to do so. Perhaps they never did. But today's collective technological power and massive human populations are making a government decided by ignorant, politically devout party followers more and more dangerous to the species.

The only concern is that the [religious] leaders of the party are supported in whatever words they say or actions they may take. Every word is new scripture. Every action or non-action excused as holy. With no other thought about it from the masses beyond if the political leader claims the right party [religion].

They have the resources now to use their science with refining and advanced levels of chemistry science to perhaps find a way to capture carbon out of the atmosphere at large scales - and then find ways to make it profitable by charging nation states to do so within their borders and perhaps creating new carbon based energy from that captured.

Or perhaps transform into green energy based companies. Or both.

In any case, doing nothing and just pumping oil is headed for a small nitch market position in the coming century imo.

For all the flak news outlets throw Tesla's way every now and then, the evidence from actual owners on my own small part of the world has never expressed any level of unhappiness with the Model 3 or Model S.

People in places where there is a serious collapse in the local currency are finding some use out of digital currency. So it's worth not writing it completely off imo. But it's seriously unreliable, i think we can all agree on that.

It was the 'regular forms' (sugar) of soda that were doing the most damage. And the energy drinks (sugar) and snacks (sugar). And over eating (carbs/sugars) in general.

Those early 80s women of fitness drank so much damn Tab and Diet Coke when it first came out. And there has been no great Tab plague even nearly 40 years later. The propaganda on 'fat free' bull shit caused far more harm to western culture health (high calorie, low fat confusion).

Obviously water is better than heavy sugar drinks or simulated sugar drinks - but freakouts about artificial sweeteners are always more fear than substance. And the real world proves it every day.

We are at a technological point that we should actively work on phasing out these old/large reactor installations. If nuclear is used, make much smaller, less radioactive, Thorium based, localized installations that power suburbs. And of course keep expanding solar/wind power because of it's obvious benefits.