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User: Carnivore

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Comments · 299

  1. Re:Ludicrous version? on Tesla Unveils New Model S, Its Quickest Production Car (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 2

    No, the Maximum Plaid mode is being planned for the future roadster model.

  2. Re:I oppose the telescope on Giant Telescope Project Stalled By Hawaiian Natives (khon2.com) · · Score: 1

    The science that is done on these telescopes is almost entirely independent of hemishphere. They look at objects so faint and far away that there are billions in view of any site.

    At this price point, yeah, we should have one. The problem is that "private" scopes like Keck soak up a lot of NSF funds, having run them through the UC system, leaving less for "public" observatories like Gemini. It's using tremendous amounts of public funding to make a toy for very, very few people. It's much easier somehow to get money to build telescopes but running them seems not to be as attractive to the funding bodies.

  3. Re:Online retailers on Will 'Chip and Pin' Credit Card Technology Really Increase Security? (Video) · · Score: 1

    This isn't chip and pin. It's a Different Magstripe. Online retialers will do a card-not-present transaction the same way they always have.

  4. Re:Only if you use App Cards with APPS! on Will 'Chip and Pin' Credit Card Technology Really Increase Security? (Video) · · Score: 2

    Despite the physical similarity to the European chip&pin system, the US one is different. It's basically the same thing as a magstripe, but different form factor. It's security through obsurity, in that the fraudsters haven't figured it out yet and the equipment to skim and clone a chip card is not yet common. It's a jump ahead in the race, but does nothing to stop the race.

  5. Re:well.. on $56,000 Speeding Ticket Issued Under Finland's System of Fines Based On Income · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think the point is not for the police departments to get Teh Phat Lootz, but to equalize the pain of violating the rules. The guy in the article makes €6.5 million a year, almost €18000 a day--do you think he gives a single shit about a €50 fine? €1000?

    We sort of cover this in the US with points; you can't just drive recklessly and pay for it out of petty cash forever because you'll lose your license. But the day fine concept seems like a decent way to instill the same kind of aversion in everyone, fairly. Points are ephemeral but your money is obvious.

  6. Re:Money talks, electric car walks on Tesla To Produce 'a Few Million' Electric Cars a Year By 2025 · · Score: 1

    I know that Tesla's interface allows you to start and stop charging at specific times, and I assume the others do, as well. The power companies can use EV time of use rate plans to get people to charge their cars when it's best for the grid.

  7. Re:Tell me it ain't so, Elon! on Tesla To Produce 'a Few Million' Electric Cars a Year By 2025 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't want to have to go to the dealership armed with "how to not get fucked by the dealer" materials and research from all over the web and my loins girded for battle.
    Buying my car was a terrible experience; I walked out of two dealerships because they were such abusive assholes.

    I don't want to wonder if I got a good deal. I don't want to second-guess my choice. I want to go to the Tesla store and chat with the associates who know their stuff. Get a test drive. Share the office lunch--Best sliders ever! Thanks, Kat! Configure the car how I want it, get it delivered. Perfect.

    No pushing to get me to buy some random car that happens to be taking up space on the lot. No attempting to intimidate us by suggesting that my wife maybe can't do an interest calculation, then getting offended when she drops her astrophysics PhD on the table. Never again. Tesla really has to badly fuck the Model 3 up for me not to buy one.

  8. Re:Tell me it ain't so, Elon! on Tesla To Produce 'a Few Million' Electric Cars a Year By 2025 · · Score: 1

    And I'll counter with my own anecdotal data point:
    My Juke was recalled because some timing chains were failing, causing the engine to eat itself.

    ICE cars need a lot of maintenance to stay roadworthy. We are simply used to it and don't think about it much.

  9. Re:Charging amperage on Battery Breakthrough: Researchers Claim 70% Charge In 2 Minutes, 20-Year Life · · Score: 3, Informative

    The current HV battery is around 400V.

  10. Re:Sexism and racism on Google Is Offering Free Coding Lessons To Women and Minorities · · Score: -1

    Yeah, we white guys have it so hard. So, so hard. Cry more. Cry into that gigantic pillow that your white male privilege gave you.

    It really would behoove you to look out of your insulated bubble and try to understand the pervasive pressure that's exerted against people who aren't like you. Just try. It's hard, I know. But we can be better than you are being right now. That's not that hard, because you are being a real dick. But we can get even better than that and be pretty good and inclusive. And we can listen and do better when we make mistakes.

    I hope you will.

  11. Re:So that's the problem! on Google Is Offering Free Coding Lessons To Women and Minorities · · Score: -1, Troll

    You're a jerk and you're the problem. You are why this program needs to exist. Having you in a programming class is driving interested minorities away. You. You and the very large number of people like you. You are holding society back.

    How could you possibly have a problem with this? It's not affecting you. You already have yours. Let someone else get hers.

  12. Re:Canceling out the problem on Google Is Offering Free Coding Lessons To Women and Minorities · · Score: 0, Troll

    I don't even know what you're trying to say. How do you propose to fix the obvious and real problem of underrepresentation of over half of our population? Is it to have more classes dominated by white guy brogrammers? Get the one token girl in there, right?

    Your attitude is the problem. I'm going to make some assumptions, here: you're a mid- to late-twenties white guy. You've never been in an office full of people who are different than you are. You've never spent any time in a work environment in which you have no peers of your gender. You have _not the slightest clue_ how much privilege you have had and continue to have.

    I _am_ a white guy who had a very large amount of privilege globally-speaking, but through various life experiences I have developed the ability to recognize that. You should, too.

    People who espouse this attitude are scared that they won't be able to get a job because they're the white guy who showed up. That some woman who is better than they are is going to be allowed to show that she is good, and it's not so easy for you to walk into a job.

    I find your dismissive attitude repulsive.

  13. Re:I don't know about this one... on Google Is Offering Free Coding Lessons To Women and Minorities · · Score: 1

    Many industries spend decades hand-wringing about "finding out why" and end up doing nothing. This isn't covering up symptoms, it's reaching out to people who are underrepresented in the field.

    Make a course that's much less likely to be full of brogrammers and you'll likely get more talented women and other minorities. This is a good thing.

  14. Re:Toyota is another EV hater! on Fiat Chrysler CEO: Please Don't Buy Our Electric Car · · Score: 1

    The irony here is that FCVs _are_ electric vehicles. I'm not sure why they think that a fuel cell is so much better than a battery, but hey. I'm interested to see real-world well-to-wheel comparisons of the H2 that is in the fuel stations and local electricity.

  15. Re:Fixed costs & whining on Fiat Chrysler CEO: Please Don't Buy Our Electric Car · · Score: 1

    Just a correction, they own (for whatever value of "own" is appropriate in modern business terms) the Fremont factory:
    From Wikipedia
    On May 20, 2010, Tesla Motors and Toyota announced a partnership to work on electric vehicle development and collaborate on the "development of electric vehicles, parts, and production system and engineering support". This included Tesla's partial purchase of the former NUMMI site, mainly consisting of the factory building,[11][12] for $42 million.

    They're using about half of the facility now, with full-time Model S production and getting ready for Model X and building battery packs, etc. They're now the largest auto employer in CA.

    I don't think Tesla is interested in licensing deals now; their contract for RAV4 drivetrains is expiring and no one is very sad about it.

    I really do think that the other CEOs are having nightmares. They have to know that we hate the dealer model and if Telsa can operate without that middlman, it will accelerate their growth even further. I cannot wait until I click the "send order" button and get one of my own.

  16. Re:Make batteries? on Should Tesla Make Batteries Instead of Electric Cars? · · Score: 2

    The Toyota contract is dying a quiet death; Toyota never wanted an electric car but their fuel cell vehicles weren't ready in time to satisfy California's ZEV requirements.

  17. Re:Make batteries? on Should Tesla Make Batteries Instead of Electric Cars? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They use 18560s.
    LMGTFY

  18. Re:Hydrogen Vs Batteries on Future of Cars: Hydrogen Fuel Cells, Or Electric? · · Score: 1

    I think one thing that you might not have been considering when thinking about volume required at "electric filling stations" is that unlike hydrocarbon vehicles, most of the time EVs are fueled at home. There are not very many days that I drive more than I'd replace by charging a Model S overnight even on 110V 15A (~3MPH).

  19. Re:Electric. on Future of Cars: Hydrogen Fuel Cells, Or Electric? · · Score: 4, Informative

    I may be misinterpreting your statement, but Tesla uses AC induction motors with no permanent magnets and no rare earths.

  20. Re:Sponsor? on Tesla Logged $713 Million In Revenue In Q1 and Built 7,535 Cars · · Score: 1

    That argument is as fallacious as claiming that you need to own the biggest SUV there is because once every couple of years you want to tow a boat. It can be extended to any extreme: "Oh, your new pack is 500 miles of range? Well, I want to do a 1500 mile trip without charging, so EVs are impratical!"

  21. Re:By way of context... on Sony Tape Storage Breakthrough Could Bring Us 185 TB Cartridges · · Score: 1

    Ooh! I also have an anecdote! One of my LTO tapes' leader broke off in the drive, ruining not just the tape but the drive itself. $5k oops.

    It was great for offsite backups, but my data needs have eclipsed LTO's capacity. I don't have the budget to keep upgrading my drives to chase my ever increasing storage needs. On the other hand, I scrounged up a server and a disk array to make a 28TB backup server for no extra cost.

  22. Re:Transduction mechanism? on Toyota Describes Combustion Engine That Generates Electricity Directly · · Score: 1

    The "mover" (same function as a rotor, but is linear instead of rotational) is pushed past the stator by the explosions. This also compresses a gas spring which returns the cylinder to the starting point when it rebounds.

  23. Re:Conspiracy theory? on FTC Approves Tesla's Direct Sales Model · · Score: 1

    The laws are wrong and outdated. I do not ever want to go to a car dealer again. I am the consumer and I am demanding direct sales. I fully support Tesla's full on attack.

    Hardly any other manufacturer takes EVs seriously. The most prominent one is the Leaf, but there are reports that dealers can be reluctant to sell them. Toyota makes the RAV4 EV, with a Tesla drivetrain. They only sell it in California and go out of their way to make it a pain to own. Chevy has the Spark EV, a city car. Fiat will have the 500e. None of these even come close to the practicality of Tesla's model with large batteries and very fast DC charging. The quick research I did just now suggests that using a Chademo DC charger on a Leaf puts in about half of the range per unit time as a Tesla Supercharger (remember that the Superchargers are free, too)

    The statement "Meanwhile everyone else makes electric cars without all the drama queen nonsense!" is extremely misleading and dismissive.

    If I want an EV, why does the first step have to be convincing a third party to offer to sell it to me? That's insane.

  24. Re:What does it mean? on FTC Approves Tesla's Direct Sales Model · · Score: 1

    No it's not. I bought my Fitbit from Fitbit. I was thinking of buying a Nest from Nest. Nexus 5 from Google Play. Kilt from Utilikilts. Kettle from Adagio. Apple computers. Kindle from Amazon. Many more examples.
    Most of those things are pretty mainstream.

    I don't want to have to wait for a middleman to decide that there's enough volume potential for them to start stocking the stuff I want.

    And this is all ignoring how _awful_ car dealers are. There's a whole industry dedicated to circumventing them as much as possible!

  25. Re:Luxury sports car on Will the Nissan Leaf Take On the Tesla Model S At Half the Price? · · Score: 1

    The whole point of Tesla is, in fact, to make all-electric cars for the masses. The funding for that project and to keep the company afloat until battery tech advances sufficiently to realize that goal is to sell first the Roadster and now the Model S and X.