I love Texas Instruments. When I was designing a power supply for a hobby project I came across their web bench design site. I just plugged in the numbers and out pops a schematic, BOM and board layout with parts that are in stock from Digikey. I've always found TI's documentation to be top notch. That's not to say that some of the other semiconductor manufacturers also don't have great sites either, but I haven't yet found any that match TI. I also respect a lot of the other companies you listed.
Dealerships make their money with service and financing and parts, not by selling cars. They know many people think they have to go to the dealership for service and milk that for all they can. They also make money selling extras like extended warranties and add-on features.
In terms of service, Elon Musk stated his goal is for service not to make a profit. This is the exact opposite of dealerships where one of their main revenue sources is service.
I can give an example of this. I damaged one of the roof panels on my Tesla model S. The roof panel is painted with a clear-coat. The cost for the part was $175. I spoke to a friend of mine who used to work at a Lexus dealership. He told me the same part would have cost many times that amount. The labor to replace it was also fairly reasonable. By comparison, my experience with Toyota with my previous car, a Prius, was far higher.
For example, shortly after the 3 year/36 month warranty ended (but within the 7 year 100K mile warranty), the HID headlights went out. This was a well-known problem with the Prius. The headlights were not designed to be easily replaceable since HIDs are supposed to last a very long time. Anyway, Toyota wanted $200 per bulb and $140 in labor to replace it. I went online and found the same exact Sylvania bulb for under $50. I ended up going to another dealership to have the work done (having bought my own bulbs) and they replaced it under a "good-will" warranty (which my local dealership did not want to do).
In another case, after I sold my Prius to my parents, the touchscreen stopped working. This is caused by a known design defect where a solder connection breaks over time. Toyota wanted $5000 for a new touchscreen and $2000 in labor to fix it. I removed the touch screen in under 5 minutes. I found a place online that repairs them with a lifetime guarantee for $400 and had that done then spent under 5 minutes re-installing the touchscreen. $2000 in labor is utterly insane. I basically undid one screw, popped a few panels and undid a couple of bolts and that was it. $5000 for the touchscreen is also insane. It probably cost Toyota no more than $300 to make and probably well under that.
Another thing the dealership wanted $1800 for the extended warranty. I went online and bought the same factory extended warranty for $1000. Anytime I needed a part, Toyota would charge outrageous amounts of money for it.
Oh, and Toyota would always try and push a bunch of unnecessary maintenance but give me trouble for known issues that would come up (like a water pump that went bad twice).
I later got a notice over the headlights that there was a class-action because dealerships were charging people to replace the ballasts when there was nothing wrong with them when the HIDs died (Toyota had a bad batch of bulbs). Many people were charged a lot of money to replace the ballasts which were never the problem.
My experience with Tesla has been very different. They never pushed me to buy add-on options or extra service. The service costs were also generally reasonable, though some things like tires are cheaper elsewhere (I like Tirerack). This is what the dealerships fear. My car needs service once a year or every 12.5K miles. A Tesla tech told me that the electric motor is lubricated for 12 years. There's no transmission or regular oil changes needed and even the brakes get a lot less use. There is far less to go wrong mechanically. Even the battery will last a very long time. I'm coming up on 5 years 60K miles and haven't noticed any reduction in range. This is not what dealerships want to sell. Hell, Tesla will even honor the warranty if you don't service the vehicle every year.
I didn't have to create groups with Google Home. I have both Home and Echo. With Home I just say, "turn off all the lights in the living room" and it does so, or I ask, "What lights are on?" and it tells me. When setting up the Home it asks what room each device is in and automatically groups them. I also have the Echo but find myself using Google Home much more frequently because it generally works better.
I have found the same thing. While both the Echo and Google can answer questions, Google Home is far more capable. I've also found that the home automation of Google Home is superior to that of the Echo and both support my hardware (Universal Devices/Insteon & Nest). I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon but I just don't feel comfortable buying using a voice assistant because I want to see what I'm buying. In terms of understanding language, Google is far superior as it understands context. For example, if I ask what is the closest pizza parlor it will give me the closest one whereas if I ask for nearby ones it will list nearby ones. Alexa just lists the nearby ones.
Google is also much better about returning real results from various websites, having scoured the web and understanding the content of those sites. When it answers, it will cite a website and give a summary of what is said on the website.
Best of all, I asked both "What do you get when you multiply six by nine?" Google gave the correct answer, 42, whereas Alexa gave 54. Both support shopping through them, though Google is more like Alibaba than Amazon, using others to fulfill the orders. Google also integrates well with my Chromecast. I'm sure Alexa integrates with FireTV, but I don't have that. My only complaint about Google is the same as yours, I wish it had an audio output jack.
I just had to do a factory reset of my phone, which removed the authentication support using my phone. I just went to Google and used the change phone option and scanned the QR codes to re-add it to my phone.
I have had many times where my Echo will get randomly activated. I have never had this problem with my Google Home. Just in case, I activated PIN support so a PIN needs to be entered to purchase anything.
I have both an Echo and Google Home. I have found Google Home to be far more capable when I actually want information about something.
Even for home automation, I have found Google Home to be far more capable than the Echo. I can tell Google Home, "Turn off all lights in the living room", something the Echo is incapable of doing. When asking for information, usually Google is far more capable and it also understands context. Google understands the difference between 'what's the closest pizza parlor' and 'what pizza parlors are nearby' whereas the Echo only lists the ones nearby.
Of course, the best was when I asked 'What do you get when you multiply six by nine" where Google Home gave me the correct response, "42" and an explanation why whereas Alexa just gives 54. I guess Alexa is better if I want to do shopping through Amazon. I tried Home for shopping and it worked fine as well but I don't feel comfortable buying something purely by voice. I want to see what I'm buying first.
Both support music and I already have Chromecast so Google Home ties into that nicely. All of my devices are supported by both. I use Insteon with a Universal Devices controller which works with both and my thermostat and car are also supported.
All that said, both definitely have a long way to go but when it comes to actual intelligence for AI I think Google is definitely ahead. If I need information, Google Home is far ahead.
No, they are only changing it for new vehicles, not existing ones. For example, I am grandfathered in for unlimited charging though I only make use of it a few times a year when I do a lot of traveling.
For one thing, the commercial trucks fill up to 400 miles in 30 minutes. Second of all, they use a totally different charger that is able to handle massively more power than a standard supercharger. Commercial semi trucks won't be visiting the superchargers.
But the phone company does track where your cell phone is at all times it's connected to their tower. They also track how much data you use. Many of them will also throttle you if you use excessive amounts of data.
You're free to use anyone's charging network. The other charging networks also track you and keep track of your usage for billing purposes. They keep track of how many stalls are in use to route to other chargers if one is in full use but another nearby one is not. Most networks will also ding you if you abuse the network. If you stay parked too long after charging they'll bill you a lot. Now, most networks don't care how much you charge there because they're not free or subsidized, but you can bet that they all track where and how you charge.
It wouldn't surprise me if service stations, especially the big chains track as well using CC or debit card information.
They aren't doing this to existing users. They're grandfathered in, much like how I'm grandfathered in to free charging for the life of my vehicle. It's only for NEW vehicles. It's their network, not yours. You're free to charge wherever you like. If a driver wants free electricity when driving for Uber or Lyft, then Uber or Lyft should pay for it, not Tesla. Tesla should not have to subsidize it.
It's clear you are unfamiliar with EV car charging. A lot of this is already standardized and has been for years. There are several charging networks that take care of all of this. For example, if I plug into a blink charger it keeps track of how much power/time I've used and bills me accordingly. Power is not that difficult. 208/240v are widely available and even 120V for slow charging. The chargers already have the protective relays and GFCI and many meter the power for billing. They're fairly inexpensive now too. There are also only 4-5 different networks out there so it's not a big deal to get cards to deal with all of them. I just keep the cards in my glove compartment. It's not that hard to call up EV GO, Blink or Chargepoint and have them install a charger for you where they handle all the billing and whatnot. If I have a business and I want to add charging, the easiest thing to do is to just contact one of the charging networks and have them install a charger in my parking lot. They deal with the maintenance and billing and pay for the electricity.
In terms of Tesla's superchargers there is typically a large transformer and a stack of chargers off to the side near the stalls. Tesla pays for the power and handles the billing (for new cars that aren't grandfathered in to free charging). In a number of places they're installing batteries and solar to offset usage.
Now they keep going on about a uranium deal that she had absolutely nothing to do with and a contribution to her charity by someone no longer involved with the deal which actually represents a tiny fraction of the uranium trade for uranium that can't leave the country anyway. Just because Trump says it doesn't make it true. About the worst is Bill's misogynistic behavior and her still supporting him. It's all whataboutism with Trump where he tries misdirecting blame at others and refuses to take responsibility for his own mistakes. Hell, even Fox News debunked the Uranium theory, much to the chagrin of their viewers.
Oh, you mean THAT Project Veritas run by O'Keefe who was caught heavily editing videos and taking them completely out of context, who has been hit with multiple restraining orders and sued, especially after the hit piece he did on abortion clinics? Hahahaha! That's like trusting The Onion for news.
If you think it's bad for batteries, how about the platinum they need for the PEM membranes in fuel cells? While the required amount has been reduced it has not been eliminated and as far as I can tell no suitable substitute has been found that reacts with both hydrogen and oxygen to catalyze the reaction. Also, over time the PEM membranes break down and lose platinum into the water. Hydrogen fuel cells are dead, except in Japan where the government is pushing it heavily. The materials used in batteries are not consumed and are readily recycled.
In many cases, higher taxes can help with this. For example, in most of the first world health care is covered by taxes, significantly reducing the burden caused when a severe illness strikes. Similarly, in many countries, higher education is also highly subsidized which removes the burden of a significant amount of debt left after the fact. Additionally, there is also a lot more support for things like subsidized public transportation.
In the United States, there has been this mantra of cutting taxes and using the cuts as an excuse to cut services that primarily benefit the poor and middle class. For example, a friend of mine was just forced to drop health insurance because he makes too much to qualify for the subsidies (when they lowered the income requirements) but cannot afford the insurance. In my case, if I ran into that I'd be royally screwed since I'm currently dealing with cancer. The wealthy hold all of the power. The politicians only answer to them since they are the ones paying the bribes^h^h^h^h^hcampaign contributions to get them elected. Many politicians could care less about their voters because they know that their benefactors will throw fecal matter at whoever doesn't give them what they want (thanks to Citizens United). Politicians aren't scared of the voters. They're scared of the special interests, aka big political donors and corporations.
Being poor in the US is expensive, especially with so many poorly regulated businesses exploiting them like payday loans and whatnot. Similarly, health isn't properly managed, with the high cost of prescriptions, insurance and everything else. It compounds itself since when sick you can't work and you can't earn money. Even transportation is expensive, especially when sudden expensive repairs are needed for an old vehicle and public transportation is either non-existent or very expensive. Add to that the long delays often endured by using public transport in many areas of the US.
The wealthy in the US are heavily subsidized by everyone else, with poor wages, infrastructure, and services. It's not like they earn more money then decide to hire more people or pay them better or offer better benefits. They pay only what they need to and hire only what they need and use their political clout to loosen regulations to further "cut costs", often at the expense of everyone else.
I think it probably is even more involved when it comes to emulating the AltiVec instructions. LL/SC would definitely pose a challenge since those are used for atomic operations on many RISC processors.* This is different than how Intel implemented atomic support with compare/exchange.
The next big thing going forward in terms of atomic support is transactional memory.
*Modern RISC processors are moving away from ll/sc to use dedicated atomic instructions like add, increment, swap, etc. due to scalability issues with ll/sc. ARMv8.2, for example, introduced a lot of atomic instructions. My employer made similar changes for MIPS to improve scalability with a lot of cores.
But that makes too much sense! We need those tax cuts for the rich so there's no money for the infrastructure they don't use or care about. The quickest way to stimulate the economy is to invest in long-term infrastructure. The worst way to stimulate the economy is tax cuts. If tax cuts were the answer then 2001-2008 should have been a huge economic boom and Kansas would lead the nation in growth. Instead, the politicians keep doubling down on failed voodoo economics. Latest news is the Trump administration plans to cut park funding next year by $296.6 million despite a large backlog of needed maintenance. This is despite the fact that the national parks have a huge economic benefit ($92B). This makes perfect sense, right? Kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Similar statements can be said about the economic benefits of well-maintained roads and bridges. Poor roads cause a huge economic cost in terms of vehicle maintenance. A couple of years ago the poor state of the roads in San Jose, CA was estimated to create around $850 of damage annually to each vehicle due to the huge wear and tear. Money spent on maintenance is money well spent. I've driven on dirt roads that were smoother than a number of roads in San Jose (e. Trimble and Zanker I'm looking at you, though E. Trimble was finally fixed). (E. Trimble destroyed two rims and tires and Zanker destroyed one rim on my car last year and early this year).
It looks to me like they didn't design it with the winds Maria generated in mind. There are wind turbines in the north sea designed for 200MPh wind speeds that likely would have survived just fine. It all depends on what it is designed to handle. Maria was far more devastating than what the building codes require. Not a lot can stand up to a cat-5 hurricane. I imagine the replacement costs will be quite a bit lower unless the underlying structure was also damaged.
The sad part is that there are better locations to store the nuclear waste such as the salt mines in Texas, but Texas has a lot more political clout. Meanwhile, we have a slow-motion disaster forming at the Hanford nuclear site.
CCS is just an excuse for coal plants to continue to operate and to try and promote coal as "clean". It only captures a small percentage of the CO2 and it is expensive and maintenance intensive and doesn't scale. For example, the Kemper County plant was a failure with trying to gasify coal to reduce the CO2 emitted then capture the remaining CO2 after spending billions over budget. Coal is dying and Trump's pulling the clean power initiative won't save it and will actually make things worse for those who live in coal country. The CPI had a program in place to help train people for other lines of work. Now coal use will decline but without the program to help the workers displaced by this. Coal has no future. All of the cheap coal is gone and fracking has made natural gas far cheaper (despite the problems like earthquakes due to fracking).
Slashdot Mirror
I think most of the ACs today are just ass speaking.
I love Texas Instruments. When I was designing a power supply for a hobby project I came across their web bench design site. I just plugged in the numbers and out pops a schematic, BOM and board layout with parts that are in stock from Digikey. I've always found TI's documentation to be top notch. That's not to say that some of the other semiconductor manufacturers also don't have great sites either, but I haven't yet found any that match TI. I also respect a lot of the other companies you listed.
Dealerships make their money with service and financing and parts, not by selling cars. They know many people think they have to go to the dealership for service and milk that for all they can. They also make money selling extras like extended warranties and add-on features.
In terms of service, Elon Musk stated his goal is for service not to make a profit. This is the exact opposite of dealerships where one of their main revenue sources is service.
I can give an example of this. I damaged one of the roof panels on my Tesla model S. The roof panel is painted with a clear-coat. The cost for the part was $175. I spoke to a friend of mine who used to work at a Lexus dealership. He told me the same part would have cost many times that amount. The labor to replace it was also fairly reasonable. By comparison, my experience with Toyota with my previous car, a Prius, was far higher.
For example, shortly after the 3 year/36 month warranty ended (but within the 7 year 100K mile warranty), the HID headlights went out. This was a well-known problem with the Prius. The headlights were not designed to be easily replaceable since HIDs are supposed to last a very long time. Anyway, Toyota wanted $200 per bulb and $140 in labor to replace it. I went online and found the same exact Sylvania bulb for under $50. I ended up going to another dealership to have the work done (having bought my own bulbs) and they replaced it under a "good-will" warranty (which my local dealership did not want to do).
In another case, after I sold my Prius to my parents, the touchscreen stopped working. This is caused by a known design defect where a solder connection breaks over time. Toyota wanted $5000 for a new touchscreen and $2000 in labor to fix it. I removed the touch screen in under 5 minutes. I found a place online that repairs them with a lifetime guarantee for $400 and had that done then spent under 5 minutes re-installing the touchscreen. $2000 in labor is utterly insane. I basically undid one screw, popped a few panels and undid a couple of bolts and that was it. $5000 for the touchscreen is also insane. It probably cost Toyota no more than $300 to make and probably well under that.
Another thing the dealership wanted $1800 for the extended warranty. I went online and bought the same factory extended warranty for $1000. Anytime I needed a part, Toyota would charge outrageous amounts of money for it.
Oh, and Toyota would always try and push a bunch of unnecessary maintenance but give me trouble for known issues that would come up (like a water pump that went bad twice).
I later got a notice over the headlights that there was a class-action because dealerships were charging people to replace the ballasts when there was nothing wrong with them when the HIDs died (Toyota had a bad batch of bulbs). Many people were charged a lot of money to replace the ballasts which were never the problem.
My experience with Tesla has been very different. They never pushed me to buy add-on options or extra service. The service costs were also generally reasonable, though some things like tires are cheaper elsewhere (I like Tirerack). This is what the dealerships fear. My car needs service once a year or every 12.5K miles. A Tesla tech told me that the electric motor is lubricated for 12 years. There's no transmission or regular oil changes needed and even the brakes get a lot less use. There is far less to go wrong mechanically. Even the battery will last a very long time. I'm coming up on 5 years 60K miles and haven't noticed any reduction in range. This is not what dealerships want to sell. Hell, Tesla will even honor the warranty if you don't service the vehicle every year.
Apparently, Trump thinks clean coal means washing the coal before burning it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com...
I didn't have to create groups with Google Home. I have both Home and Echo. With Home I just say, "turn off all the lights in the living room" and it does so, or I ask, "What lights are on?" and it tells me. When setting up the Home it asks what room each device is in and automatically groups them. I also have the Echo but find myself using Google Home much more frequently because it generally works better.
I have found the same thing. While both the Echo and Google can answer questions, Google Home is far more capable. I've also found that the home automation of Google Home is superior to that of the Echo and both support my hardware (Universal Devices/Insteon & Nest). I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon but I just don't feel comfortable buying using a voice assistant because I want to see what I'm buying. In terms of understanding language, Google is far superior as it understands context. For example, if I ask what is the closest pizza parlor it will give me the closest one whereas if I ask for nearby ones it will list nearby ones. Alexa just lists the nearby ones.
Google is also much better about returning real results from various websites, having scoured the web and understanding the content of those sites. When it answers, it will cite a website and give a summary of what is said on the website.
Best of all, I asked both "What do you get when you multiply six by nine?" Google gave the correct answer, 42, whereas Alexa gave 54. Both support shopping through them, though Google is more like Alibaba than Amazon, using others to fulfill the orders. Google also integrates well with my Chromecast. I'm sure Alexa integrates with FireTV, but I don't have that. My only complaint about Google is the same as yours, I wish it had an audio output jack.
I just had to do a factory reset of my phone, which removed the authentication support using my phone. I just went to Google and used the change phone option and scanned the QR codes to re-add it to my phone.
I have had many times where my Echo will get randomly activated. I have never had this problem with my Google Home. Just in case, I activated PIN support so a PIN needs to be entered to purchase anything.
I have both an Echo and Google Home. I have found Google Home to be far more capable when I actually want information about something.
Even for home automation, I have found Google Home to be far more capable than the Echo. I can tell Google Home, "Turn off all lights in the living room", something the Echo is incapable of doing. When asking for information, usually Google is far more capable and it also understands context. Google understands the difference between 'what's the closest pizza parlor' and 'what pizza parlors are nearby' whereas the Echo only lists the ones nearby.
Of course, the best was when I asked 'What do you get when you multiply six by nine" where Google Home gave me the correct response, "42" and an explanation why whereas Alexa just gives 54. I guess Alexa is better if I want to do shopping through Amazon. I tried Home for shopping and it worked fine as well but I don't feel comfortable buying something purely by voice. I want to see what I'm buying first.
Both support music and I already have Chromecast so Google Home ties into that nicely. All of my devices are supported by both. I use Insteon with a Universal Devices controller which works with both and my thermostat and car are also supported.
All that said, both definitely have a long way to go but when it comes to actual intelligence for AI I think Google is definitely ahead. If I need information, Google Home is far ahead.
No, they are only changing it for new vehicles, not existing ones. For example, I am grandfathered in for unlimited charging though I only make use of it a few times a year when I do a lot of traveling.
For one thing, the commercial trucks fill up to 400 miles in 30 minutes. Second of all, they use a totally different charger that is able to handle massively more power than a standard supercharger. Commercial semi trucks won't be visiting the superchargers.
But the phone company does track where your cell phone is at all times it's connected to their tower. They also track how much data you use. Many of them will also throttle you if you use excessive amounts of data.
You're free to use anyone's charging network. The other charging networks also track you and keep track of your usage for billing purposes. They keep track of how many stalls are in use to route to other chargers if one is in full use but another nearby one is not. Most networks will also ding you if you abuse the network. If you stay parked too long after charging they'll bill you a lot. Now, most networks don't care how much you charge there because they're not free or subsidized, but you can bet that they all track where and how you charge.
It wouldn't surprise me if service stations, especially the big chains track as well using CC or debit card information.
They aren't doing this to existing users. They're grandfathered in, much like how I'm grandfathered in to free charging for the life of my vehicle. It's only for NEW vehicles. It's their network, not yours. You're free to charge wherever you like. If a driver wants free electricity when driving for Uber or Lyft, then Uber or Lyft should pay for it, not Tesla. Tesla should not have to subsidize it.
It's clear you are unfamiliar with EV car charging. A lot of this is already standardized and has been for years. There are several charging networks that take care of all of this. For example, if I plug into a blink charger it keeps track of how much power/time I've used and bills me accordingly. Power is not that difficult. 208/240v are widely available and even 120V for slow charging. The chargers already have the protective relays and GFCI and many meter the power for billing. They're fairly inexpensive now too. There are also only 4-5 different networks out there so it's not a big deal to get cards to deal with all of them. I just keep the cards in my glove compartment. It's not that hard to call up EV GO, Blink or Chargepoint and have them install a charger for you where they handle all the billing and whatnot. If I have a business and I want to add charging, the easiest thing to do is to just contact one of the charging networks and have them install a charger in my parking lot. They deal with the maintenance and billing and pay for the electricity.
In terms of Tesla's superchargers there is typically a large transformer and a stack of chargers off to the side near the stalls. Tesla pays for the power and handles the billing (for new cars that aren't grandfathered in to free charging). In a number of places they're installing batteries and solar to offset usage.
I never had a problem unlocking my Verizon Nexus phones and I can easily unlock my current phone.
They just heavily dox anyone who doesn't keep with the party line.
Now they keep going on about a uranium deal that she had absolutely nothing to do with and a contribution to her charity by someone no longer involved with the deal which actually represents a tiny fraction of the uranium trade for uranium that can't leave the country anyway. Just because Trump says it doesn't make it true. About the worst is Bill's misogynistic behavior and her still supporting him. It's all whataboutism with Trump where he tries misdirecting blame at others and refuses to take responsibility for his own mistakes. Hell, even Fox News debunked the Uranium theory, much to the chagrin of their viewers.
Oh, you mean THAT Project Veritas run by O'Keefe who was caught heavily editing videos and taking them completely out of context, who has been hit with multiple restraining orders and sued, especially after the hit piece he did on abortion clinics? Hahahaha! That's like trusting The Onion for news.
If you think it's bad for batteries, how about the platinum they need for the PEM membranes in fuel cells? While the required amount has been reduced it has not been eliminated and as far as I can tell no suitable substitute has been found that reacts with both hydrogen and oxygen to catalyze the reaction. Also, over time the PEM membranes break down and lose platinum into the water. Hydrogen fuel cells are dead, except in Japan where the government is pushing it heavily. The materials used in batteries are not consumed and are readily recycled.
In many cases, higher taxes can help with this. For example, in most of the first world health care is covered by taxes, significantly reducing the burden caused when a severe illness strikes. Similarly, in many countries, higher education is also highly subsidized which removes the burden of a significant amount of debt left after the fact. Additionally, there is also a lot more support for things like subsidized public transportation.
In the United States, there has been this mantra of cutting taxes and using the cuts as an excuse to cut services that primarily benefit the poor and middle class. For example, a friend of mine was just forced to drop health insurance because he makes too much to qualify for the subsidies (when they lowered the income requirements) but cannot afford the insurance. In my case, if I ran into that I'd be royally screwed since I'm currently dealing with cancer. The wealthy hold all of the power. The politicians only answer to them since they are the ones paying the bribes^h^h^h^h^hcampaign contributions to get them elected. Many politicians could care less about their voters because they know that their benefactors will throw fecal matter at whoever doesn't give them what they want (thanks to Citizens United). Politicians aren't scared of the voters. They're scared of the special interests, aka big political donors and corporations.
Being poor in the US is expensive, especially with so many poorly regulated businesses exploiting them like payday loans and whatnot. Similarly, health isn't properly managed, with the high cost of prescriptions, insurance and everything else. It compounds itself since when sick you can't work and you can't earn money. Even transportation is expensive, especially when sudden expensive repairs are needed for an old vehicle and public transportation is either non-existent or very expensive. Add to that the long delays often endured by using public transport in many areas of the US.
The wealthy in the US are heavily subsidized by everyone else, with poor wages, infrastructure, and services. It's not like they earn more money then decide to hire more people or pay them better or offer better benefits. They pay only what they need to and hire only what they need and use their political clout to loosen regulations to further "cut costs", often at the expense of everyone else.
I think it probably is even more involved when it comes to emulating the AltiVec instructions. LL/SC would definitely pose a challenge since those are used for atomic operations on many RISC processors.* This is different than how Intel implemented atomic support with compare/exchange.
The next big thing going forward in terms of atomic support is transactional memory.
*Modern RISC processors are moving away from ll/sc to use dedicated atomic instructions like add, increment, swap, etc. due to scalability issues with ll/sc. ARMv8.2, for example, introduced a lot of atomic instructions. My employer made similar changes for MIPS to improve scalability with a lot of cores.
But that makes too much sense! We need those tax cuts for the rich so there's no money for the infrastructure they don't use or care about. The quickest way to stimulate the economy is to invest in long-term infrastructure. The worst way to stimulate the economy is tax cuts. If tax cuts were the answer then 2001-2008 should have been a huge economic boom and Kansas would lead the nation in growth. Instead, the politicians keep doubling down on failed voodoo economics. Latest news is the Trump administration plans to cut park funding next year by $296.6 million despite a large backlog of needed maintenance. This is despite the fact that the national parks have a huge economic benefit ($92B). This makes perfect sense, right? Kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Similar statements can be said about the economic benefits of well-maintained roads and bridges. Poor roads cause a huge economic cost in terms of vehicle maintenance. A couple of years ago the poor state of the roads in San Jose, CA was estimated to create around $850 of damage annually to each vehicle due to the huge wear and tear. Money spent on maintenance is money well spent. I've driven on dirt roads that were smoother than a number of roads in San Jose (e. Trimble and Zanker I'm looking at you, though E. Trimble was finally fixed). (E. Trimble destroyed two rims and tires and Zanker destroyed one rim on my car last year and early this year).
It looks to me like they didn't design it with the winds Maria generated in mind. There are wind turbines in the north sea designed for 200MPh wind speeds that likely would have survived just fine. It all depends on what it is designed to handle. Maria was far more devastating than what the building codes require. Not a lot can stand up to a cat-5 hurricane. I imagine the replacement costs will be quite a bit lower unless the underlying structure was also damaged.
The sad part is that there are better locations to store the nuclear waste such as the salt mines in Texas, but Texas has a lot more political clout. Meanwhile, we have a slow-motion disaster forming at the Hanford nuclear site.
CCS is just an excuse for coal plants to continue to operate and to try and promote coal as "clean". It only captures a small percentage of the CO2 and it is expensive and maintenance intensive and doesn't scale. For example, the Kemper County plant was a failure with trying to gasify coal to reduce the CO2 emitted then capture the remaining CO2 after spending billions over budget. Coal is dying and Trump's pulling the clean power initiative won't save it and will actually make things worse for those who live in coal country. The CPI had a program in place to help train people for other lines of work. Now coal use will decline but without the program to help the workers displaced by this. Coal has no future. All of the cheap coal is gone and fracking has made natural gas far cheaper (despite the problems like earthquakes due to fracking).