Posts by DanceMan

How is the substation power produced?

Endurance sportscar racing series WEC (LeMans etc.) and ELMS are using a fuel made from the leftover debris from wine making.

"I love the uneducated."

Which rocket used?

None of the news reports I've heard have mentioned this.

Smartphone? No -- Fartphone

As to all the contortionist comments, I assume a head to thigh shot, not a closeup of her ass -- simple.

Saturday update?

Will EL Reg post an update on Saturday after the announcement?

Vertical taskbars can grow on you

Another grumpy old git here, using MX Linux with XFCE. Decades of horizontal taskbar on Windows made me averse to the vertical. Could have changed it but didn't and now prefer the vertical, at least as configured by MX, which I also prefer to Mint.

Japan's response

Japan's NHK World tv went beyond the usual warning crawl and replaced normal programming with a full screen "take cover" page for something like 40 minutes.

Rogue's Gallery

Russia, Cambodia, Belarus, China, Iran, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Syria, Venezuela, and India

Old jokes about Five Year Plans aside, the US thinks ahead to the next 2 year election, but China thinks a decade or more ahead.

Toshiba support

Decades ago I found that support for Toshiba computing was non-existent. Nothing online, just take in to Toshiba Service representatives. So their corporate ethos has always been suspect for me.

Cheap Chips or Freedom?

I think of the isolationist movements in the US prior to WW2.

I thought I knew the location of this trial but my suspected choice is just inside Vancouver, a Canadian Tire store with a Mark's underneath off a lower parking level. What made this interesting for me is that I won't use this CT store. instead driving further to one in North Van. The Vancouver store has put many items off regular shelves and out of view behind a service counter and has few staff in the public areas to provide directions or assistance. The North Van store is well staffed and well run. People matter and good employees and good management pay off. A robot can't fix this.

I think the important issue with AI is how and where it's used. To use the example of driving aids I fear the reliance of the current younger drivers on those aids diminishes both their skills and the necessary attention driving requires. The broader use of AI comes with the same risks. Be careful what you wish for.

Wrong target

The research and expenditure is going at the wrong target at this stage. It should be focused on traffic controls at this point instead of the cars. This may already be the case in areas of freeways and carriageways but my experience and intent is on city driving. My route to work and shopping goes through an urban area with a mix of traffic light intersections and pedestrian lights (also with cross-traffic induction loops). During rush hours the pedestrian lights should be synced to the intersection lights in the main direction of travel and the pedestrian and loops disabled. But this would mean expenditure by the city rather than a venture capital self-driving outfit so it does not happen.

in general work on making the cars communicate with the traffic control systems would yield more immediate results at this point in development.