Posts by Androgynous Cupboard

Re: Isn't Chemistry, Physics?

You forgot the link: https://xkcd.com/435/

Re: Goodenough is still working

Just one tiny problem with your otherwise well thought out idea; the laws of chemistry.

Re: Market Forces

Many years since I contracted (now have my own company) but I agree completely.

Can I ask - are you at Barclays? If so I'm curious how they're justifying PAYE and NIC paid at source but no holiday pay, sick pay or (nominal) job security.

Re: "engage on a PAYE basis"

This, of course, applies to any company that loses its income streams. And yes, I see no reason why you can't roll losses during this time forward to offset against any tax due in the next few years. It's good enough for Philip Hammond after all.

Re: If you really want that this system can come up on its own, don't use this stuff.

Yup. Some of the ideas posited have merit, but once again he's solving for one particular use-case and ignoring the others, just as he did for pulseaudio.

The end result will be either workflows being adjusted to match the designed-for use case, or fragmentation into a "server" and "desktop" approach to managing users. Hooray.

In terms of getting your point across, I'm not sure that helped much. Sorry.

And how, precisely, do you get to the ballot box if Parliament is suspended? Hmm?

Best be off then.

The constitutional principles are precisely why the sledgehammer was brought out. To paraphrase Pannick at the start of the trial, if you don't rule it's illegal now, what if the next time he does it it's for 10 years?

Re: Remind me of the last major feature that was added in since this release cycle began

One thing I'm moderately interested in watching evolve is the GraalVM, which hasn't been getting a lot of press. We were having issues (core dumps in fact, which are most un-Java) and switching to the GraalVM got rid of them with no impact on performance, and it's rock solid. So that's good.

But the ability to mix up code from different languages on the same VM is potentially quite interesting. Found a nice NodeJS implementation of something you need in Java? Don't port it, just call it directly.

Re: Dr Boris

Swinson quite literally did the opposite of your statement, even before she became leader, as anyone paying a moderate amount of attention would have noticed. "We must own the failures of the coalition".

Re: Green thumbs all round

The moon! On a stick! Special robots to cure cancer, made out of gold!

I for one am quite confident they'll figure out how to pay for it all later.

Re: Priceless ... @iron

There is one other way to apply: you can send your passport to the home office. The same home office that brought you Windrush (aka Project Ethnic Cleansing) and that is denying Europeans that have worked for the NHS for 20 years are on the database, as reported in the article.

Under the current climate, would you hand them your travel document? Would anyone?

Re: Benito Jonsolini

I see your attempt at drawing a parallel between the EU and the Nazis by using some unrelated quotes, and I raise you a paragraph from the founding document of the European Coal and Steel Community, the precursor organization to the EU:

"...these proposals will bring to reality the first solid groundwork for a European Federation vital to the preservation of world peace."

and

"... our joint action will make it plain that any war between France and Germany becomes not only unthinkable but materially impossible."

Unfortunately for your attempt at revisionism, the EU was the first multinational organisation founded for the explicit purpose of preventing war in Europe. Hardly surprising, as it came immediately after the death of some 70 million people. But hey, that was 80 years ago so I'm sure any lessons we learned can be safely forgotten.

Re: About Time

Don't like power? How about food. 30% of food consumed in the UK is imported from Europe. Food imported from outside Europe makes up 19%.

99% of spinach is imported from the EU

93% of aubergines are imported from the EU

92% of peaches, nectarines and apricots

70% of tomatoes from the EU (9% from outside the EU, the rest UK grown)

and of course, 98% of lamb is exported to the EU. Byebye, welsh hillfarming! You have been deemed an obstruction of the one true ideology, and are therefore to be obliterated.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/food-statistics-pocketbook-2017/food-statistics-in-your-pocket-2017-global-and-uk-supply

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2019/aug/13/how-a-no-deal-brexit-threatens-your-weekly-food-shop

Re: Inaccurate

Parliament debating legislation, rather than having it forced on them by referendum is how the system works. It is literally called "The Westminster System".

If you remove Parliaments ability to do that we have something else. I don't know, the Caracas system or something. But it's not how Britain is governed.

Re: Taking back control

There's an instructive comment on the Guardian, along the lines of "Parliament refused to approve the terms, so only has itself to blame". You can bet this will be the line Cummings is spinning - black is white, up is down, and parliament is the enemy of democracy.

Re: So, to sum up. . .

Never met him. But judging him on his actions alone, he appears to be trying to ensure parliament is able to do the job we pay them to do, and that's it's done one way or another since about 1680-ish. Hard to disagree with him on that, surely?

(I would add that people that the desire to become an MP usually makes you unsuitable for the position, so he's in good company)

The LiFePo4 chemistry used in the vast majority if EVs would be expected to last for 2000 cycles - by last I mean deplete to 80% capacity. These are the figures from the large battery manufacturers (Sinopoly, CALB), they are backed up by independent testing from the likes of http://evtv.me or https://marinehowto.com/lifepo4-batteries-on-boats, and it's even on wikipedia should you care to look.

If I came along here and said your average internal combustion engine only lasted 6 months before it had to be replaced, you'd laugh me out of town. But somehow when it comes to LiFePo4 cells people literally just make up numbers and seem to get away with it, when even a cursory google would be enough. I don't get it.

Re: A bit out of date?

I bought my first EV about 3 months ago - a 2017 Leaf with 30KWh battery pack, from a Nissan dealer. Gives us an easy 100 mile range with a mix of motorway/urban driving, which is enough for 99% of our trips. I haven't had to do any maintenance yet, but when you look under the hood there's an awful lot less to maintain so I can't imagine it's going to be more expensive than an ICE car.

Price was £13,500. Given we were spending £2k/year on diesel in our old car I'd expect it to easily pay for itself within ten years, maintenance included.

Re: A bit out of date?

How often does anyone replace an ICE engine or, for that matter, a battery pack?

Please don't opine on the stability, safety and otherwise of LiFePo4 cells without doing a bit more research. You're simply misinformed.

Here's a video from Sinopoly, one of China's larger manufacturers of LiFePo4 cells: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQs7L5LmEss. Note how the fully charged cell is shot, burned, baked and dead-shorted without exploding, which may surprise you of a "flammable, unstable, heat-intolerant" product.