I have and it's awesome. The best place to ride is at the very back of the cars - there's a huge window back there.
Privatize profits, socialize expenses. That's what they teach in business school?
Hmm... nothing conclusive with a reverse image search... What is this image from?
Solar module efficiency is what, about 20% at best? Thermal is more like 60%. This means less roof area needed on a house that doesn't have a lot of solar exposure.
Then there's cost. With the thermal system I'm planning there will be 40gal of potentially very hot water mixed down to the (lower) maximum temperature of my 40gal electric water heater, which will again be mixed down to the maximum temperature allowed for domestic use. In effect the design will be one battery feeding into another. 'Seems cheaper than lithium batteries, and since this will be a passive system, no controller will be needed.
Good job! Did you get a multi-year lock on the price paid for energy you put into the grid? Or were you effected by the rate structure change? My next step is to install solar thermal to eliminate the power needed to heat our water.
"It might change how they talk about [Israel]," one moderate House Democrat said of their colleagues
So stealing land, committing genocide and syphoning a huge amount of dollars for military support (leaving other programs unfunded), isn't enough. But a heavy handed influence of our elections gets their attention?
These are fun examples/prototypes but "Sleek & Efficient" and "Eco-Conscious Commuters" are both quite a stretch.
Is "off pace" a British term? I haven't encountered is in the US.
Clarification from the article...
While projects like H2 Green Steel show momentum is growing, experts say the pace is far too slow.
Minutes later reports people threatening to shoot him because guns are not dangerous.
Yes, there it is, that other type of AIDS (Adolescent In-Destructibility Syndrome).
California EV sales outpacing the nation
> Sales of zero-emissions electric cars continue to tick up in California, driving the state on a vastly different trajectory than the rest of the country. Nearly 24% of all new cars sold here during the first three months of the year were zero-emissions electric vehicles, known as ZEVs, according to new data from the California Energy Commission. By comparison, just 7.5% of cars sold nationwide were ZEVs, according to the California New Car Dealers Association, which represents auto dealers.
> In the last week, California surpassed both its zero-emissions truck sales and vehicle sales goals — two years ahead of schedule — and surpassed its goal of installing 10,000 fast EV chargers, more than a year ahead of schedule.
> Another reason EV sales in California are outpacing sales in other parts of the country is people are keenly aware how the climate crisis uniquely impacts California. In recent decades, California has continued to face significant pollution and climate challenges. In fact, the state includes seven of the 10 worst areas for ozone pollution in the country and six of the 10 worst areas for small particulate matter, according to Newsom’s office. The state also faces increasing risks from record-setting fires, heat waves, storm surges, sea-level rise, water supply shortages and extreme heat. And these conditions are made worse by climate change.
Betteridge’s Law...
"Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." It is named after Ian Betteridge, a British technology journalist who wrote about it in 2009, although the principle is much older. It is based on the assumption that if the publishers were confident that the answer was yes, they would have presented it as an assertion; by presenting it as a question, they are not accountable for whether it is correct or not. The adage does not apply to questions that are more open-ended than strict yes–no questions.
https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines
Seems like an easy thing to disable. A couple of shots to the pontoons would stop it, right?
“I’ll never forget that last hour."
How long would these contests last?
Would Lisa Simpson set up a tent at New York University to protest the war in Gaza? How would Principal Skinner respond if she did?
United Auto Workers Local 4811, which represents 48,000 student workers in the University of California system, authorized a strike alleging their workers' rights were violated during pro-Palestinian protests.
Sorry if you encounter a paywall!
> The union representing 48,000 graduate student teaching assistants, researchers and other student workers across the University of California’s 10 campuses have voted to strike and cause “maximum chaos,” alleging that their workers’ rights have been violated at several universities by actions against pro-Palestinian protests, union leaders announced Wednesday evening.
>Though the vote gives the union permission to strike as soon as Wednesday night, it was unclear when or where the walkouts would occur. The union represents teaching assistants, tutors, researchers and postdoctoral scholars.
>Rafael Jaime, the union’s co-president and a PhD candidate in UCLA’s English department, said the goal would be to “maximize chaos and confusion” at universities where the union alleges officials have violated workers’ rights over workplace conditions during student protests against the Israel-Hamas war.
>“Our members have been beaten, concussed, pepper sprayed, both by counter-protesters and by police forces. As a union, it is our responsibility to stand beside them,” the union said in a statement. “In order to de-escalate the situation, UC must substantively engage with the concerns raised by the protesters — which focus on UC’s investments in companies and industries profiting off of the suffering in Gaza.”
>The academic worker strike would be modeled after last year’s “stand up” strikes at against Ford, Stellantis and General Motors and similar to recent strikes at Southern California hotels. The walkouts would not target all campuses at once, Jaime said, but one by one based on how receptive administrations are to pro-Palestinian activists.
When growing up my parents taught me to stand up to bullies. (We're talking about verbal abuse and manipulation, not physical bullying.) Following that advice as a kid led to mixed results yet it's stuck with me into my adult years.
These days though, using this advice only seems to backfire. When I give them what they've given me, the bullies just get more angry and use that to justify their continued bullying. They see themselves as the victim.
Any suggestions that would be more helpful?
If a mobile (cell, handy) phone is part of your life, do your dreams include reference to it?
The other night I dreamed that I left mine in someone's car. That struck me as odd because it may have been the first time one of my dreams included such a reference - even though I'm constantly on my phone during waking hours.
The California Public Utilities Commission voted to fundamentally change how electricity is billed by adding a new monthly fixed fee.
>“This will punish people who use less energy,” said Jenn Engstrom, the state director at consumer advocacy group CALPIRG. “This will encourage high consumption and it will increase bills for millions of Californians.”
>Commissioner John Reynolds dismissed the concerns before he voted for the proposal. “The public discourse has been disappointing,” he said.
>He agreed that under the change some customers’ total bills will go up, while others will see a decline. But the focus, he said, should be on the reduction in the rate per kilowatt hour, which is needed as the state tries to move more people away from fueling their cars and homes with fossil fuels to electricity, which is increasingly coming from wind and solar farms.
With little public debate, state lawmakers passed a complex energy bill that upended how most Californians are billed for electricity.
Sorry for the paywall (but kinda not sorry since the LA Times is worth subscribing to)...
>With little debate two years ago, state lawmakers passed a complex energy bill that enabled a sweeping change in how most Californians are billed for electricity.
>The legislation was what Pacific Gas & Electric had asked for from the state public utilities commission three months before: a transformation of electric rates so that households would pay a fixed charge each month in exchange for lower rates for each kilowatt hour they used.
>Gov. Gavin Newsom submitted the bill as part of a massive 2022 budget revision. In four days, it was passed out of an Assembly committee hearing without discussion, approved by the full Assembly and Senate and signed by Newsom.
>...But opponents say the legislation was a financial gift to PG&E, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, and will cause millions of Californians who live in small homes or apartments that use little electricity to pay more, while residents in large homes that use a lot of electricity will save money.
>"If you wanted to design a policy that would send the signal that conservation doesn’t count, this would be it,” said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group."
>In January, Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, Democrat from Thousand Oaks, proposed a bill named AB 1999 to reverse much of what Newsom’s bill had done.
>The opposition was angered even more when Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) and other Assembly leaders stopped debate on Irwin’s bill late last month with a procedural move that shelved it for the legislative session.
Small metal object with clip on top. Clip spins around the object body and can be attracted to a magnet (so made of steel probably). Object body does not react to magnet (so made of brass maybe). Cone shaped tip seems to be made of some kind of plastic.
Found this in my back yard, probably from something I was working on, but it doesn't look familiar.
What is this thing? (Identification may help me fix something I don't know is broken!)
Yeah I know these are used for counting vehicles but can they also be used for detecting vehicle speed?
Description: two pneumatic hoses, affixed to a road. They lead to a box that's locked to a telephone pole. Location is southern California. On a minor artery road.
Doubtful that it's to survey if a new stop sign is needed since the next street is minor, dead ends into this one and already has a stop sign. The next intersection with another minor artery already has a stop sign.
Extremely doubtful that a traffic light is being considered since there isn't anywhere near the amount of traffic to justify one.
This is located on a slope. Many cars speed down here. That's why I'm wondering about speed sensing by this device.
Sorry if this is the wrong community or is redundant...
I'm looking for leads as to what's happening to plants in my greenhouse window. It started with my basils. Before I noticed, it spread to my mints. The leaves show these yellow spots, then they turn brown and die. Eventually the entire plant dies.
Any clues as to what I can do to treat/prevent this?
In a spirit of adventure I tried tofu skins the other day. Searching through the numerous options at our large Asian market, it looked like we found one that didn't have the California lead advisory statement on the package - but later found one buried in the fine print.
We ate them anyway, and really like them, but wonder why they have lead. Internet searches so far haven't yielded any answers.
Does anyone here know why they contain lead?
PS / TIL: tofu skins apparently are not be confused with tofu curls.
The special counsel urged the Supreme Court to let the case proceed as soon as possible rather than delaying it for theoretical questions about presidential immunity.
>"Given the importance of the trial schedule, the key practical question is whether the court focuses solely on Trump’s case or endorses immunity in other instances. Smith’s gambit is a fallback that would let the court order the trial to proceed even if its opinion extends to broader principles of immunity."
The special counsel suggested he could seek the 11th Circuit's intervention if the judge continues to prevent the trial from taking place before the election.
>The Smith team then made its most important and aggressive move by noting that when judges have issued clearly erroneous jury instructions that doom prosecutions, “courts have permitted the government to obtain writs of mandamus.”
>Even buried in a parenthetical as it is, the word “mandamus” jumps off the page as a threat to seek an extraordinary intervention by the appellate court. Smith has laid down the gauntlet, telling Cannon in no uncertain terms that if she doesn’t move to resolve Trump’s frivolous arguments well ahead of trial, he will bring a writ of mandamus to the 11th Circuit along with a motion to recuse her from the case. Providing this road map of his intentions puts Smith on firm footing to challenge the judge if she continues to dither.
Gascón has to articulate his progress in building a more just and equitable criminal justice system, as voters wanted when they first elected him.
>...To avoid following in Villanueva’s footsteps, Gascón has to do a better job articulating his progress in making his office more reflective of what Los Angeles voters wanted when they first elected him — a more just and equitable criminal justice system. He needs to better communicate what he has done to ensure criminal sentences and other policies protect public safety and reduce recidivism. He must explain to voters that evidence supports more enlightened pretrial policies such as eliminating money bail, not charging juveniles as adults and focusing office resources on the most serious crimes...
Rep. Adam B. Schiff’s clever and cynical ploy in California’s Senate primary enabled him to avoid risk in the November runoff. But he subjected himself to another risk.
Schiff’s TV ads ostensibly attacked Garvey for being a two-time Trump voter who could swing the Senate to GOP control. The ads also falsely implied that Republican Garvey — not Democrat Porter — was Schiff’s principal primary opponent. That disingenuous message was aimed at Democrats.
But the TV spots’ No. 1 goal was to promote Garvey’s conservative bona fides among Republican voters. Garvey couldn’t afford to promote himself. He didn’t spend a dime on TV. So, Schiff did it for him...
Ironically, Schiff made his congressional bones fighting to preserve and advance American democracy — including investigating alleged Russian interference in Trump’s 2016 presidential election and Trump’s attempt to overturn President Biden’s 2020 victory.
But in this primary election, Schiff undercut democratic ideals.
Rare hummingbird becomes tourist attraction
A couple of beautiful pictures in this article!
Two of Garvey's children say he has declined to meet with them, while his eldest daughter says he cut her and her children off without explanation.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/11449852
> Now, as the Republican front-runner in the race for a California U.S. Senate seat, Garvey has avoided detailed policy positions, instead relying on his name recognition and clean-cut image. His campaign website describes him as a “true role model,” he praised the party’s value of “personal responsibility” in a recent interview, and he called in an op-ed to “restore moral integrity in Congress.” > > But the reality of Garvey’s life is more complex. The 75-year-old has struggled with debt, been repeatedly sued, faced a bitter divorce, and got two women pregnant before quickly marrying a third woman, his current wife, in a scandal that briefly made him a national punchline in 1989. He pledged in interviews at the time to take “moral and financial responsibility” for the children.
Two of Garvey's children say he has declined to meet with them, while his eldest daughter says he cut her and her children off without explanation.
Now, as the Republican front-runner in the race for a California U.S. Senate seat, Garvey has avoided detailed policy positions, instead relying on his name recognition and clean-cut image. His campaign website describes him as a “true role model,” he praised the party’s value of “personal responsibility” in a recent interview, and he called in an op-ed to “restore moral integrity in Congress.”
But the reality of Garvey’s life is more complex. The 75-year-old has struggled with debt, been repeatedly sued, faced a bitter divorce, and got two women pregnant before quickly marrying a third woman, his current wife, in a scandal that briefly made him a national punchline in 1989. He pledged in interviews at the time to take “moral and financial responsibility” for the children.
“We do not take the decision to go on an open-ended ULP strike lightly, but we have to take a stand for what is just,” the guild says
