Do you have solar panels and an electric car?
Most car chargers have the ability to read the solar production and only charge the car when there is excess power, but there is another way. With a smart plug, Wi-Fi connected solar, and Home Assistant (and either technical knowledge or persistence), you can create a fairly primitive version of solar only charging for a much lower price.

If you already have a compatible car, a Vehicle to Grid (V2G) charger can provide the same benefits as a house battery for a fraction of the cost (a house battery is still cheaper if you factor in the price of the car). You can set limits, so you never have to worry about the house completely draining the car battery.

The biggest energy cost for houses is heating and cooling. While a new reverse cycle air conditioner is a flashy solution, you can usually get better energy savings by just improving the house insulation.
If you can’t afford that, find any particularly hot or cold spots in the house, then search around them for holes in the walls or gaps around door frames. Just filling gaps can improve both energy usage and comfort.

A heat pump water heater is the same technology as air-conditioning. It moves best from the air to your hot water tank, and some units can be as much as 6 times more energy efficient than a resistive heater.
They do work in cold climates, but if you’re worried, you can buy one with a backup resistive heater.

Why do EVs lose so much range when driving fast (110kph, 70mph)?
It turns out that all cars do - air resistance increases dramatically at higher speed. It’s just that internal combustion engines are so inefficient at low speed that the efficiency gain of driving at the optimal RPM somewhat masks the additional energy requirement from the increased air resistance.
If you’re trying to maximise your driving range, try to keep at or below 90kph/55mph.

The main benefit of hybrid cars is not regen braking, it’s actually the ability to tune the combustion engine for efficiency instead of performance. Without an electric motor to assist, the performance would be so bad that no-one would want to buy the car. They still burn fuel, so I wouldn’t recommend buying one new since EVs have reached price parity.

It runs on Windows XP

DM me if you want too much information about aeroplanes, electrics vehicles, home energy systems, ray tracing, or the equirectangular projection.

If less work needs to be done by humans, does that mean we can have Universal Basic Income, and get paid extra for the jobs that still need humans?

You’re lucky. I’ve been working 15 days a week, uphill both ways in the snow.

the - definite article. a - indefinite article.

See German for some more fun articles.

the - definite article. a - indefinite article.

See German for some more fun articles.

Trying to ray-trace a 512,000x256,000 image using Chunky. I had to split it into 16 parts to reduce the RAM to a sane amount (in 2018, it may have been optimised since).

I was trying to find the limit for a single png, and I think I found it.

No

It turns out the computer mostly freezes once you go past 200% RAM used.

Your mom.

I think C# is a perfectly adequate and fairly enjoyable programming language, even though I dislike Microsoft and their products.

“The revolution will not be televised.” The people responsible for putting the cameras in will do everything they can to make you feel powerless and isolated, especially suppressing information about rebellions.

Rupet Murdock controls most TV stations, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, news websites, and “news” YouTube channels.
You will not see anything on the news about people organising or fighting back against the system he’s worked so hard to create.

Link

Some websites do have required information after the ? which is needed for linking to the correct page/section.

If you’re not sure, try deleting it and pasting the modified link in a new tab. If it doesn’t work, try again with one additional argument (the text separated by ? or &) at a time until the link works.

Adding an extra lane to a congested road will always cause that road to be more congested, and will also increase traffic on nearby roads.

When China removed a highway, it reduced car traffic thought the entire city while not reducing the number of people travelling to and around the city.

The only solution to car traffic is viable alternatives to driving.

Are you using a rechargeable battery?

AA batteries are typically 1.5V, but some rechargeable ones are only 1.2V. This leads to the product thinking the battery is always low even when it’s fully charged.

If you have a Li-ion rechargeable, you get the opposite problem. The battery is actually around 2.7V, and has a converter internally to step it down to 1.5V. You will keep getting 1.5V until the battery goes flat with no warning.

The laws of physics are very commendable, but the only law that applies in the UK is the law of the UK

It’s not easier than Windows, it’s the devil you know.

Sure it’s slow, but you know how slow. It does updates at the wrong time, but you know it will turn on again eventually. It sends all your data to Microsoft, but no-one has come to your door to harass you because what’s in your data.

Linux is some obscure thing that would take time and effort to learn, and you’re tired from work and just want to use a computer without thinking about it.

Things might be different if Windows wasn’t the default/only option when buying a new laptop.

Stone