impulse

Bet'cha Israelis are praying that the US and UK don't get into a hot war in Ukraine... I shudder to think how long Israel would last if they didn't have the US at their back, and bribing and threatening all their Muslim neighbors to play nice.

I miss mean tweets and relative peace.

On that, we agree. The Carnot cycle shows that the theoretical best efficiency of an ICE stinks. Electric motors are much more efficient. The issue becomes how you make the electricity to charge the batteries. If it's by combustion, the efficiency stinks. If it's by running a gasoline or diesel powered generator, it stinks even worse. They haven't been engineered to be nearly as efficient as a modern auto engine. And that's what this little sub-topic is about. A guy claimed that charging an EV with a genset is more efficient than operating an ICEV. That is wrong.

Kudos to the guy. A great, moral man. I hope that's how he's remembered. Not such a great presidency, though.

I miss the days when comedians were funny. You know, when they realized that their job was to entertain us.

I'm a mechanical engineer by degree and experience. And I guaranty you that a Honda V6 is more efficient than a Honda lawn mower engine.

It says that EVs are great for some lifestyles, not so ideal for others. If I ever become a 2 car family again (of me, myself and I), my primary car will be an EV. Because they're ideal for 80% of my usage. But totally unsuited for that other 20%, based on current infrastructure and my occasional road trips to the boondocks. Until the infrastructure matures, I'll stick with ICE because it meets 99% of my needs. I still need to occasionally hire a big truck for moving stuff, even with a van in the USA and a pickup in Thailand. But I don't hate EVs. I'm cheering them on, and hoping the technologies catch on for other uses. Like (for example) charging the car at night when the electricity is cheap, and using it to power the house when rates skyrocket during peak times. That could save a lot of us $100's on electricity every month, even if it seldom leaves the driveway. For others, it's not a benefit.

Then starting in 2030, the AI will replace 100,000 workers a year, with robots.

You would have a hard time convincing me that a $500, 5KW Honda generator is more efficient than a late model $30,000 ICE. The auto companies have spent $billions to get their engines more efficient to meet CAFE (and int'l) requirements. The Honda (or Polo) gensets? Not so much. As long as they don't billow smoke, customers have no clue how efficient they may (or may not) be.

Good info. In the USA, if the sticker is $30,000, the dealer will try to add $1,000 for prep, another $500 for delivery (even if it's already on their lot), plus sales tax, etc. etc. They advertise one price, but the price you pay can be $$thousands more, depending on negotiating skill, popularity, and availability.

Responding to the OPs lament, I found the same phenomena at the IT shops when I was in Bangkok last week. The hawkers of 2nd hand computers were trying to sell them at prices that were equal to, or even greater than the new computers that benchmarked the same performance. My formerly top of the line I7 laptop from 9 years ago cost me 35,000 baht the year after it was unseated by the next generation. Today, I can buy an I3 laptop that specs out better for 11,000 baht. So I chuckle when I see a hawker trying to sell a dinosaur like mine for more than that. The same is happening now in EV's. Tech is better, manufacturing is more efficient. But eventually, the lower limits will be reached because of all the steel, plastic, aluminum, glass and other components. That's not bad news for EVs. Just a lesson in the costs of being an early adopter. Like the guys who rushed in to buy solar panels at $2 a watt. Nowadays, it's more like $0.25 a watt, or 40" flat screens for $4,000 USD. It's just learning lumps. I'm looking forward to seeing the markets that spring up around vehicles that are their own electrical supply (portable coffee shop?), and recovering semi-used batteries for alternate power projects (Power walls for solar?) Thailand's got some great ingenuity, evidenced by all the engine swaps keeping 50 year old classic cars running. Not to mention dirt cheap labor. There will be fortunes made by those who see the opportunities.

God forbid we get rescued by a bunch of white guys not dressed in drag...

Just bought a great cuppa at the Exhibition Center across the street from me in China. Try this with an ICEV... I wish I'd gotten a better shot of his backroom setup. I was impressed.

So the authorities in the OP are claiming that lack of communication is a problem... "I just spoke to Elon," Trump told supporters, captured on video in Valdosta, Georgia, a small town of 55,000 impacted by Helene, about three and a half hours south of Atlanta. "We want to get Starlink hooked up because they have no communication whatsoever and Elon will always come through," Trump said, adding "We are going to try and get the Starlink in there as soon as possible." https://cybernews.com/news/trump-musk-starlink-emergency-internet-hurricane-helene-victims/ Biden and Harris are probably out looking for coffee cans and string.

They left out the x.

The Ukes are occupying parts of Russia like the Pro-Palestinian protestors occupied campus quads. The difference being that cops aren't allowed to kill protestors when it's time to get rid of them.

It may be the law. But if that law was enforced, no traffic would ever move here... It's the red lights that convey right of way, not the zebra crossings.

Companies die all the time. Wouldn't it be a kick in the nuts for a family to sign their land over to the gub'ment as proposed, then the lease holder quits paying after 6 months? Not only does the family not get the rent payments. They also don't own the land any more. The only way I can see that work is to require a lease payment up front, at least equal to the value of the land. Or a clause that the land reverts to the family, if the lease payments stop before the value of the land is recovered. Or possibly buying insurance, against lease payments ending. That would be yet another can of gub'ment worms.

Check out the recent SNL skit on the subject. I'd post a link, but they're blocked where I am.

That attitude is what lost Hillary 2016. It's typical of the Dems. They ooze contempt for the very people that make modern life possible.

Off topic, I know. I was at an Ice Cream Machinery trade show in China this week, and this one piqued my interest. Not a model that I'd go for, but the concept is of interest. Portable electricity, to run an ice cream freezer, a coffee truck, etc. Probably not enough portable juice to run a pizza truck all day, but... I spoke to the guy (in broken English) and he said the truck will power the freezer all day, with plenty of power to cross town to get home at the end of the day. I can see this genre changing the street vendor landscape. His company (Hiron) made the freezers, not the truck, which is a Wuling Brand. (Pretty good history) It's one of their micro-vans. I'd hope they also make bigger platforms.

Watch a YouBoob with Judge Joe Brown... Who knew her back in the day. Before the MSM sanitized her origin story.

You mean the ones that keep the electricity on, the water flowing, the streets paved, the fire engines running, and all the other services the educated people enjoy?

It's like that old (pre-interwebs) rumor that McDonalds used earthworms for their hamburgers. Until someone pointed out how much more expensive earthworms were than ground beef. There's a lot of reasons to hate on Mickey D's. Earthworms aren't one of them. There's valid reasons to hate on some street food, too.

I hope the OP wasn't the victim of one of these insidious plots: Right-wing Twitter troll convicted of interfering in 2016 election through deceptive vote-by-text meme. https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/right-wing-twitter-troll-convicted-of-interfering-in-2016-election-through-deceptive-vote-by-text-meme/ That phone number led to a real line, and the thousands who followed the instructions did not immediately receive error messages. That is just sad...