Sir_Osis_of_Liver

KTM did a thing on some models where electronic features, like cruise control, would all be unlocked for the first 1500kms as a trial mode. After that they’d stop working. If you wanted to keep them, you’d pay and the dealer would unlock them.

I don’t necessarily have an issue with that, as it’s a one time fee, and you only pay for those features that you want. I think people do get upset when they’ve had something and it’s taken away.

Any sort of subscription is an absolute dealbreaker though.

Edit. LOL at the downvotes. Reddit will never die.

Previously KTM had those features behind a paywall. If you wanted them, you’d go to the dealership and they’d unlock them. At least this way you had 1500kms to figure out if they were useful or not. The other option was to just include everything and bump the price up accordingly. KTM were going to get paid for their development work, one way or the other.

My setback thermostat goes to 16C (61C) at 11:00pm. Winter is when I sleep the best.
In the summer, I just go to 21 with the AC.

As long as the operators get full rotary-wing commercial flying licences complete with annual physicals and certified log books, I’m fine with it.

An excess of clickbait and poor reporting.

Just going from the website, an F150 Lariat is $68k in Canada, and the Lightning XLT is $69k. If you wanted a more comparable Lightning Lariat, it’s $80k.

Both the gasser and sparky version can be optioned up to well over $110k, which is insanity to me.

I rather like kbin and feel no need to go back to the other place.
At least not until it starts randomly logging me off.

Weak sauce. If they value you, they’ll get in touch. If they don’t, they never cared in the first place so what does it matter?

The Mazda system was a complete deal breaker for me. You have to locate the hotspot on the screen, then fiddle with the knob to get it over the right spot, then select. Way more aggravating than a touch screen.

If you use Carplay or Android Auto, it reverts to a touch screen anyway. The whole system was a muddle.

Lexus and Audi have both dropped their puck controllers due to customer feedback.

I had a 2019 Jetta GLI. I set the temperature the day I got it and never bothered fiddling with it in the 4 years I had it. The fan speed and airflow looked after itself just fine. Temperatures here swing between -35 to +35, so it’s not like we don’t have variability.

It had rain sensing wipers and automatic headlights which worked perfectly. It did have physical controls for those, but I only used the wash and high-beam switches.

It had built in navigation, but I tended to use Apple Carplay and Google maps and Spotify for music.

Now that version of the Jetta had physical controls for heated/cooled seats, HVAC and audio functions. I just never used them aside from the seat heat/cool.

It also had a pile of redundant controls on the steering wheel. That’s where I controlled volume or selection.

The second generation Ford Lightning EV will be out in late 2024 as a 2025 model. They also have a smaller EV pickup coming out not long after. The Ram EV will be out as well as the GMC Sierra.

Tesla was the first to announce and will likely be last to deliver.

Not sure if corporate ball-washer or incredibly naïve. Facebook (not using their attempt at rebranding) have more than enough resources to research new and innovative ways to screw over federated instances for their gain. Their goal isn’t to win, it’s to completely dominate. But I’m sure a plucky bunch of volunteers stand a chance against a demonstrably malevolent corporation with infinite money.

I’ve had nothing to do with Facebook or its offshoots since 2015. They’ve used their algorithms to pump all sorts of disinformation and manufactured outrage at the expense of society. That alone should be enough for people to defederate. The abusive information gathering is just the shit icing on a turd cake.

I will likely be shifting to an instance that defederates from Facebook. If that makes me “toxic”, that’s a cross I’m willing to bear.

Legally, saying ‘sorry’ is not an admission of guilt in Canada, but a thumbs up is enough to agree to a contract.

Glad the judiciary is keeping us on our toes.

Yeah, the “difficult” part, I don’t understand. I’m 56 and figured out /kbin and Mastodon and how federation works within a few hours. So far, so good.

I was around for the early days of Fark, Digg, Twitter and Reddit. New sites are rough around the edges. That’s just the way it is. Things will get sorted in due time.

“Regulatory sabotage” is the latest talking point put out by the nuclear lobby. It’s a fabrication. Regulations were built based on incidents and accidents in the past. Building nukes on the cheap would be like building deep-sea submersibles without certifications. It’ll work fine, until it doesn’t.

Certification and licensing only make-up a tiny percentage of a plant’s upfront costs. Typically it’ll be dumped in with engineering/design costs and those would be down around 15% of capital costs, depending a lot on the project.

The French government has traditionally been very pro-nuclear, and the industry has broad support from the population aside from the Green movement. They have had extensive incentive programs for the industry, both domestic and for export. And yet, they have had no better luck in building plants on time and budgets. Flamanville-3 is the poster child for overbudget nuclear projects. Construction started in 2007, was supposed to be on-line in 2012, but is currently projected to be completed in 2024. The budget went from €3.3B to an estimated €20B as of a 2019 French court audit.

The “oil industry” doesn’t care about nuclear at all. Oil fired generators haven’t been a thing since the oil shocks of the 1970s. The few that are still around are typically used as backup or peakers, as they’re ridiculously expensive to run.

The coal industry would be so inclined, but in the US, coal plants have dropped from ~65% of generation to less than 20% of generation over the last 30 years. New plants are almost as expensive to build as nuclear, and as the plants get to end of life, they’re being decommissioned rather than refurbished. The writing is on the wall.

Of the fossil fuel industries, only natural gas is competitive, and the plants are far, far cheaper to build than about anything else. They are the preferred type of new generation for utilities that have access to gas. Only regulation or government mandates really slow down new gas plants.

Losses are a lot lower with DC transmission, but it has been traditionally more expensive. Costs are coming down now as more research and better power electronics are becoming available.

Edit. Here’s a pretty well know one in the US, the Pacific Intertie

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_DC_Intertie

Right now Sweden has adequate baseload, they are well positioned to go with more renewable.

UHVDC and HVDC links can be used to transmit power over thousands of kms. I think the longest line currently is in China a 1100kVDC line that stretches over 3300kms.

Even with conventional AC transmission, power generated in Churchill Falls and James Bay eventually ends up in population centres in Southern Canada and New England.

Or, now hear me out, people actually know the history of the most recent projects and are reacting based on information.

Olkiluoto-3 was supposed to cost €3B, and ended up being approximately €11B.
Flamanville-3 was supposed to cost €3.3B and will likely end up costing in excess of €20B.
Hinkley Point C was supposed to cost £16B, but will likely end up about £27B.

It’s the same in the US:
V.C. Summer 2&3 was supposed to be $9B, but was cancelled while under construction, once total costs were projected to hit $23B.
Vogtle 3&4 was supposed to be $12B, but is currently in the $30B range.

These projects ended up being up to 12 years behind schedule. And that was in a low interest rate era. With higher interest rates, these kinds of schedule overruns will be devastating.

As it was, Framatom (Areva) and Électricité de France needed government bailouts and EdF is being re-nationalized by the French government due to the sad shape of its finances. Westinghouse ended up in creditor protection due to the fallout from the V.C. Summer project, and was sold off by parent company Toshiba.

The “move fast and break stuff” techbro ethic might not work so well with pressure vessels.

This past winter, there was a crew building an attraction on the river for the winter festival in Winnipeg. They had a Ford Lightning there. They were using it as a warm-up hut, for charging up their tools and hauling crap around. Temps were in the -20C to -30C range. They were out there for days. Seemed to work just fine.