fredophile

Joined 12 years ago

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Comment · 4 months ago
I also saw a quote from Musk saying that he expects SpaceX to hit $1 trillion in revenue by 2031. Given his track record of predicting performance I think it's safe to ignore such future looking statements from him or companies he controls.
Comment · 5 months ago
Are you saying that they chose bad locations inside of Germany for wind and solar or that Germany doesn't have any viable locations and they shouldn't build wind and solar in Germany at all?
Comment · 5 months ago
It's not like other forms of power generation don't have similar problems. Solar PV cells lose efficiency and need to be replaced. Nuclear has very long term storage concerns. Coal and natural gas plants have finite expected lifetimes before the whole plant needs to shut down.
Comment · 5 months ago
I spent a good chunk of my life in the Pacific Northwest. You get very long stretches of cloudy skies through most of the winter that are poor for solar. However, there are alternatives in that region like hydro that may be more suitable choices.
Comment · 5 months ago
Can you point to large scale solar or wind projects that were shoved into places that have extended periods of low sunlight or wind?
Comment · 5 months ago
The $1.3 million doesn't mean much. The article stated he could've switched to a significantly cheaper option and cut the bill to $300k. That's still a lot but since he worked for the company that sells the tokens it isn't as though they were paying the retail cost.
Comment · 5 months ago
You're looking at students at a top tier university in a field that pays extremely well. The numbers are going to be at the high end for what a grad student can make. A quick search for PhD salaries suggests that $20-35k/year is more common.

The median wage number you cited is also for the total population. According to this graph the median wage for college graduates is around $7k/mo. I'm fortunate to make very good money but I'd still notice a $2k/mo pay cut.

Comment · 5 months ago
There's another relevant saying about apples you should check out.
Comment · 5 months ago
Are you seriously trying to equate people exercising their right to peacefully protest to the power to detain and shoot people?
Comment · 6 months ago
> You can not have a for-profit system and a government subsidized one

Have you told Australia? They seem to think they've been able to do this for a while now.

Comment · 6 months ago
> Democrats advocate for things like healthcare and cancelling student loans -- never happens

Democrats passed the ACA under Obama. Republicans have been trying to get it repealed with only moderate success ever since.

Biden announced student loan forgiveness in 2023. The Supreme Court struck it down in 2023.

Democrats have been able to get done at least some of the things they said they would.

Comment · 6 months ago
You have to replace everything you own on some cadence. Eventually I'll need to replace the battery on my solar system. I'll also need to replace the panels at some point and even the roof the system is installed on.

My solar system uses a Tesla powerwall. I'd expect its real world performance over time to be about the same as what you see in batteries for Tesla vehicles.

Comment · 6 months ago
I've been to most of the places he said were bad and I totally agree that you can ignore what he says. Shortly after talking about how bad Zion is for the crowds he says that Capitol Reef is also terrible. I thought Capitol Reef was great. It's a lot like Zion but without the crowds.

He also dismissed a few parks that I think are ideal for families with young children. Petrified forest has lots of interesting short hikes that you can do with small children. They also have a really nice ice cream shop with great views. The fact that you can do short hikes to amazing views is part of what makes Arches nice. If you want a longer hike drive next door to Canyonlands which is also fantastic.

Comment · 8 months ago
Where I live travelling at that speed will get you passed by every cop and state trooper driving on the same road. A lot comes down to local norms and enforcement.
Comment · 11 months ago
DOGE "failed" because cutting the budget wasn't their real goal.

Here are a few outcomes they were able to achieve: (1) Cutting funding for agencies and organizations that were investigating companies run by Elon Musk. (2) Cutting funding for organizations, like NOAA, that have high economic returns for every dollar the government spent on them. (3) Copying information from multiple government databases.

(1) had immediate benefits to Musk. (2) leaves openings for someone with enough capital to fill in the gaps left behind and make a profit charging for what used to be a government service. (3) provides numerous long term benefits to Musk and anyone else with access to that data.

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