tal

I don't hate it. It's technically interesting.

But I do see a lot of people applying it to things that really don't need it. I think a lot of people saw Bitcoin and decided "I'm going to go make something that uses blockchains". That's a solution-in-search-of-a-problem, whereas you probably want to start with a problem and then look for technology that solves the problem.

I don't think that blockchains are a very practical solution for all that many problems.

IIRC from /r/Europe discussion, propane is also not uncommon as a fuel in Turkey.

kagis

Yeah:

https://auto-gas.net/mediaroom/turkey-leads-autogas-consumption-in-europe/

Turkey leads Autogas consumption in Europe, while ranks second in the world. 80% of all LPG consumed throughout the country is used as Autogas. In addition, Turkey is the only country that has more LPG vehicles more than gasoline-powered vehicles.

In Turkey, the number of LPG vehicles in operation is close to 5 million.

Ah, that'd do it then. Thanks.

My understanding from past reading is that there's a history of diesel trucks pulling off emissions control hardware to increase their MPG somewhat, so they save money on fuel. First ran into it when reading about the practice in Europe, but also happens here in North America.

I don't know whether it's possible to tweak the computer-controlled system to achieve a similar effect, but it'd make sense.

kagis

It sounds like he would have the authority to require in-office work.

https://www.opm.gov/frequently-asked-questions/telework-faq/remote-work/

Does an employee have a right to engage in remote work?

No. Remote work is not a universal employee benefit or an employee right.

Can a manager deny a request for remote work?

Yes. Because of the policy and potential costs implications of remote work arrangements, agencies should evaluate and consider such requests (especially those submitted primarily for the convenience of the employee), on a case-by-case basis, highlighting the cost effectiveness and business benefits to the agency or organization.

Can a manager terminate an existing remote work arrangement?

Yes. An agency may determine that a remote work arrangement no longer meets the business needs of the organization or that the arrangement negatively impacts the employee's performance. However, terminating a remote work arrangement, particularly if the employee resides outside the local commuting area of the agency worksite, may require additional considerations. If the decision is made to terminate the remote work arrangement for business reasons, there may be costs implications for the agency to consider.

That being said, my guess is that at least some federal employees probably pretty much have to work outside of the office, just because of the nature of the job -- like, it may be travel-intensive. I guess they could end work-from-home stuff.

If you're interested in home automation, I think that there's a reasonable argument for running it on separate hardware. Not much by way of hardware requirements, but you don't want to take it down, especially if it's doing things like lighting control.

Same sort of idea for some data-logging systems, like weather stations or ADS-B receivers.

Other than that, though, I'd probably avoid running an extra system just because I have hardware. More power usage, heat, and maintenance.

EDIT: Maybe hook it up to a power management device, if you don't have that set up, so that you can power-cycle your other hardware remotely.

I mean, some of those EOLed nearly a decade ago.

You can argue over what a reasonable EOL is, but all hardware is going to EOL at some point, and at that point, it isn't going to keep getting updates.

Throw enough money at a vendor, and I'm sure that you can get extended support contracts that will keep it going for however long people are willing to keep chucking money at a vendor -- some businesses pay for support on truly ancient hardware -- but this is a consumer broadband router. It's unlikely to make a lot of sense to do so on this -- the hardware isn't worth much, nor is it going to be terribly expensive to replace, and especially if you're using the wireless functionality, you probably want support for newer WiFi standards anyway that updated hardware will bring.

I do think that there's maybe a good argument that EOLing hardware should be handled in a better way. Like, maybe hardware should ship with an EOL sticker, so that someone can glance at hardware and see if it's "expired". Or maybe network hardware should have some sort of way of reporting EOL in response to a network query, so that someone can audit a network for EOLed hardware.

But EOLing hardware is gonna happen.

The price of lumber never really went back to where it was before covid.

https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/lumber

The price in at the start of 2020 was ~$377.55 per thousand board feet.

https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm

$377.55 in January 2020 is $460.34 in July 2024 dollars.

The price of lumber in July 2024 was $423.27.

So it's gotten back down to and fallen below pre-COVID-19 prices in real terms.

It does look like the price has risen from July 2024 to November 2024, so it's presently higher, but it has not stayed above pre-COVID prices since the end of COVID-19.

now that i got used to the arkfeld combinations, going directly to low (hold) or boost (double press) is a must for me

I can't deal with the Anduril 2 firmware's "advanced UI mode" mentally without a manual in front of me. I feel like it might be more workable if there were more buttons or some kind of additional indicators or something. It's just too much overloading of one button for functionality for me.

https://ivanthinking.net/thoughts/anduril2-manual/

But, yeah, I do like the simple UI mode with the brightness adjustment. Is it essential? No, but it lets you both have a bright light and a light that doesn't blind you and is battery-friendly, and I think that it's legitimately handy to have that.

Sure, it'd cost a bit more to put, say, three buttons on the thing. But you're getting a flashlight with firmware in the first place. I mean, what do two more buttons run, a couple bucks?

which of course doesn't then require you to pay monthly to actually use the stupid thing.

I think the idea here is that the businesses can lay off some of their in-house IT staff and pay Microsoft a lesser amount instead; the in-house IT staff does get paid monthly.

I sometimes think that maybe as a society we'd be better off relaxing nudity taboos or something.

kagis

It sounds like they did. Just took some months to get them set up.

https://www.businessinsider.com/notre-dame-fire-one-year-reparations-billionaire-donations-progress-2020-3

In the 72 hours after the fire, a clutch of wealthy French magnates clamored to pledge a total of 850 million euros, worth about $954 million at the time, to restore the cathedral.

But it took six months for the first billionaires to put pen to paper and make good on their promises, with the intervening repairs funded by small donations.

As the first anniversary of the fire approaches, the official charity for the cathedral has received all its major donations, while the coronavirus pandemic has delayed vital work to save the remaining structure from collapsing.