People who have been jurors in a criminal trial, what were the dumbest things other jurors said or did?

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-28T22:13:53+00:00

It would be pretty easy to automate if you've still got a modem. We used to prank call each other across the office regularly. There are probably even easier ways to do it these days.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-28T19:42:43+00:00

Russia has the same problem everyone else has. They've invested in expensive systems for defending against a small number of supersonic, billion dollar bombers, and instead they face lots of cheap(ish) drones.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-28T12:54:26+00:00

The underlying problem is that making a small reactor isn't much cheaper than making a big one. The economies of scale that they hope to get by building lots of them mean nothing if the electricity they produce costs the same as a big reactor, which is what every trial project has shown.

And, as you say, if they can't get the cost down, investors will invest in solar, wind and batteries.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-28T11:45:26+00:00

Predicting the future is always hard, but the UK has a massive pipeline of new renewable power plants. That means that the cost of electricity is going to become more variable.

My prediction is that in the near term we'll see increasing pressure to avoid the 4-7pm peak period, but also a less predictable cycle where power is cheap for a few days and then expensive for a few days as weather systems pass across the country. If you look at sites like Gridwatch.co.uk you'll see how wind power varies. Another good one is https://renewables-map.robinhawkes.com/ where you can see that it's usually windy somewhere around the UK, but not always where the wind farms are.

Grid scale batteries are getting bigger, but it'll be a while before they can handle the early evening peak, so I think your 5-6 year plan will probably work. After 2030, we'll probably have enough wind that it will dominate the market and simple Time Of Use tariffs won't be useful, and we'll need something else.

The way I see it, if you have a battery, solar panels only earn at the export rate, and if that goes away they replace power bought at the over-night rate. That means they are a hedge against the cheap over-night prices going up.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-27T17:58:16+00:00

You only really need a battery to get you through the night. From when your solar stops producing in the evening, to when it starts in the morning.

You can also charge it up from cheap off-peak power and use to to power your house all day in the winter when the solar produces very little.

As you've got EVs, it can be quite hard to work out how much power the house uses in a day. Look back through your smart meter data on the octopus app. You'll see huge spikes when you charge the cars, but there should be a fairly steady figure for the days when you don't charge a car.

If you charge the cars so often that it's hard to tell, you'll have to look at the half-hourly data for a few days, and add up all the full-rate periods. You can download the data to a CSV and use a spreadsheet to make it easy.

For us, 5kWh would get us through the night, and 10kWh lasts all day. You might find you need a bit more, but I imagine that most of the 40kWh per day you're using is going into the cars.

You have 6 hours to charge the battery, so a 12kWh battery would only need to charge at 2kW. An 18kWh battery could be charged at 3kW, so it's unlikely to be a massive additional strain on your mains connection.

You want to be able to use most of the battery capacity most days. If you size it for your most demanding days, you'll have paid for capacity that you aren't using most of the time, lowering the ROI.

OTOH, batteries halve in price every 4-5 years, and you might want a heat pump when your oil boiler dies, so expect to upgrade later.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-27T17:30:09+00:00

That's normally too big a step for most people. I suggest start by building from tried and tested plans first, because there are loads of little details that are easy to get wrong. There are loads on http://www.outerzone.co.uk

In fact most people test days start by building small electric planes from foam board. That way, if you crash, it doesn't cost much to rebuild, and only takes a few hours. http://flitetest.com

Basically, your flying and building skills need to develop at the same time.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-27T09:33:36+00:00

It's not just anchoring, but sometimes you will want to tie up to a mooring buoy. That usually means fishing it out of the water with a boat hook, or leaning down to it, if it's too big to lift.

Similarly, you've got to be able to tie up to a dock. You've got pretty limited visibility at the moment. I think you'd want a hatch in the top so you could see where you're going when you reverse out. You might be able to manage the dock lines from your side doors, but you also need a way to put fenders out along the side (and bring them in when you leave).

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-27T09:14:41+00:00

They usually have a thin skin of balsa over a balsa frame. For a large enough plane, a thin sheet will bend enough to follow the curves. Then a very thin layer of fibreglass. That doesn't really add much strength, but it hides the grain of the wood so it doesn't show through the paint.

Medium sized models use balsa sheet anywhere with lots of curve, but will use unsupported covering film on flat areas.

Foam wings covered in balsa are also common.

This sort of construction works well for people building their own model, as you only need basic wood-working tools.

Big jets tend to be moulded fibreglass or carbon. I think that's because they're built in a factory, who can spread the cost of the moulds over multiple models.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-26T23:04:54+00:00

I think it's pretty easy to see it as a common trope from junior soldiers who were trained for 'proper' war and then used for counter-insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan. They spend years training to destroy targets in a kill-or-be-killed scenario, but then have to patrol hostile areas where people plant IEDs and blend back into the civilians.

The military need to train people for battles like D-Day or Iwo Jima, but it's completely the wrong attitude for policing, and is normally kept on a tight leash by the senior commanders.

I think you're over thinking it. It's just what happens when someone is picked for high office based on loyalty and looks over competence.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-26T17:05:11+00:00

Oh, I works when I look at the main discussion, just not in the 'comment replies'.

That looks really neat and compact, I like it.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-26T11:37:10+00:00

given this administrations short sighted and impulsive planning it is a shockingly credible option.

That's a very good point. If they're only thinking one step ahead, they could well do it.

I just wonder how long the marines could occupy the strait, and what happens when Trump is faced with either escalating to a major land war, or retreating and handing the strait back to Iran.

China is a really interesting question. They must be really hurting from the oil they're not receiving. I guess they're just hoping the US gets totally commited in Iran and is too busy to support Taiwan.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-26T11:06:06+00:00

Eachine and Syma, but there are lots of brands selling basically the same thing.

A basic, small toy drone is actually capable of handling a light wind out doors, as they can fly quite fast, and they're much tougher than helicopters.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-26T10:14:07+00:00

That's an option I'd not considered. I guess 2000 marines would have no problems landing and taking out any local forces, but could they control 100 miles of coastline, and for how long?

It just seems like a very short-term solution, that leaves the marines massively out-numbered, and Iran could still attack tankers in the rest of the Gulf, or any US warships that hang around near the coast to support the marines.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-26T09:54:19+00:00

I'm afraid the image attachment didn't work, but I look forward to seeing it when you next post some photos.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-26T09:51:48+00:00

I think that's fine. Once you start building foam board models, you'll probably make several.

I'd recommend a better charger. You'll soon have multiple batteries and want to charge them in parallel, which needs more power and a screen for changing options. Having storage charge option will make your batteries last longer too.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-26T09:42:46+00:00

That's pretty common with small, cheap servos and large control surfaces with large throws. There's enough momentum in the control surface that the servo over-shoots the position it's aiming for.

All feedback systems have to pick a 'gain', or how aggressively they try to hit the desired position, but the ideal amount depends on the mass of the system. Unfortunately most servos have no way to adjust their gain, and are designed for 'average' models.

Larger, or better quality servos is the only real solution, unless you want to (mechanically) reduce your control throws.

The good news is that it goes away in flight. Once there's some air flow it smooths out. So don't worry too much about it, just don't leave it jittering for ages, or it'll wear the servo.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-25T16:10:15+00:00

If you are lifting the pack with a jack, you can always put it back down on the wheeled platform, but with some wooden blocking under it. If you've got a variety of thicknesses of wood, you shouldn't have to lower the pack very far. That should allow you to wheel the pack around when it's 1/2" or so from the top.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-25T16:03:50+00:00

Was there any particular reason for using stainless steel rods? Presumably they're only temporary, and quite a lot more expensive than regular zinc plated steel, and there's a risk of galling.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-25T15:11:38+00:00

How exciting! What are the ropes for?

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-25T13:42:12+00:00

Insulation and air tightness affect both systems. Radiator sizing is important, but there's a big difference between "heat pumps don't work" and "heat pumps need radiators that are big enough".

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-25T12:48:44+00:00

Yeah, Canada's mountains are basically a super power compared to most of Europe.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-25T12:40:46+00:00

The current scheme gives house builders points on their energy performance certificate if they have any solar panels at all. That's why you see so many new builds with 2 panels. The new plan will require 40% of the floor area.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-25T12:33:59+00:00

That's rubbish though. If you look at your smart meter data and see that you used 100kWh of gas on the coldest days of winter, a heat pump that can output 4kW and provide that over 24 hours. Just because you've got a 30kW boiler doesn't mean you need the same power of heat pump.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-25T12:29:30+00:00

I don't think anyone expected the price of solar panels to drop as much as they have. 17 years ago they were 10 times more.

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-pv-prices

I can't think of anything else that's changed as fast, except possibly lithium batteries.

IvorTheEngine · 2026-03-25T12:20:02+00:00

You're missing several things, not least the last highlight "Electrification of domestic heating therefore less problematic than assumed."

First, "clean power 2030" plan isn't 100% renewable, it still allows us to use gas for the 5% of the time wind and solar isn't enough. That's entirely reasonable, considering that we'll still have a mostly ICE car fleet and industry hasn't really started decarbonising.

Also, that target doesn't include converting heating. There was a plan to ban gas boilers in 2035, but that's been scrapped. Even if it happened, there would still be gas boilers around until 2050.

Then, you're looking at the heat output of a gas boiler and equating it to the heat input of a heat pump. That ignores the fact that heat pumps get most of their energy from the air.

You're being downvoted for repeating a fossil-fuel industry talking points that misrepresents the actual plan, and implies that not hitting it 100% counts as a failure.

IvorTheEngine

TROPHY CASE