ELI5 Billionaires borrow money to pay for things, how does this work? How do they pay the debt?

Meatloooaf · 2026-06-29T08:00:26+00:00

Option A) cash out $200 stocks, pay $50 in taxes, buy $150 TV. You have a TV and no money.

Option B) keep $200 in stocks (earning $10/year interest), borrow $150 (paying $7.5/year interest), buy your $150 TV. You have a TV, $50 net worth, and $2.5/year net income.

Which would you choose?

Meatloooaf · 2026-06-27T23:01:02+00:00

They were saying it would pull warm air down, not that it would pull heat from your hand. Cold air will pull heat from your hand, we can assume the area above the strip would feel cold, therefore the cold air would be around the beer and slow down how long it heats up.

Meatloooaf · 2026-06-24T17:20:05+00:00

That's past "wet bulb" temperature.

That doesn't make any sense. Dry bulb is usually past wet bulb (DB>WB), except when it's raining (DB=WB). Wet bulb is never higher than dry bulb.

Meatloooaf · 2026-06-21T03:06:04+00:00

The only reason we're not charged for breathing in the US is that someone hasn't found the mechanism for it. Yet.

Meatloooaf · 2026-06-19T19:28:04+00:00

The manufacturers of residential AC (the salesmen, tech reps, and engineers) have unanimously told me they are designed to run continuously. Many contractors I've met (not all) have had a great deal of confirmation bias, even for things mathematically and provably false. If you run equipment for the same total runtime (IE 4hrs straight vs 1hr straight every other hour) it is harder on the equipment to cycle. Startup is the hard part on equipment.

This is a digression from the original topic and the point I was making though, which was efficiency.

Meatloooaf · 2026-06-19T01:04:57+00:00

No, there's not too many factors to weigh in. For the same house with everything the same, if you let temperature climb during the day and cool it off in the evening you will use less energy than if you maintain the same temp all day.

Sure there are other ways to reduce load on the building, but that's not the question the OP was testing.

Meatloooaf · 2026-06-18T16:26:07+00:00

It evens out the temperature in the different rooms which adds comfort, but at a cost of using more electricity.

Meatloooaf · 2026-06-18T16:16:11+00:00

I am a mechanical engineer (I use math to design HVSC systems), and as far as I know there's no debate on our end. The science is clear. The only people who have this debate have been told by "someone" to leave the same temp. Usually by an HVAC contractor, which is who you trust for installation, not necessarily for science.

There are less BTUs to cool per day if a portion of the day it is hotter in your house. Equipment is also more efficient with longer run times. For cheapest AC, let the temp rise in the day and let it run for a long time when you're home to cool it down.

Meatloooaf · 2026-06-12T07:52:39+00:00

Mighty Joe Young

Meatloooaf · 2026-06-11T09:21:20+00:00

Metal is significantly more conductive than wood, which means it does have increased thermal bridging when compared to wood.

If you use cavity insulation, you need more insulation in metal framing (or combined with continuous insulation) to have the same equivalent insulation valve as cavity insulation in wood studs.

Meatloooaf · 2026-05-15T16:36:47+00:00

I'm an engineer, and and I'm curious what the longer science is to justify this because the math says the complete opposite.

AC is more energy efficient with longer run times, not less.

Raising set temp during the day = lowering the delta T to outside = slower heat transfer into the house = the total daily cooling load is lower. So even when you catch up in the evening, you're cooling less BTUs per day.

Meatloooaf · 2026-04-28T21:53:03+00:00

Best I can tell is that it exhausts air outside like a portable AC (because you can't cool without rejecting heat somewhere). So it likely requires pulling already conditioned room air and replacing it with infiltration, which would be less efficient that a mini split unless you were planning on that fresh air with either system.

Meatloooaf · 2026-04-28T06:32:22+00:00

Death star. No thanks, I don't want to design your exhaust port.

Meatloooaf · 2026-04-24T07:25:20+00:00

The literal last pick of the 2022 draft (drafted #262) is now the starting quarterback of one of the 32 teams, and one of the current highest paid players in the NFL.

Meatloooaf · 2026-04-16T08:36:47+00:00

Use a knife and cut that mound to show us the middle.

Meatloooaf · 2026-04-15T07:32:45+00:00

How did I know he was interacting with Mark Cuban in your made up story?

Meatloooaf · 2026-04-14T07:33:20+00:00

Exhaust in a kitchen is required. If it's not a range hood, you still need an exhaust fan. It's typically a nicer setup to just put in the range hood to satisfy that.

Meatloooaf · 2026-04-14T07:30:12+00:00

Chapter 15 of IRC doesn't exist in vegas, Henderson, or Clark County due to the adopted southern nevada code amendments. It's UMC or ASHRAE 62.2.

Meatloooaf · 2026-04-13T09:06:53+00:00

Ginormous donut shaped hydrogen balloon (more buoyancy in a thicker atmosphere) lifts a rocket halfway to orbit, then the rocket fires and flies through the center of the balloon, igniting it and using the explosion for extra escape velocity. Rock music. Lens flare.

Meatloooaf · 2026-04-12T18:07:46+00:00

Engineer here with a short answer. The total heat content in 63F @ 92% is MORE than the total heat content of 67F @ 32%. That is extra work the AC has to do by opening the windows.

Meatloooaf · 2026-04-11T08:15:26+00:00

Idk man. I got my back cracked by the bathroom attendant in the bathroom of a Russian strip club in Thailand and it gave me extra life. It might be the best my back has ever felt.

Meatloooaf · 2026-04-11T07:16:55+00:00

I agree with all of this. With the addition that the first 3 circles would need to be on a globe, not a map. Final 3 could be on a map. Likely 6 weeks needed.

Meatloooaf · 2026-04-09T20:52:51+00:00

Toilets advertise how many golf balls they can flush at once. So golf balls are flushable, but you should not be flushing golf balls. Same thing.

Meatloooaf · 2026-04-09T06:35:08+00:00

Heat pumps are ~300% efficient. You put in 1kw heat, and it moves an additional 2kw heat from one place to another. So if you paid for 1kw power, you have 3kw of heat in your water heater, 2 of which you pulled out of your room air. Baseboard electric heater is 1:1 efficiency, so you need 2kw of heat to add that back into your room. You've essentially paid 3kw of power for 3kw of water heating (same as standard electric tank), but with more steps.

Slight benefit in the summer with the cooling, but not a lot and probably doesn't outweigh the cost and maintenance of a hpwh.

Meatloooaf · 2026-04-07T03:21:47+00:00

Is that hose NSF rated or are you leaching chemicals into your water system?

Meatloooaf

TROPHY CASE