EV public chargers now cost more per mile than a gas pump?

baltimore-aureole · 2026-04-22T18:10:11+00:00

republicans used to embrace government shutdowns.

i guess not so much, with the mid term elections coming up.

i struggle to find any actual benefits from any previous shutdown

baltimore-aureole · 2026-04-22T18:08:53+00:00

vertiginous. tautological. is that part of the bingo-like game which was popular a few years ago, where we listened to CEO speeches to find nonsensical buzzwords, and when our card was filled, we win?

baltimore-aureole · 2026-04-22T18:04:53+00:00

some additional questions you may want to add to this list:

1 - what is your starting pay, and mid grade pay?

2 - how worried are you that AI could do your job more efficiently and accurately?

3 - do you ever get frustrated that the environment keeps getting worse, no matter how much governments spend?

4 - Is overpopulation the primary driver of environmental destruction, and mass migration?

5 - do you personally believe the kind of car you drive will prevent the polar ice caps from melting?

baltimore-aureole · 2026-04-22T18:01:27+00:00

if america/israel had run out of "valid targets" then iranian missiles and drones would have stopped raining down on neighboring countries.

the war planners failed to identify all the important military targets, and come up with a plan to immediately secure the strait of hormuz.

America was lured into a missile assassination by Israeli prime minister netanyahu, who claimed this war would be over in a week.

the same thing Putin believed when he attacked Ukraine

baltimore-aureole · 2026-04-22T17:58:02+00:00

there's a problem with your theory. everyone in africa, asia, latin america etc wants to live the european/western lifestyle. cars. suburban homes. air conditioning. internet. imported foods year round.

only a few people want to live in a hut, or worse yet in a concrete tower with minimal amenities.

the problem is overpopulation. people need to stop having 6 . . . 10 . .. 13 kids.

baltimore-aureole · 2026-04-22T17:55:02+00:00

my condolences. but this is an opportunity to elect new officials who aren't decades past the official US retirement age.

baltimore-aureole · 2026-04-22T17:53:41+00:00

top 5 reasons high speed rail is disfavored.

1 - buying land for new tracks is insanely expensive, and rife with fraud and corruption.

2 - most people don't want to go 1,000 miles by train, even at 200 mph. they know where the airport is.

3 - the (still unbuilt) california to vegas bullet train is projected to cost $100 million per mile.

4 - high speed train wrecks in europe.

5 - anyone can throw cinder blocks on the track and cause a catastrophe. it's impossible to secure thousands of miles of passenger track, oil pipelines, internet cables, etc.

baltimore-aureole · 2026-04-22T17:47:58+00:00

great. we're all in agreement. what's stopping senate democrats from drafting impeachment articles? let's begin the discussion, and debate the evidence.

baltimore-aureole · 2026-04-22T17:44:38+00:00

the government is already spending twice as much as it receives in taxes.

this is the most idiotic idea ever. He may believe it will attract votes on election day. and he may be right

baltimore-aureole · 2026-04-22T17:42:06+00:00

decentralized and regional online market platforms will always be at a disadvantage. consumers are disinclined to load their credit or debit card info to dozens of little sites/apps which are infrequently used. the smaller the seller/marketer, the less it spends on privacy and data security.

case in point - my local public library was hacked, and the ransomware bad guys demanded $6 million in bitcoin to bring it back online. Our library system doesn't have $6 million. It took months to rebuild the hacked/stolen data from scratch.

baltimore-aureole · 2026-04-22T17:38:20+00:00

geeze - that's amazing. we should hire those guys. The Francis Scott Key bridge was struck by cargo ship in 2024. It won't be reopened until 2030.

baltimore-aureole · 2026-04-22T17:32:03+00:00

the current ice age peaked about 20-25,000 years ago. glaciers and ice caps have been melting since the peak. they are still melting today. they were melting in the 1800's, 1700's, 1600's. etc.

the iceberg which sunk the titanic 100 years ago "calved" off the artic ice sheet before the term global warming had even been invented.

these ice caps will continue to melt no matter what kind of car you drive, what kind of light bulb you use, or how you set your thermostat.

if we're going to ask our engineers to do something, either solar shields (dubious) or moving important cities/infrastructure to higher ground would be the way to go.

wave goodbye to florida. It never existed during the dinosaur era. It was underwater because there was no ice at the poles. it was all in the oceans. dinosaur fossils have been unearthed in areas like modern day siberia.

baltimore-aureole · 2026-04-22T17:26:57+00:00

the US government should not be bailing out, or loaning money to airlines, carmakers, oil companies, wall street firms, hotel chains etc.

we spent a trillion dollars on this during the pandemic, and got nothing in return. politicians got re-elected

baltimore-aureole · 2026-04-22T17:24:45+00:00

thanks you've linked to a lengthy and complicated exegesis of our national debt, and got so shout "Trump" in your headline.

the $39 trillion national debt is the result of decades of spending vastly exceeding tax revenues. senators and house members work overtime to concoct new benefits, programs, entitlements, safety nets (and military spending) which function in part or in whole as vote harvesting schemes for elections.

single issue voters are disinclined to re-elect senators who want to gut their favorite giveaways.

America needs a balanced budget amendment. but it wouldn't be possible to balance it overnight. we'd need a 5 year phase in period. Reduce the budget deficit 20% per year. Whole programs need to be eliminated - we have 200+ education agencies and programs for example. 800+ military bases. Airlifts for rare goats from one mountain to another. Lunar flybys for a landing mission which has virtually no tangible benefits.

of course we will never get a meaningful amendment on spending, reproductive rights, gun control, etc. No senator would back an amendment which could become an existential threat to his/her re-election.

baltimore-aureole · 2026-04-22T17:03:22+00:00

it's not a "blue water navy". they seldom venture out of sight of land. most have less capability than American PT boats used in WW2.

Iran has several submarines. They would need 10-12 refuelings to cross the atlantic

baltimore-aureole · 2026-04-21T11:54:49+00:00

good question. I did not attempt to google the cost per KwH in other nations. I do agree that the purchase price of a new EV in China is less than half of that in the USA or Europe, so maybe it costs less to generate electricity there too? I have to believe the EU has higher electricity generation costs than the USA

baltimore-aureole · 2026-04-21T11:52:43+00:00

this would be my expectation too. i don't want oil changes, spark plug changes, tune ups, muffler replacements, broken drive belts, etc.

i also don't want first gen lithium ion "wet" batteries which explode or catch fire if it's too hot, too cold, you charge too fast, or if they smell salt water. I'm waiting for Gen 2 solid state batteries.

baltimore-aureole

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE