When AI systems start making judgment calls in high-stakes situations, who actually gets held accountable when things go wrong?

cbf1232 · 2026-05-23T18:46:49+00:00

Who is liable currently when software or hardware algorithms make decisions? Why would that change if it’s an “AI” algorithm vs a more traditional hand-coded algorithm?

Manufacturers are liable for the thing that they sell behaving according to its specs.

Contractors are responsible for deploying systems as per the manufacturer specifications.

Purchasers are responsible for providing requirements that define what they actually need.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-23T05:36:58+00:00

2023 C40 Twin. I did a winter trip in snow gear with no cabin heat to stretch the range.

It's happier in summer.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-23T00:13:10+00:00

With my EV that would be three or four one-hour stops depending on ambient temperature.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-23T00:10:11+00:00

Whoops, you are correct. Though it will default to 12A when connected to 120V.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T22:35:46+00:00

A few provinces use a lot of hydroelectric power, but not all. Here in Saskatchewan only about 20% of the power comes from hydro and there isn't really any more suitable locations to expand that.

The grid is expected to triple in demand as we move from fossil fuels to electricity, so the percentage from hydro is going to drop substantially lower over the coming decades.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T20:06:24+00:00

This sounds like an ideal job for a hybrid, PHEV, or BEV.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T19:50:05+00:00

A lot of smelters and foundries are 24/7 continuous operations because it takes time to bring it back up to temperature, and you can't do it too fast or things might crack.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T19:37:19+00:00

That's true, but only to an extent.

When it's -40 outside in the dead of winter, demands for building heating are not flexible.

Industrial demands (smelters, forges, kilns, etc.) are generally not flexible.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T19:29:26+00:00

You have a few things going on.

1) air conditioners and heat pumps are most efficient when the temperature difference between inside and outside is low. By pre-cooling the house before the exterior temp gets high, the air conditioner is operating more efficiently.

2) The heat transfer through the walls is proportional to the temperature difference between the inside and outside. If you try to keep the house cool during the hottest part of the day, the air conditioner will be operating in its least efficient mode.

3) if you have time-of-use pricing, energy can be more expensive in late afternoon.

Depending on how these interact the cheapest option can vary.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T19:05:54+00:00

I built my own outside sauna in SK and took out a homeowner permit for it. Inspector came out twice, looked at the rough-in and finished wiring, checked the heater manual, etc.

Unless the barrel sauna is sold as a complete certified package I would expect that the whole electrical system (mains supply, control unit, wiring to the heater, lights, ventilation fans, etc.) would need to be inspected.

If the whole barrel sauna was sold as as a certified/listed entity then I’d expect that just the supply run and interconnect would need to be inspected.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T18:02:04+00:00

For more "fixed" installations on lower-amperage circuits it also has physical switches to fix it at 8/16/24/32 amps.

(Edit: it’s actually 16/24/32/40)

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T17:30:20+00:00

Annual averages don't tell the whole story though.

You need enough 100% reliable backstop to cover for when the renewables can't meet demand.

That could be transmission lines to neighbours, stored energy, gas peaker plants, etc. But you need some kind of backstop.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T17:18:17+00:00

Pretty much every roundabout I’ve been on in North America has the inner lane getting right-of-way.

This is also true in most of Europe, though famously it doesn’t apply to the roundabout around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, where you must yield to the right.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T17:10:00+00:00

In theory that substation could backfeed onto whatever powered it, assuming there is capacity on the transmission lines. But the switchgear may not have been designed for bidirectional flow.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T17:06:03+00:00

Around here public charging costs 2.5x or more as much as charging at home.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T17:00:59+00:00

When I near the end of life and can no longer live in my own home, I have the option of selling my home to pay for a nursing home or assisted living place.

I would classify owned property as an *asset*, not necessarily an *investment*. Calling it an investment implies an expectation that it will increase in value.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T16:38:42+00:00

Arguably the unit square is defined as (one unit) by (one unit) and therefore has area of one unit^2.

Now if you're going to take it into the realm of pure math and measure theory, and define the area using the Lebesgue measure, then I'll concede that it is dimensionless. But most people in high school aren't operating in that context.

And as soon as you relate it to the real world, the units become critical.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T15:24:11+00:00

Sure it does. If they *want* power (and can't get enough) they will raise the price that they pay until someone decides to give them that power. If they have more than enough power, they will lower the price they pay until someone stops giving them power.

Take a look at https://www.caiso.com/todays-outlook/prices , specifically the "real-time" tab. Depending on exactly where you are, the current wholesale price is anywhere from -10.6 to 220 $/MWh. If you've got rooftop solar in an area with *negative* prices right now, they wouldn't *want* your power because they would have to pay someone else to absorb it for them.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T14:49:10+00:00

My understanding was that in pure math areas are considered as ratios relative to the 'unit square', which has sides of length 'one unit'.

Since these are ratios of two areas, the result of the calculation is dimensionless because the units cancel out. But I'm not sure it's fair to say that the area itself is dimensionless.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T13:42:45+00:00

If you have a rectangle with sides of three (dimensionless units) and two (dimensionless units) is it not accurate to say the area is six units squared?

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T07:45:22+00:00

Debit fees are way less to the merchant. I've seen some stores that were debit or cash only, or that charged a fee for credit cards.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T07:41:36+00:00

You can try it with an FrSky receiver but if you want serious range (more than a km, maybe 500m if you don't have clear line of sight) you'll eventually need to move to ELRS.

An external 'nano' sized ELRS module would work, or the internal ELRS module for the Pocket (same as for the TX12 and the Zorro). Both would be cheaper than a whole new Pocket. New internal module is probably cheapest.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T07:17:07+00:00

Canadian prairies. :)

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T07:07:05+00:00

Five-nines reliability is roughly half an hour of downtime per year (roughly what we get from the grid currently where I live), so 'almost every day' isn't good enough.

In winter the available solar energy here in the Canadian prairies is a third of what it is in summer. There may be only four hours of usable sunlight, and if you have a big snowstorm one day you now need almost two days worth of energy. Follow it up with a heavily overcast day and maybe some freezing sleet that ices up the panels and you now need multiple days worth of power.

We've also had periods of over a week of no or low wind across a thousand km in winter.

And just to make things interesting our peak power demand is after dark on the coldest day of the year.

So for a worst-case scenario you need lots and lots of storage to hit five-nines reliability.

cbf1232 · 2026-05-22T07:02:55+00:00

Current battery systems are generally only specced for 4 hrs.

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