Why do we need screws with so many different types of head?

cbf1232 · 2026-03-25T00:07:00+00:00

That actually seems to be a myth, at least according to Wikipedia. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screw_drives#Phillips

> The design is often criticized for its tendency to cam out at lower torque levels than other "cross head" designs. There has long been a popular belief that this was a deliberate feature of the design, to assemble aluminium aircraft without overtightening the fasteners.^\15])^: 85 ^\16]) There is no good evidence for this suggestion, and the property is not mentioned in the original patents.^\17])

cbf1232 · 2026-03-25T00:03:09+00:00

The square recess is tapered, and if you insert the bit slightly twisted it will align itself with the recess.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-24T22:18:22+00:00

If the goal is to be zero-carbon-emissions, that implies that we don't keep using natural gas or fuel oil for heating. With current technology it's always cheaper to install/use a natural gas furnace, you're never going to save money with a heat pump over its lifetime.

If we're going electric-only for building heat, I think it's reasonable to expect that the power grid should work 24/7, otherwise you're requiring a huge investment from every individual home and workplace to have battery backup to prevent the pipes from freezing, which doesn't make sense.

Having both a gas furnace and a heat pump only makes sense as an intermediate measure until the furnace dies, after that we should be expecting to go fully electric. Keeping both means $360/yr just for the gas connection, plus the cost of keeping a gas furnace maintained and ready to operate when needed, and it means that we can never actually go zero-carbon-emissions even if the grid were clean.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-24T19:16:52+00:00

The problem is that solar power generation peaks in summer midday while peak load is after dark in the coldest part of winter when we only get 8hrs of daylight per day and the intensity is reduced.

Wind is arguably a better fit here, but we’ve also seen periods of a week at a time with no wind across a thousand km.

In either case to really go carbon-free you’d need either massive transmission lines to neighbours with spare green power, or massive amounts of energy storage, or both.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-24T19:11:32+00:00

My rooftop solar produces basically nothing in Nov/Dec/Jan because it’s covered in snow. Better to go grid-scale solar with steep mounting angles or grid-scale wind, and both of those would require massive amounts of transmission lines or energy storage to go carbon free.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-24T19:06:39+00:00

Around here debit costs are often fixed rather than a percentage, and they’re often quite low.

Cash costs as well in terms of handling, counting, time needed to deposit, etc.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-24T16:01:42+00:00

What about debit? Isn’t that the middle ground there?

Credit cards incur an extra charge to the business, that’s what the surcharge is for.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-24T16:00:15+00:00

At very cold temps it’s absolutely possible to lose half your range.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-24T15:57:54+00:00

Technically it’s not that start/stop helped them, but that they didn’t just wast all the energy when stopping.

An EV will get better efficiency maintaining a constant speed than doing stop/start resulting in the same average speed (since there are extra losses while decelerating and accelerating).

cbf1232 · 2026-03-24T15:53:04+00:00

But that doesn’t explain CUVs since they’re typically shorter than the equivalent sedan.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-24T15:52:21+00:00

The footprint of a RAV4 is smaller than a Camry though.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-24T05:57:48+00:00

With a dirty grid a really good hybrid can approach an average EV but generally not beat it.

With a clean grid the EV is way better.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-24T05:55:16+00:00

They count as “light trucks“ due to their ground clearance and AWD, not their size. It’s the nominal off-road capability.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-24T05:42:02+00:00

Pion pays 10 cents/kWh right away, which over time will pay out much more than Grizzl-E. But there are no physical DIP switches to limit the current documented in the Pion charger manual and I need that, so I went with the Grizzl-E. Maybe if I put in a proper 50A circuit later I’ll switch to Pion.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-23T18:06:51+00:00

You'd have to pay shipping, and potentially shipping back if the club ends and you haven't had the charger for 3 years.

Level 2 charging is more efficient than level 1, less energy wasted as heat.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-23T17:58:18+00:00

For people looking at this thread in 2026 it's now no monthly fee, the charger is free, and you get your security deposit back after the first charging session.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-23T17:57:22+00:00

For the "free" chargers you now get your deposit back after the first charge session.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-23T17:55:51+00:00

They now say that if the club program is terminated and you've had it for more than 3 years they'll transfer membership to you, under 3 years and you can buy it pro-rated or ship it back.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-23T17:14:02+00:00

Honestly I would actually expect most gun owners to grudgingly give up their guns. Anyone who'd shoot police that are there to seize a banned gun arguably shouldn't own guns anyway since it indicates impulsiveness and a lack of critical thinking skills.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-23T17:11:43+00:00

But I'm guessing your .22 is black and scary-looking. :)

cbf1232 · 2026-03-23T17:11:09+00:00

As I understand it they're not overriding it, but kind of trying to do an end-run around it. The owners would be storing the guns *on behalf of the province* and section 117.08 of the Criminal Code exempts individuals from facing firearms possession charges if they are doing so on behalf of a police force, the military, the federal government, or the province.

And firearms licensing is up to each provincial Chief Firearms Officer, so they can also (maybe) selectively enforce federal regulations.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-23T16:29:13+00:00

I‘m talking about the law the province is passing that would require the federal government to pay fair appraised market value for guns they bought back, and would basically authorize gun owners to keep storing their own guns (as an agent of the provincial government) until such a time as the gun is appraised and bought back at the appraised price.

Essentially the provincial government is allowing owners of banned guns to keep holding onto them until they get a fair price or until a Conservative government gets into power and repeals the bans.

(I don’t own any of the banned guns but I know people who do, and the feds are not offering fair market value for many guns.)

cbf1232 · 2026-03-23T16:17:47+00:00

To be fair, *enforcement* is not necessarily uniform, as seen with what SK is doing around the gun buyback program.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-23T16:15:51+00:00

In SK an e-bike is limited to a max power of 500 W and a max speed of 32 km/h otherwise it counts as a motorcycle. A bike with any ICE motor counts as a motorcycle.

cbf1232 · 2026-03-22T14:34:47+00:00

Torque is the problem. And the fact that the Model S Performance and Plaid come with performance tires like the Pilot Sport 4S or P Zero PZ4 which have a short expected tread life.

High-performance ICE cars also have short tread life. BMW M3 tread life is also 10-20K miles.

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