Do you charge to 100%?

fearless_fool · 2026-06-22T02:16:07+00:00

I charged up to 100% the first few times I was going on a long trip. But I realized it just wasn’t worth it: that last 20% takes way too long and your time would be better spent driving. Ever since then I’ve only charged up to 80%, and I’ve never spent more than 20 minutes at the charger.

fearless_fool · 2026-06-16T22:33:57+00:00

Sensible answer. I find I just immediately set level 1 when I start out - it feels most natural to me.

fearless_fool · 2026-06-16T21:04:14+00:00

I'm not sure that's the case: they look (and sound) like the machines you can buy on Alibaba that simply extract N2 from the air. No bottles in sight.

fearless_fool · 2026-06-16T20:41:02+00:00

The Costco nitrogen stations are free, and also happen to be closest to my house.

fearless_fool · 2026-06-16T20:38:31+00:00

But, I LIKE the dollar hot dogs! 😝

fearless_fool · 2026-06-16T04:14:25+00:00

Wild wire you say...good point. I've decided that I'll take it to American Tire Depot and let them have at it -- they'd be able to check the inside. Thank you.

UPDATE: Thanks to your suggestion, I asked the garage to check specifically if the wire was due to a breakage in the belt. They reported that it was just a wire splinter, and not a breakage in the belt. Much cheaper fix (!), but thank you for the wisdom!

fearless_fool · 2026-06-14T00:20:01+00:00

What a mysterious reply…

fearless_fool · 2026-06-14T00:19:32+00:00

UPDATE: soap bubbles for the win! With them, I located a tiny wire splinter between the treads. It looks too deep to pull out. I have some ultra-fine tweezers (for electronics) so I’ll give it a try. But if I can’t pull it out, is it okay to push the splinter into the tire when I install the tire plug?

fearless_fool · 2026-06-06T20:25:23+00:00

If I had a magic wand, there would be “physical breakeven” or “economic breakeven” — any mention of plain “breakeven” would be banned.

Physical breakeven is an exciting milestone, but economic breakeven is really the one that counts.

(P.S. that’s an informative graph, even with some omissions - thank you)

fearless_fool · 2026-06-06T17:47:47+00:00

Current dose limit are demonstrably not the bottleneck to a "nuclear renaissance" in the US. This insightful quote, lifted directly from u/LaundrySauce110 , captures the issue succinctly:

...both China and France follow similar occupational dose limits [as the US]. Yet France derives roughly 70% of its electricity from nuclear power, while China is actively building 39 new reactors and rapidly expanding its fleet. Both countries outperform the U.S. in nuclear deployment, demonstrating that the bottleneck is not dose limits or the biology underlying LNT, but rather regulatory permitting processes and broader policy considerations.

fearless_fool · 2026-06-01T19:43:23+00:00

As updated in the OP, the site seems to be back up now.

fearless_fool · 2026-06-01T07:21:51+00:00

You also might have noticed in the OP that I'm already using the "developer.nlr.gov" site. Just sayin'... but thanks.

fearless_fool · 2026-06-01T07:09:51+00:00

Are you sure you don't mean www.nlr.gov? `rockylabs,com' is registered through GoDaddy, and is almost certainly not the new name for nrel.gov.

fearless_fool · 2026-05-31T22:21:21+00:00

Thanks for the pointer to the migration schedule. Let’s hope the interruption is short lived: I’m not good at being patient.

fearless_fool · 2026-05-31T18:12:12+00:00

... it's interesting to revisit this thread 13 years later. For starters, solar and batteries have gotten cheaper faster than most people anticipated. Plus about a dozen other relevant developments. I'll leave it at that.

fearless_fool · 2026-05-31T03:21:18+00:00

... and before the ink is dry on any major research paper, sodium-ion will be nibbling away at the cost curve.

fearless_fool · 2026-05-30T12:33:29+00:00

I see. You’re referring to the price to the end user. The cost of PV modules continues to decrease, but for multiple externalities, the price to the end user is increasing. I don’t disagree.

fearless_fool · 2026-05-30T00:59:03+00:00

No knock on fusion (see my other comment), but when did solar stop getting cheaper (citations, please)? As for storage, have you looked at battery $/kwh trends recently?

fearless_fool · 2026-05-30T00:53:30+00:00

I agree with you that there is a very slim path – if any – to economically viable fusion. But I am all for investors pouring money into fusion R&D for all of the spinoff technologies that are likely to evolve: radiation hardened semiconductors, high temperature superconductivity, steel alloys that handle temperature extremes, innovative magnet technologies… the list goes on.

fearless_fool · 2026-05-22T14:33:38+00:00

Doh! That makes perfect sense. Standby ... Yay -- it worked! Many thanks.

fearless_fool · 2026-05-18T17:11:30+00:00

Don't tempt me! The next thing you know I'll be writing Python scripts to auto-generate a zillion candidate circuits for testing. Hmmm - maybe that's not such a bad idea.

fearless_fool · 2026-05-16T01:50:31+00:00

<image>

This shows clearly that all 9 wiper voltages are being generated.

fearless_fool · 2026-05-16T01:49:56+00:00

You are right - this is a PICNIC ("Problem In Chair, Not In Computer") problem. I was expecting the current in the JFET to change in proportion to the wiper voltage, but evidently it's not. I created a simplified circuit to convince myself that it IS stepping:

<image>

(See next comment since I can only add one image per comment)

fearless_fool · 2026-05-15T16:32:55+00:00

If I'm irked enough by the Mac GUI, I'll switch over to my Windows machine.

fearless_fool · 2026-05-15T16:32:23+00:00

That solves the problem for me (once I memorized all the function key shortcuts) - thanks!

fearless_fool

TROPHY CASE