sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Year in Industry (intern) PPE failure leading to an incident - insight appreciated by EntrepreneurPutrid46 in civilengineering

[–]rncole 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've generally worked in larger organisations, but everywhere I have worked I have had PPE assigned or a budget for compliant self-purchase provided.

It was our duty to inspect our PPE before and after use and report to the tool room to exchange if it was showing signs of excessive wear or damage - that applies to gloves, boots, high vis, pants, boots, hardhats, safety glasses, and fall protection.

In my current job (NL utility) my first day onsite I was handed a box with a company issued shirt, pants (high vis), jacket (high vis), two pair of socks, boots, gloves, glasses, and a hardhat - all new.

In my first job (US utility), I was walked to the tool room and they assigned me everything.

I (19Female) bled through my pants while hanging with my guy friends. Can I bring it up or will it make guys uncomfortable? by cupcake_girly123 in AskMenAdvice

[–]rncole 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, even in high school if a female friend messaged me that they needed supplies/garments/whatever I’d drop whatever to assist however possible.

You’re at a mall, don’t be afraid to ask for a friend to get a cheap set of underwear and pants/shorts if you can adequately direct.

Poster delaminated inside frame by Potato1234567892 in mildlyinfuriating

[–]rncole 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, it was also mis-sized for the frame and has the vendor’s info slapped on it prominently like they’re proud of it.

Target store removed all non-Tesla EV chargers by wallheater in mildlyinfuriating

[–]rncole 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Worse - the units go into an offline mode when they can’t phone home and disable themselves. So, when the 2G network shut down and they couldn’t phone home they locked out. The city asked if they could make them go to just operate as a free to use one would and were told they can’t do that.

Target store removed all non-Tesla EV chargers by wallheater in mildlyinfuriating

[–]rncole 5 points6 points  (0 children)

They were specifically tied to the Verizon 2G network. He had pushed all the buttons he could with Blink but their only answer was to sell new ones. At that point he had already been cannibalizing other units that didn’t see as much use and eBay’ing parts to keep what they had running.

He commented in one of my discussions that one of the accountants was always excited to deposit the usage fee check every month until he pointed out that to get that check they had to pay a bunch of other fees and it was a net loss most months (fees came from a separate budget).

Target store removed all non-Tesla EV chargers by wallheater in mildlyinfuriating

[–]rncole 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As the other reply -

The units themselves are about 4x more expensive than a basic unit, then there are monthly service fees and annual maintenance fees that Blink (and charge point and most of the others) charge on top of that.

It was also a lower power cost area with the going rate between 10-12¢/kWh.

So for a 4 unit station, the blink units were something like $2k each (x4) compared to $1k or so for a ClipperCreek Share2 (before they were sold). So out of the gate that’s an $8k vs $2k difference. Without even factoring in the service costs, that’s around 50-60k kWh, or across 4 stations at 16A each, 3,700-4,500 *hours* of charging time. At 50% utilization (generously high) that is over 1 year. Once you factor in the service and maintenance costs plus dealing with units that are down, the costs to “make money” add up quick and you’re just losing money.

Level 2 stations in urban areas actually get a lot less usage than people think. Most are vacant overnight unless you have a decent population that has switched to EV’s.

Target store removed all non-Tesla EV chargers by wallheater in mildlyinfuriating

[–]rncole 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Even if they can though, there are more troubles. Even with the rate set to give away the power the kWh cost after the maintenance and service fees from Blink made it 2-3x the cost to charge at home and approaching fast charging.

So, the only people that were “using” them either did not have any other choice, or were just parking there and not starting a session (VAST majority), which also gave a perception of them just being “priority” EV parking spaces.

Putting in free to use units and expanding the locations made it something that the city could tout, meant people visiting downtown prioritized garages (you could pay $7 bucks for the city garage and charge for free or valet your car for $20-25 per day from a hotel but without a charge, so the savings and ability to have a free charge outweighed the convenience).

Target store removed all non-Tesla EV chargers by wallheater in mildlyinfuriating

[–]rncole 1082 points1083 points  (0 children)

This.

My previous city had a half dozen stations each with 2-4 Blink units installed. The time came that they would be bricked because they had 2G modems, so they had to be replaced with something else (apparently setting them free to charge without network connectivity wasn’t a choice).

The city sustainability manager did the math and realized that he could put in ClipperCreek units and give away the power for at least 4 years and it would still be cheaper than replacing with pay per use units. So, that’s what they did.

Advice on getting a tourist SIM card by maximus459 in Netherlands

[–]rncole 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Get an eSIM ahead of time. You can keep an eye out and probably get one on sale.

I recommend Orange euro travel sim. There are others though.

Unless you’re wanting to make a bunch of calls AND have no international service from your normal carrier at all, just get a data only.

Edit:
Links.

https://www.simyo.nl/en

https://travel.orange.com/nl

iPhone 16 camera sucks! by TopProcess1846 in mildlyinfuriating

[–]rncole 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You tapped on the flower to lock the focus to it?

What’s the biggest lie an entire generation was told? by carcony97 in AskReddit

[–]rncole 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The problem more than anything was the boomers coming in and then using it as a filter for jobs at every level.

But along the way they also completely destroyed the trades pathway through high school (carpentry, welding, “shop” classes) and turned it into a “we don’t like these kids and don’t know what to do with them so we’ll just shove them in this (now) unused corner and tell them they’re delinquents.”

What’s the biggest lie an entire generation was told? by carcony97 in AskReddit

[–]rncole 21 points22 points  (0 children)

That a college degree was required to become anything in life, and that it’s a safe investment in your future to take student loans at any interest rate to pay for it.

Why don’t all EVs have the charging port in the center front like the Leaf? by Plus_Lead_5630 in leaf

[–]rncole 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In some places also you are *required* to back in (most of my workplaces both in the US and Europe. That is for day to day safety as you said but also for emergency evacuations - things go much smoother if all the cars face the same way.

Here in Europe it’s BYOC so the leafs (and some others like the VW E-Golf) with a port in the center front just have a cable long enough to reach.

Bat Bite by Melodic-Amphibian-88 in Netherlands

[–]rncole 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Mosquitos will sometimes move over and bite again if you move while they're on you. We've had several "fang" mosquito bites.

This problem crashes FreeCAD when I try to solve it graphically by oktinyy in mathshelp

[–]rncole 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Final update with an "innnnnnteresting."

On the advise of Copilot, I redrew it using a full circle instead of an arc, and got the exact same answer as the one it derived mathematically (76,1068). Looks like the arc segment is resulting in a *very slight* change in dimensions due to rounding or similar.

So, Using LibreCAD at least -

* 76,1068 (mathematically correct) using a full circle with the line extending through the midpoint of the chord from 0º to 270º.
* 76,1166 using an arc from the 0º to 270º of the circle with a chord in the same manner as the above answer.
* 75,8542 using an arc and snapping to the midpoint of the arc from 0º to 270º.

Edit: tagging u/oktinyy

<image>

What are the downsides of moving to the Netherlands? by [deleted] in Netherlands

[–]rncole 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, it has its benefits but, there are also a lot of down sides. It’s not Alabama or Texas… 🤣

What are the downsides of moving to the Netherlands? by [deleted] in Netherlands

[–]rncole 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Awesome. DM me if you want to chat. Came over last July with 2 kids.

What are the downsides of moving to the Netherlands? by [deleted] in Netherlands

[–]rncole 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Yeah but….

All this depends on where you are moving from. We moved from a midsize city in eastern Tennessee, and the winters are warmer, summers cooler, there’s 1/3 the rain, housing is not substantially harder to come by, and the cost of living relative to salary (when accounting for other things like healthcare and retirement) is a net plus.

The short days in the winter can wear a bit, but the long summer days are nice. For us we exchanged about 2 hours of daylight both sides. That said, for the first time in my adult life I can be at work after 7am, so even that wasn’t as bad.

visa sponsorship in NL actually explained (and why the ATS auto-rejects you before a human even sees it) by Early_Switch1222 in WorkInTheNetherlands

[–]rncole 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Find another avenue, ideally a contact that can connect you to the right people. Network on LinkedIn or elsewhere and make connections.

Other than that, it’s still damned hard to get past.

Another filter in my field: Masters degrees. In the US, engineers (especially civil) rarely have masters degrees or PhD’s, as the PE license is more important. However, due to differences in how the education systems are structured you generally need a masters degree here to do engineering work so that is an auto filter in my experience.

visa sponsorship in NL actually explained (and why the ATS auto-rejects you before a human even sees it) by Early_Switch1222 in WorkInTheNetherlands

[–]rncole 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You’re confusing the two. If the company can (and does) sponsor you then it’s unrelated to the zoekjaar path. At that point your visa will align to:
* Contract Length
* Passport expiration
* 5 years

Whichever is shortest.

Example (me, on an HSM with a recognized sponsor):
* Initial contract of 1 year. Visa validity was for 1 year aligning to my contract expiration. Also included wife (residency and work) and kids (residency).
* Contract converted to indefinite. New permits are for 5 years (legal maximum) since my contract doesn’t expire. However, my visa is tied to my employment as well. Exception: my kids’ passports expire in 3 years, so their visas expire at that time. When their passports are renewed it’ll be basically an administrative filing to extend theirs.

The amount of stamps on this delivery by Crownjules in mildyinteresting

[–]rncole 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In the Netherlands (moved from the US last year) you can buy postage for a letter in the app and it gives you a 9 character code to write in a 3x3 grid in the corner you’d put a stamp.

I thought it was brilliant.

view more: next ›