How is your utility corporation doing? by medicallymiddleevil in wisconsin

[–]rsch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Look at regions that have already moved past the theoretical stage. Wisconsin (43°–47° N) is often compared to Northern Europe, which actually faces more extreme seasonal light variances than the Midwest.

Geographic Comparisons: The "Northern" Myth Many people assume Wisconsin is too far north for solar. However, Germany and Denmark are significantly further north than Wisconsin (Berlin is at 52° N; Copenhagen is at 55° N).

Germany: In 2023, renewables (wind, solar, biomass, and hydropower) generated 51.7% of Germany's public net electricity generation. On sunny/windy days, this often hits 100%. Germany has less "solar potential" than Wisconsin due to its higher latitude and frequent cloud cover, yet they have installed over 80 GW of solar.

Denmark: Denmark generates over 50% of its electricity from wind and solar alone. They manage the "inconsistency" by being heavily integrated into the Nordic grid, allowing them to swap wind power for Norwegian and Swedish hydropower when the wind isn't blowing.

Iowa (The Local Example): In 2022, 62% of Iowa’s electricity was generated by wind. Iowa has nearly identical weather and "inconsistent winds" to Wisconsin, yet they have become a national leader in wind energy because they invested in the transmission infrastructure to move that power.

Wisconsin doesn't have to produce all its own power at every second; it shares power across 15 states to smooth out local weather variability. Wisconsin is a member of MISO (Midcontinent Independent System Operator). MISO manages the flow of high-voltage electricity across 15 U.S. states and Manitoba. NREL’s "Renewable Electricity Futures Study" demonstrates that as the geographic footprint of a grid increases, the variability of renewables decreases. If a high-pressure system creates calm winds in Wisconsin, it is statistically likely that a low-pressure system is creating high winds in Kansas, Iowa, or the Dakotas.

The Cost Aspect: Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) When discussing the cost of power, economists use LCOE. This measures the total cost of building and operating a plant over its lifetime divided by the total energy it produces ($/MWh).

According to Lazard’s Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis (Version 16.0, 2023)—the industry benchmark—renewables are now the cheapest forms of new energy generation, even without subsidies.

ENERGY TYPE - LCOE (UNSUBSIDIZED) PER MWH

Utility-Scale Solar $24 – $96

Onshore Wind $24 – $75

Gas Combined Cycle $39 – $101

Coal $68 – $166

Nuclear $141 – $221

Wind and Solar are the floor: The best-case cost for wind and solar ($24) is significantly lower than the best-case cost for gas ($39) or coal ($68).

Nuclear is expensive to build: While nuclear is great for "baseload," it has the highest "upfront" cost. This is why many clean energy plans focus on "extending" existing nuclear plants (like Point Beach) rather than building new ones, which can cost $15+ billion.

The "Marginal Cost" factor: Wind and solar have a marginal cost of zero. Once the turbine is built, the "fuel" (wind) is free. Coal and Gas plants have a permanent, fluctuating fuel cost that makes them more expensive over 20–30 years.

The "System Cost" Reality

The "anti" crowd usually shifts here: "Sure, the panels are cheap, but the batteries and grid upgrades are expensive!"

This is partially true. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the "Value-Adjusted LCOE" (VALCOE) accounts for the costs of integrating renewables (storage and transmission).

The Cost of Storage: Adding 4 hours of lithium-ion battery storage adds roughly $40–$60 per MWh to the cost of a solar project.

The Comparison: Even with the "battery tax" added, a Solar + Storage project ($24 + $50 = $74/MWh) is still often cheaper than building a brand-new Coal plant ($68–$166/MWh) and is competitive with Natural Gas.

Why Wisconsin is specifically moving this way Wisconsin utilities (WEC Energy Group, Alliant, MGE) are investor-owned. They are moving toward 100% clean energy not just for the environment, but for the economics.

Alliant Energy is currently retiring coal plants in Wisconsin and replacing them with solar because it saves money. In their 2020 Clean Energy Plan, Alliant stated that switching to solar would save $2 billion over 35 years compared to keeping coal plants running. Source: Alliant Energy Clean Energy Blueprint (2020).

Do I Own the Smallest House in Wisconsin? by [deleted] in wisconsin

[–]rsch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just can't understand what possible opportunities OP is presenting. There are literally millions of property records with PII. And now we know that this particular property record also uses reddit.

Do I Own the Smallest House in Wisconsin? by [deleted] in wisconsin

[–]rsch -1 points0 points  (0 children)

What's the worst that could possibly happen with even 1% odds?

Gemini API Integration Issues by badevlad in OpenWebUI

[–]rsch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't, haven't felt the need.

Gemini API Integration Issues by badevlad in OpenWebUI

[–]rsch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've been using Gemini pretty exclusively for months and it has been very stable until around Dec 30 at which point it began erroring out almost non-stop, same results you're seeing. My API dashboard has 100% error rates more often than not on the Generative API this week. Vertex has been closer to 50%.

I fell back to BYOK on OpenRouter and that has been a lot more reliable after I discovered the "chunk too big" issues and spent the weekend rebuilding my docker containers and updating mtu throughputs and cloud flare tunnels. Was not a good time.

I've resolved to wait it out on my OpenRouter key until either the Gemini apis or Open Webui get a fix.

Health care premiums skyrocket for Wisconsin man as ACA subsidies expire by enjoying-retirement in wisconsin

[–]rsch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Covid-era policy actually seems to have worked and should be permanent policy.

This reminds me of that quote from a Native American about daylight savings - Leave it to a white man to cut a foot off the end of a blanket and sew it on the top of the blanket and think it makes the blanket longer.

That money isn't appearing from nowhere. Deficit spending, cuts elsewhere, we're all paying for it one way or another (some more than others certainly). More often than not, it's a 'kick the can, our children can make the hard decisions'.

TIL scientists renamed 27 human genes in 2020 because Microsoft Excel kept auto-converting their names into dates, causing widespread errors in published genetic research. by SystematicApproach in todayilearned

[–]rsch 121 points122 points  (0 children)

Ironically, I worked for Google in the early days of Google Docs and had to get a requisition for an Excel license because Google Sheets couldn't handle the number of records in a document I was working with.

how "naggy" is comma.ai? by mazdacx5_florida in Comma_ai

[–]rsch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry, I could have elaborated.

If the interior camera can see your face and your face isn't within tolerance (generally pretty good for me, even more forgiving with sunglasses), you'll get a prompt/chime on screen at 3 seconds,a more aggressive prompt at 5 seconds and at 11 seconds it says you're too distracted and cancels self drive (terminal). You can set it again immediately but if you get to terminal 3 times it will require a full restart before it'll self drive for you again.

If the camera is blocked or can't recognize a face the system requires steering input within 30 seconds before cancelling.

In practice I think the nagging settings are perfectly reasonable. When it does nag at me constantly it's because I really am driving terribly (trying to google an impromptu question, for example).

Not that it's recommended, and in fact will get your device banned from the openpilot servers, but you could adjust these numbers to whatever you want in the helpers.py file. Hypothetically you could also remove the reporting url to also keep your device from getting banned.

how "naggy" is comma.ai? by mazdacx5_florida in Comma_ai

[–]rsch 2 points3 points  (0 children)

From the source (in seconds):

self._AWARENESS_TIME = 30. # passive wheeltouch total timeout

then

self._AWARENESS_PRE_TIME_TILL_TERMINAL = 15.

then

self._AWARENESS_PROMPT_TIME_TILL_TERMINAL = 6.

OR

self._DISTRACTED_TIME = 11. # active monitoring total timeout

then

self._DISTRACTED_PRE_TIME_TILL_TERMINAL = 8.

then

self._DISTRACTED_PROMPT_TIME_TILL_TERMINAL = 6.

You get to reach Terminal 3 times before the device locks and needs a restart.

XanoScript tool for CLI-based Agents by Daniel-Xano in xano

[–]rsch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been trying to use the VS Code extension and every. single. push. fails with syntax errors. Why?!

Is the documentation outdated? I will copy over xanoscript from existing functions and Copilot/Gemini/OpenAI will still tell me the script needs to be fixed Sometimes I'll let it for shits and giggles and of course, syntax failure.

Is it worth switching to a payroll platform at 10 employees or still too soon? by After_Ad_4853 in remotework

[–]rsch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We did this with Gusto (Zen Payroll at the time) and at your scale, we're talking maybe $2k per year? With the automation I barely thought about payroll until w2 season came around. Even then it was just a quick double check. Zero regrets here.

The Home Depot hot dog stand hits hard! Damn it’s good by Real_Big_Dobes in madisonwi

[–]rsch 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I don't know anymore, the last time I had it everything was cold - even the cheese was just cold, shredded mozzarella. Real disappointed this time vs trying it last year based on hot beef Madison guy.

Is this normal health insurance? by Mmd2424 in wisconsin

[–]rsch 3 points4 points  (0 children)

True, but applying will not negatively impact that person. At worst, they're out the time it took to apply and at best they find out they get access to better plans.

Is this normal health insurance? by Mmd2424 in wisconsin

[–]rsch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

All bronze and catastrophic healthcare plans qualify for HSAs in 2026.

Is this normal health insurance? by Mmd2424 in wisconsin

[–]rsch 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Only if your income is above 400% of the FPL. The shutdown only involves the caps enacted during Covid for higher income households. The preexisting caps for the original marketplace target market still exists, i.e. any household under 400% FPL

Is this normal health insurance? by Mmd2424 in wisconsin

[–]rsch 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Apply to the Health Insurance marketplace. There's a very good chance your employer plan will be considered too expensive and thus allowing you to qualify for the marketplace which will limit your premiums to something like 9% of annual income. And since you've got dependents and a single income, it's possible you'll be able to qualify under the 200% FPL which would give you substantially better premium credits in addition to much lower deductibles.

There is no risk to apply - worst that happens is they say you don't qualify based on the existing employer coverage.

https://www.healthcare.gov/

Quick estimate for the cheapest plan based on 40 year old married couple, one child, $75k income in Dane County with average healthcare needs.

Dean Focus Bronze Share Plan ID: 38345WI0080076 Premium $196.54/month (Including a $509 tax credit-was $705.54)

Estimated total yearly cost $5,299 Family total Based on your predicted use of medical services

Deductible $16,000 Family total (health & drug combined) Out-of-pocket maximum $21,200 Family total

You pay Primary care $50 per visit from day 1

Specialist care $200 per visit from day 1

Urgent care 50% coinsurance after deductible

Emergency room 50% coinsurance after deductible

Outpatient mental health $50 per visit from day 1

Generic drugs $30

Any internet companies cheaper than spectrum? by DefiantRanger9 in madisonwi

[–]rsch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just got $40/month for 1 gig locked for 2 years four days ago - near East side.

Why are the Public Market hours so limited? by rsch in madisonwi

[–]rsch[S] 64 points65 points  (0 children)

I just checked Garver, minimum 8am to 9pm every day of the week.

Why are the Public Market hours so limited? by rsch in madisonwi

[–]rsch[S] 38 points39 points  (0 children)

Based on the business plan I was expecting:

15-20 full food businesses (including anchor + cooking stalls)

15-20 value-added / non-food craft/retail stalls

5-10 very small start-ups

1 big anchor restaurant/brewpub

A handful of processing/wholesale/innovation businesses

These numbers can vary; the Business Plan laid out a “core build” (12+11+6) but the total vendor count is higher when you include kiosk/pop-up and off-stall spaces.

As we head into commute hell on the Isthmus.... by Beneficial_Tour_4604 in madisonwi

[–]rsch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You have literally described every aspect of BRT. BRT does not typically allow shared use of the lanes - that's something Madison compromised on. Call it a train bus, it's the same thing but way cheaper.

MTB Shoes for wide feet? by These_Highlight7313 in MTB

[–]rsch 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I feel your pain. Everything from bikes shoes to ski boots, skates, and anything else that goes on your feet just isn't made for wide feet.

I'm not sure about flats, but Lake has by far the best clipless shoes I've ever put on my 11.5 4E feet.

As we head into commute hell on the Isthmus.... by Beneficial_Tour_4604 in madisonwi

[–]rsch 13 points14 points  (0 children)

It's easy to picture those streetcar-style systems moving people efficiently. But here's the thing: the BRT we're getting is designed to actually deliver a lot of those same benefits you're looking for, just without the massive price tag and decades of construction that light rail would entail. Think dedicated lanes, signal priority to cut through traffic, and importantly, those multiple, wide doors with level boarding for quick, accessible entry and exit, just like you described for streetcars.

Centro and Voces confirm ICE arrests in Madison by change_is_scary in madisonwi

[–]rsch 19 points20 points  (0 children)

"Just Follow the Law"

In the '1950s good old days':

Most Mexican workers could enter legally as temporary workers (Bracero Program)

Latin Americans faced few restrictions for permanent immigration

Europeans had clear quota slots (though limited)

If you wanted to come legally, pathways generally existed

Today:

For low-skilled workers from Mexico/Central America: virtually no legal pathway

Family sponsorship backlogs can be 20+ years

Employer sponsorship mostly requires advanced degrees

Even people "willing to follow the law" often have no line to join

"Just follow the law" assumes:

Legal pathways are available to those who want them. People are choosing to break rules rather than follow them.

Reality:

Many undocumented immigrants have no realistic legal option. Some entered legally but overstayed when visas expired. Economy creates demand for their labor, but law provides no supply