cipher_system (u/cipher_system)

cipher_system commented on Countries spend huge sums on fossil fuel subsidies – why they're so hard to end theconversation.com/count... · Posted by u/rntn

FirmwareBurner · 10 months ago

In Austria (and Germany too it think) the further away you drive to work, the more money the government gives you for fuel in your tax return. But WFH? No, that's not possible, we don't do that here, so every morning the highways are full of people subsidized by the state to spend their day in an office doing what they can do from home.

cipher_system · 10 months ago

I work with some germans and they work from home all the time.

On the plus side, the tax return of work commute by car increases labour supply and enables people to live further from the high density areas, not everyone can wfh.

With electric vehicles, maybe they are good enough even from an environmental perspective.

cipher_system commented on Apple Watch Series 10 apple.com/newsroom/2024/0... · Posted by u/latexr

wintermutestwin · a year ago

My Series 9 totally fails at sleep detection and regularly claims that I am in "Deep Sleep" while I am lying there trying to get back to sleep. Instead of fixing that, they are adding sleep apnea alerts. I wish there was an alternate ecosystem that was actually competitive with Apple.

cipher_system · a year ago

Check out The Quantified Scientists video Best Wearables for Sleep: Scientific Rankings.

He uses science test smart watches and Apple watches ranks at the top.

Maybe there are other brands that works better for you or maybe this is as good as it gets with just a watch and not a full sleep lab setup?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvqRLG0K4SQ

cipher_system commented on Leave car keys 'at front door' to avoid violent confrontations: Toronto Police toronto.citynews.ca/2024/... · Posted by u/bookofjoe

fardo · 2 years ago

I feel like some of the fault rests in car authentication tech being downright antiquated by having a “whoever has keys is driver” policy.

We wouldn’t accept, in any corporate environment, a computer system where the only form of authentication was a yubikey with no password, the fact that our cars essentially still work like this in 2024 is appalling.

cipher_system · 2 years ago

Always funny in movies and tv series when a stolen key card is enough to get in almost anywhere when a simple pin code would have made it impossible.

cipher_system commented on My 20 year career is technical debt or deprecated blog.visionarycto.com/p/m... · Posted by u/spo81rty

Hamuko · 3 years ago

Who are the people who belong to "I hate Java" and "I love Jira" sets? I'd love to see that Venn diagram.

cipher_system · 3 years ago

Do people who loves JIRA exist for real?

cipher_system commented on Vim-like “jump” cursor for Mac OS Window Management homerow.app... · Posted by u/pyinstallwoes

cipher_system · 3 years ago

Pretty cool app that could be useful. Works quite like Vimium in Chrome.

Only annoying thing is that you have to press shift to enter uppercase letters.

cipher_system commented on Why high speed rail hasn’t caught on caseyhandmer.wordpress.co... · Posted by u/gammarator

matkoniecz · 3 years ago

> Despite decades of development, only a handful of routes in Europe operate at anything like airplane-competitive speeds, which for all but the shortest routes, require > 300 km/h or > 185 mph.

Not really, given massive fixed cost at airplane terminal and airports being typically harder to get to than train station.

When I was flying this summer, I was asked to come to airport 150 minutes before planned departure.

200 km/h train would still be faster for distances of about 700 km.

And even for longer routes benefits of comfort, larger possible baggage, lower stress and so on would make it a clear winner.

cipher_system · 3 years ago

At least where I live, the 150 minutes before time is a side effect of Covid. A lot of airport staff were let go and restaffing with security clearances takes a while.

This summer was exceptional, it will go back to normal like 60 minutes for domestic travel and maybe 90 minutes for international travel.

Break even, time wise, here is around 500 km and then train is the better choice. But there are a lot of destinations that can only be served realistically by airplanes and that is not likely to change much during my life time.

cipher_system commented on Finland starts much-delayed nuclear plant, brings respite to power market reuters.com/world/europe/... · Posted by u/hhs

f_allwein · 4 years ago

> Accidents in nuclear power plants can have disastrous implications. As in the case if Chernobyl, large areas around the site remain unusable forever

What exactly about this do you not buy?

And what is your solution for storing nuclear waste safely for hundreds of thousands of years?

cipher_system · 4 years ago

You put the waste into containers and bury them deep into a geologically stable mine that you then seal shut.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onkalo_spent_nuclear_fuel_repo...

cipher_system commented on Finland starts much-delayed nuclear plant, brings respite to power market reuters.com/world/europe/... · Posted by u/hhs

epistasis · 4 years ago

> Apparently, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia can build at a third of the cost and time of that.

When did Japan last build a nuclear reactor? I don't think any time recently.

South Korea used to be touted as a success at construction without massive overruns, but it turns out that it was largely a result or corruption and skimping on safety inspections:

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/s-korea-jails-nuclear-work...

As for China and Russia, we don't really have much insight to what they are doing as far as safety. China is seems to be successful at large scale construction projects in a way that we can not replicate in the west, so perhaps their numbers are reasonable for construction costs.

> If nuclear energy should be considered, much more must be built more continuously.

We would need entirely new designs unlike what has been built in the past. Both France and the US have negative learning rates when building the same reactor design multiple times, and that was 50 years ago when construction was a much more effective part of our economies.

I do not believe that nuclear is a smart energy source to pursue given our modern production capabilities. There's a bevy of nuclear startups trying smaller reactors that might be able to constrain construction costs. But in the past these designs have been rejected because of the loss of economy of scale, as being too expensive per watt.

Of the potential carbon neutral energy sources of the future, nuclear is one of the e least practical. It may supply a tiny fraction of our future power, maybe 10%, but without a major revolution soon on construction, our aging reactors will be shut down at end of life without any way to build more of them.

cipher_system · 4 years ago

Last one was connected in 2009 which isn't that recent but there are also not that many projects of this size. China and Russia might not be the most thrustworthy and I would rather see more more western examples but then we have to go back a couple of decades, most of which were excellent.

I agree that a gigantic shift is required and put my hopes into mass produced SMRs. It's gonna take time and money, yes, just like the shift to EVs and renewables.

Fossil fuels is still above 80% of global primary energy, nuclear 5% and renewables excluding hydro 2%.

I really don't think putting all eggs in the solar/wind basket is good. They should of course also get heavy investments but that doesn't have to exclude nuclear. We're gonna need everything we have to end the fossil era.

cipher_system commented on Finland starts much-delayed nuclear plant, brings respite to power market reuters.com/world/europe/... · Posted by u/hhs

londons_explore · 4 years ago

* Plants are very expensive to build. Due to massive upfront costs, it cannot beat wind/solar today unless you use very unusual financial models. (ie. assume interest rates are zero for 50 years). If nuclear plants were built more frequently, cost would come down a lot - it turns out making everything bespoke is hugely expensive.

* Lots of public opposition due to the public being scared of nuclear waste, nuclear accidents, etc. The public far prefers taking on invisible risk (like the lung cancer risk from coal/oil/gas emissions) than the huge event risk of a nuclear meltdown, even if the overall harm to human lives is higher.

cipher_system · 4 years ago

Keep in mind that Finland is on the same latitudes as Alaska so solar doesn't work that great when needed the most.

cipher_system commented on Finland starts much-delayed nuclear plant, brings respite to power market reuters.com/world/europe/... · Posted by u/hhs

krono · 4 years ago

    > Apparently, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia can build at a third of the cost and time of that.

Any insight into the why?

cipher_system · 4 years ago

I read a report on that a while back, can't find it now but these are the highlights I remember:

* The overall design must be done before construction starts, also no room for regulatory changes. Waterfall is better than Agile for nuclear.

* Experienced project management, work force and supply chain.

* Build many reactors on the same site and don't use a new reactor design.

* Work force is overall cheaper and possibly also more productive in Asia.

More or less the same as for everything else, the more you do it the better and cheaper it gets but it requires a lot of upfront costs.