Overzeetop

joined 1 year ago
[–] Overzeetop@kbin.social 50 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Republicans really hate democracy…

Even in States where they get ballot initiatives, the Republicans are always wanting to change the shit voters initiate and approve

[–] Overzeetop@kbin.social 4 points 11 months ago

Is their money not green?

[–] Overzeetop@kbin.social 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

maybe get a few of those potatoes up front

It's good to see such unbridled optimism in these dark times.

[–] Overzeetop@kbin.social 92 points 11 months ago (3 children)

If you call for a dick measuring contest, you don't let it be in public if you know you're going to lose.

[–] Overzeetop@kbin.social 3 points 11 months ago

From a technical perspective, this is why a colder than average winter will affect (air-source) electric heat pumps more than resistance or fuel sourced heat. As the outside temps go down, the efficiency decreases in a heat pump, so the curve is non-linear. For electric resistance and fuels, the outdoor temperature has a near zero effect, making the increase in cost linear.

Not that it matters too much. Electricity costs in most of the US are relatively stable whereas fuel costs can swing by a factor of five or more from year to year ($2/MMBTU to over $12/MMBTU in the last decade). Oil doesn't play much into heating anymore, but it can also swing by more than a factor of two (From a low of $2/gal to over $5/gal in the last decade). Electric, though, is up by 25% over the last decade (on average) and varies by less than a a couple percent from year to year, slowly increasing at around a 2% average rate.

[–] Overzeetop@kbin.social 1 points 11 months ago

Shut up and take my money!

[–] Overzeetop@kbin.social 5 points 11 months ago

It took me searching the blacks to notice. Where I play there's usually enough glare I wouldn't get good blacks if you swapped the LC layer for vantablack.

[–] Overzeetop@kbin.social 18 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Itemized invoice:

Fan $ 7
Design & overhead to incorporate fan into design $ 13
Value of increased performance, as judged by the accounting department $480

[–] Overzeetop@kbin.social 1 points 11 months ago

our teachers usually say “fanden være med det”

There's a lot of wisdom in that. ;-)

[–] Overzeetop@kbin.social 4 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Interesting that I learned 32.2 ft/s, but only 9.8 m/s - one less significant figure, but only a factor of two in precision (32.2 vs 32 = .6%; 9.81 vs 9.8 is only 0.1%). Here's the fun part - as a practicing engineer for three decades, both in aerospace and in industry, it's exceedingly rare that precision of 0.1% will lead to a better result. Now, people doing physics and high-accuracy detection based on physical parameters really do use that kind of precision and it matters. But for almost every physical object and mechanism in ordinary life, refining to better than 1% is almost always wasted effort.

Being off by 10/9.81x is usually less than the amount that non-modeled conditions will affect the design of a component. Thermal changes, bolt tensions, humidity, temperature, material imperfections, and input variance all conspire to invalidate my careful calculations. Finding the answer to 4 decimal places is nice, but being about to get an answer within 5% or so in your head, quickly, and on site where a solution is needed quickly makes you look like a genius.

[–] Overzeetop@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

CCRC buy-ins/contracts are for life. I used to design the buildings for them, I still do design work on existing facilities. I've also gone over a contract with my own parents. You essentially pay full price for a residential "unit" and as you require more care you are moved, without additional cost, into a higher care location. The owners than re-"sell" your previous unit to the next resident. When you die, there is no equity that your heirs will receive - in that way it's like a lease. The contract is for life with an annual escalation for maintenance and service.

[–] Overzeetop@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Okay - you lease a car that includes gasoline and all maintenance. The agreement is that you get to drive it until you die. You pay $80,000 up front for the car and $100/mo for the maintenance, which can increase per the lease. You go along for 4-5 years, and each year your maintenance increases, maybe to $130/mo today, because of the cost of gas and parts needed. You can leave at any time, but if you ever leave or die, you don't get to keep the car - it still technically belongs to the leaseholder. You forfeit the $80k.

Well, the company sold and the new owners can't find enough people with $80k lying around to buy in, so they decided they'll just change the model to include the cost o the car - and charge $650/mo for the service. You get a letter that at your next annual increase, the monthly fee is going to from $130 to $650 because they've changed what constitutes "maintenance" as part of their terms and conditions. You can either stay with the package and pay $650/mo or you can leave and have no money to go find a new car. Oh, and you have no job and are on a fixed income because you're 75 years old.

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