SeeingRed

Profit over functionality aside, one thing that can make Google slightly more tolerable is to switch it into "web search" mode. This strips away all the AI crap, sponsored links, etc. apparently there are ways you can set it to be the default. I find I use Google less and less anyway, but it's a good option when the first page is useless garbage.

The number of times the Google AI summary has either outright lied or given me some horrible hallucinated approximation of an answer is disgusting. Asking it anything remotely complicated, technical, or uncommonly searched gives the most egregious results. It's to the point that I question anything it says, which means it's truely useless. At best, I read a few lines, see if the information seems relevant, then I click on its source links, often to find that the information stated just isn't at those links.

I appreciate the line that states most of their business is not affected because Europe and the middle east still buy a lot of stuff. America realizing they don't matter anymore is fun to watch.

I'm in a similar boat. I ended up getting rid of my car and a bunch of other expenses that were not bringing me joy and were a drain on me. As a result, I've been able to save a lot as a bulwark against the need to constantly perform. It doesn't help though, because I still need to go to a place I don't want to be for too many hours per day. It's not like I could survive indefinitely if I stop working.

It really is like this. I have a friend who's family grew up in the Soviet Union, and left during the collapse (he was born after). He is vehemently against Communism, but he's also strongly against capitalism. It's a bit frustrating to talk with him because he'll agree with me right up until I start to talk strategy or historical context around the Soviet Union.

I always find it silly how humanoid robots almost never turn in a way that looks easy. They do a small shuffle and it takes multiple steps to turn 90 degrees.

I guessing that it's not a trivial problem to solve. Or maybe there are hardware limitations that don't allow human like movements. Like, maybe the hip and leg sockets are not able to make certain motions. Otherwise, it's something that could easily be solved through reinforcement learning. Maybe it's just never been a priority either.

I know that from an economic perspective, having a robot that can do a human task slowly but for less than it takes to hire a human for a proportional amount of time makes sense. And if we want to reduce mundane human working hours under socialism, it makes sense to build these sorts of robots. Especially as their abilities increase (more dexterity, better sensors, better software, etc.). Right now they feel super gimicky, but I can see the potential.

That bit at the end where the one bot charged the other bot was kind of cute.

Truly aspirational!

Hope you have a nice week as well!

From what I've seen, the electric cost is actually only a small component, the building, specialized hardware, maintenance and labour make up the majority of the bill for most vertical farming operations.

Further, it's a matter of how much energy density you need within a given volume compared to the available roof surface. Most plants don't need full sun, but you might only be able to supply 2-4 times the roof area as internal grow area (when accounting for efficiency losses and the needs of the plants). You would need to provide the majority of the grow area with LED lights anyway. So it might not be worth the resources/labour costs. Though it might be a good supplemental supply of photons.

~~The only real use case I can see for vertical farming is providing fresh produce nearer to urban centres, or if there is an acute shortage of land, otherwise passive greenhouses (with supplemental lighting and heating if needed) are generally a better use of resources. Specialized produce is another use case, but it seems that we need a lot more research to make it a viable option at scale.~~

A question of where the energy comes from is also important, solar panels in a desert/on roof tops is good, but if they replace a farm field it's pointless. Wind, nuclear, hydro are good options.

I'm definitely curious to see how the field grows within the context of China and socialism more broadly. Many of the constraints in current implementations are only important when the only consideration is profit.

Edit: read the article, they have some really interesting use cases in their facility beyond what I could imagine.

Depends on how your local roads/side walks/pathways are maintained. If the snow is cleared, e bikes work just fine, but your range will be hurt a bit. A bad headwind will also mean your range goes down a lot (wind seems worse in the winter where I am, but that could be some sort of confirmation bias). The times I've biked through Blizzard conditions/extreme wind and cold I was very glad to have the e assist on the bike. Those days are rare though, and the primary consideration in my mind is how well things are maintained the rest of the year.

That being said, a path that hasn't been cleared in days is basically unusable for any bike. Maybe a fat-tire bike could work, but I don't have experience with that.

In terms of space, I use my bike all the time so I've made space for it in my apartment.

Maybe is should ask, what type of ebike are you looking to get? There is quite a range of types. Mine is basically just a normal bike with a motor assist.

I really dislike ads, so usually I have them blocked, but not all my devices have it done yet. Usually it's just capital trying to get me to buy things so I just scroll past, but just over the weekend it was scary how quickly ads relating to Iran's retaliatiatory action started popping up with the obvious slant you would expect in the west. There seems to be a concerted effort to start beating war drums... This is not including the horrific ads I've seen coming from Zionists over the last half year with blatantly genocidal language. I even reported those ads and nothing came of it of course.

I guess to sum up: ads can and are used as political tools to shape ideology. Yet another reason to get everyone you know on an ad blocker.

So 6 years to project start. Then just a few more years for completion. All in we are looking to a decade out for project completion +/- a few years.

Meanwhile, in Canada they can't even get a timeline or funding for a single line on the most obvious corridor. And the second most obvious corridor has no timelines, and is only a study of feasibility at this time.

I think more important than co-op organizational structure would be a question of work place democracy. Are the workers given say over how their work is undertaken, do they have power over decisions? Ultimately under capitalism we are limited by the need to make enough profit to reproduce the business. The form that business takes when given those constraints can only be on some level exploitative.

The best you can do as an owner or part owner in the case of coops is to listen to your employees needs and compensate them as much as possible given the constraints of the budget.

The problem, as always, with capitalism is that exploitation goes into overdrive when the goal is to make a profit above the cost of production (including labour inputs) and this there is pressure to keep wages down and force longer hours.

If we had an unbiased look at his employees perspective and the finances, we could judge if he is engaging in profit making, or just earning enough to keep the lights on and to keep product moving. We can only take him at his word at this point.

Are there issues with this format, probably, but in the final analysis, will another pro communism propagandist be beneficial for the cause?