It was a few years back, but after it hit ChromeOS EOL I’m pretty sure it just got some KDE distro; I don’t think I even used LXDE. Didn’t need to do much.

I was mostly using it for web browsing, forums, spreadsheets, documentation etc. Nothing particularly strenuous.

I did have one really fun time of modifying PDF engineering drawings by opening them in Libre Office Draw which it handled kinda OK.

It did get a 240GB SSD but everything else was soldered.

I got a surprising amount of use out of a similarly configured C720 as a general purpose portable machine.

Essentially no processors follow a standard. There are some that have become a de facto standard and had both backwards compatibility and clones produced like x86. But it is certainly not an open standard, and many lawsuits have been filed to limit the ability of other companies to produce compatible replacement chips.

RISC-V is an attempt to make an open instruction set that any manufacturer can make a compatible chip for, and any software developer can code for.

I’ve certainly never heard of a chicken ranch, but plenty of chicken farms.

With software that misuses /tmp, I’m more worried about burning out my SSD endurance than running out of RAM.

The screen turning off when it automatically locks is an added bonus; the priority is to be able to command the system to simultaneously lock and turn off the screen. You’re correct that the setting at zero seconds safely achieves that.

I’ve had other, more stupid uses for running commands, though I don’t think any are actively in use.

Taking actions on network reconfiguration, charge completion, and SMART failure are all things that spring to mind. It’s nice to be able to set those kinds of things in a GUI rather than putting them in /etc/something.d

What I want is not (just) that the screen turns off when the lock timer times out, but that I can push ‘lock’ or a key combination and have the system lock and the screen turn off immediately.

The new ‘when locked, turn off screen’ setting should help with this, but setting it too low will presumably make it hard to unlock.

For running backups, ‘after a period of inactivity’ could help.

It still seems like the removal of a useful feature.

I use it for turning off the screen when the screen is locked, allowing background tasks to continue.

It’s also useful to run things like backups when the system is more likely to be idle.

Swifts and Mirages can be under 900kg.

Boeing and Microsoft: same shit, different cloud.

Yeah, YT’s current anti-adblock crusade means you need a proper ad blocker built into the browser or a third party client.

There are AdBlock options for Android that can work on apps. Generally you need to route all internet traffic via the AdBlock app which requires root, a faux-VPN, or a PiHole type solution.

It can usually only do host-level blocking but that’s generally enough.

There’s been various desktop-grade plans regarding use of nuclear rockets, both in the atmosphere and not. Never underestimate what engineers can come up with.

I think what they were trying to argue is that the mercury emitted would be no worse than the mercury already emitted as a byproduct of power plants.

Most rocket operators/manufacturers run on razor thin margins or at a loss, sustained by state subsidies or wishful venture capitalists.

It appears that the door design is unchanged from the previous generation.

The problem is not with any specific part of the design or any model of plane. Grounding the Max again will not help past fixing this specific fault.

It is the fundamental corporate culture. The same poor QA, both in design and production, affects all current Boeing aircraft.

It’s not clear, but I think they were referring to the version 1 Pi - the newer ones are much much much faster.

They’re on sale here in NZ and seem pretty popular.

Being an SUV, it’ll weigh 50% more than necessary. That outweighs almost any other sustainability considerations.

In user manuals, legal documents and communications with federal regulators, Tesla has acknowledged that Autosteer, Autopilot’s key feature, is “intended for use on controlled-access highways” with “a center divider, clear lane markings, and no cross traffic.” Tesla advises drivers that the technology can also falter on roads if there are hills or sharp curves, according to its user manual. Even though the company has the technical ability to limit Autopilot’s availability by geography, it has taken few definitive steps to restrict use of the software.

Tesla told NTSB that design limits for Autopilot would not be appropriate because “the driver determines the acceptable operating environment.”

He said Tesla could easily limit where the technology can be deployed. “The Tesla knows where it is. It has navigation. It knows if it’s on an interstate or an area where the technology wasn’t designed to be used,” he said. “If it wasn’t designed to be used there, then why can you use it there?”

In a sworn deposition last year first detailed by Reuters and obtained by The Post, Tesla’s head of Autopilot, Ashok Elluswamy, said he was unaware of any document describing limitations on where and under what conditions the feature could operate. He said he was aware of some activation conditions for Autopilot, including the presence of lane lines, and that it is safe for “anyone who is using the system appropriately.”

Tesla’s commitment to driver independence and responsibility is different from some competitors, whose driver-assistance technologies are loaded with high-definition maps with rigorous levels of detail that can tip vehicles off to potential roadway hazards and obstructions. Some manufacturers, including Ford and General Motors, also only allow the technology to work on compatible roadways that have been meticulously mapped.

Over the years, NTSB has repeatedly called on NHTSA to rein in Autopilot. It also has urged the company to act, but Homendy said Tesla has been uniquely difficult to deal with when it comes to safety recommendations. Tesla CEO Elon Musk once hung up on former NTSB chair Robert Sumwalt, said the former chief, who retired from the agency in 2021 when Homendy took over.

https://web.archive.org/web/20231210125240/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/12/10/tesla-autopilot-crash/

That is an impressive amount of hyperbole for a post.

Fibre optics can be used to measure a remarkable number of properties.

The electrical transmission industry makes significant use of fibreoptic current sensors, and distributed fibreoptic temperature sensors.

The latter is particularly useful as you can measure the temperature at any point along the fibre’s length, allowing you to detect hot-spots in cables.

Cicadas are pretty loud; I’m sure you can pick up much quieter things with a fibreoptic microphone.