simonsquiff

Noise benefit isn’t marginal. Central London average speed is 7 to 10 mph (11 to 16 km/h) so engine noise is significant. There is lots of idling traffic: traffic lights, taxis at cab ranks, buses at bus stops, everyone in a jam - removal of idle noise is particularly significant.

100%, and not just due to no emissions / minimal break dust. The noise reduction is a massive dividend. I used to live in london 10+ years ago, and when I come back I’m stunned by the noise difference, it really is so much quieter especially in central london. EVs everywhere especially replacing the horribly noisy diesel black cabs and buses. Very noticeably different and much more pleasant, and improving all the time as EV adoption continues to accelerate, hooray

The same number of people, but on the way up and growing, compared to on the way down and shrinking, is very different.

It’s only x4 more expensive to use electricity with old methods like immersion / resistance heaters

Heat pumps are 400% efficient or more, so have parity or better with gas prices

I had my first at 42, second at 45, and about to have my third at 48. Honestly it’s been fine - thinking that people might find this unimaginable is so far from my reality. It really feels like I’ve had the same experience as those in their 30s.

Part of this might be that 40s life is a bit more chill anyhow - I no longer go and get smashed every weekend, or even have the FOMO that I’m not doing that. And work life, whilst more junior, was ultimately more extreme in my 20s and 30s. So any physical drop is probably balanced by a slight drop in general burning the candle at both ends. But yeah, don’t think 40s parenting is a no go. Go for it!

The iOS keyboard is buggy - correctly recording your stroke but supplanting with a different key.

There is no UK wealth tax - just your normal income / capital gains tax etc. Dont know what your 2% is meant to be referring to here.

If you don't use your solar, it is pushed to the grid (or batteries, if you have them), so really its about the collective solar that exists in the grid and not a house specific view. As solar rollout increases, the greenness of your EV increases even if you don't charge from your rooftop.

It’s undoubtly a brilliant show for parents - in fact I’d describe it as a show about parenting. But it’s much more than an adequate kids show, it’s certainly top tier for my kids. My 4 year old has been enormously influenced by Bluey, in a positive way. She’s very playful, and Bluey is all about fun and silly games. She wants to play all the Bluey games, and will riff off them too, it’s been a huge source of inspiration for lots of fun together. She loves the show, it’s definitely right up there for many kids too.

I also fully agree with the other posters saying how it’s an excellent model of top-tier fathering. It’s definitely helped me up my game, I’ve leaned much more into daddy-fun silly games, partly because Bluey gives you a bunch of games that you can copy (and your kids will understand), but also because it helps encourage spontaneity and improv. I think my best advice for dads with 3+ year olds is ‘watch Bluey’

Oh yes the music is amazing. ‘Rain’ is a particularly lovely original composition. The soundtracks are on Spotify etc and well worth a listen

Is it still a 60hz screen? If so, pass. I’ve got an old gen 1 pro, which has 120hz and can’t go back to 60hz - it’s even more needed in an iPad than a phone. All the other Pro features are not worth it for me, and really this mid tier should have 120hz. I’ll hold on to my current iPad until that’s that case (I can’t justify paying the high price for a new pro)

What’s sad about the Air is that it’s only a 60hz screen. I’m spoilt now with 120hz on the first gen iPad Pro, the iPad needs it even more than phones (and they need it). So I’m not a demanding user in all other ways but the Air is not satisfying to me, yet.

I got special acoustic double glazing for my flat. Each pane is a different thickness so they vibrate at different frequencies. Seems to make a decent difference over standard double glazing.

Yes I’ve been having the same thoughts - essentially ‘reincarnation without the woo’.

It starts with: why do you have a first person experience from the creature that is reading these words? Why are you not having a first person experience from the body of Elon Musk (maybe you are, hi Elon!) or a particular sparrow in the New Forest?

And then, when your body dies, does that mean no more first person experiences again for ‘you’? Or, will some other creature create a first person experience for ‘you’ again (for whatever reason this current creature is creating a first person experience for ‘you’?)

There is no need for a ‘woo’ part ie no memories are retained, no ‘new game+’, no element of karma. Just the concept that first person experiences may not end with death of this current creature.

If this is correct - and we perhaps we should act in a way that assumes it is - what would be the implications?

Many creatures have minimal agency over their experiences. Humans are different, not just with more agency of themselves but of others - at a minimal level of their family and pets and immediate connections, but wider too esp in more developed countries and moving up the influence and power in society.

If you were a cow, you would look at humans and saying ‘if I was one of those I could impact this shitty situation’. Well congratulations, you are! How do you, as a first world human, use that power to mean that if you do have a first person experience from another creature, that future experience is…not utterly horrific?

That idea if embraced ties all living things together. Selfishness disappears - you might literally be in anyones (or anything’s) shoes in the future, so do anything you can to not deliver horrible experiences to anything. It’s to your own benefit! But it’s also a bit of an info hazard - you don’t want to be born into an unpleasant experience, and the thought of that possibility is unsettling.

Black tea is what most of us kettle owning Brits drink, and apparently 100c is what you want. In fact it's a selling point of some boiling water taps that do true 100c rather than 98c of competitors

https://www.billi-uk.com/perfect-temperature-hot-cold-drinks...

It has a tank - you can get different sizes, mine is 4 litres (though usable is 3 I think).

Energy efficiency is about the same as a kettle - the tank is super insulated, and you only use what you need rather than boiling more in a kettle (and that then cooling down), that balances out the small tank losses. If you have solar it’s more friendly for that as it’s lower peak wattage so more likely to stay within your solar generation.

Boiling water tap. Amazing to make tea instantly without boiling the kettle, it’s also brilliant for cooking (boiling pasta or veg) and filling up hot water bottles. Amazing to have boiling water on tap (ha) cutting lots of time and no noisy kettle. Even free up worktop space by removing the kettle!

One tip - get some ovulation sticks. My wife and I never realised but the egg is actually only around for a single day - it must be fertilised in those 24 hours. If you have sex after that there is zero chance of conceiving, sperm can hang around so you can conceive with sex a few days before. But outside that really small window you are wasting your time. The actual accurate window is massive guess work - some women are not that regular with ovulation. Ovulation sticks tell you exactly what’s going on - tell you when ovulation is coming, so that’s when you have lots of sex. Before we used them we basically had sex loads (outside this window) which was worse than nothing as it makes you less likely to be going hard in the right window. First time we used the sticks she got pregnant immediately.

We had a friend who had been trying for 8 years to have a kid, told us she was just about giving up and thinking of adoption. We asked if she used the ovulation sticks - “what are they??” We gave her the rest of ours and a couple of months later she was pregnant, now has a baby. So yeah, these things don’t seem to be as well known as they should be, and can be a massive help.

As of January I’m moving to 50% of full time - generally 2.5 days a week, I expect there will be certain months where I do a couple of weeks in a row and little else rest of the month. After 20+ years working full time am incredibly excited about the change and what I can do with the extra space in my life. Due to how tax rates work I get about 58% of previous pay for 50% of the work.

I expect to deliver about 80% of the value I do today - by having a good excuse to jettison the low value stuff, feel more motivated and engaged in the time I do have, feel more refreshed with more mental energy

Time will show if that proves the case…

Hydrogen fuel cell generators are one option. Pretty exotic today, but this is the type of move that will help them become more mainstream

It does not. Raven altered the motor and suspension, battery is same as it ever was for MS (18650) M3 uses 27100, which is taller so can’t just be dropped into the current MS

Would love to know more. I recollect the Pure3D being by far the best V1 card. Because of this many gamers patiently waited for the Canopus version of the V2, expecting it to be a similarly significant leap up from the other OEM cards. IIRC it took ages to come out, and was barely different functionally (just smaller and with some kind of LED to indicate it was switched)? And people were pretty annoyed to have waited all that time not joining the V2 party :)

6% for realtors fees is outrageous! I had no idea it was anything like that in the US.

Here in the UK, it’s about 1.5%. That can often be haggled down to 1% if you have an expensive house that’s desirable enough to sell itself. And even that is getting majorly distributed by online agents, who are offering a flat fee service rather than % of property, which can be an enormous saving.

At 6% it seems a market with a huge amount of fat, just asking for a new player to come and disrupt

I stopped a bad nail biting habit.

Started by having a single nail that I wouldn't bite - all the others were fair game. You start becoming quite obsessed with that one, noticing how much better it looks than the others etc, and being proud of how that one is unbitten.

Then simply extend that to 2 nails etc

I rode one the other weekend in Prague with my girlfriend, and we agreed to ride it over the top together. Despite doing the same thing 20 years ago when last there, it’s pretty scary - on the last floor there is a big sign saying ‘get out now!!!’ in big red letters, and it is much noiser and shaky as you are close to all the machinery. We held on, proper dose of adrenaline, as the cabin is plunched into rattling darnkess, and the clanking gets even louder. You then get a bit of light and see the big exposed cog wheel and other machinery, move sideways and eventually down. It’s a major relief when you arrive at the top floor again. Great fun!

My guess is that I could still make work. But as mentioned I don't get home horribly late - 7:40 or so, so similar to those with a normal commute and a longer office day. And I work from home a day or two. So on balance I think it's workable even with children. I think I'd even appreciate the 'me time' more :) and the quality of life difference for them being by the sea and not in London would feel more valuable I think

If I had to work a longer office day or no working from home then of course that would be a very different picture.

I currently have a 2hr+ commute, one way (so 4hr+ a day) and surprisingly it's not a problem for me.

Key is that you have to embrace the commute and not fight it. But some important factors make it possible for me:

-it's by train, and the bulk of that (1hr 25) is a single train leg. It's far enough out that I'm guaranteed a seat every trip, and it's only really the final two stops where things fill up. Really it feels like my commute is the bit after that train.

- that train journey is great: it's quality 'me time'. I can do some work, I can surf the web, I can play some games. Previously, on a 30 min commute, I'd get home and need unwind time on the sofa doing the same - no longer necessary now

-home is properly amazing and a real escape. I live 2 mins walk from the sea and it's the opposite of London. Ie the destination feels worth it

-many others in my office have similar or worse commutes (2.5 hrs is common, and the CEO has this length), so culturally no-one bats an eyelid at leaving the office whenever

- I always leave the office at 5:20 to catch my train, and if I need to work I just do that on the train. So I'm never back particularly late

-when things are busy that extra quiet time on the train in each direction is a god-send and can be super productive

- I can walk to the station so no additional leg in the car, and hence no buffer needed for traffic etc. It basically feels like I'm still at a tube station just one further away

- I work from home 1 or 2 days a week

A few years ago I would have strongly said I'd never live a long commute away and always want a <30 min commute. I was wrong. With the right ingredients not just doable but weirdly enjoyable

I'm the same - Phenom II, upgraded to SSD and new graphics but that's it.

When you say this has your name written on it, are they socket compatible? The idea of changing motherboards/ memory etc isn't compelling - I'd just get a new system - but if you can drop these in then it's really tempting.

Mozilla says 'Enabled multi-process Firefox for Windows users with touch screens', however on my Dell XPS 13 it still says multiprocess windows are 'Disabled by accessibility tools' in about:support, which was the touch screen issue. Any ideas?

Oh you are in for a treat! Cat's Cradle is a great one to start with, easy to get into and an excellent balance of clever and funny. Mother Night is superb, gripping and profound.