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Not as much time indeed, in December where I live sundown is at 1630.

Just throwing in my anecdata, used to be a late riser (often after ten), had a kid and now I wake up a bit after six. Sleeping in is after eight. I just have to get up when he does.

If I had to guess, I'd wonder if school conventionally starts early because pre-teens are up early.

st26on Let Teenagers Sleep In

something is horrifically wrong with your urban planning

Ok, agreed. Now what?

But seriously, this is the state of affairs for much of the country.

st26on Self-Driving Cars Can Handle Neither Rain nor Sleet nor Snow

Well, eventually, when that computer has sophisticated software and all the appropriate sensors. An array of optical sensors that you ignore anyway won't really cut it.

st26on Multiple gas explosions and fires in Massachusetts

That's the thing, I've never lived somewhere that gets to -6 and also runs a real chance of multi day power outages.

I'm sure it's a different story in some parts of the world, of course.

st26on Multiple gas explosions and fires in Massachusetts

Personally I suspect a lot of the diehard adherents to gas cooking haven't had a chance to cook with a modern glass top resistance or induction stove. IMO the difference has shrunk dramatically.

Water heaters too, electrics have improved and the operating cost difference is really not that big. Electric water heaters might also be extremely valuable for demand response.

When it comes to space heating in cold climates though, I don't really know what replaces natural gas. Probably air source heat pumps, but they are still maturing.

st26on Is California a Good Role Model?

It sounds like the name of a B action movie.

st26on Preventing Muscle Loss as We Age

The various negative health outcomes we're seeing with refined &/or simple carbohydrates.

st26on Preventing Muscle Loss as We Age

It's really more like a balance narrative. Hit reasonable ratios of protein, fats, and carbs.

High protein, low fat, low carb, low protein, high carb, high fat- collectively we've tried them all through one fad or another.

Currently IMO we're in a blowback period where we are seeing high carb is not panning out and many people are still afraid of fat, so protein is the next savior in line.

st26on Preventing Muscle Loss as We Age

IMO while protein is needed for muscle building, recommendations like 3.3g/kg (I've even seen recommendations of 4.4g/kg) come from a "more is always better" mentality, along with a pop culture obsession with protein.

Personally, a simple flat 100g seems both a reasonable & attainable goal for most regular people building muscle without requiring exceptional diets (here I fall back on naturalism- I cannot believe that exceptional diets are required to get fit). You can easily hit that number with 1/4-1/3lb of meat a day plus whole grains and vegetables.

st26on Scientists warn of potential serious health effects of 5G (2017) [pdf]

It's known in the ham community that pine needles diminish the range of UHF radios, so it fits with pre-existing knowledge.

Reportedly needles are about the same length as a UHF antenna, and so they tend to absorb the radiation.

5G is, I believe, somewhere in the UHF spectrum.

st26on Microsoft intercepting Firefox, Chrome installation on Windows 10 Insider build

I don't know what the proper term is, but there's a certain trust of necessity at play. You have to pick some OS vendor to trust, or at least trust more than the others, because you need an OS.

st26on Preventing Muscle Loss as We Age

1.5g/lb (3.3g/kg) is considered by many in the weight training communities to be way overkill, and potentially hard on your kidneys.

st26on Decentralisation: the next big step for the world wide web

You have to pay for bandwidth, CDNs, storage, app servers, DB servers, etc etc.

Decentralized serving has just as much bandwidth, storage, and iron (if not more). Does it somehow make those resources cheaper?

st26on To Restore Civil Society, Start with the Library

Yes, it's a little bit different than a regular co-op, but:

1) it's paid for mostly by your local government, not the federal government, so there's some self-determination.

2) You can get your books there, but you don't have to get your books there, and you can still have your own collection.

st26on To Restore Civil Society, Start with the Library

It's the co-op model, which USA generally has no problems with as long as it's elective, e.g. you aren't forced to depend on it.

st26on Local News Is Dying, Taking Small Town America With It

Personally I feel like I would happily pay small amounts for news, but nobody has figured out how to frictionlessly pay $0.00004 to read a news article I'm interested in.

We're stuck right now with only two models, $15-30/mo subscriptions subsidizing hordes of non-payers, or ads.

st26on Local News Is Dying, Taking Small Town America With It

In my area, Facebook authenticated commenters conducted themselves poorly as ever and comments were permanently switched off.

st26on Local News Is Dying, Taking Small Town America With It

I see it as more like, the defenders of public broadcasting are infuriated that public radio ($4M) is put on the chopping block and the DoD ($600B) is to be increased.

It's not that cuts to public radio is unthinkable, but when someone proposed they will fix the federal budget by cutting NPR (0.0001% of the budget) they are looking for a fight, not really trying to solve the problem.

st26on How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

Generally, vegetables are more expensive than grains and more perishable.

st26on How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

There's a family business exception.

st26on How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

My parents bought a car for me to drive back when I was a teen. It cost $900, not $25,000.

st26on Google wants websites to adopt AMP as the default for building webpages

They can, but don't get credit for it in Google's page rank. Which to me makes the whole complaint sound dishonest. They want to have their cake and eat it too.

st26on The 20-Hour Flight Is Coming, and It May Have a Gym and Bunks

What a useless reply. Your parent is IMO accurate. The consumer is not actually valuing price above everything else; the consumer does not have all the information on how comfortable this or that flight is, and we all know markets only work optimally when the buyer has all the information.

Basically the market for airline flights is not a well functioning transparent market, so you cannot say "aha, the consumer preference is obviously the cheapest ticket at all costs".

Personally I would happily pay a little more for more legroom, but have found no good reliable way to find those tickets.

st26on The 20-Hour Flight Is Coming, and It May Have a Gym and Bunks

That sucks man. I'm 6'2", my knees almost hit. When I first sat in the new thin seats, I extended my leg straight down the aisle. My foot reached well in front of the seat pan ahead of me. It was crushing to see that visual evidence of just how tight it was.

The worst part for me is my shins are long enough my knees & thighs are elevated off the seat, causing the blood to pool. I have wondered if economy plus allows enough leg extension to alleviate that problem.

st26on California Moves to Require 100% Clean Electricity by 2045

Ok, perhaps it's not exceptionally old. But the point is, while the codes are pretty good now, much of the stock was built decades ago, long before the energy efficiency codes tightened up. When many of the houses in Silicon Valley were put up, attic insulation wasn't even used, period.

st26on California Moves to Require 100% Clean Electricity by 2045

You underestimate how much efficiency we've gained. Have you looked up what old fridges used to use? Or compared a 56% AFUE furnace against a 96% unit? Trucks used to get like 6-8mpg, now some get 30mpg.

st26on California Moves to Require 100% Clean Electricity by 2045

The 1.2TSI is presumably designed to replace a naturally aspirated 1.6L or 2.0L, not to compete with the 1.0L.

st26on California Moves to Require 100% Clean Electricity by 2045

IMO California suffers from pride/nationalism on a state level. I grew up there, and everybody took it for granted we were the best at the environment. The most efficient, the most conservation minded, the works. But I left ten years ago and as I travel the states, I realize CA is not always the best. Not even most of the time. But due to this mindset, CA is never challenged to up their game by the good work other states do.

st26on California Moves to Require 100% Clean Electricity by 2045

What do you like about large cars? The ability to haul cargo? The style? Are you problematically tall?