That's US$1.42 per litre for those who don't do gallons.

(still cheap — it's more than double that where I am)

yea but we have a $1 trillion dollars defense budget which is supposed to defend against high diesel prices :)

The US defence/war budget could be paid entirely out of gasoline and diesel taxes:

$962 billion / 186 billion gallons = $5.17 per gallon ($1.37 per L)

which would double the price, but still pretty cheap

If we were to price in all the externalities of fossil fuels into the retail price it would be a lot more expensive. It's still way too cheap.

"Make war and taxes, not energy" - the new "conservative" hippies or something.

Or, in this case, cause high diesel prices. It's a... I guess that'd make it a lose/lose, wouldn't it?

I'm curious about how much bigger the video is than the actual canyon.mid file.

The Guppy is very ugly, but I think the Optica is quite nice — the large duct is a bit ugly, but the rest of it has good lines

I also like the Optica! It somehow has a lot of space vibes from Freelancer and FireFly. Shame of the large toy like duct indeed. But I suspect it works!

I disagree. Driving a small dish antenna only requires a couple of small electric motors. The receivers would be more expensive, and require more power, but they would still be affordable enough.

They would break more often. This was a key limitation of LEO systems prior to Starlink.

but what about the interruption when the satellite crosses over the horizon? you would then need a 2nd antenna that was ready to take over, or tolerate several seconds of lost signal.

JFC — go easy on the ads man. Way too many.

You can remove the sticky vulcanised coating by rubbing will isopropanol or acetone. It's a bit of work, but beats throwing a working device out.

Yeah but then you're left with a hard plastic surface. Have you ever successfully re-coated?

No, I've just left it smooth. You can buy spray-on rubber paint that would probably work though.

> real time is impossible without wired

Surely you can do real-time with analog RF?

You don't need to outlaw parties, just remove any privileges and powers they have.

AKA sortition:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition

“Only those who do not seek power are qualified to hold it.”

― Plato

Some people selected randomly might also be underqualified.

Some people who actively seek positions of power are terribly unqualified or have other discommending properties, as well. This does not seem too great an impediment to their success.

> Government minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said the change put an end to “an archaic and undemocratic principle.”

> “Our parliament should always be a place where talents are recognized and merit counts,” he said. “It should never be a gallery of old boys’ networks, nor a place where titles, many of which were handed out centuries ago, hold power over the will of the people.”

Really? About time they got rid of the monarchy then also.