@JourneymanGeek I wonder how much thermal constraints has to do with the start-up time for the grid. What's the fastest that you can go on cold equipment.
@JourneymanGeek that too. I'm finding it hard to reason about the grid. It's so immensely huge but components in the grid operate on the millisecond timescales.
@AndyD273 No, not yet. I believe the change to my answers will be subtle since this is stuff that I was doing anyway....just going forward I may be a bit more deliberate about it.
@AndyD273 Well, there's also my strong preference for coming up with cheatery answers that answer questions in ways the author didn't want or didn't expect.
@Green I kinda like to do both most of the time. Here's the answer to the question as stated, here's the answer if you took these other things into consideration
@Green lol. I was wondering what mech warrior had to do with with WB... other than mechs are cool
@AndyD273 That guy's mania from 3:00 onwards.....I can't help but think "What is happening here?" My wife would be really really unhappy with me if I ever got that manic.
@Green "The hydrocarbons can be stored at relatively shallow depths this time" I wonder what depth they could be stored at, where they are fairly easy to get to, but not in danger of getting into the water table. And how you'd build storage at that depth unless you found some kind of natural cave, which probably isn't a great idea since caves are generally made by flowing water, meaning they are part of the water cycle
I mean, maybe you could fill up the gypsum mines below Detroit? Maybe they are deep enough...
Or some abandoned coal mines once the coal has been taken out
Dunno. You could expand them, make big reservoir areas of a few million gallons each down there...
I wonder if you could process it into some kind artificial coal that could be turned back into hydrocarbons, but that you don't have to worry about getting into the water
But there I go forced internalizing externalities on your answer... ;)
@James There's a Canadian cidery who makes lots of different flavors. They were pretty sweet and I liked them till I read the ingredients and it was "water, alcohol, glucose, natural seasoning, apple juice". F*** that noise. I want the real stuff.
@JasonClyde Not a ton. Fixing up some old projects that the higher ups have finally thought might be a good thing to work on... a year later, after I've forgotten a lot of the details...
@JasonClyde WillK usually has pretty good answers. There was a guy a long time ago, named Samuel who absolutely killed it for a while (then he went dark with other obligations). I learned a lot from him about how to write good answers.
It's not a terrible idea actually. Bring a handful of kids in as interns in a work study situation. Not working in the mines or sweat shops, but bringing them in to train as backups is a little different than "child labor"
@AndyD273 Could the job of maintaining a power plant be simplified enough with modifications that trained 12 year olds could do it for a week if needed?
@JasonClyde Probably. Especially if there are adults that can manage from afar. My 10 yo could probably push a lot of button and flip switches if I told her what ones to do, and walked her through it a few times in person ahead of time.
My kids think its unfair to have to do chores for free. I kindly explain that fairness is a made up concept and they need to get used to things not being fair.
@James Robots only get you so far though. Every technological system is one part human and one part machine. You can get the machines to be bonkers capable but there will always be something it can't do or some error condition it can't fix. You need humans as the exception handlers.
@James Teach them to be commies! :D Explain that their food, clothes and shelter rely on them making contributions to society. No contributions = no benefits.
@AndyD273 Socialism is like Agile PM methodology. On a small scale, with a similar willing group that is geographically co-located it works amazingly well. You start to expand or change those components and it gets unwieldy rather rapidly.
Second child really wants to do a "bring your child to work day" in the ER with my wife. If I had a job where they could walk around and push all the buttons they'd be over the moon.
When I was in high school I got my EMT-B certification and I had to do clinical hours in the ER. I saw some things I was wholly unprepared for at 17 years old.
@AndyD273 I knew a woman once who's dad worked in a nuclear missile silo. As a child, she was allowed to go down into the silo with extremely strict instructions to not touch anything. We're all still here so I guess she didn't touch anything.
A drunk guy came in after he caused a car accident and ended up handcuffed to a bed (because he tried to run away cause police were waiting to take him to jail) the ER nurses put together a 1$ buy in pool to guess his blood alcohol level.
@AndyD273 When I got home and told my mom she was appalled, I just thought it was really funny. I mean you see some crazy ass people in the ER. Nurses have to stay sane and find a way to laugh.
@Green @AndyD273 thinking on it some more, I think if I do the kid workers thing, they're gonna have to be paid. The idea of having it entirely be up to the government what kids work where, causing industry businesses to compete for government favor, seems... both rife with abuse and the sort of thing my world's president would hate.
@JasonClyde I agree. You could also make the school system have a much stronger trades program than the US has now. By age 12, you're expected to able to operate the machinery of your trade. Liability and accountability laws will need to change to keep up with the workforce suddenly being 5 years younger and the accompanying loss of mental maturity.
The Factory Floor
The Factory Floor