@PaulWay@aus.social avatar

PaulWay

@PaulWay@aus.social

I'm a six foot tall ape descendant in Canberra, Ngunnwal/Ngambri country. I work for a tech company, mainly in Python and on Linux. In my spare time I read, turn wood, go for walks, play with technology, 3D print, play keyboards with friends, and ride a motorbike. At of this post, no-one is currently trying to drive a bypass through my home...

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PaulWay, to random
@PaulWay@aus.social avatar

As a man, I cannot understand misogynistic men.

Obviously I can rationalise their internal beliefs as to why they do what they do - but it's like explaining the behaviour of an animal. "He's been brought up this way, so he just keeps doing what he's been taught".

OK, except these are also clever people who expect other people to change for them. Why does it never occur that the same might apply to them - that they might have to change and accommodate other people? That's what I can't understand.

Sadly I think a lot of men think of things purely in terms of power. They're constantly worried that they're not top dog, so they have to prove they are all the time by doing stupid aggressive things.

Dude. Let's just put it in simple terms. You're not top dog. You're not even a very high dog. There'll always be people who own more, who have more power, who look more successful. That's not important. It's completely useless to compare yourself to anyone else. All you have to do is to be good enough. You have to be good, and you have to be enough, for those around you.

And what you're going to have to learn, my dude, is that everything is about bargaining. You're always going to have to give up something in order to get something. If you love someone, you have to demonstrate that love by giving them some level of control - over your life together.

I went through some of my early life - up to about my early thirties - convinced I was always missing out. I kept thinking that I had done it tough, I'd struggled, I never got what I wanted. I kept on saying to myself, "on this one point I'm not going to give in, because I've given in on everything else." And I'd still lose.

Then I realised I'd been telling myself a bit of a lie. I'd actually had a pretty good life; we hadn't had a lot but we did have some pretty good advantages that set me up for a good career and a sensible life. And I realised that actually everyone else also saw themselves as hard done by, and if we all fought tooth and nail for the things we considered important then we'd just lose our teeth and nails.

Men are so much nicer when they're kind, when they don't have to show off. We can be courageous and selfless and brave and heroic, we can have chiselled jaws and strong chests - and this doesn't have to come at any cost to anyone else.

I love in "The Incredibles" where Mr Incredible admits that he isn't strong enough to watch his family be endangered. This is a guy who lifts train engines and he's not strong enough. And then Elastigirl says "you don't have to be", because they're all in this together, and they know they can do it. In that moment Mr Incredible is strong.

This won't get read much, I know. But I hope it helps some guys out there feel better about being good, and kind, and gentle, and caring.

All the best, my friends.

PaulWay, to random
@PaulWay@aus.social avatar

Today I learned that the Toyota BZ4X can only be DC fast charged twice per day. It's hard coded to prevent further DC fast charging. Sucks if you expected to just drive it like a car on a long road trip, and didn't plan for this weirdness.

To be honest I don't think this is as much of a WTF as the friend who related this news thinks it is. (I don't have a BZ4X so I couldn't give two figs about it). I could still easily structure a 900km drive in one day around leaving home on a full charge, DC fast charge in the morning, AC charge over lunch, DC fast charge in the afternoon, and that probably gets you ~1000KM.

I think it's Toyota trying to protect their batteries - which is interesting because it's something no other car manufacturer feels the need to do. Toyota paternalism or did they just buy a batch of dodgy batteries and fit them to the car anyway?

PaulWay,
@PaulWay@aus.social avatar

@decryption The Leaf, really, is this anomaly in Japanese cars.

It's obviously adapted to cold climates, where passive cooling of the battery is enough. Then it's sold here in Australia and the USA. It's designed using a Japanese charger standard which is revolutionary but basically only gets used by Nissan. It has the fundamental problem that it's aimed to trickle charge but most people in Japan do not have their own garage with a power point.

Despite this they make millions.

My favourite story about the Leaf happened when I was coming home on my Energica Experia - literally on the day I picked it up. We stopped at Mittagong RSL because there's an NRMA charger there (free at the time, remember that?). There was a lady charging a Nissan Leaf there - I looked at the car and it had Tasmanian number plates! She had driven up from Hobart to visit family in Sydney; she was on her trip back.

She loved the Leaf. She loved chargers, because she could stop and talk to the people and EV people are so friendly! She didn't mind stopping, it was lovely to see the scenery. She was happily retired so she could make it a three day trip from Sydney to Melbourne. That car suited her perfectly and its battery 'limitations' were hidden advantages to her.

PaulWay,
@PaulWay@aus.social avatar

@decryption Let's face it though that's never going to happen.

Several friends have gone to Japan and reported there are almost no electric cars there. Even Leafs are a rarity.

Why, when Japan has to import almost all of its petrol and diesel but it generates its own electricity, is it still so wedded to petroleum fuels?

There are lots of hot takes on that question out there, I've shared my own in other posts.

But realistically I don't see any of the Japanese car companies making any full transition to EVs, or making any EVs that are not basically "compliance" cars that are necessary for them to keep selling what they already make.

PaulWay, to random
@PaulWay@aus.social avatar

Donated to @alexkidman 's run for May to raise funds for Multiple Sclerosis research:

https://www.themay50k.org/fundraisers/alexkidman/the-may-50k-2024

A good cause there Alex, keep up the running!

PaulWay,
@PaulWay@aus.social avatar

@alexkidman Always start the run with your favourite song.

PaulWay,
@PaulWay@aus.social avatar

@alexkidman I didn't mean that in quite the commanding tone it takes when I see it this morning.

Mate, you're doing the hard kilometres. I'm just here to cheer you on and contribute to a good cause. Do what you like, whatever works for you.

PaulWay,
@PaulWay@aus.social avatar

@alexkidman There is only one - "Kiss" 🙂

decryption, to random
@decryption@aus.social avatar

tell me again how toyota not going 100% into EVs is a mistake - they're selling more cars then ever! I love EVs, have been driving one for 5 years, but EVs are not the answer for a large portion of motorists yet and hybrid/ICE engines have a long life ahead of them (20+ years imho)

PaulWay,
@PaulWay@aus.social avatar

@decryption @jpm You can have an unpronounceable b4ZX...

I'm wondering whether these sales figures are worldwide, or in Japan, or in Australia.

I can kind of see the brand loyalty thing. All the big car makers build the brand loyalty because they know customers want to limit their choice - pick a car from the manufacturer you already know, they probably have a range of vehicle shapes and sizes.

And IMO that's two big reasons why they're also all basically stalling on EVs. Firstly, because they don't have the range of EVs. And therefore secondly EV sales essentially eat into their existing model sales. Dealers hate this because they like selling what they know and they already know what they get out of ICE sales - lots of lovely servicing revenue. And manufacturers hate having to make a new model or redo all the parts, when you can just do a few minor tweaks on the panels of an old frame and make it look like it's fresh and new.

The Japanese car manufacturers in particular have a very good deal where the government has built in a cost to register an old car, specifically to get people to buy new cars and keep pumping money into their car industry.

And I've also heard that the 'honour culture' in Japan makes it difficult for them to not keep the deals they have with the suppliers of parts specific to the ICE engine - spark plugs, cables, ECUs, radiators, hoses, etc. I'm not sure I trust this view entirely, especially since US manufacturers are dragging their heels too and they've been also outsourcing and off-shoring all those things anyway.

To me it just comes down to: sorry, but it's imperative for the future survival of the human race on this planet that we . Sorry if that gets in people's faces with brand loyalty and decision headaches. Tough. We have to choose.

PaulWay,
@PaulWay@aus.social avatar

@decryption @jpm I wish I'd got around to finding you and chatting at Everything Open 🙂

PaulWay,
@PaulWay@aus.social avatar

@decryption @jpm Ah, OK, I had an impression ... oh well. You missed a good one, anyway 🙂

dgar, to random
@dgar@aus.social avatar

A new study has found that more than half of the branded plastic pollution found in the environment is linked to 56 companies.

https://www.csiro.au/en/news/All/News/2024/April/Global-study-finds-more-than-half-of-branded-plastic-pollution-linked-to-56-companies

PaulWay,
@PaulWay@aus.social avatar

@dgar I guess my immediate thought is: which companies aren't in the list that we would kind of expect to be there?

Things like fishing nets, PET barrels, styrofoam things... these all turn up in massive quantities but most of them don't have names of companies attached. And they almost certainly don't have the name of the company that bought them and used them and then dumped them.

If there's no styrofoam box manufacturers in that list, then it's not because we didn't find any styrofoam in the sea...

jpm, to random
@jpm@aus.social avatar

Cursed (?) idea: a protocol-translating USB1/2 to USB3 hub

PaulWay,
@PaulWay@aus.social avatar

@jpm So a kind of USB switch, rather than a hub?

If I understand what you're thinking here, you want a USB 3 hub that doesn't just push every port down to USB 1 speed when a USB 1 device is plugged in, yeah?

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