My yahoo has started yelling at me because of ad blockers, most of the time I'm only on long enough to delete or skim an email, but if I linger it takes my view away and tells me that I'm violating their terms of agreement. Whatever, lol.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, March 21, 2025 - 02:36 pm: Edit

I watch more YouTube than live TV and pay for the ad free version.

By John Williams (Johndw) on Tuesday, March 25, 2025 - 01:38 pm: Edit

I use Opera/Brave browsers, I use "uBlock Origin" extension in both browsers. I'm able to watch youtube without ads quite comfortably.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, March 25, 2025 - 10:47 pm: Edit

I think an "infrastructure ceasefire" may have been the only deal Trump could get, but it works entirely to Putin's favor. The Ukrainians were dismantling the Russian oil industry; the Russians were blowing up apartment buildings. "I'll stop killing your kids if you stop costing me (Putin) money because a lack of money is going to force me to a deal faster than a lack of kids is going to force Ukraine to a deal."

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Monday, April 07, 2025 - 10:37 am: Edit

Videos out (believe animation) of what is being called a new Motorcycle, reality is a mechanical horse sic ......
Four legs, controlled similar to a m/c....
Very interesting concept, if it works as portrayed....
Runs, jumps etc....
Model shown seats two, have to wait and see, then hope my ship comes in (Lottery)....

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, April 26, 2025 - 04:44 am: Edit

I watched a video today which says that new silver-carbon batteries will actually make electric cars work. A car with such a battery could drive 900 miles and recharge in 9 minutes.

Each car would need a kilo of silver, which today would cost $1133.

To continue current EV production would consume 2/3 of silver production (newly mined). That silver already has uses and buyers so this would provoke a hot bidding war for the available supply.

This could triple the current $33 per ounce cost of silver.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Saturday, April 26, 2025 - 09:52 am: Edit

On the plus side, if demand for silver goes up, that would seem to indicate the price of the materials used in EV batteries should decline, which would result in a lower commodity price (reflecting the reduced demand for those materials.)

The markets should be able to handle such changes, after all, in the industrial age, wood was replaced with iron , steel, advanced steel alloys etc.

I wouldn’t expect anyone to go into debt speculating on the future price of silver… but no doubt a few hearty souls might try it. Just remember, precious metals Silver, Gold Platinum etc. have a significant variance pattern with a number of very large players making money (or losing it) on a daily basis.

Use caution!

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, April 26, 2025 - 10:33 am: Edit

If silver went to $100 per ounce I suspect new mines would open, but that would take years. The point is that these new silver-carbon batteries are an order of magnitude better than Lithium-ion, which was itself revolutionary. Battery powered screwdrivers became a practical thing only with lithium ion batteries. So did smart watches and cell phones. What happens when they all get replaced with silver-carbon? You might have a cell phone you charge once a month, or a power tool that a carpenter charges once a day instead of using a new battery every hour. Green energy power grids might actually work with silver-carbon battery banks.

But suddenly diverting that much of the silver supply to a purpose that doesn't exist today is going to mean other people using silver have to find something else to do their thing with. We all noticed the lithium-ion revolution (and lithium production still cannot keep up); get ready for another one.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Saturday, April 26, 2025 - 11:20 am: Edit

I suspect that various batteries will come to dominate.

So Silver Carbon if you really need to get fast recharge. 900 miles is just probably not needed; I suspect that you'd get the 300 mile pack (saving money AND lightening the car). Take 15 minutes every 3-4 hours to charge up, get a fresh coffee and get out of that seas.

Solid State for that middle of the road performance.

Lithium for lower end stuff (like tablets or watches)

Remember just about no one drives over 400 miles a day without taking a meal break.

I can see recharge stations combined with diners. Maybe with scenic walk so you can stretch your legs. And a place for Fido to do his business.

etc.

By John Wyszynski (Starsabre) on Saturday, April 26, 2025 - 10:30 pm: Edit

EV get roughly 4 miles/KWh, give or take. For 900 mile range, you need a 225 KWh battery. For 9 minutes you need would need a 1500 KW feed (aka 1.5 MegaWatts). Basically recharge stations will have to be colocated with electrical substations.

By Douglas Lampert (Dlampert) on Saturday, April 26, 2025 - 11:46 pm: Edit

Everyone knows cars need 1.21 gigawatts, and where are you going to get that?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, April 27, 2025 - 02:09 am: Edit

Links to silver-carbon battery info. It seems I typoed the range (600 not 900).
https://chargedevs.com/newswire/samsung-researchers-describe-all-solid-state-battery/
https://www.goldenstatemint.com/blog/samsungs-silver-solid-state-battery-technology-1-kilogram-of-silver-per-car/
https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-presents-groundbreaking-all-solid-state-battery-technology-to-nature-energy
https://talkmarkets.com/content/news/silver-demand-to-soar-with-breakthrough-of-samsung-silver-solid-state-battery?post=459058
https://www.kitco.com/news/article/2024-08-19/silver-set-soar-samsungs-solid-state-battery-breakthrough-analysts

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Sunday, April 27, 2025 - 05:03 am: Edit

Toyota's working on a new copper-fluoride solid-state battery as well that looks promising. Reduced weight ratio (courtesy of being solid-state) and faster charging (courtesy of increased ion transfer via the new copper nitride cathode).

By Jason E. Schaff (Jschaff297061) on Sunday, April 27, 2025 - 08:35 am: Edit

One key question needs to be asked about every new "game-changing" battery chemistry. What's the lifetime? i.e., how quickly does the capacity decline with the number of discharge-recharge cycles? That has been the death-knell for any number of promising battery designs.

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Sunday, April 27, 2025 - 10:01 am: Edit

With Japanese engineers supposed breakthrough with hydrogen engines, what affect will that have with the EV market, especially Semi type trucks when they hit the market....

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Sunday, April 27, 2025 - 10:25 am: Edit

Not much in the U.S., Bolo. Long story short, the limiting factor with hydrogen is a refueling network, which is a bit more complicated than installing charging stations. Toyota really tried to push their hydrogen fuel-cell Mirai a decade ago, and while it's a going concern in Japan (where there was a funded network built out), they never got beyond California in the U.S. (where there is not).

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Sunday, April 27, 2025 - 10:49 am: Edit

Hydrogen isn’t that much of a limit.

Splitting H2O into gases (hydrogen, oxygen) is easy.

Storing it safely isn’t quite as easy.

If you have access to water, you can make hydrogen. Few years back, an Iowa farmer (and part time inventor) started converting tractors, pickup trucks, and cars into hydrogen fueled vehicles.

What killed it was the lawsuits filed to “protect” everything from public safety to the environment.

Biggest complaining group turned out to be other Iowa farmers that feared the impact on corn sales for ethanol production.

Go figure.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Monday, April 28, 2025 - 10:54 am: Edit

I remember some dude that built his own methane digester for his horse poop. It was used to run his tractor.

IIRC I remember something about people using coal gas (???) to run cars in WW2. They'd have a big balloon of low pressure gas on the roof?

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, April 28, 2025 - 01:09 pm: Edit

I once saw a 1917 U.S. Army truck in an auto museum… might have been in Montana in 1987-8…

it had a device mounted on the Drivers side, used to convert wood chips (or other organic material) into a flammable gas.

It didn’t have any tubing to connect to the engine, just a detachable pressure tank used to collect the gas over night.

IIRC, there was a note posted next to the exhibit sign, basically said “finicky”.

By Robert Russell Lender (Rusman) on Saturday, August 16, 2025 - 12:45 am: Edit

Hey all,

I've been seeing more & more of this and it's driving me bat &@^# crazy from both an annoyance point of view as well as wondering what the heck causes the behavior. I'll be driving along (day or night). There will be a vehicle behind me with headlights having a rapid strobe-like affect I can see in my mirrors. Aside from being potentially dangerous (distracting & maybe can cause siezures in some people), I just want to know what causes it.

The most interesting thing is, the ONLY time I see it is out of the corner of my eye when not looking directly into the mirror at it. It strobes, catches my eye in an annoying distracting way. I'll shift my point of view to look directly at the lights in my mirror, and it stops strobing. I go to look away again and now in my peripheral vision it's strobing again.

I've heard of this behavior being caught on camera with some LED lights using Pulse Width Modulation which don't pulse at the same frequency as the camera's refresh rate. But in this case, it's only seen my my mirrors, and NOT when I look directly at them. For the record, my mirrors are good ole fashioned real mirrors. These are not backup cameras or electronically dimmed or displayed mirrors as some vehicles have.

Anyone know what the heck is causing this?
Why don't I see it when looking directly at it?
It is incredibly distracting. Anything I can do to avoid it?

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Saturday, August 16, 2025 - 09:04 am: Edit

This is what happens when they put LEDs in a halogen high beam. Most cars use the high beams as daytime running lights but they reduce the voltage to the high beam to reduce the brightness. When you use LEDs, they flicker because they’re faster reacting than filament. When it gets dark his normal headlights kick on at normal voltage so he’ll never notice the flickering.

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Saturday, August 16, 2025 - 09:12 am: Edit

Also notice, when vehicles hit even a small bump, I lose the LED light in my mirror...
Don't believe they blink, just have such a narrow area of projection, they don't shine where you can see them when the front end goes up or down....

By Robert Russell Lender (Rusman) on Saturday, August 16, 2025 - 10:35 am: Edit

Jessica,

That's from the same Reddit page I already googled about when I was checking earlier. But this is not the answer to my question. That Reddit post is in reference to a day/night difference. What I'm saying is that I've seen the strobing effect whether day or night. That Reddit thread and other googling I did also do not explain why the strobing effect does NOT occur when I'm looking directly at the lights in my mirror. As I mentioned earlier, I only see the strobing when my eyes catch it in my peripheral vision.

There has to be some technical reason these LED lights (or whatever they are) cause this.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Sunday, November 16, 2025 - 03:53 pm: Edit

In the category of "odd things", I had a dream this morning that I was part of a team reactivating steam locomotives by converting their fireboxes with very small pebble bed reactors; the tenders (with no need to carry fuel) were given entirely over to water tanks and condensers, with thermophotovoltaic cells on the condensers to use the heat to provide electrical power for pumps, braking systems, etc.

The difficult part was having conversations with various state transportation departments, explaining the need to close as many grade-level crossings as possible and convert those remaining to over- or underpasses to maximize safety.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Friday, April 17, 2026 - 04:48 pm: Edit

I should post this in real world military, but it would get lost n the current craziness of world events being discussed there.

There is a couple of companies looking into an updated version of the 1936 Navy PBY seaplane.

The following is from a legacy support site for current users of PBY aircraft.

Quote:” NGAA Catalina II

Next Generation Amphibious Aircraft

The Re-Birth Of An Iconic Legend
Catalina II Amphibious Twin Turboprop

No one can argue the legendary capabilities nor achievements of the Catalina amphibious flying boat. From the sighting of the Bismarck in the Eastern Atlantic before the United States officially entered the War, to the perceived last mission of the War, delivering the "Instrument of Surrender" to the Missouri anchored in Toyko Bay, the mighty Catalina has served and defended many nations during their time of need. After the War, Air France commissioned Consolidated-Vultee to convert some surplus military Catalinas into Transport Category, Standard Airworthiness, 28-5ACF commercial airliners. The 28-5ACF Catalina continued to serve, now including the public's needs, delivering passengers and cargo to locations typically out of reach of the land based commercial transports which required traditional airport infrastructure, fighting wildfires, performing humanitarian missions, as well as many other essential activities, all with a well proven track record. And for those reasons, the Catalina is the most recognizable, highly respected, and legendary amphibious aircraft in the world. The Catalina has an incredible history, proudly serving 41 nations during their time of need and has competently operated in 83 airlines worldwide. The Catalina has earned the respect of all who have operated it and all that have had a chance to experience it.

Catalina Aircraft is seizing the moment and is recreating history for this legendary and respected amphibious aircraft to once again be the epitome of amphibious aviation operations, offering a new production, modernized, twin turboprop, Transport Category amphibious flying boat for the private, commercial, government and military sectors.

The NGAA Catalina II targets two major aircraft client groups, the civilian / commercial operator and the Government / Military customer. The NGAA Catalina II is set to be the largest, fastest, longest range / endurance, highest payload, and most capable amphibious aircraft available worldwide with Western Certifications.

The NGAA Catalina II carries forward the history and legendary performance of the currently Transport Category, Standard Airworthiness certificated 28-5ACF Catalina by exploiting today’s advances in digitization, systems, materials, corrosion control, avionics, and engine / propulsion technologies.
Why Seaplanes Now?

As tourism (and threats) grow around the world, so does the desire to travel to / operate in regions of the world not supported by traditional airport infrastructure. Realizing that seventy-one percent (71%) of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, why are seaplanes not more commonly employed in today’s amphibious operations? Quite simply said; While there is an abundance of (limited capability) Small Category "float converted" land planes, there is a capabilities gap that exists as there are currently no Western Certificated, Large, Transport Category amphibious aircraft being produced to fill those larger capability needs desired by many customers and end users worldwide.

The production continuation / production re-start of the NGAA Catalina II provides civilian, commercial, government and military operators a significant capabilities expansion over many current platforms employed in amphibious operations today. As an air-bridge, the NGAA Catalina II can offer precision, speed and flexibility from land to air to sea.

With an almost limitless multi - CONOPs potential from a single platform, the NGAA Catalina II offers a single asset solution capable of replacing several existing platform types, thus reducing overall Acquisition, Operational and Sustainment costs.

The NGAA Catalina II, like its predecessor, is a strategic force multiplier that can be employed across an entire spectrum of operations by way of Land, Air, and Sea.
Civilian / Commercial Variant

The operational capabilities a Large, Transport Category amphibious flying boat can offer over those of a Small Category (under 12,500 pounds) float converted land plane are significant. Listed below are several of the Civilian / Commercial market segments the NGAA Catalina II can perform in:

Civilian / Commercial Applications:

● Passenger Airline Transport
● Air Cargo Transport
● Offshore Oil Rig Support
● Corporate / Personal / High Net Worth Air Yacht
● Air Ambulance
● Environmental Disaster Response
● Dive Emergency Response
● Fisheries Bulk Stocking
● Humanitarian Aid
● Postal / Supply Delivery
● Adventure Sports Transport

EXPLORE THE CIVILIAN VARIANT
Special Use / Government / Military Variant

For situations where the NGAA Catalina II would be used to penetrate and / or conduct operations in contested environments, the Air Vehicle could be outfitted as an optionally manned or unmanned (UM/UAS) platform. Listed below are many of the Provincial, Joint Services, Department of Defense / Defense Ministry, and multi-role niches that the NGAA Catalina II is capable of performing:

Government Roles:

● Aerial Firefighting
● Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA)*
● Border Patrol
● Search & Rescue
● Coastal Guard
● Customs Patrol
● Cloud Seeding
● Mosquito Control
● Maritime Disaster Response
● Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ) Patrol*
● Riot Control (Water/Foam Drop)
● Disaster Relief Support (Hurricane, Typhoon, Tsunami)
● Hurricane / Typhoon Hunter*
● Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami (DART) Station Support

Military Missions:

● Combat Search & Rescue (CSAR)*
● Anti-Piracy Patrol / Gunship*
● Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW)*
● Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) w/ Dipping Sonar*
● Counter Insurgency (COIN)*
● Executive / Head of State (HOS) Transport
● Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (ISR)*
● Military Air Ambulance
● Aerial Weapons Platform (Organic Airborne Artillery)*
● Aerial Refueling Tanker*
● Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C)*
● Airborne Mine Neutralization System (AMNS)*
● Sea Basing Troop Transport (Ship To Shore)
● Sea Basing Cargo Transport (Ship To Shore)*
● Special Operations Forces Support (SOFS)
● Tactical Bulk Fuel Delivery*
● Submarine Emergency Evacuation*
● Air Droppable Payload Delivery*
● Airspace Range Clearing*
● Surface Range Clearing (w/ interdiction)
● Maritime UAV Control, Support, and Recovery
● Target Tow (Airborne / Surface)*
● Non-Lethal Suppression / Interdiction Operations
● Cold Weather Insertion & Resupply*
● Non-combatant Evacuation Operations (NEO)
● Command and Control*
● (100’ Span) Modular Aerial Spray Systems (MASS)*
● Carrier On-board (COD) Delivery and Recovery
● Blue Water Delivery and Recovery”

By Randy Green (Hollywood750) on Friday, May 15, 2026 - 12:12 pm: Edit

Brought over from RW Military.

Texas added 4.5-5 GW of utility scale solar last year, and 5.2 - 6 GW of battery storage last year.

Texas added 184 MW of fossil fuel generation last year.

Texas added between 250 and 860 MW of wind last year.

Texas plans to add 14 GW(!!!) of solar and 12.9 GW of battery storage. This is roughly 40% of the total projected nationwide. Nationwide, new fossil fuel generation is expected to total about 6.3 GW, of which the Texas renewable figure dwarfs.

So, looks like Texas is the new renewable capital of the world. 14 GW of new solar, with the battery to back it up, in one year is incredible.

Now Texas is unique. It has a favorable market structure, abundant sunshine, high electricity demand, which combined with cheap solar technology (with better modules, higher efficiencies, scalability) and the speed it can be deployed, makes Texas an ideal state for utility-scale solar. Cheap land, strong sunlight, large projects, tailor-made for solar.

Source for the totals is ERCOT.