Guy makes “dodgy e-bike” from 130 used vapes https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...c-festival-can-power-a-beefy-e-bike-20-miles/
Seriously, to heck with this video though. It's full of useful information and reporting, sure. But the cover image shows an adorable whippet. But then the video contains not one whippet. Am disappoint.
I want to hope that's special effects, especially if the alternative is dumb humans endangering a poor loyal dog. Hard to believe their air would be that clean indoors and that their windows wouldn't respond to all that heat. Looks like water gets dropped at some point (?). Good lord what a video.
(For the record, I don't "like" the event, but I appreciate the tidy presentation of otherwise horrific information.)
The fires are just horrific, the Insurance companies cannot withstand this type of devastation, between the multi-million dollar homes, all the dam cars that were abandoned and the businesses and schools that are gone............I am not sure how the Insurance companies can pay all this off. Maybe I am way off base and I am not pro insurance but dam, this will put some companies out of business. What I learned in this fire was those dam embers can do so much damage, its like there the scout team of the fire, they seek out and destroy.
I'd bet all my money on some sort of federal government bailout/assistance to help with the insurance claims.
That can only be a stop-gap measure as there are and will be places that are uninsurable. Tax increases won't be able to keep up and places will be abandoned. Look at the way those houses were built and consider that no public water system has even been designed for that level of fire and strain on the hydrants. Now think about how many places across the country have similar flaws for fires and floods and heat because they were built on assumptions about a world that no longer exists. The longer we wait to make significant changes, the more stressful and expensive those changes will be. Meanwhile, we are well on the way to 1.5 degrees. TLDR: Be careful about where you get a 30-year mortgage.
@rimrocker - Also, this may be slightly too political for this subforum, but could it have been prevented that there was no water coming out of the fire hydrants?
Agree with all this. But I don't personally trust in the long-term planning of those in power, so I think it's more likely that we'll get several short-term fixes that kick the can down the road than us getting a robust, long-term solution.
