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Battery chemistry advance promises to deliver 'smaller, lighter, and cheaper' Li-ion cells
  • The article seems to only talk about an advance in knowledge about the degradation process. I see no mention that they have a proposed solution.

    Other than the fact the article contains an out-of-context quote, where does the "smaller, lighter, and cheaper" come from.

    Great there's new knowledge but seems a little more jumped-the-gunny than usual for battery-tech improvement claims.

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    Why do used electrics drop so quickly in price?
  • Fast moving new technology means a larger gap between the used and new market. Combine this with effects of smaller volumes per model and they start high and fall fast.

    It will change, but 'early adopters' are carrying some of the costs of transition - though only realise losses at time of sale (so keeping the vehicle longer will cost you less than frequent refreshes).

    Edit: and no, buying one is not foolish. For many consumers, a midrange EV is already a saving over a reasonable lifetime.

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    When watching a film, do you generally try to empathize with the lead and immerse yourself, or do you try to watch it more objectively?
  • I don't 'try' to do either.

    Either the film's production and marketing draw me in the intended direction or they don't. When their vision and my experience fail to align, I expect I'm less likely to enjoy the film.

     

    ...That or film was garbage. YMMV

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    Seahorse find in Poole was one of biggest ever recorded - expert
  • If they get big enough the Merpeople will finally acquire cavalry... Though a side-saddle cavalry may not be that effective... Or the fact that a charge has to consider the 3rd dimension... Or that they're mythical.

     

    Still. Mounted Merpeople!

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    'Wealth can be pretty isolating': Problems that rich people face, according to therapists
  • So all of you living-rough, dumpster-diving, skipping medications, holding down three jobs, etc - what do your therapist say?

    Oh wait, how much does this therapy cost again... But I'm sure there's no selection bias.

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    turkey pot pies
  • Thankfully that's not the case here in NZ. Otherwise the rather popular mince-n-cheese pie would be weird.

    Today, 'mincemeat' as a term by itself, is unusual. It's usually either just 'mince' (meat) or 'fruit-mince' (not meat).

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  • www.rnz.co.nz Election 2023: All the latest developments on 16 September

    Labour and the Greens are in Māngere for an E Tū election launch, while National was in Karaka this morning. Follow for all the latest election news with RNZ's live blog.

    > The Green Party has announced that it wants to increase annual leave to five weeks. > > Co-leader Marama Davidson told a crowd at a E Tū election launch in Māngere today that it would provide organisations with plenty of notice and ensure the full five weeks is available for everyone by the end of 2025.

    This wouldn't make NZ an unusual outlier globally, though perhaps it would be in this hemisphere - and that could be an attractive aspect as we continue to lose talent to Australia.

    I'd like to see them carve out an exception for businesses that opt for a 32-hour 4-day week - either one works towards a better work-life balance and a 4-day week is a lot more personal days than just one week extra. Providing an exception for 4-day week businesses would avoid slowing uptake of the 4-day model for businesses that can make it work. The question is, how to balance the exception and leave changes for non-full-time employees?

    Can NZ afford it? How many businesses are too fragile from the recent years of challenging operation. I suspect many can afford this, and that some have been pocketing the rewards of improved revenues in this inflationary environment without readily passing on those rewards. There could be more businesses struggling than we'd hope, that are too fragile from the challenges of recent years to wear the new costs.

    Then again, maybe some negative impact is worthwhile for the improvement to the portion of the workforce that lacks the negotiating position to get such a deal - some executives and upper management certainly do enjoy such arrangements, including reduced days on massive salaries.

    As an employee I like it.

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    www.rnz.co.nz Staff taking more sick leave, increasing cost to economy by $1b - survey

    Employers are facing increasing costs for covering worker absences as employees take more time off due to illness.

    > A biennial workplace wellness survey by Southern Cross Health Society and BusinessNZ showed the average rate of absence was 5.5 days per employee over the course of 2022. > > It compared to a range of 4.2 and 4.7 days between 2012 and 2020, and was the highest on record since the survey began in 2012. > > ... > > Southern Cross chief executive Nick Astwick said Covid and the then mandatory seven-day isolation was a factor in the higher absences. > > "But we also believe as we've moved the minimum leave entitlement from five days to 10 days, that's also contributed to an increase of leave," Astwick said. > > "Some of the workforce - we don't know how much - but some of the workforce see the 10 days as an entitlement and so we were expecting to see an increase, and we have," Astwick said.

    Though another thing to consider is that, at least in my jobs, when the 5 days were exhausted, you just ate annual leave days when you were sick - or you just brought the bug into the office.

    So the change could be reflecting that 5 days was actually not enough (especially with young children who bring home minor illnesses frequently). The increase in average rates seems quite small given the doubling of the allowance.

    There will be abuse, I'm not denying it, but allowing us to use sick-leave instead of annual leave so that we can actually get recreational time off seems a fair enough change.

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