GiantRubberRing's recent activity

  1. Comment on Starburst – Disturbances on the sun may have the potential to devastate our power grid and communication systems. When the next big storm arrives, will we be prepared for it? in ~space

    GiantRubberRing
    Link Parent
    I'm in the industry and actually took part in a government discussion about this topic. Large grid transformers with specific core designs are most at risk from solar activity, but it also depends...

    I'm in the industry and actually took part in a government discussion about this topic. Large grid transformers with specific core designs are most at risk from solar activity, but it also depends on other factors like geographic position and geology.

    Unfortunately due to global supply chains post-covid, lead times for new transformers are currently in the 3-4 year range, at least in the UK where we have very limited domestic manufacturing. There are plans being developed to mitigate the impact of severe solar activity, but it's not something we can predict or test.

    Of course if the event is big enough then it will also damage electronics, and if that happens I'm not sure there's any level of mitigation that could prevent total system collapse.

    3 votes

  2. Comment on Intuit is shutting down the personal finance service Mint and shifting users to Credit Karma in ~finance

    GiantRubberRing
    Link Parent
    There is a similar requirement in the UK which means that banking apps can request access to data from other banks. Eg I have my current account with Monzo, which also has my investment and...

    There is a similar requirement in the UK which means that banking apps can request access to data from other banks.

    Eg I have my current account with Monzo, which also has my investment and savings accounts, but it also pulls in data from another bank that I have a credit card with, and another bank for my mortgage, and displays it all with categorised spending and trends.

    1 vote

  3. Comment on Dear drivers, steady as you go at 20mph. And welcome to the future. in ~transport

    GiantRubberRing
    Link Parent
    You don't even have to go north to find issues, I have been staying away from home in a hotel for work recently, and one occasion I had to go into London Victoria. Bearing in mind that my hotel is...

    You don't even have to go north to find issues, I have been staying away from home in a hotel for work recently, and one occasion I had to go into London Victoria.

    Bearing in mind that my hotel is literally adjacent to the M25, the only option is a bus which comes twice an hour, then a train, then the tube.
    If I look on Google maps right now, it's still somehow 20 minutes faster to drive rather than take this route.

    I know this might be an edge case, and that it's still not that bad compared to the stats that you've given, but I agree, unless we start to see wide scale coordinated improvements to public transport and cycling infrastructure, people will just continue to drive as the default.

    1 vote