exchemist

Yes, that’s what I would expect. It will be designed to be equivalent to engine braking with an IC vehicle, which does not turn the brake lights on, but to turn on when there is a degree of braking similar to using the brake pedal in a conventional vehicle.

That’s not what I read in the What Car piece. According to that, regen braking does illuminate the brake lights.

Yes, but it has been known for decades that drivers don't generally get car sick, so this can't be the explanation for why it is worse in EVs. I looked up the one pedal issue and found an explanation of how it works in What Car: https://www.whatcar.com/advice/owning/what-is-one-pedal-driving-and-how-does-it-work/n27129 Evidently (and to my surprise) regen braking is only activated by releasing the accelerator, not by applying the brake pedal, and the degree to which it cuts in as you start to lift off the accelerator is typically a setting you can adjust. If you have it set to maximise regen, it can be a bit sensitive and can lead to over-deceleration unless you use it with a very light touch. So I can imagine some drivers being a bit clunky, over-decelerating and then re-accelerating to correct for that, repeatedly, which could easily lead to motion sickness. I didn't see anything in the way regen braking intrinsically works that would lead to pulsation, but I suppose if it is too sensitive the driver may be constantly adjusting the degree of braking, which would produce a nasty effect. From the article, the moral of the story is to have regen braking set to be mild only, similar to the engine braking on the overrun in an IC vehicle, and to use the brake pedal to supplement it. But clearly, one needs a bit of practice to drive an EV smoothly. (This is useful for me actually, as I need to replace my ~20 yr old VW soon and was intending to buy an EV.)

Pulsation? What would cause that?

The only things that would make sense to me would be more brutal acceleration from overenthusiastic drivers, or the absence of traditional sounds from engine and transmission. I cannot see why regenerative braking would have any effect different from disc brakes, unless badly driven for some reason (why?). I can understand why absence of sound during acceleration might make it a bit harder to rationalise the sensation of being pressed back in your seat, and possibly harder to anticipate it and (subconsciously) brace accordingly.

Yes, I have read about something to do with regen braking, but it seems very unclear what feature of this is responsible. I can't immediately see why regen braking would feel any different from traditional disc brakes. Is it really to do with the braking system or just inexperienced EV drivers driving jerkily or something? I can imagine if it is not easy to "feather" the braking when coming to a stop that might induce nausea. But I can hardly believe the manufacturers would be so inept as to offer a vehicle in which one cannot stop smoothly.

You cannot copyright an idea, only a creative work, i.e. an expression of the idea.

Yes I have seen the Canadian cemetery near Caen. A lot of countries more than pulled their weight. I have particular admiration for the Irish volunteers, who joined up even though their country remained neutral, just because they felt it was the right thing to do.

Yes! I do think lack of nuance and a rather naïve habit of trying to classify people morally, as either "good" or "bad", is something we have seen in US politics for a while. I suppose Graham Greene's "Quiet American" deals in part with that. I remember reading that book at the time of the Iraq Invasion and thinking the attitudes were almost identical. The ensuring failures came as no surprise.

Well now they are in a bind. I expect she will survive brain-damaged. So now what? Keep her alive? Or try to kill her again? Whatever hospital she is in won't have that on their premises. I understand one problem they have with this lethal injection method is no company wants to make the drug they use to execute people. The whole thing is barbaric. I understand this woman has spent her entire adult life on death row, waiting to be killed. Is that torment designed to be part of the punishment?

This must be one of the best political cartoons of the year: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2026/oct/01/ben-jennings-andy-burnham-suggestion-brexit-question-revisited-cartoon The goofy inflatable unicorn is just priceless.😁 But there are so many other choice details if one looks hard, and the White Cliffs of Dover in the background. The only thing missing is a Spitfire. And Bozo.

Oh sure the French are distinctly ambivalent towards the US, resenting particularly the "cultural imperialism" of American film etc. And of course now de Gaulle's suspicions about the long term reliability of the USA have been amply vindicated. But one should give the past its due. Visiting Normandy one is left in no doubt of the debt of gratitude felt for American commitment and sacrifice in liberating France. And rightly so.

Yeah but…if you talk to a Frenchman in Normandy, he will admit Americans have their good points. 🙂 Germany didn’t exist as a country until the c.19th, of course. England has existed for 1000years, but that’s probably only because we are on an island.

Yes, I suspect all countries have some kind of semi-mythical self-image, reflected in songs, poems, art and sculpture. Britain, or before that England, certainly does. Hundreds of years of self-regarding pomposity, in fact. No one can escape some degree of unconscious national bias. In the case of the States, I am sceptical of the more conspiracy-minded assertions in the OP, regarding the motives. It is natural to want to take pride in what you think is good about your country and celebrate it. We all do it. Of course there are blind spots, which perhaps only a historian, or someone who has lived overseas for a while and then returned, may become aware of. In the case of the US the glaringly obvious one is to do with slavery, in the midst of all the pompous celebration of freedom and all men being equal. But one should not throw out the baby with the bathwater. There has been much to be proud of as well.

Of certain people’s brains?

Not only that, they drive on the left. That settles it, surely. 🤪🫖🙃🤡

I’m interested in this business about +ve charged proteins. That seems, from the paper, to be the first time this has been seen in eukaryotes. Is that right?

I thought this was interesting: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(26)01016-0 An amoeba has been found that functions at temperatures up to 63C. Hitherto only thermophile bacteria and archaea have been found that can tolerate such temperatures. It seems the amoeba relies on some biochemical features similar to these bacteria and archaea, the most striking of which is proteins with a net +ve charge. Apparently the repulsion between strands that this creates can inhibit the clumping and denaturing that might otherwise occur at high temperatures. They say it looks as if this similarity is due to convergent evolution. So presumably it has not arisen by some kind of horizontal gene transfer. What I found myself wondering is how this compares with tardigrades. These are multicellular eukaryotic animals that seem remarkably resistant to extreme conditions. Has anyone done work on how these creatures manage it?

Yes. What I found also interesting is that the reason it seems to have been a one-off event is that sufferers became quickly too ill to go out and spread the new strain into the population. I presume that must imply a very short incubation period. But the warning overall seems to be beware horizontal gene transfer.

Try reading Hamlet. But also perhaps, see a doctor. Or a priest.

What relevance does chemical signalling between ants have to the technology of AI? If you are suggesting there is something to learn from this, you need to explain what you have in mind and how this would work. Or is this just another woolly notion that has popped into your head without being subjected to any analytical thought?

Ah, now I get it. It is when you decant from the tin into something else. As I generally use paint straight from the tin, dipping the brush into it, I didn't see what this was about. But I suppose this applies when one uses a roller and therefore has to decant paint into a roller tray. When I've done that it has been water-based emulsion paint, which is pretty viscous and doesn't seem to spill much (and is also easy to wipe up with kitchen roll), but with oil-based paint I can imagine spillage could be an issue.

I don’t understand either the problem or the solution here. Can you elaborate?

ZZZZzzzzz.......😴

Well they won't get it. But regarding Ireland, there is specific provision in the Good Friday Agreement for a "Border Poll". https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/irish-reunification This lays out the conditions that would trigger a poll and stipulates that at least 7 years would need to elapse after one poll before another could be held. At present neither the North nor the South is keen to hold such a poll. (The South would not want to take on responsibility for an economic liability with an entrenched minority of angry "No Popereaigh!!" Prods.) In Scotland, this preoccupation with independence referenda is known as the "Neverendum". We had a referendum in 2014 that was lost 55:45 on an 85% turnout, so pretty conclusive at the time. This had been described by both sides at the time as a "once in a generation" opportunity, though the Scot Nats have subsequently argued that sufficient material change has occurred (notably Brexit) to justify revisiting it. This is a fair point perhaps. However it is noteworthy that the Scot Nat government likes to demand the right, without showing much enthusiasm for actually holding one in the near future. The issues involved, notably finance and defence, are very thorny and the EU, which an independent Scotland would intend to rejoin, does not want to encourage it. This is partly for fear of exacerbating separatism in other parts of the EU (e.g. Spain) and partly because Scotland is far from economically self-sufficient. So I read this as a lot of posturing for their respective Nationalist bases, and little else.