Well sure, even salt extraction can have an impact. Have you seen the salt extraction facilities at the Dead Sea? Someone could write an exposé about how our demand for salt is a “big problem” illustrated with dramatic pictures. But we need some perspective here, and anecdotes are way too easy to cherry-pick. The amount of lithium needed is minuscule compared to the amount of oil. 5 kilograms of pure lithium for a Model 3 versus like 20000kg of gasoline for an equivalent fossil fuel car. And the lithium can be recycled at end of use. But what’s 3 or 4 orders of magnitude between friends?
There is lots of lithium. But lithium is kind of a tricky, its almost more chemical then a base metal. Qualifying a new lithium extraction technology is tricky, and every brine is different.
Lithium is not tricky to find, its trick to extract and purify and the it takes a while to qualify it with battery companies. Doing all that takes a while and doing it cheap is not easy.
So lithium prices, might still go up because getting high quality supply into the supply chain is not easy.
The have a large number of videos, where many of the upcoming lithium producers present their projects.
The economical ways currently are:
- Spodumene (lithium in hard rock minerals)
- Brine (lithium in a salty water underground pond)
What is being developed for next generations:
- Clay (sedentary deposits)
- Deep Geothermal Brine (like Brine but much deeper down)
What is being worked on is Direct Lithium extraction, that means to get lithium directly from the brine (or leached from the clay) rather then putting it into evaporation ponds.
If you want real detail from an expert on lithium, check out:
I've heard that this will be a disaster for amateur astronomy. Yet Starlink is claiming that their mitigation techniques will avoid the problem [0]. I can't tell if their claim is sound. Can someone with expertise weigh in?
There is a cohort of astronomers that don't want earths orbit filled with humans. It's sort of a naturalistic argument, effectively that they will lose their ability to take photos of what they want. On the margin, it's good for people like SpaceX to try and do what they can to minimize negative externalities.
But I think that we as a race should not cater to them for a few reasons:
1) there is no precident for "owning" the sky above you to infinity, it's an odd position legally
2) there is another cohort of people that want to expand consciousness who are impeded by this NIMOP (Not In My Orbital Plane) crowd. We can fit a quadrillion humans comfortably on rotating space habitats. This seems like a better goal under most moral systems than retaining the right to take pretty pictures.
3) any loss of "science" due to the loss of ground based sensors would be more than offset by having a robust space presence.
I am not an astronomer, but I have an idea and maybe folks could tell me if this makes sense. AFAIK some astronomers use digital optics and a computer with their telescopes. For those people, perhaps a solution would be to have software that identifies the satellites, then learns to "ignore" them. The satellites are moving relative to the earth which suggests if you are focused on one area of space, your computer will eventually see 100% of the space. So while not perfect, you could in effect make the satellites invisible. For those using a traditional telescope this obviously would not help. Thoughts? Is this feasible today using current technology?
Both can be true. The original Starlink satellites were horrible for astronomy. Astronomers complained and Starlink implemented some fairly effective mitigation measures like a shade and less reflective routes while orbit raising.
On this, I wonder if those satellites could be equipped with some astronomical devices and grant some kind of public access? Maybe just a download link of recent raw data from an antenna.
Parent said nothing about only men being interested in controlling women. On the contrary, liberation of women can be liberation from mothers, mother in-laws, grandmothers...
Hah this article. Was this even wikipedia? So it concludes that we need to take down the Patriarchy and the Sexism in India.
So I was right. We need to intervene in their society, and change it to liberate their women. Because we know best. And whoever doesn't align with that, must be supportive of violence against women. Shame on them too.
Could you please develop how to do paging with window functions?
It's been some time since I've done serious work with SQL yet I remember that all paging solutions I've found (eg. top results on SO) are always platform-specific so having a platform-independent way of doing it would mean I could finally try to remember it.
select ord, table_name, first_name, last_name, total_rows
from (
select table_name,
row_number() over (order by table_name asc) ord,
count(1) over () total_rows,
from all_tables
where table_name like 'B%'
order by table_name desc
) where ord between 10 and 19
order by ord
This is basically what Oracle Apex does. You can do this without window functions, but it gets a bit more complicated.
I like to add total_rows so that I can show a "rows 10 - 19 of 81" header. You can also get the very first and last values by adding theses columns:
first_value(table_name) over (order by table_name asc rows between unbounded preceding and unbounded following) first_name,
last_value(table_name) over (order by table_name asc rows between unbounded preceding and unbounded following) last_name
Alternatively, you could get the very last and very first whole rows by changing the outer where clause:
ord=1 or rownum=1 or ord between 10 and 19
And then it would be easy to have a nice header with "rows 10 - 19 of 81 (Algiers to Zimbabwe)" with very little code.
Both of these are bad for pagination - if the dataset isn't read-only. If the search criteria matches 100 rows at the time of the request, you may want to page through those matches, even if, by the time the client (human or machine) gets to page three, the query matches 80 or 110 rows - or worse, if the query still matches 100 rows, but not all of them are the same as the original 100!
You would normally capture such state by using cursors.
As in:
SELECT * FROM (SELECT *,
row_number() OVER (order by <some column - primary key column would be a good choice>) as rowidx FROM your_table) as numbered WHERE rowidx > ? AND rowid < ?
I'm genuinely curious, could you explain how the touchscreen is a disaster?
I haven't seen a Tesla interior so when you say "all controls" it's a bit concerning. I'm assuming you're talking only of non-driving related control...
Because of the lack of tactile feedback, touchscreens often lead to distracted driving by forcing drivers to take their eyes off of the road to carry out simple tasks. As an example, take HVAC and radio functionality -- in older cars with buttons and knobs, after a short amount of time, people can operate these functions without looking. The same is not true for touchscreens. That's not to say that there is no place for them in cars, but the consensus it's better to use a combination of touch screen (for things you don't often adjust while driving) and physical controls (for things you do). But it's generally cheaper to slap a big ol' touchscreen in cars that does everything, and change configurations in software, rather than investing in custom interior designs for each model of car. And it's not just Tesla doing this, even companies who hang their hat on safety like Subarus are stuffing more and more functionality into touchscreens[0].
Not entirely related, but I always hated the red dash lighting on my car. I thought it looked ugly and wondered why they didn't just go with a cleaner white colour.
Then I read about red light is specifically used in car dashboard lighting and airplane cockpits because it helps with night vision. What I thought at first was just an ugly colour choice was actually a very subtle design decision to help while driving at night.
It always reminds me how complicated and multifaceted good design is. There are always trade offs to consider, but minimalism as a design trend often seems a little too willing to ignore those trade offs and will sacrifice traits like safety, efficiency and flexibility for the sake of cost and simplicity.
Then I read about red light is specifically used in car dashboard lighting and airplane cockpits because it helps with night vision.
Given that there is a stream of not-red lights shining at me in the opposite lane, I've been skeptical of this claim since Nissan did it in the 300Z like 30 years ago. It's there to look cool, not be useful. There's a subtle design lesson in there as well, I'm just not sure what it is.
When I took an astronomy class in college, we'd have "night" class on the roof, with telescopes, and star maps.
We were instructed to bring flashlights, but cover the lens with a red layer, to keep the pupils from closing too much, so we could both look at stars but read our star charts.
The headlights in the other lane don't disqualify the benefits of using red lighting inside the car.
You don't need night vision when headlights are visible in the opposite lane. You'll appreciate it when you are driving on a dark road on a moonless or overcast night.
I don't even have a Tesla, I have a 2013 Prius which has an array of buttons for everything instead. The only knobs are the miniscule (and hard to turn) volume and tune buttons on the radio. They made a token effort but placing indentations on the heater temp and fan speed buttons but after five years I still can't operate anything on the center console without taking my eyes off the road.
I love almost everything about my Prius but the person who designed the interior to look like a Starfleet shuttlecraft should be shot.
As a Model Y owner (who still has his roof!), you very quickly become accustomed to it. Excellent voice controls allow for finding music easily, and adjusting things like the AC is done so infrequently that doing it through the touch screen is a non-issue.
Every human factors study I’ve seen results for indicated that touchscreens were ergonomically inferior. Drivers would take longer to make the same adjustments and were more distracted while doing so. You may be underestimating how much the touchscreen impacts your ability to drive. Voice control is indeed much better, but as others have pointed out, experiences may vary.
or are a non native english speakers.
Sure, not getting voice control to work properly in my language is one thing, but not being able to deal with local accents (which is a majority in the world) makes voice control almost useless.
Even the Ford Mustang Mach E has copied the Tesla center-screen design. At least they also have a short-wide screen behind the steering wheel too, and they've included a big knob embedded into the bottom of the center console screen. Hopefully that helps.
Wow. I feel like I got my Subaru at just the right time when driver assistance tech was somewhat mature but the user interface was still mostly mechanical.
I'm not familiar with Teslas at all, but it sounds like a voice interface might help work around some of these limitations, a la Alexa/Hey Google. Maybe they already have it?
Please no, nothing is more frustrating and distracting to try to get my virtual assistant to fix something they've misunderstood. That's about as fun as arguing with your passenger about directions while driving.
It feels like a specialized voice control interface with a limited set pre-programmed functionality accessible through specific hard-coded keywords (which is what I assume Teslas could be equipped with for this purpose) might have a much easier time getting things right compared to an open ended general purpose virtual assistant that has to deal with completely arbitrary voice commands and unbounded ambiguity.
I used to think that voice recognition sucked until I tried Google Assistant. Holy shit is it amazing when it picks up every single word you utter every single time. Truly impressive and if car manufacturers can license the voice tech from Google I can definitely see the tech being quite useful.
They do. You can control many things with voice in Tesla.
I don't know the comprehensive list of things you can use it for, but so far I used it to:
* Change temperature
* Play a specific song
* Set navigation to a new destination
I didn't put switching music tracks (next&previous)/adjusting volume on that list, because those can be easily performed using the scrollable button on the steering wheel.
If by voice control, you mean asking a passenger to do it, sure. If you mean trying to find the right keywords while driving a vehicle at 65 mph, no thanks. I'm a native english speaker with a california accent and none of the systems I've used have been much help.
It's like playing an old text adventure without the manual, so you don't know the verbs. It uses too much thinking to try to come up with different words while also trying to drive.
Your federal law does not necessarily apply everywhere a tesla may be purchased and operated (I'm not saying it makes economic sense or anything, just that US law is likely not the sole reason it's there)
> I'm genuinely curious, could you explain how the touchscreen is a disaster?
Touchscreens in cars are a disaster, in general. They're a bad technology for the use case. They're more so in a Tesla, because Tesla relies on them far more heavily than any other manufacturer, and gives users no alternative for most functions.
Cars should be designed to minimize touchscreen use, not maximize it.
I completely agree. They're not as reliable as buttons. A single failure breaks everything. They're not particularly robust to temperature extremes. I can't use them by touch alone. They don't work with gloves.
In fact, the reliance on a touch screen is why I've stricken Tesla off the list while shopping for an EV. I currently drive an old BMW and I love the interface. There are physical buttons for everything and there's no unnecessary fluffy stuff.
The most-modern vehicle I've driven whose interface I've liked was a Skoda Fabia.
Sounds like you are stating an opinion rather than some fact based on data. As proven by exponential growth in Teslas, there is clearly a massive fanbase of people who like touchscreen. I personally absolutely love it, and don't really know why other cars have knobs and buttons.
So if that happens, embrace the touchscreens then? I mean, in the 90s, Microsoft was pretty hung ho about having voice as the main interface to computers in the near future. They kept the keyboard, which, given the history of early noughties voice recognition, was probably just as well.
My point is that you shouldn't design things being made right now for an entirely speculative future change.
I don't think anyone believes that Tesla will have actual self-driving cars, which don't require constant driver attention, within the lifetime of the cars currently being produced.
One thing I’ve never seen mentioned online but a Model 3 owner I know complained about is that the speedometer is blocked if you have your right hand between 3 and 6 o clock on the steering wheel. He had to change the way he’s used to gripping the wheel to accommodate the car which seemed like a high burden for a luxury product.
I truly don't understand how your friend has this problem. I have a Model 3, and after I read your comment, I tried to block my view of the speedometer with my right hand and couldn't do it. I tried sitting closer and farther back, higher and lower. I tried every position on the steering wheel. I flared my elbows out. I tried to imagine my hands and wrists were twice the size. I just don't see how this is possible. I'd love to see a POV pic from your friend that illustrates the problem. For my money, having the speedometer on the central screen makes it more visible. My view of a conventional dash is always partially blocked by the steering wheel.
Think I misremembered slightly, I only rode with him once. I though the speedo was at the lower left of the screen but it looks like the upper left. Think maybe he was used to having his hand between 12 and 3 and had to move? He was a larger guy if that makes a difference
Not a friend, just a former coworker I didn’t keep in contact with so I don’t have any way to follow up.
Almost every modern car has an adjustable steering wheel which you can move around to ensure you have a line to the instrument panel. Cars in the Model 3 price range will often project speed and other driving information into the windshield.
A lot of people have offered other details. I’d add: in the Model 3 even instrument panel information like speed is in the center display.
Touchscreens cut costs because you can ship the same hardware to all SKUs and change features in software. Buttons need to be added or replaced with fillers depending on the options that each car has.
On my dad's old land rover, you can literally operate the radio wearing blindfolds because everywhere is simply placed. It responds instantly, draws no power, and shut up when you aren't using it. His current car just gets in your way, even if it has more features.
