#competent electric motor

[hope-for-the-planet]

This is What the World's First All-EV Car Market Looks Like

Image and text from this Bloomberg article:

In Norway, Toyota Motor Corp. is going from one electric-powered model to five to better compete with Tesla Inc., fuel stations are ripping out pumps to make space for chargers, and even nursing homes in the rural interior have switched to battery-powered cars despite months of arctic cold. All are signs of the dramatic shift that has put the Nordic country on the cusp of becoming the first market in the world to all but eliminate sales of new combustion-powered cars. “It’s cold here, there are mountains, long distances to drive,” Yngve Slyngstad, the former head of Norway’s $1.8 trillion sovereign wealth fund, said on the way to his electric car in downtown Oslo. “There are so many reasons EVs shouldn’t have been a success here, and yet we’ve done it.” It’s a transition that happened with remarkable speed. While there have long been incentives to encourage EV purchases — mainly to promote short-lived domestic upstarts — adoption only started to accelerate in recent years, as a greater variety of cars became available. Once an inflection point was reached, the ramp-up was rapid.

[carsthatnevermadeitetc]

Ford F-150 Lightning SuperTruck Concept, 2024. An electric SuperTruck that will compete at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on June 23. The powertrain uses 3 motors to produce more than 1,400hp. It will be driven by Romain Dumas

[nonclassyparty]

sweet and right and merciful (c.s)

summary:

(A STARRING ROLE SPIN-OFF) Choi San deals with the mortifying ordeal of falling in love.

playlist (tba) // my main masterlist // moodboard (tba)//click to donate to Palestine

notes; i bet you thought you'd seen the last of both me and sr!san well you're wrong! tell me if you want to be added to the taglist

snippet;

As he didn't have a disgustingly large amount of generational wealth to back him up nor parents who dabbled in political meddling and occasional blackmail like some of his peers, San always knew that he would have to fight tooth and nail for his spot in the world.

This would seem fairly overdramatic if all he was seeking out of life was a stable job and paid bills, of course: he was, after all, the son of a middle school teacher and a man that had several jobs which he never did right because hey, they never had much so San should've been satisfied with anything. 

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how one would look at it), Choi San was too ambitious for his own good. Having been born and raised in the small town of Namhae which was nothing more than an old supermarket some (nobody under the age of fifty) considered a shopping mall and a small beach - the moment he left for college, he swore that he'd never be back there again for nothing more but the holidays. And simply leaving Namhae wasn't enough, no, you see San's goal was money, more money than he would ever need. Bitterness could be considered a man's biggest motivator to get something done and spending his childhood and early adolescence watching his mother work day and night to make sure the bills are paid just for no money to be left spare sure did make San bitter. Call him shallow and materialistic but to San, money most definitely could buy some happiness.

And so, with that thought in mind (placed by no-one else but himself) since the tender age of twelve when he first visited Seoul for a football game and saw what exactly he's been missing out on living in Namhae, San poured everything he had into his studies until he landed a scholarship for Seoul National University in the field of Electrical Engineering. He had been strategic in his choice of career. Electrical engineering required just enough work and brains for it to be considered a lucrative degree and used just enough engineering principles to keep him interested in the job.

And San was excellent at his job. He was quick and efficient, precise and absolutely never wrong. Getting hired to work at one of South Korea's most renowned automobile manufacturing companies not long after he got his degree didn't come as a surprise to no-one. He was competent. The problem with competence and climbing the business ladder though was that it was rewarded with increasingly complex projects almost every month.

And so, our opening scene: A Thursday morning, sometime in January. Amidst the white cubicles on the third floor of Zenith Motor Company, Mr. Kim was doling out new projects to his top engineers with a vengeance.

"Jung, this ones for you," He smacks Jaehyun over the head with the folder before dropping it unceremoniously on his desk, "And try not to get doughnut smudges all over this one."

"Byun, you're continuing the testing from last month." Jaebum nods his head, eyes barely moving from the computer screen in front of him. Mr. Kim continues with an eye roll, "Lim, new model that needs surveillance."

He continues down the room throwing down casefiles as he goes until he stops by San's desk with a smile, "Choi, since you did so well on the Genesis project I'll let you choose." 

"What are my options?" San asks, leaning back in his chair as two files are thrown onto his desk.

Mr. Kim looks down onto his clipboard. "Mr. Jinyoung needs help with the 3D design for-"

Mr. Jinyoung is one of San's bosses.

"-the new model that we're ready to turn in for production. You could send him an e-mail but I wouldn't, he's a bit...difficult to be around these days."

Mr. Jinyoung is also the husband of one Son Danbi, the thirty-four year old woman that San got...very familiar with for a groundbreaking six times at his apartment before he learned that Danbi is a bit too clingy and his job actually might be at stake if she keeps calling the office asking for San instead of her husband. Three times in a row.

She didn't handle San deciding it's best to stop seeing each other very well.

Getting fired for sleeping with his boss' wife and probably getting his nose broken (for the second time over a woman) when his boss' wife inevitably has a meltdown and exposes how San fucked her into his mattress six times once San refuses to meet up with her out of newfound respect for the man she's married to (read: he's scared that he'll get sacked) or literally anything else. The choice was quite obvious.

"I'll take the second option." San quips with ease as he flips over the folder.

"Research and development for a new model! I was hoping you'd pick that one and am not disappointed, you never back down from a challenge." Mr. Kim comments with a grin that San returns because he's been kissing his ass too long to stop now. "You're working with another engineer from the second floor."

San nods and, as Mr. Kim keeps going down to the next cubicle, his eyes sweep over the file and stop at the bottom of the page where one out of two people tasked has already signed their name. In neat handwriting;

Y/L Y/N

He bites back a groan, eyes falling shut and he can hear the Head of the office keep rattling off assignments somewhere in the background.

Nothing registers because suddenly, San remembers honey skin, judging eyes and a sharp tongue and wonders if getting his nose broken a second time right before getting fired by Mr. Jinyoung and losing his entire career would've been the wiser option.

[seat-safety-switch]

Storage is the defining problem of our age. Two hundred years ago, our ancestors had fifteen or twenty things in their houses, max. And one of them was "bed." Now, we have a lot of clutter. Sure, it's down from the peak of the 1970s, when we needed thirty-six different pieces of electrical equipment just to listen to racist people in our general area, but we still have too much stuff.

Self-storage companies have exploded. Not literally, although that did happen to the one near me from some dude cooking shatter, but they are immensely profitable. If you receive a bunch of heirloom furniture from Crazy Aunt Ethel, you won't have enough room for it in your single bedroom basement apartment. You shove all of it into a self-storage bay, and keep paying the monthly bills, waiting until you can have a house big enough to place some heirloom furniture in.

The storage companies know this. They'll give you a low "sucker" rate at the start, and then start cranking up the fees. And you'll keep paying them. It's cheaper to kick in $5 more a month, than it is to ask your friend Ted to borrow his pickup truck so that you can drive all your shit across town to a competing storage unit, who will do the exact same thing.

How do you fight back, ideally without having to throw away a bunch of coffee tables from 1953 and incurring the eternal wrath of Aunt Ethel's shade? You have to let the storage unit make money for you. The obvious way is electricity. With electricity, you can run all kinds of things, from a seedy cryptocurrency mining operation, to an illegal online betting parlour. And the storage folks know this, which is why they don't provide power to your unit, and wrap the unit's lightbulb in an impenetrable steel cage. They are used to dealing with your average, run-of-the-mill cheap scumbag.

Don't let that stop you: despite what your neurochemistry is telling you, you are an exceptional cheap scumbag. You don't need their electricity; you can generate your own. The answer? Rats love running on little hamster wheels. You can make thirty, forty cents a month, per wheel. That's money in your pocket, and all it will cost you is a bit of expired cheese and a lot of old Subaru blower motors. Sure, it's not going to be great for any couches or clothing that you leave in the unit, but who ever heard of a heirloom sofa bed? Throw that shit out, ideally by leaving it in a unit and no longer paying the bill. You don't need to cling to memories: you're rich now, atop your rodent power empire.

[catenary-chad]

Early uses of electric trains (that may surprise you)

This doesn’t explicitly apply about any canon characters, though you could use it to expand on/reinterpret Electra, the Nationals, or make OCs. I’ve just noticed a lot of people in the Stex fandom, and even just general railfans, that don’t realize that electrification historically has had waaaay more uses than environment friendliness and high speeds. Here are some other things it was used for in the days before global warming was on anyone’s radar and smoke was considered a sign of prosperity (the early-mid 20th century)

TUNNELS- burning things in enclosed spaces is a pretty well known way to get carbon monoxide poisoning. Even open-ended but long, slow-speed tunnels had issues with smoke and exhaust from steam and even diesel engines lingering and blocking vision/suffocating people, leading to gas masks or cab forward engines being used. So these became some of the first places to require electrification. And it wasn’t just subways, you also had underground mines and long tunnels through the mountains like the Cascades Tunnel.

HILLS: Due to electric motors being strongest at low speeds (and steam engines being strongest at full speed) and much better power to weight ratio, electric trains are REALLY good on steep, long inclines, especially if there’s any stopping involved. The Milwaukee Road’s Pacific Extension, the Virginian Railway, and basically the entire country of Switzerland are fun examples of early electric lines on rugged mountainsides where even very large steam engines struggled. On top of that, running downhill with regenerative brakes dramatically axes the amount of total power used. And as an added weird bonus, extreme low temperatures and lower oxygen at high altitudes impaired the performance of combustion engines on parts of the Milwaukee Road but electric engines saw no losses or even outright benefits due to enhanced motor cooling (cooling traction motors is a big deal and why a lot of older electric engines have such loud fans)

ACCELERATION: Electric engines and EMUS especially are great at stopping/starting quickly, making them great for commuter trains with frequent stops. This allows greater train frequency without increasing tracks, and is a major benefit of electrification even today (see Caltrain’s electrification project). Also see the GER Class A55 for how extreme steam engineering had to get to compete at the turn of the century.

SHEER POWER: It’s hard to overstate just how much more powerful individual electric engines can be vs diesel or even steam, not having to carry their own power source allows them to access a lot more. Just take a look at the “most powerful locomotives” wikipedia list, and that one actually leaves off a LOT of mostly older electric engines that would outclass steam/diesel ones included. There are a surprising number of huge early electric engines like the PRR FF1 with a similar tractive effort to later large steam engines (albeit a lot of these were slooow due to the aforementioned trait of motors being strongest at lowest speeds). This is also why high speed trains are almost all electric, their monstrous HP numbers are more to pull moderate loads at 200+ mph.

HYDROELECTRICITY: Using hydroelectric power was a practical and not environmental choice in the early 20th century and where it was readily available (especially where fossil fuels weren’t), electrification became very lucrative. Switzerland is the most extreme example, without much of a domestic supply of coal but a lot of hydropower. The Milwaukee Road and Pennsylvania Railroad also used dams as a major power source

MAINTENANCE AND LABOR COSTS: This was a bigger advantage in the steam era because the gap between them and steam engines in terms of maintenance and availability was so wide, and you can run multiple electric engines with one crew but double/triple heading steam engines requires one for each engine. They’re still competitive if not cheaper than diesel power today, especially on high-frequency routes, and especially when the costs of pollution are included. Electric trains are generally the lowest maintenance and most reliable of all traction, and tend to last longer due to fewer moving parts (50+ year lifespans are not rare). Now it’s more a matter of paying more up front and less on maintenance vs less up front and more on maintenance. The actual wires and infrastructure are a BIG up front cost that’s very hard for private businesses to do alone without government help (just see how many lines got bankrupted by these projects in the US in the early 20th century)

BONUS: this is technically a promo by the company itself, but it’s relatively willing to admit their faults, The Milwaukee Electrification

Goes into a lot of the points made above in a pretty fun and concise package

[hold-fast-and-rise]

The evolution of Ferrari's flagship hypercars, starting from the 288 GTO to the conceptual F80. Here's a breakdown of each model:

1. Ferrari 288 GTO (1984)

Inspired by Group B racing but never competed.

2.9L twin-turbo V8, 400 hp.

First Ferrari to use a twin-turbo V8.

2. Ferrari F40 (1987)

Built to celebrate Ferrari's 40th anniversary.

2.9L twin-turbo V8, 471 hp.

Last Ferrari personally approved by Enzo Ferrari.

3. Ferrari F50 (1995)

Features an F1-derived 4.7L naturally aspirated V12.

513 hp, open-top design.

Known for its raw driving experience.

4. Ferrari Enzo (2002)

Named after Ferrari’s founder, Enzo Ferrari.

6.0L naturally aspirated V12, 651 hp.

Features a carbon-fiber chassis and F1-inspired tech.

5. Ferrari LaFerrari (2013)

Ferrari’s first hybrid hypercar.

6.3L V12 + electric motor, 950 hp.

Limited to 499 coupes and 210 Aperta (convertibles).

6. Ferrari F80 Concept (Not an official Ferrari car)

Designed by an independent designer, Adriano Raeli.

Hypothetical hybrid V8 with over 1,200 hp.

Futuristic aerodynamics and design cues from Ferrari’s legacy.

[lore-of-the-mushroom-kingdom]

My Unofficial Mario Character Bio

This is a going to be the first in a series of posts I will be making for unofficial character bios I made for the Mario cast, using official information to craft them. These are intended to help people better grasp these characters and I hope y'all like them.

Mario the is the iconic hero of the Mushroom Kingdom who is always willing to stand up to the Turtle Tribe when they step out of line. Brought to his parents in the Mushroom Kingdom he would grow up with his younger twin brother Luigi, and even attended kindergarten with a Baby Peach. Eventually the Bros. moved to Big City now New Donk City where they could go through many jobs until they eventually became construction plumbers, which has been Mario’s profession ever since. Mario is also a jack-of-all-trades, having even become a doctor researching viruses at the Mushroom Kingdom Hospital's virus research lab. He is a trusted friend of Princess Peach and heavily implied to be dating her. His masterful jumping abilities which he uses in all his adventures have made him very athletic, and have allowed him to excel in all types of sports, and have even helped him out in the Olympics. His jumping skills are what make him popular, and in New Donk City he was given the title Jumpman. He is also famous for his moustache. He has many rivals from the Donkey Kongs to Wario, but neither hold a candle to his arch-rival King Bowser Koopa. Between the Bros. Mario is regarded as the one with the brawn between the two, and while he is strong he is not as strong as his rivals Wario and Donkey Kong. Speaking of rivalry Mario and Luigi have had a friendly rivalry since they were little, when they play sports, race karts, and even in the Olympics which they partake in. They can get into heated contests to the point they will even compete to see who gets the most medals. That being said both of the brothers do care about each other very much where they will defend each other, and in Mario’s case has even hallucinated seeing Luigi when they were apart. They also seem to have a twin sense. Both him and Luigi are famous around the world, though characters can be surprised to see this is the Mushroom Kingdom’s hero, and Mario is more likely to be recognized more for his heroics than Luigi is. Mario is bright, merry, and very cheerful with an indomitable spirit and is an all-around guy who is always ready to help out a friend.. He is meant to represent the perpetual underdog. Mario doesn’t aim to kill his opponents though that doesn’t mean he won’t if he needs to in some cases. In addition, due to adventures like the one he took with Bowser, Geno, Peach, and Mallow he knows there is more to Bowser. This is why he has helped Bowser Junior return Bowser back to normal in one game, and comforted Bowser in another. But he also isn’t going to let Bowser kidnap Peach and force her to marry him, let alone conquer other lands. Mario, also has experienced several opponents who have turned over a new leaf and villains who have been reformed which may also influence how he treats Bowser. He also doesn't punch Yoshies or drop Yoshies into pits, and the same goes for the rest of his friends who ride Yoshies. Let alone his loyal adventuring buddy Yoshi who is a good friend of his. Toad is also one of Mario’s loyal friends. Mario has provided a lot for the Mario Kart Grand Prixs through Mario Motors , Mario Work Gear, and Mario Electrical Support.

[trillscienceofficer]

I think Star Trek: Voyager is (as always) wishy-washy on assigning specific roles and competences to the engineering crew but it's interesting to consider the role of chief engineer specifically as a systems engineer, ie someone who has to make sure everything plays nice together, both on a human(oid) side and a technology side. Many systems engineers think of themselves as jacks of all trades, who know enough about every system in a project to be aware of how they communicate with each other and how they can be optimized, but who usually leave the actual process of optimization to the people who have the specific role and knowledge to do that. And as a result, you also have to be able to listen to, talk to, and direct people.

Thinking specifically about B'Elanna, I think "Parallax" makes the case that Chakotay pushed her forward for the role of chief engineer mainly because her technical knowledge and abilities. B'Elanna is absolutely a jack of all trades, sometimes even too good at everything to be believable, but honestly I don't begrudge this as the usual lazy Trek approach to anything regarding science and technology. There are people out there, even now, who can jump from disassembling and reassembling car engines to repairing delicate electronics to writing code from scratch for functional drones. Space travel is obviously much more intricate and complex than internal combustion engines or three-phase electric motors, with so many more systems that need to solve specific issues, but I can definitely suspend my disbelief enough to imagine a world where spaceships are as commonplace as electric cars are nowadays. Anyway, my point is: B'Elanna is that type of guy who can do everything and do it well, Chakotay obviously knew this because he'd seen it firsthand, so she is the obvious choice for THEE system engineer on the USS Voyager.

A systems engineer has to interact and guide people a lot too, though, and I don't think Chakotay would've imposed an ultimatum on Janeway if he'd had doubts on B'Elanna's people skills. Thinking about Chakotay knowing this about her, it makes me somewhat understand the tough attitude he has towards her sometimes (ie "I know you can be so much better than this and it's pissing me off that you're choosing to go low now"), though I don't necessarily love how often it happens. He must've known that with a bit of patience and understanding B'Elanna can fill in a leadership role and do it well, despite her not always displaying good judgment (eg with Dreadnought). He was right that Janeway just needed to give her a chance. I'm sure Chakotay had gone through a similar process of getting to understand how B'Elanna operates (and how to best utilize her skills) in the Maquis.

For all that the show forgets very often about the source of B'Elanna's prickliness, I think her "worst" interpersonal trait is that she can't suffer fools, and that makes her irrational and immature in the eyes of many, because of course women of color setting high standards is tantamount to anathema and cannot last. It's pattern that imho repeats in her relationship with Tom, where B'Elanna obvious affection for him and willingness to bridge any gaps to continue being with him erodes any standards she might've had, bit by bit. But this only shows that, again as a pattern that repeats in her personal life, she is actually very willing to sacrifice her ego in order for the boat to not rock too hard and keep sailing, and especially in order to keep people from leaving. So I've been wondering for a long time if also being a chief engineer on the USS Voyager, a systems engineer that has to make everything work together as smoothly as possible, also didn't mean for B'Elanna a slow erosion of her sense of self, subsumed entirely by the need to keep everything running or else everyone dies. Don't get me wrong, I still think Chakotay was right and this is a role that B'Elanna was meant to assume, and she fulfills it incredibly well. That being said, I think neither Chakotay nor B'Elanna realized the personal cost it would impose on her. Obviously being lost at sea is a particularly fraught condition in which to assume that much responsibility, but I think B'Elanna also has trouble separating her identity from any role she occupies, be it chief engineer or girlfriend etc. This is... I don't know, maybe something that's expected of (fictional) women, "nurturing" and all, but honestly it's not a trait that I would consider at all positive though the show seems to think that B'Elanna should be more like this for some fucking reason.

So I wonder, what is left of her obvious passion and enthusiasm for technology once back in the Alpha Quadrant? What would it mean for her to keep working for Starfleet afterwards, part of an even larger and much more impersonal (without any equivalent to Janeway's or Chakotay's approval) machine? I don't think that without either her former passion or a deeply personal component B'Elanna could be happy in such an environment, to be honest.

[mychlapci]

Could you give us more filthy ass spice on the rescue bots with their human partners? I imagine that these last ones will end up just as freaky as their bot partners (and only with them), but will never admit it....obviously, everyone would make a collective effort to make sure Cody doesn't find out about the adult activities (he´s a sweet angel and needs to be protected lol)

Basically, "you fucked me so good my own species no longer gets me going" and "I fucked you so good my own species no longer gets me going". According to you, what would be the kinks each both and human would be into, and mutual kinks for each pairing?

okay, the rescue team and the rescue bots completely rewiring each other into becoming alien fuckers is good. lots of funny potential, but also, kind of fucked up. I want Kade to be getting it on with Hayley and half-way through realizing that he’s missing the sound of a rumbling engine, the feel of hard metal under his hands, the sensation of combing wires between his fingers. I want Dani to be getting it on with that crush of hers and she realizes that she doesn’t like the feel of flesh anymore, that when she touches him she expects hard steel and the flutter of helicopter wings. I want Graham to be casually fixing a small electric motor or a motherboard or whatever and popping a boner. Chief Burns never really looked at women all that much because most of his focus was on his kids and on his job but now he’s lost all interest, all the warmth he needs is that of Chase’s cabin. 

And the bots too. They’ll interface to release tension after a long day of working and it’s fine but they all kind of wish a human was involved, missing the soft flesh and the squirming, small hands pressing up against the chassis, the gush of organic fluids and the feeling of their little bodies overheating in such a peculiar manner… Uh oh. They’ve all trained themselves to be attracted to an alien species. 

but then again, funny potential. people asking chief Burns why doesn’t he find someone now that his kids are mostly grown up, and he has to spin some story about how his job is important and how Cody is still small and it wouldn’t be fair to him. Meanwhile Chase is behind him revving his engine because he’s feeling jealous. People ask Kade why he broke up with his dream girl and he kind of stumbles around before making a “joke” about how he’s only faithful to his job. 

and as for kinks... i think Graham and Boulder are big into Plug ’n’ play. Graham is interested in the construction of the cybertronian physique and Boulder is happy to indulge him. They like a little bit of electroshock play. These two probably have the most healthy sexual relationship, lots of safety precautions and consent.

The two who are competely unsafe and fucked up are Heatwave and Kade, who don’t take proper safety precautions, meaning that Kade will limp around for a week, or Heatwave will be painstankigly cleaning out semen out of his valve for hours. They like to do a little dom/sub play, though of course both of them is convinced they’re the dom.

mhmmm I think Blades has a little bit of a force-fem kink. He likes it when Dani calls him a pretty girl, plays with his valve and calls it a pussy. He would wear a dress or lingerie for her if they made any in his size. Dani is definitely into it. She wasn’t really at first, but she wuickly found ou that she likes it when her partner is a little bit of an anxious wreck.

Chief Burns and Chase have the weirdest relationship yet. Chase is very communicative, in his own way, and Charlie is humiliated but tries to be recoprocative. They keep everything very down low and calm, enjoying each other’s company most of the time. But wwhen they get kinky, they get kinky. Chase loves listening to orders, after all, and fulfilling them only makes him feel happy. Intense Dom/Sub play with these two.

[grogumaximus]

According to information from auto motor und sport, Mercedes will probably find it difficult to compete in 2026. Verstappen's camp says that the hottest stock on the transfer market will still be in the Red Bull cockpit. The reasons for this seem logical: the new regulations will come into force in 2026, and the power units will play a more important role again. The electric power of the hybrid will increase significantly. Almost half of the power will be generated electrically. Verstappen first wants to see which manufacturer will be best able to master the new regulations.

Although Mercedes dominated the first part of the hybrid era (2014 to 2021), there is no guarantee that it will have an advantage on the drive side from 2026 onwards. However, the clear upward trend on the chassis side could be a plus point for Mercedes. After almost three years of the ground effect era, the team has finally managed to get back to the top. At the moment, Verstappen could fight for victories in the W15.

Red Bull will develop its own power unit for the first time in 2026. The team from Milton Keynes will receive support from Ford, who will use their knowledge to contribute to the electric part of the hybrid. If Red Bull finds the holy grail here and Mercedes doesn't, a Verstappen move would be obsolete. Conversely, the 26-year-old could then decide to leave for Mercedes with a clear conscience.

Toto Wolff will have to continue to be patient. The Austrian still has super talent Andrea Kimi Antonelli in reserve. The 17-year-old Mercedes junior is getting better and better after initial difficulties in Formula 2 and is set to become George Russell's team-mate in 2025.

If, contrary to our information, Wolff is able to sign Verstappen for 2026, the team boss would have a luxury problem: Russell or Antonelli would have to look for another cockpit. It would be a hard blow to send the young Italian out after just one year in the premier class. The same goes for Russell. The Englishman has proven his class in just under three years at Mercedes and has also more than held his own against superstar Lewis Hamilton.

[stevebattle]

Teeeni (1988) Nanyang Technological Institute (NTI), School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE), Singapore. "Prof Goh said the institute's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering first started experimenting with micromouse building in 1987, using a commercially available kit from Japan. The result, named Rattus-Rodee, was not only bulky and clumsy, but extremely slow. Undaunted by the poor performance, NTI rounded up a group of lecturers with expertise ranging from microprocessor hardware, computer software, motor control, sensor technology to artificial intelligence. At least 80 students at different levels of study were recruited for the programme. What helped most, Prof Goh recalled, was the in-house programme which required second-year students to undergo 10 weeks of intensive practical training during their long vacation. This exposed them to different training modules which included industrial talks, factory visits, mechanical workshop and workstation education. Having been taught the basics, the students were challenged to build micromouses and compete for prizes in campus contests. This resulted in successive generations of micromouses, each of which was an improvement of the previous one. "Ruth", which came after Rattus-Rodee, was reduced in size and weight and travelled more accurately, but was still slow. Though sleek, the third-generation model "Teeeni" was still heavy and slow. But both performed creditably in the National Micromouse Contest last year. Ruth was in fourth position and Teeeni was placed second." – Mightiest Mouse, by Nancy Koh, The Straits Times, 6 November 1989.

The video is an excerpt from "UK Micromouse 1989."

[compneuropapers]

Interesting Papers for Week 20, 2024

Brain-imaging evidence for compression of binary sound sequences in human memory. Al Roumi, F., Planton, S., Wang, L., & Dehaene, S. (2023). eLife, 12, e84376.

Awake responses suggest inefficient dense coding in the mouse retina. Boissonnet, T., Tripodi, M., & Asari, H. (2023). eLife, 12, e78005.

Competing neural representations of choice shape evidence accumulation in humans. Bond, K., Rasero, J., Madan, R., Bahuguna, J., Rubin, J., & Verstynen, T. (2023). eLife, 12, e85223.

Overestimation in angular path integration precedes Alzheimer’s dementia. Castegnaro, A., Ji, Z., Rudzka, K., Chan, D., & Burgess, N. (2023). Current Biology, 33(21), 4650-4661.e7.

Predictive learning by a burst-dependent learning rule. Chapman, G. W., & Hasselmo, M. E. (2023). Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 205, 107826.

Motor actions are spatially organized in motor and dorsal premotor cortex. Chehade, N. G., & Gharbawie, O. A. (2023). eLife, 12, e83196.

A complete reconstruction of the early visual system of an adult insect. Chua, N. J., Makarova, A. A., Gunn, P., Villani, S., Cohen, B., Thasin, M., … Chklovskii, D. B. (2023). Current Biology, 33(21), 4611-4623.e4.

Longitudinal evidence that infants develop their imitation abilities by being imitated. Essler, S., Becher, T., Pletti, C., Gniewosz, B., & Paulus, M. (2023). Current Biology, 33(21), 4674-4678.e3.

How associations become behavior. Ghirlanda, S., & Enquist, M. (2023). Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 205, 107833.

Emotion regulation during encoding reduces negative and enhances neutral mnemonic discrimination in individuals with depressive symptoms. Hayes, B. K., Harikumar, A., Ferguson, L. A., Dicker, E. E., Denny, B. T., & Leal, S. L. (2023). Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 205, 107824.

Representations of tactile object location in the retrosplenial cortex. Lande, A. S., Garvert, A. C., Ebbesen, N. C., Jordbræk, S. V., & Vervaeke, K. (2023). Current Biology, 33(21), 4599-4610.e7.

Informational feedback accelerates learning in multi-alternative perceptual judgements of orientation. Liu, J., Lu, Z.-L., & Dosher, B. (2023). Vision Research, 213, 108318.

History information emerges in the cortex during learning. Marmor, O., Pollak, Y., Doron, C., Helmchen, F., & Gilad, A. (2023). eLife, 12, e83702.

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[yay855]

I need you people to try this game- it's an open-source survival sci-fi traditional roguelike called Cataclysm Bright Nights. It's a fork based off of Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead, but designed to be more focused on fun than punishing realism- though it's still plenty realistic, at least given what kind of game it is.

For those who don't know, Cataclysm is an old game, from 2010, that has been developed over time and has since forked off into two competing versions. You play as the survivor of the Cataclysm, and now have to figure out how to keep surviving in the face of an ever-evolving threat.

Grab the game from the release section of the github; the game's full description (and my gushing) is below the cut.

You may be asking, "that description is kind of vague, what exactly was this apocalypse?", well the answer is all of them. Every single human is infected with a parasitic interdimensional organism known as The Blob, which mutates its host in response to certain things. Every living human, and many animals, that dies will come back as a zombie, and the longer the Cataclysm goes on, the more the zombies and wildlife will mutate further. There are also crazed humans who fight alongside the undead, bandits, alien invaders known as Mi-Go, demons rising from the netherrealms, hostile military robots and cyborgs and turrets dot the landscape, and there's even a fungal hive mind trying to infect all other life out of a twisted benevolence.

The game also has one of the most indepth crafting systems I've ever seen. Instead of simply being able to build with a workbench or your bare hands, most crafting recipes require the proper tools- and if you don't have them, you can make some. Pick some flowers to turn their stems into cordage, grab some rocks, and make a stone hammer and knife; build a basic screwdriver out of scrap metal and wood, and a makeshift crowbar out of a pipe you flattened on one end. Carve a wooden or bone needle and learn to sew a gambeson. Disassemble a lawnmower and tie the blade to a long stick to make a makeshift polearm. Construct a full forging setup and make yourself a sword and metal armor. Add an electric motor and a motorcycle battery to a bicycle to make it run that much faster. Take the turret mount off of a firetruck, weld it to the hood of the car you stole, and install a handmade laser rifle you built from disassembled electronics and camera lenses to run off of the car's battery, allowing you to gun down the undead hordes in relative safety. Disassemble .308 ammo to hand-load the spent 5.56 shells you used gunning down enemies. Delve into ruined laboratories whose experiments have run amok to find high-tech weapons and learn to craft your own targeted mutagens.

You can also learn martial arts, strengthening your abilities with melee weapons. Everyone learns basic brawling once they know how to hit something, but brawling takes higher skill to gain the basic techniques; proper fighting styles have to be carefully found, but are worth it. Use Eskrima and an extendable baton or a dagger to smack and dice your enemies apart, use fencing to effortlessly parry enemy attacks with a rapier, use ninjutsu to silently take down foes, learn drunken boxing to sway and counterattack every single enemy blow, or even learn biojutsu to slice your enemies apart with implanted metal claws or blades.

The game is also unique in that it lets you use mutations and cybernetics hand in hand. You mutating a pair of venomous fangs doesn't stop you from installing smoke and poison resistant cybernetic lungs, you mutating hooves doesn't stop you from installing high-tech alloy plating onto your legs. And you can loot cybernetics from hospitals and augmentation clinics and labs, but you can also dissect zombies for them, using your first aid skill to carefully extract bionics from the undead- you can even build a handheld device to identify bionics in corpses. Generally, mutations are less reliable but cost hunger at most, while cybernetics are more reliable but harder to power and gain.

All in all, it's one of the best roguelikes I've ever played. There's so much to it, there's daily updates, grab the Catapult launcher to try all four forks, just try it out! There's a discord server linked in the github!

[beardedmrbean]

Big taxes will be imposed on imports of electric vehicles from China to the EU after the majority of member states backed the plans.

The move to introduce tariffs aims to protect the European car industry from being undermined by what EU politicians believe are unfair Chinese-state subsidies on its own cars.

Tariffs on electric cars made in China are set to rise from 10% to up to 45% for the next five years, but there have been concerns such a move could raise electric vehicle (EV) prices for buyers.

The decision, which split EU member states such as France and Germany, risks sparking a trade war between Brussels and Beijing, which has condemned the tariffs as protectionist.

China has been counting on high-tech products to help revive its flagging economy and the EU is the largest overseas market for the country's electric car industry.

Its domestic car industry has grown rapidly over the past two decades and its brands, such as BYD, have begun moving into international markets, prompting fears from the likes of the EU that its own companies will be unable to compete with the cheaper prices.

The EU imposed import tariffs of varying levels on different Chinese manufacturers in the summer, but Friday's vote was to decide if they were implemented for the next five years.

The charges were calculated based on estimates of how much Chinese state aid each manufacturer has received following an EU investigation. The European Commission set individual duties on three major Chinese EV brands - SAIC, BYD and Geely.

EU members were divided on tariffs. Germany, whose car manufacturing industry is heavily dependent on exports to China, was against them. Many EU members abstained in the vote.

German carmakers have been vocal in opposition. Volkswagen says tariffs are "the wrong approach".

However, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland were reported to have backed the import taxes. The tariffs proposal could only have been blocked if a qualified majority of 15 members voted against it.

Germany's top industry association, BDI, called on the European Union and China to continue trade talks over tariffs to avoid an "escalating trade conflict".

The European Commission, which held the vote, said the EU and China would "work hard to explore an alternative solution" to the import taxes to address what it called "injurious subsidisation" of Chinese electric vehicles.

China's Commerce Ministry called the decision to impose tariffs "unfair" and "unreasonable", but added the issue could be resolved through negotiations.

The dispute has raised fears among industry groups outside the car sector that they could face retaliatory tariffs from China.

A trade body for the French cognac industry said the French authorities "have abandoned us".

"We do not understand why our sector is being sacrificed in this way."

It said a negotiated solution needed to be found that would "prevent our products from facing a surtax that could exclude them from the Chinese market".

'Serious concerns' over UK sales

Figures show that in August this year, EU registrations of battery-electric cars fell by 43.9% from a year earlier.

In the UK, demand for new electric vehicles hit a new record in September, but orders were mostly driven by commercial deals and by big manufacturer discounts, according to the industry trade body.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said firms had "serious concerns as the market is not growing quickly enough to meet mandated targets".

The industry has warned that drivers need better incentives to buy electric to help manufacturers ahead of the planned ban on sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles. Under the Conservative government the deadline for this ban was pushed back to 2035 from 2030, but Labour has pledged to bring it back to 2030.

Car makers are required to meet electric vehicle sales targets. Under the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, at least 22% of vehicles sold this year must be zero-emission, with the target expected to hit 80% by 2030 and 100% by 2035.

Manufacturers that fail to hit quotas could be fined £15,000 per car.

The bosses of several car companies, including BMW, Ford and Nissan, wrote to Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Friday saying the industry was likely to miss these targets.

They said economic factors such as higher energy and material costs and interest rates had meant electric cars remained "stubbornly more expensive and consumers are wary of investing". The average cost to buy an electric car in the UK is around £48,000.

They said a "lack of confidence" in the UK’s charging infrastructure was another barrier to encourage people to switch to electric.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this New York Times story:

The federal government will grant car and auto parts factories in eight states $1.7 billion to begin producing electric vehicles and other clean energy technology, the Biden administration announced on Thursday.

Among the 11 recipients will be a Jeep factory in Belvidere, Ill., that the brand’s parent company Stellantis closed last year. The money will allow the plant to reopen and produce electric vehicles, officials said, restoring almost 1,450 jobs.

Other beneficiaries include a factory in Georgia that plans to make Blue Bird electric school buses, a General Motors factory in Michigan that will shift production from gasoline to electric vehicles, and a Harley-Davidson factory in Pennsylvania that will increase production of electric motorcycles.

The funding helps to address fears that electric vehicles will endanger jobs at factories that make gasoline-powered vehicles or parts for internal combustion engines as the industry shifts to E.V.s. To qualify for the money, companies had to commit to retraining their existing workers.

Employees at all of the factories chosen are represented by unions. Officials said they gave priority to communities that suffered disproportionately from pollution or lack of investment.

Several of the factories are in Pennsylvania, Michigan or Georgia, states where narrow margins will determine the outcome of the presidential election. President Biden, in a statement, sought to contrast his industrial policies with those of former President Donald J. Trump.

The funds will preserve 15,000 jobs and create almost 3,000 new ones, Jennifer Granholm, the energy secretary, said on a conference call with reporters on Wednesday. In a reference to China, she said the money will allow the United States to “compete with other countries who were subsidizing their auto industries.”

The awards will draw on funds allocated by the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Democrats in Congress in 2022. The legislation provided subsidies that have fed a boom in construction of electric vehicle factories and battery plants.

[scotianostra]

On November 16th 1956 the last of the original trams ran in Edinburgh.

Sixty five years ago this evening, thousands turned out to wave an emotional goodbye to the city’s original tram system before it was scrapped.

Trams had been falling out of favour across the country since the end of the Second World War. Cities were expanding, and the rail-and-wire-bound trams of yesteryear could not compete with the flexibility and cost-­effectiveness of the modern motor bus. Municipal tramways up and down the country faced the heavy axe of progress.

The decision to decommission Edinburgh’s tram network arose in 1952, its 47 miles taking just four years to dismantle.

In the last week, a special service painted handsomely in white and gold livery was laid on to tour what was left of the old network.

All ordinary tram passengers were issued with a bright yellow “Last Tram Week” ticket; a masterstroke by Edinburgh Corporation which did a “roaring trade” in the final seven days.

The last hurrah arrived on Friday, November 16; a suitably cold, grey and miserable day. That evening, a procession of tramcars made its way from the Braids terminus to Shrubhill depot, taking in much of the original 1871 route. Ten trams were laid on due to the demand – one car containing the very city councillors who had consigned the trams to the history books in the first place.

It seemed that the entire city was out in force that night; throngs of people lined the pavements and eager spectators hung out of tenement windows to catch a glimpse of the historic procession.

Motor cars and buses added to the atmosphere by tooting their horns.

At the Mound and Hanover Street, an enormous crowd reaching 60 or 70 yards up the road gathered to wave goodbye to the last cars.

Police, mounted and on foot, kept the mass of spectators from pressing against the vehicles. Souvenir-hungry “boys and youths” armed with screwdrivers were reported aboard the final convoy, keen to secure their own little bit of history from the inside of the cabins.

Regardless of whether you lamented their passing or were glad to see them vanish, it was certainly the end of an era. From the earliest horse-drawn trams and cable cars of the turn of the century, to the electric system implemented in the 1920s, tramcars had been present in the Capital, in one form or another, for generations.

Eighty-five years of municipal tram history, which at its height had carried around 200 million passengers a year on routes covering Corstorphine to Levenhall, and just about everywhere in between, had been consigned for good to the great catenary wire in the sky... or so we all thought.