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Re:Caltrain's electrification project is paying off by apexalpha on Saturday November 16, 2024 @03:40AM (#42155295)
Feels weird to read about the most innovative place in the world of our time, the land of Google, Apple, AI, all modern tech, the place pretty much the entire world looks up to talk so passionately about something my country did in the 1920s.

Life's weird like that sometimes.

Better late than never I guess.

>If you haven’t experienced the future of transportation for yourself yet, find out what everyone has been talking about

Hahaha

Re:Caltrain's electrification project is paying off by fph on Saturday November 16, 2024 @04:12AM (#42155421)
True, and for another thought: I'm here doing my part for the environment, recycling, reducing packaging, and saving emissions where I can, and people in the first world of first worlds haven't even been using electric trains this whole time?!?
Re:Caltrain's electrification project is paying off by pavlov on Saturday November 16, 2024 @04:34AM (#42155500)
America largely invented the modern world, but then it never took the next steps because it didn’t need to. So a lot of things are stuck in a “version 1.x” endlessly patched over.

Infrastructure was built in 1920 or 1950. People still regularly pay with paper checks. Federal and state governments seem to operate mostly with paper files. And so on.

(If Elon Musk were serious about improving government efficiency, he would marshal his considerable software experience to bring departments like the IRS into the digital age supported by AI tools. That would amply pay for itself in reduced overhead and improved tax collection. But of course that’s not the kind of efficiency he wants — he’s looking to punitively fire bureaucrats perceived as leftists, not improve government revenue.)

Re:Caltrain's electrification project is paying off by sschueller on Saturday November 16, 2024 @04:47AM (#42155547)
I noticed this when I visited in the 90s with appliances. Most looked like they were made in the 50s. Like vacuum cleaners or top loading washing machines which I had never seen growing up in Europe.
Re:Caltrain's electrification project is paying off by pavlov on Saturday November 16, 2024 @04:49AM (#42155550)
In New York, having a washing machine in your home at all is considered a special luxury. Most apartments apparently don’t even have the necessary electrical outlets.
Re:Caltrain's electrification project is paying off by dragonwriter on Saturday November 16, 2024 @05:16AM (#42155634)
The necessary electrical outlets for a washing machine are standard 110V outlets, every apartment in New York has them. They might not have convenient water hookups for them,though.

Clothes dryers usually usually take 220V outlets, which an apartment might not have.

Re:Caltrain's electrification project is paying off by Symbiote on Saturday November 16, 2024 @05:28AM (#42155680)
Heat pump dryers, now common in Europe, use about 800W which is within the 1500W maximum for a normal American outlet. Maybe these will become more popular in New York apartments?

They are more expensive to purchase, and take longer to dry the clothes, but use much less electricity.

Re:Caltrain's electrification project is paying off by fph on Saturday November 16, 2024 @07:15AM (#42156033)
Yet another example of shitty infrastructure, having to juggle different voltages and power outlets.
Re:Caltrain's electrification project is paying off by Symbiote on Saturday November 16, 2024 @09:19AM (#42156571)
In fairness, my modern Danish apartment has a different voltage and power outlet in the place for the tumble dryer: 400V and probably one of these [1] though I've never pulled the machines out to look.

In practise, the massively power-hungry dryers of decades ago aren't very common, so my dryer is connected to a normal 220V outlet.

(Three-phase power in an apartment is now only used for the oven and hob, but is used in the building for the lift and the EV charging points in the basement.)

[1] https://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/Danish_3hd.html

Re:Caltrain's electrification project is paying off by thrwwy95fab9d1 on Saturday November 16, 2024 @04:53AM (#42155565)
You don’t need musk to bring the IRS into the digital age, you need investment. And people with actual software experience.
Re:Caltrain's electrification project is paying off by pavlov on Saturday November 16, 2024 @04:57AM (#42155578)
Musk is in a unique position to recommend that investment and have the president and Congress actually listen. He won't do it, but he could.
Re:Caltrain's electrification project is paying off by dragonwriter on Saturday November 16, 2024 @05:20AM (#42155648)
Musk expended significant effort to get the Presidential candidate most fanatically opposed to investment in any government functions in modern history; he not only isn't in a position to have anyone listen to him on positive investment, he worked very hard to not be in that position.
Re:Caltrain's electrification project is paying off by ulfw on Saturday November 16, 2024 @04:45AM (#42155536)
Besides buzzword bingo and investor hard ons, please explain why something like a tax return (IRS) would need "AI tools". I'd love to know. It's a straightforward calculation that needs accuracy. The opposite of what AI does.
Re:Caltrain's electrification project is paying off by pavlov on Saturday November 16, 2024 @04:48AM (#42155549)
Well, call it machine learning if you prefer.

Audits are currently performed manually, but the patterns of tax evasion are often obvious. Seems like a textbook case for AI automation.

Re:Caltrain's electrification project is paying off by PopAlongKid on Saturday November 16, 2024 @10:17AM (#42156853)
>It's a straightforward calculation that needs accuracy.

If only that is all it was. It's not calculations and linking entries on one form to another that is the problem, it is interpreting the law. Suppose there is an allowed deduction for a certain type of expense. But the law doesn't provide a precise, actionable definition, it relies instead on "facts and circumstances".

Did you know, for example, that in U.S. income tax law there is no universal definition of a "trade or business", yet that distinction has a huge impact on how certain items of income are treated. So what do you do if you think you have a trade/business, but can't be certain given the information at your disposal. IRL, such disputes often must end up in a court of law to be decided.

Re:Caltrain's electrification project is paying off by saagarjha on Saturday November 16, 2024 @04:32AM (#42155494)
Modern tech means a lot of very rich people who live in a particular city along the Caltrain route who have lost the wonder in their life that is trains. No matter, they don't have their station anymore and everyone else gets the electric trains to enjoy.
Re:Caltrain's electrification project is paying off by kccqzy on Saturday November 16, 2024 @01:49PM (#42158272)
Wow this is old news but I didn't know the Atherton station was closed: https://www.caltrain.com/news/caltrain-votes-close-atherton-...