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bluesquared

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The cold problems are not as overblown as most people who live outside of these environments think. Yes, for most commutes the reduction in winter (sub-freezing temperature) range when home-based charging is available is not significant.

For my anecdote, my (occasional) commute distance is enough that I need to change my driving habits to have enough range/safety margin to make it back home during this cold period. In these conditions, my EV gets roughly 175 miles of range while driving 60-65 MPH with some (resistive) cabin heating. This makes my 150-mile roundtrip not exactly an afterthought like it is during the summer when I have 240-mile+ range ignoring the speed limit. If I couldn't fully recharge at home every night, preheat the car (even garaged it's still bitter cold)

Statistically maybe these edge cases are all irrelevant... But it is a hard limit on what you can and can't do with an EV that ICE vehicle users do not have to ever think about. Maybe once we start getting commonly-available and affordable EVs that come standard with ICE-like range - 300 miles all-season at the minimum - this will change.

I have a 2017 Bolt, resistive heater no heat pump. I take a -minimum- of 25% range hit in the winter (midwest, garaged but frequent long drives in sub-freezing temperatures) with minimal usage of heat. I've trialed no-heater days, but most of the time I only run a low level for window defogging.

I have a 150 mile round-trip commute when I need to go in to the office. My "summer range" (really more "not-winter range") is 240+ miles. I stick to posted speed limits for efficiency, 60-65 MPH. This winter I've been getting back home with 30 miles of range to spare. I haven't done the math or recall what power draw my gauge cluster reports when I toggle heat on/off, but I do remember it reduces my range estimate by ~5 miles when I turn the heat on.

The seating position and keyboard is centered on the screen, the mouse is off to the right. I've never seen anybody try to center their mouse on the screen- then you'd either be bending your arm inward/across your body or sitting left of center of the screen

Wouldn't you want your head/eyes centered on the monitor, not the mouse being held by your arm that's off-center?

I am exactly the same way. Was a voracious & fast reader throughout schooling up until college age. Officially diagnosed ADHD in college when the material became hard enough for me to not "brute force through with my raw intelligence anymore" (psychiatrist words, not mine) so I was likely masking all the way up through high school. Younger brother was diagnosed at a more typical age which made my late diagnosis easier.

I wonder if it has to do with the mental burden we start to accumulate in transitioning to adulthood. Much easier to hyperfocus on books when we don't have the weight of finances, careers, complex relationships, etc.

I was having a minor anaphylactic reaction to something - not enough to restrict my breathing or make me want to use my epipen yet - but I experienced the same thing. Went to the ER, face red and swelling, lips starting to tingle, the whole 9 yards. They had me enter all my personal info, name, address, insurance card, etc. Then swipe for my $250 ER copay all before seeing anybody competent. The worker at the desk didn't understand what I meant when I said "anaphylactic reaction" I had to gesture at my face and say "allergic reaction" ffs!

At least my reaction wasn't as bad the first time. That time was pre-covid and they had somebody with experience and functioning brain cells at the check-in and they brought me right in and started taking vitals and did an IV literally right on the other side of the check-in desk. On that visit they had the payment person come around hours later while I was recovering in a bed on a different unit for monitoring while I was coming down off of the meds they pumped me full of.

I have been having enough difficulty I've actually tried to restart in recent times. Vicious cycle of allergies and sleep deprivation make it hard to continue certain times of the year.

It was a lesson to be learned, I was unaware when starting treatment that you could buy one outright. Being a 60601 medical device I thought I had to just go along for the ride...

I pay ~$500/month for "pretty good" health insurance, and my employer pays roughly the same (a "benefit" that the employer pays 'half'! /s )

And then you have to pay small fees when you go visit a doctor ($25-ish each time), pay for medications (expensive). Emergency room swipes your credit card before a doctor even sees you ($150 co-pay for my plan). Pay thousands for an MRI (that the insurance company has graciously negotiated down 95%!)

Sorry I can't be more helpful, as I have no good answer. I do have good periods and bad periods.

Though not massively overweight (26.5 BMI), better eating and fitness habits seemed to have helped. Still working on getting to a healthier shape. Depending on the type of apnea, this can help a good deal.

Less electronics/screens in the evening. No more streaming tv/video games until right before bed. Jury's still out on the effects of blue light etc but I really try to limit my electronics to a Kindle (Oasis with the warm color temp feature) before bed.

I admit I didn't try too hard with different masks/setups, that could help. Though I was mostly using one of the most comfortable "nasal pillow" interfaces already.

I will second another commenter's suggestion of a more elevated pillow setup. I use a regular pillow with a buckwheat hull pillow on top. Bad for my neck but I've slept that way for awhile and have adjusted, it's hard to go back to a "more optimal pillow height".

I've commented on this before on HN. I have sleep apnea and a ResMed CPAP. A very US-centric response:

Insurance also seems to have access to this data in one way or another (not sure if direct with ResMed or via your doctor). If you don't hit your "compliance target" for treatment, insurance will cease paying 'their share' of the cost.

So I found myself in a downward spiral of 0. Struggling to sleep with sleep apnea. Tons of ramifications of not getting good sleep that I don't need to get into. 1. Struggling to adapt to sleeping with this device strapped to my face. I would take it off unconsciously.. I would often find the hose laying next to me in the morning still "pumping", or be told by my wife of belligerent (unconscious) responses to her prompting me to put it back on in the middle of the night. 2. Losing sleep from constantly waking up throughout the night because of the CPAP/from anxiety 3. Anxiety over not meeting my compliance target of 4 hours of use per night (as interpreted by the CPAP knowing the proper amount of back-pressure when in use i.e. not just turned on and not worn). 4. Getting charged more because I did not meet my targets for enough time 5. Eventually owning the CPAP outright 6. Eventually discontinuing therapy and somehow having slightly improved levels of sleep that I've never bothered to attempt to restart therapy

Another hardware engineer here, and I feel the same way. As much as I know I lack knowledge in areas of software... there's something to be said from the wisdom gained from making an actual physical product and maintaining that product for years rather than making some CRUD app in some framework-of-the-month and hopping on to something completely different every 9 months.

That was probably me. Compliance has been even more difficult lately with my seasonal allergies. The silly thing is that the physician who prescribed it doesn't check in on me other than one checkup a few months in to having it, so it's really only used as a fiscal compliance tool.

Lots of manufacturers probably do it, but I'll name and shame anyway... it's a ResMed AirSense 10.

In a somewhat similar manner, my CPAP has a 4G modem that's a huge double-edged sword (for Americans only, you can see where this is going...).

On one hand, it is nice to have an app that shows my stats, and my doctor can also remotely access how my therapy is going.

On the other hand, it also phones home to the manufacturer & my insurance. When I don't hit my usage target for a specific time period, insurance stops paying for it and I have to personally pay out of pocket. So now you add the stress of not only complying with sleeping with an uncomfortable apparatus on your face but also if you don't keep it on enough (I take it off unconsciously in my sleep) you start paying thru the nose for it. Vicious cycle...

Somewhat. https://octopart.com/ (I'm a hardware guy so take my SWE-speak with a grain of salt)

Like many things in tech, each manufacturer/vendor/distributor does not have the same "API" (if it even exists) to broadcast their stock status.

Here's some links to parts that have been a pain in my side. We have to result to hoarding brokers with 1000x markups to continue production (not my call, I'm the guy with the oscilloscope not the suit...).

https://octopart.com/tps1h100bqpwprq1-texas+instruments-5534...

https://octopart.com/at25df641a-mh-y-renesas-118506301?r=sp#...

I'm a EE/hardware engineer, so this may be a bit different than a pure SWE perspective.

I worked in computer hardware for oil & gas, there was a turndown around 2014-2015 that slowed the demand for a lot of our products. Not quite enough for layoffs or anything, but that industry can slow down quite a bit depending on market cycles.

Healthcare is also a tricky one, I'm in that now. You'd think it's safe because "everybody needs healthcare", but hospital capital equipment sales slowed a good deal due to lots of elective procedures being cancelled for months on end during different periods of the pandemic. New product launches delayed, incessant supply chain headaches on everything electronics (and other stuff too), it's a rough time for low/mixed volume manufacturers like you see in most healthcare.

Nurses are paid well compared to the average worker in the US, but not compared to the service they provide. My wife, an RN BSN, was hit with a pay cut due to hospital system being bought out by another larger one. That's right, a pay cut, during a pandemic. Now on a fixed pay scale, with no raises built in. $3/hr shift differential for working night shift in no way makes up for the strain it puts on your body, your free time, and your relationships. Tons of attrition in her hospital and department, no signs of retention bonuses or anything other than a "We <3 our healthcare heroes" sign out front.

Wish my slow corporate behemoth would support this, but they are the opposite of agile.

It's also gotten to the point where there doesn't exist enough stock in distribution to buy a year's worth. And I'm not talking high volume, maybe 1k/year to 50k/year. Distributors are constantly decommitting from orders, broker stock is drying up, etc

It's my current living nightmare. Endless treadmill of:

1. Our contract manufacturer calls in a panic no longer able to obtain/was shorted on a shipment of part XYZ. XYZ is increasingly becoming random "jellybean" parts like MOSFETS, oscillators, to slightly-more-complicated but not "fancy" stuff like serial transceivers, USB stuff, NOR flash, load switches. TI is the bane of my existence currently.

2. Search for a drop-in or near drop-in replacement. There are none, because that's what everyone's doing.

3. Search for alternative designs. Maybe the component is in distributor's stock (Digikey, Mouser, Newark, etc), maybe it's not.

4. Test the alternative design. By the time I receive parts, prototype, test, guess what? Can't get those parts anymore. Go back to step #2.

5. Fall behind on all of my other NPD responsibilities. Stress, burnout, acceptance. Lament not going into another engineering field. Feel bad about my midwest metro area compensation in comparison to a bunch of Silicon Valley SWEs on website.

6. GOTO #1