I've read several such accounts of li-ion batteries either exploding, or else heating that much during charging that they cause severe burns when picking up or cause housefires. A while ago there was a warning going around in the papers not to charge stuff when no one is around or during the night. I mean, if it's that rare, why are we no longer considering these things as freak accidents and move on. Guess this is another of those "oops" moments after we've widely spread some sort of technology and didn't really look at side-effects (or knowingly ignored them cause too much money went into research and not enough came in through patents and sales).
Anyway, yeah, the meaninfulness or lack thereof of the human race. We're nothing really, but that helps more to relativise I guess - then again, it changes nothing to the fact we're here, and we "have" to do something with our lives (or not). I do find our society as a whole to have become beyond ridiculous and obsessed with the strangest things, and wonder, heck, what's the meaning of that.
I thought your entry last week definitely deserved more recognition. I think people just got off on the killing ;)
Good point: your entry had killing, and mine had a mass-scale cultural craze for repeated anal penetration. I guess one possible read is that LJI is much more American in orientation than I realized, because the LJI voters were clearly more in favor of murder and violence vs. takin' it up the butt.
I think the risks of li-ions were quite well known before they became a mass-market thing, and I also think they have become much better / safer as a general class of battery (there hasn't been a class-action recall / suit kinda thing involving widespread laptop-battery flameouts in the States for at least five years or so, to my knowledge). The kind of LI battery that blew up in front of me was a more primitive type of architecture and, as I've found out firsthand, definitely carries more risk at this point in time.
The future of so many things, though, lies in us figuring out how to make a battery that is really and truly up to the technology using said battery. I'm particularly concerned about the car thing; we're not going to be able to get off our oil addiction until someone finally comes up with a battery tech that doesn't suck.
Anyway, yeah, the meaninfulness or lack thereof of the human race. We're nothing really, but that helps more to relativise I guess - then again, it changes nothing to the fact we're here, and we "have" to do something with our lives (or not). I do find our society as a whole to have become beyond ridiculous and obsessed with the strangest things, and wonder, heck, what's the meaning of that.
I thought your entry last week definitely deserved more recognition. I think people just got off on the killing ;)
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I think the risks of li-ions were quite well known before they became a mass-market thing, and I also think they have become much better / safer as a general class of battery (there hasn't been a class-action recall / suit kinda thing involving widespread laptop-battery flameouts in the States for at least five years or so, to my knowledge). The kind of LI battery that blew up in front of me was a more primitive type of architecture and, as I've found out firsthand, definitely carries more risk at this point in time.
The future of so many things, though, lies in us figuring out how to make a battery that is really and truly up to the technology using said battery. I'm particularly concerned about the car thing; we're not going to be able to get off our oil addiction until someone finally comes up with a battery tech that doesn't suck.
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