But there have been and still are plenty of what I would technical papers; just skimming the program there were sessions on pose/gesture tracking, haptics, VR, and of course zillions of AI things.

  Suppose that you have an emergency expense that costs $400. Based on your current financial situation, how would you pay for this expense?
  If you would use more than one method to cover this expense, please select all that apply.
  a. Put it on my credit card and pay it off in full at the next statement
  b. Put it on my credit card and pay it off over time
  c. With the money currently in my checking/savings account or with cash
  d. Using money from a bank loan or line of credit
  e. By borrowing from a friend or family member
  f. Using a payday loan, deposit advance, or overdraft
  g. By selling something
  h. I wouldn’t be able to pay for the expense right now

On our PHEV minivan, the electric range is ~30mi, and costs ~$1.50 in electricity (12 kWh usable, ~13c/kWh). On gas, it's ~$3. (30 mi/g, $3/g). Some places you'll save substantially more (cheaper electricity, more expensive gas) or less (vice versa).

For me: it was definitely worth it, and if you buy a decent quality frame/desktop it'll be durable and a pretty minimal premium over time. I usually switch sitting standing 1-10 times/day depending on how restless I'm feeling.

That said:

- it's hard to know how much you'll like standing (or switching) until you try it

- it is pretty hard to vet quality unless you find a Costco/Ikea type vendor that has one in person. I personally have bought two Uplift models (me, spouse) and have been happy with how they've held up (7+ and 3+ years, respectively).

All that is to say, my first guess is that the GP was quoted a high-SEER unit for name-ish brand equipment.

* $10B+ wasted on completely failed SC nuclear plant, which basically led to its collapse and subsequent buyout by out-of-state (Dominion) utility https://apnews.com/article/sc-state-wire-south-carolina-busi...

* GA version is still lurching to completion... at cost now approaching $30B https://www.ajc.com/news/as-vogtles-nuclear-units-move-towar...

In the US, AMS vs AMI is a salient difference that is worth understanding... it's a bit of a which-linux-distro-is-best type holy war.

As most Montessori schools are private, my impression is that the variance in the quality of Montessori implementation varies considerably, but at a high level I have positive views of many of the same method characteristics as other comments:

  - mixed-age classes
  - learner-driven scheduling/work
  - non-test-centric evaluation
  - etc.

  - independence in both learning/working and life in general
  - love of learning
  - kindness towards others

  - are you accredited by AMS, AMI and/or SAIS?
  - are your teachers trained primarily through AMS or AMI?
  - how long have your teachers been with the school, on average?
  - where do students go after this school, and what are their outcomes (what colleges, high school honor graduates, etc.)?
  - does the school do standardized testing that is accepted by the local school district or otherwise make it easy to transition to other schools after they age out?

It's by Steve McConnell (also author of Code Complete) and largely covers what this author does (but more, and in more detail). I have found it consistently one of the more useful books in my library - particularly for its emphasis on error bounds and on how bad people are at estimating confidence intervals...

Many references, but e.g., https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/safety "Looking directly at the sun is unsafe except during the brief total phase of a solar eclipse (“totality”)..."