ChingShih's recent activity

  1. Comment on Doppi, the nicest player for your music files in ~tech

    ChingShih
    Link Parent
    I've used PowerAmp for something like 13 years (and love it). I just discovered that it has equalizer presets that can be chosen when it detects specific headphones. It looks like it imports a...

    I've used PowerAmp for something like 13 years (and love it). I just discovered that it has equalizer presets that can be chosen when it detects specific headphones. It looks like it imports a library of EQ settings from Rtings by default, but there are also manual import and export settings. There's so much to fiddle with in the app, I'm shocked by how feature-rich it is and a little disappointed I never really looked underneath the hood before.

    On desktop environments I use WinAmp.

  2. Comment on Visualizing a volcano - Mexico's Popocatépetl in ~science

    ChingShih
    Link
    This is not too long a read and has some nice graphics. It discusses the (as yet unpublished) research that has gone into understanding and mapping an active volcano and its underground magma...

    This is not too long a read and has some nice graphics. It discusses the (as yet unpublished) research that has gone into understanding and mapping an active volcano and its underground magma pools.

    The article is formatted well for reading on desktop or mobile devices and is also available in Spanish.

    2 votes

  4. Comment on Nvidia-backed Starcloud trains first AI model in space in ~space

    ChingShih
    Link Parent
    For the demonstration unit, possibly, but I don't know how big that unit is. The article is saying the theoretical datacenter-replacement satellite they want to build would sit out from Earth far...

    For the demonstration unit, possibly, but I don't know how big that unit is. The article is saying the theoretical datacenter-replacement satellite they want to build would sit out from Earth far enough that there won't be much if any of a shadow cast on its solar panels -- so probably either at a distant polar orbit or reeeeally far out.

    Starlink, Iridium, and other "communications" satellites sit at very, very low orbits. Like low enough that fighter aircraft can shoot them down with reasonably conventional rockets (i.e. not a special platform with a custom-built rocket). In fact, Starfighter Space, Inc. just had their IPO -- their plan is to use Vietnam-era fighter jets as the launch platform to put small satellites into space with under-wing rockets. Anyhow, most of these low Earth orbit satellites sit at 300-550 km (up to around 333 mi) or a little higher. Hubble Space Telescope and the ISS only orbit at the upper end of that because we need to be able to reach them routinely via human-manned spacecraft at minimal cost, but in a practical sense 550 km from the surface of the Earth is walking distance compared to, say, reaching the Moon (hiking distance) or the Kuiper Belt (you'll want to make reservations in advance). There is a really cool illustration of man-made satellite orbits on Wikipedia. The ISS is hardly even in "space" as us laypeople think of it (and Katy Perry is still not an astronaut no matter how politicians change the definition).

    Putting up the multi-ton satellite that Nvidia and their partners are imagining as a final product (something capable of pulling in 5-gigawatts via solar panel arrays) is going to be the size of a bus, at least, and once the solar array is spread will be absolutely massive. Deorbiting a monstrosity like this, full of heavy heatsinks (because even in "space" they need to dissipate that heat effectively), will mean pulling it down into the ocean in a safe way, the way they typically deorbit large satellites. But maybe by the time we're training models in space (this sentence would've looked weird in the 90s!) we'll actually employ the more environmentally-friendly methods of deorbiting and getting rid of space debris that people have already thought of.

    6 votes

  5. Comment on Nvidia-backed Starcloud trains first AI model in space in ~space

    ChingShih
    Link Parent
    I wonder if they will take a page out of military hardware sales and allow out-dated assets to be sold to allies and partners who otherwise can't buy or built the technology themselves. 4th...

    And it's not like you have long to recoup your costs before your data center needs upgraded hardware ...

    I wonder if they will take a page out of military hardware sales and allow out-dated assets to be sold to allies and partners who otherwise can't buy or built the technology themselves. 4th generation aircraft can be sold to pretty much anyone, depending on the avionics, while 5th generation (and 4.5-gen) is reserved for partner countries with a special status so that the manufacturing countries are in control of the other country's capabilities.

    6 votes

  6. Comment on Nvidia-backed Starcloud trains first AI model in space in ~space

    ChingShih
    Link Parent
    Follow-up question: I understand many of the benefits of running computationally intensive (and heat-intensive) tasks in space (and demo'ing the tech now). But what kind of bandwidth is the final...

    Follow-up question:

    I understand many of the benefits of running computationally intensive (and heat-intensive) tasks in space (and demo'ing the tech now). But what kind of bandwidth is the final product going to need and do we currently have the price-performance to make that amount of bandwidth even happen in the next couple of years? I know that satellite bandwidth has gotten a lot cheaper and even cellular phone carriers are offering services (along with things like Garmin's inReach satellite texting communication that's been in consumers' hands foe 10+ years), but how much cheaper? Datacenters have staggeringly huge pipes these days so I'm wondering how much bandwidth the data from an AI question-response session would take and how much of it they plan to have completed in orbit.

    The article says they're planning not to have a geostationary orbit for the 5-gigawatt satellite so that it can gather solar energy without day/night restrictions, but they would have to get other satellites up just to carry the communication signals to whatever side(s) of the planet the data is being sent. So bandwidth really becomes a huge factor as more hops are added to the transmission. Are there companies looking at developing this tech with geosynchronous orbits with a dedicated ground receiving station? And how expensive is that real estate about to get? Would those companies be looking at more equatorial regions for the ground stations (or perhaps just Texas and Florida)?

    1 vote

  7. Comment on USGS V1cam livestream of erupting Kīlauea volcano, Hawaii (west Halemaʻumaʻu crater) in ~enviro

    ChingShih
    Link
    Aha! Madame Pele is back as of about 90 minutes ago! The original link should still work, but here is another one: [V3cam] Kīlauea volcano, Hawaii (south Halemaʻumaʻu crater) From the US National...

    Aha! Madame Pele is back as of about 90 minutes ago!

    The original link should still work, but here is another one:
    [V3cam] Kīlauea volcano, Hawaii (south Halemaʻumaʻu crater)

    From the US National Park Service:

    Volcanic Activity Summary:

    Episode 39 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption began at 8:10 p.m. HST on 23 December. Sustained lava fountains approximately 100 feet (30 meters) in height are currently erupting from both north and south vents. Fountain heights are currently increasing.

    Past episodes have produced incandescent lava fountains over 1000 feet (300 meters) high that produce eruptive plumes up to 20,000 feet (6000 meters) above ground level. According to the National Weather Service, winds are blowing from the northeast direction, which suggests that volcanic gas emissions and volcanic material may be distributed to the southwest.

    • All eruptive activity is confined to Halemaʻumaʻu crater within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park; commercial airports in Hawaii County (KOA and ITO) will not be affected by this activity.
    • Three Kīlauea summit livestream videos that show eruptive lava fountains are available here: https://www.youtube.com/@usgs/streams
    • KPcam and MKcam provide views of the plume height for aviation purposes

    Episode 39 was preceded by overflows of degassed lava that began at approximately 6:41 p.m. from the south vent and continued to increase in intensity until 8:10 p.m., when sustained fountaining began.

    Inflationary tilt reached just over 32 microradians since the end of the last episode. Seismic tremor began increasing and tilt at UWD switched from inflationary to deflationary at about 8:10 p.m. HST, about the same time lava flows began erupting onto the crater floor.

    Most episodes of Halemaʻumaʻu lava fountaining since December 23, 2024, have continued for around a day or less and have been separated by pauses in eruptive activity lasting generally at least several days.

    No changes have been detected in the East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone.

    Kīlauea Volcano Alert Level/Aviation Color Code remain at WATCH/ORANGE. All current and recent activity is within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    1 vote

  8. Comment on The Odyssey | Official trailer in ~movies

    ChingShih
    Link
    Interesting series of vignettes to make the trailer out of. I'll forgive the production style of the trailer since they apparently didn't want to spoil major things, but I think it's reassuring to...

    Interesting series of vignettes to make the trailer out of. I'll forgive the production style of the trailer since they apparently didn't want to spoil major things, but I think it's reassuring to identify all the parts of the epic that the film will touch on -- too much and the film will feel convoluted, too little and it's just setup to what might be an overly-long series.

    Here's what the trailer touched on (which I think we can prove is not chronological to the movie):
    1. The trailer's opening scene is during the battle of Troy or after the raid on Ismarus? Cuts to Menaleus/Batman (or Agamemnon?) and Odysseus.
    2. Sailing home, his wife Penelope in Ithaca, the shores of Aeetes?
    3. Men (Trojans?) pulling a carved horse from the sea (perhaps the Trojan horse, but this seems a fantastical take on carving abilities); other men hiding inside a vessel
    4. The cyclops
    5. The dragon's teeth are sown and the five Spartoi rise? Not sure what's going on in the background. Maybe it isn't the Spartoi.
    6. Various shots at sea, I would guess at least one set is from earlier in the film and one is later.
    7. Ending with the beginning: Penelope asking Odysseus for a promise.
    Things they didn't show, but naturally follow: 1. Cameo appearances of Helen, maybe Paris? 2. Big O meeting Circe. Introducing Circe to little O. Men are such pigs. 3. All is not happy on the homefront. Penelope knitting her brow and unknitting her scarf. 4. Whirlpools fuckin' everywhere. 5. Giving the sirens a hard pass and leaving them for Jason and the Argonauts. 6. Sequel setup or rounding out the story in a way that respects the source material.
    2 votes

  9. Comment on These travel influencers don’t want freebies. They’re AI. in ~travel

    ChingShih
    Link Parent
    This is a prescient example you've presented. If you look at Amazon much of the Chinese brand clothing is modeled by a white person. Whether male or female, they look almost like stock imagery but...

    If they want shots of the influencer wearing their clothes, eating their food, driving their cars, whatever — to do that right is going to require lots of tailor-made LoRAs. Demand for that could conceivably lead to a whole new cottage industry.

    This is a prescient example you've presented. If you look at Amazon much of the Chinese brand clothing is modeled by a white person. Whether male or female, they look almost like stock imagery but more realistic than a quick photoshop of the brand's clothing on top of a (potentially stolen) photo of a model. Vistaprint and other print-on-demand use similar technologies to virtually impose your uploaded image onto a stock model and it happens within the time between page loads.

    If industry is already doing this, and China is able to cheaply do it as well, then we're already only a couple steps away from using AI to do the same thing at higher and more impressive qualities to directly target not just the demographics, but the ethnographics that they want to market their brand(s) towards.

    2 votes

  10. Comment on Books: Your personal year in review for 2025 in ~books

  11. Comment on Books: Your personal year in review for 2025 in ~books

    ChingShih
    Link
    I read several novels this year (and admittedly a bunch of graphic novels ... been one of those years). Here are a few things worth mentioning. Books I liked: The Martian - Coming off of listening...

    I read several novels this year (and admittedly a bunch of graphic novels ... been one of those years). Here are a few things worth mentioning.

    Books I liked:

    The Martian - Coming off of listening to the audiobook of Project Hail Mary towards the end of 2024, I decided to start 2025's audiobook playlist with this one. I'm glad I did.

    Beneath a Scarlet Sky - Based on the true story of an adolescent coming of age in Fascist Italy. His choices, and his family's choices, take him to the unlikely crossroads of being the chauffeur to Germany's highest-ranking officer assigned to Italy. The audiobook does not have my favorite narration, but it's read authentically to the writing (I started with a freemium version of the audiobook and finished by reading the paperback, which I already owned).

    Books I disliked:

    West with Giraffes - Historical fiction based around a true story, but I just couldn't get behind it. The prose didn't stand out; the characters were, well, characterized but flat; and fiction like this is difficult to see how much effort the author put into research to make things feel period-correct and authentic.

    Miscellaneous Mentions:

    I'm about 250 pages into Shantaram and love it. Been a long time since I've loved a book as much as this and I read from a pretty broad selection of genres. I'm glad it has been made into a TV show, but I doubt the show will do the book justice. I'll have to find out after I finish reading.

    The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare isn't going to be finished by the end of the year, but not for any fault of its own I just don't have the time (and I enjoy WW2 history). I started it a few months after finishing Rogue Heroes by Ben MacIntyre, a competitor of sorts in that genre. I prefer the writing of the former over the latter.

    I read a Japanese mystery/thriller called Strange Pictures. It's an interesting take on the genre, though it's style may not appeal to everyone (it's not written for western audiences). I can see why it has become something of a modern cult classic in Japan, but I do wish there were a bit more depth across the board. I'll give the next book by this author a try at some point, but for casual reading I'll stick with my "mysteries" written by Rex Stout.

    5 votes

  12. Comment on You’re probably using the wrong dictionary in ~books

    ChingShih
    Link Parent
    Stepping boldly into the realm of "books of words that are more fun than practical in daily life," There's a Word for It! A Grandiloquent Guide to Life inspired some of the verbiage in one of my...

    Stepping boldly into the realm of "books of words that are more fun than practical in daily life," There's a Word for It! A Grandiloquent Guide to Life inspired some of the verbiage in one of my favorite shortish fantasy book series, so maybe it's worth a look. It has real words such as "guttersnipe" in it, though it is apparently written in a slightly over-the-top style and meant to be enjoyed by ... word enthusiasts, much like the article. I haven't brought myself around to buying it yet.

    Hoping for something along similar lines, I recently picked up a copy of The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. Yes, it does sound like splendiferous winter reading! Thanks for asking! :) It feels fictional, but has some interesting (and perhaps uncomfortable) terms/words -- or perhaps more accurately "words-to-be" that haven't yet entered even the lexicon of enlightened hipsters -- with fuller and more descriptive definitions than what one might find on Dictionary.com or WordHippo. It leaves something to be desired and while I appreciate the words and their florid descriptions, does leave me wondering if using one of these words would come across like trying to use Elvish in casual conversation. However, it does offer some meaningful prose to reflect on.

    One such example from Obscure Sorrows:

    Falesia (noun): The disquieting awareness that someone's importance to you and your importance to them might not necessarily match ... (continued in the book)

    2 votes

  13. Comment on Winter boot recommendations for women in ~life.style

    ChingShih
    Link Parent
    I highly recommend Belleville Boot for all genders -- they were/are the boot made for the US Marines and other services (Air Force ABUs, etc.), but have a variety of styles and sizes -- although...

    I highly recommend Belleville Boot for all genders -- they were/are the boot made for the US Marines and other services (Air Force ABUs, etc.), but have a variety of styles and sizes -- although currently it looks like they might be moving to a unisex shoe sizing (i.e. they're simply defaulting to men's sizes). They carry almost every shoe size imaginable as well as N/R/W/XW widths and have boots that are made in USA, insulated (200g, 400g, 400/800g hybrid), steel-toe, composite-toe, or other configurations. That said, they don't look like fashion accessories, they're utilitarian like Danner tends to be. Here is Belleville's insulated boot listing, but I'd recommend buying through an online retailer for best pricing and warranty support unless there is a specific sale they have that can't be passed up.

    I have thousands of miles on-road and off-trail on my several pairs of boots and with one exception they've held up extremely well (and I think could be resoled). The warranty has been ... accessible if not always a complete replacement like I think it ought to be (I had a cheaper pair wear out on me and I believe it was a defect, rather than from strenuous use, but both could be true). I used to buy the composite toe boots so I could go through airports easier ... sometimes they let me sometimes they don't, has nothing to do with the material composition as it turns out (or at least it's not about it being "metal" or not, they're looking at density). I also have some 200g insulated boots I bought for shoveling snow and they're honestly too warm in that kind of activity. Maybe if I was standing still chopping wood or slowly walking the dog. Anyway, I'm not in a super cold climate, so maybe the 400g or 400/800g hybrids are more fit for task for other people. It's nice to have choices and Belleville has a lot of choices.

    5 votes

  14. Comment on USGS V1cam livestream of erupting Kīlauea volcano, Hawaii (west Halemaʻumaʻu crater) in ~enviro

    ChingShih
    Link
    Looks like this episode ended not too long after I posted it, but there is an archive video of the (4,000 hour!) livestream which started I think in August and is continuing. The video isn't...

    Looks like this episode ended not too long after I posted it, but there is an archive video of the (4,000 hour!) livestream which started I think in August and is continuing. The video isn't working for me, but when it is I'll try to find the timestamp for the episode 38 eruption because it's pretty awesome. Best thing to do though is sign up for updates and catch the next eruption live. :)

    4 votes

  15. Comment on USGS V1cam livestream of erupting Kīlauea volcano, Hawaii (west Halemaʻumaʻu crater) in ~enviro

    ChingShih
    Link
    This is episode 38 (i.e. cyclical activity based on the "first" initial eruption) which began on Saturday local time. Reasonably calm yet intense and steady eruption with beautiful fountaining of...

    This is episode 38 (i.e. cyclical activity based on the "first" initial eruption) which began on Saturday local time. Reasonably calm yet intense and steady eruption with beautiful fountaining of magma (up to around 1200ft or 365m+ from one vent, less at the other(s)), a friendly rumbling without any felt shaking of the earth, and a clearly discernible river of lava flowing off the mini-hill that was built up over time from previous episodes in this series (nature puts on the best soap operas, haha). The viewing areas around the rim of the crater are increasingly shrouded in steam and vog, but it's also dependent on the intensity of the eruption (this is more intense than epsiode 37 by a large margin) as well as the wind strength and direction; I don't think it's having much impact on the USGS-stationed cameras and tourists were/are getting good photos and videos.

    Perfect video to put on a screen and have running in the background, like the yule log fire but more metal.

    The US Geological Survey had this to say:

    Volcanic Activity Summary:
    Episode 38 fountains began at about 8:45 a.m. HST from the north vent after several north vent overflows overnight. Low fountains and overflows were confined to the two sub vents within the north vent cone for several hours prior to the onset of Episode 38. Fountains and flows from the south vent began at 8:49 HST. All three vents are currently producing fountains. South vent fountains are close to 1200 feet (370 meters) high while the north vent fountains have dropped well below their maximum height of 500 feet (150 m). Hot lava and pumice from the south vent fountained destroyed the V3 streaming camera site within the closed area just before 10:00 a.m. HST.

    Prior to the south vent becoming dominant, there were 3 roughly equal sized 500 foot (150 meter) high fountains with 2 from the north vents and 1 from the south vent. This triple fountain is an extremely rare event, and this is the first time during this eruption it has been observed.

    The associated plume, composed of water vapor and SO2 gas (possibly with Pele's hair and fine ash) currently has a maximum height of ~15000 feet (4500 m) above ground level.

    The summit has deflated approximately 9.5 microradians as measured on the Uēkahuna tiltmeter in about 1 hour and 45 minutes.. The rapid tilt drop and very high output from both vents suggest this may be another relatively short episode lasting less than 6-8 hours similar to episode 37.

    For more information about earlier parts of episode 38 see these notices:

    Most episodes of Halemaʻumaʻu lava fountaining since December 23, 2024, have continued for around a day or less and have been separated by pauses in eruptive activity lasting generally at least several days.

    • All eruptive activity is confined to Halemaʻumaʻu crater within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park; commercial airports in Hawaii County (KOA and ITO) will not be affected by this activity.
    • Three Kīlauea summit livestream videos that show eruptive lava fountains are available here: https://youtube.com/@usgs/streams
    • KPcam and MKcam provide views of the plume height for aviation purposes

    Source: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/volcano-updates

    If you're into this kind of thing, you can sign up for free notifications (by email or text?) via the USGS link above.

    Pronunciation of Kīlauea is just like it's spelled. :) Pronunciation of Halemaʻumaʻu is approximately Hah-lay-mau-mau, but with more sophistication. :)

    10 votes

  17. Comment on We bought an old house in the Japanese countryside in ~life.home_improvement

    ChingShih
    Link
    Thanks for sharing this. There's a lot of interesting things to read on their blog! Owning and renovating a Japanese home is probably outside of my abilities, but doing one or the other would be...

    Thanks for sharing this. There's a lot of interesting things to read on their blog! Owning and renovating a Japanese home is probably outside of my abilities, but doing one or the other would be fun. As a foreigner doing both would be a lot of pressure, haha, although home reno and working with contractors on various major home improvement projects is generally enjoyable to me.

    I loved visiting Japan and would like to visit again and explore more of the country. I have no route to residency, so living there on a longer-term basis isn't feasible, which means buying and renovating an akiya, like in the blog, wouldn't be feasible either. But this is a fun thought experiment and has given me some motivation to read up on how to better enjoy Japan on longer visit. Thank you!

    4 votes

  18. Comment on What silly complaints would your pets try to report? in ~life.pets

    ChingShih
    Link
    Real complaints from when I had a dog. She wasn't very talkative (barky), but was a great communicator via dog-telepathy: I mean, the dust bunnies had been around so long they probably had a...

    Real complaints from when I had a dog. She wasn't very talkative (barky), but was a great communicator via dog-telepathy:

    The bed is warm??? I have a coat on. I'll have to sleep on the floor with the riffraff.

    I mean, the dust bunnies had been around so long they probably had a diploma. I wouldn't call them riffraff.

    You threw a ball? I'll kill it! <ball death ensues> Throw it again so I may kill it triumphantly. What do you mean, bring it back? You do the throwing, I do the killing.

    That time I learned that in some versions of fetch, everyone gets exercise!

    Excuse me, dinner is over. Hey. <Bark.> Dinner is over. I'm at my place of dinner and I am finished. <looks at place treats come from> <Bark.>

    She always got a special sausage-flavored treat after dinner. If I ran out, or we were having dinner at a relative's, or I didn't give her exactly the right portion to the microgram (not like she chewed anyway, oy) then she would give me a bark of annoyance. Formal complaint lodged! If I had to go to the store to get more she was inconsolable. Never saw her more upset than when the economy got in the way of her after dinner cigar treat.

    12 votes

  19. Comment on Pebble Flow review - A towable RV made for electric vehicles - Fully integrated battery, motor, solar, and software in ~transport

    ChingShih
    Link
    So this video is from 6+ months ago at CES 2025. It's the second review I've seen from these guys and so far I'm quite impressed with their depth and breadth of knowledge and thus ability to ask...

    So this video is from 6+ months ago at CES 2025. It's the second review I've seen from these guys and so far I'm quite impressed with their depth and breadth of knowledge and thus ability to ask specific questions when it comes to EVs and the really interesting stuff like mechanical engineering, physics, and stuff EV and efficiency enthusiasts care about.

    Anyhow, this is quite a lengthy video (nearly 80 minutes, but you can just check Pebble's website for an overview) and the YT page has chapter links to make things easy. Here are a couple things that popped out to me about this towable RV:

    • Built-in ~45kWh battery with bi-directional, simultaneous charging (to house or car!)
    • The aerodynamic nose (vaguely) like the Concorde. Lov e it!
    • New-age heat-pump
    • Wheel-mounted motors (I'm drooling over the implementation)
    • Solar roof for (probably very minimal) passive charging even while driving
    • Bespoke software platform with some really nifty features (like using your iPad to tell your RV to hitch itself to your truck!)

    The Flow is pricey at US$110,000 and up, but I wonder how that compares to other campers/caravans of similar features. Apparently deliveries started at the end of June 2025. There are some really cool ideas coming out of this company so I'm looking forward to seeing some more reviews of this kind of thing even though I'm not an RV/caravan person. Pebble website for those who are interested.

    5 votes