Eric_the_Cerise's recent activity
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Comment on Rooftop solar panels are flooding California’s grid. That’s a problem. in ~enviro
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Comment on Rooftop solar panels are flooding California’s grid. That’s a problem. in ~enviro
Eric_the_Cerise Link ParentYou're right it can't replace larger systems everywhere. But solar is not just getting cheaper; it's also getting better at generating energy under less-than-ideal circumstances. Also, it really...You're right it can't replace larger systems everywhere. But solar is not just getting cheaper; it's also getting better at generating energy under less-than-ideal circumstances.
Also, it really is a pretty unusual region that gets neither sun nor wind for long periods of time. While it's certainly not universal, the two do tend to be complementary, and regional wind farms--perhaps managed by those very same utility companies--will go a long way towards supplementing smaller local grids.
Future-forward, the best thing commercial utilities could be doing both for themselves and for the future of humanity, is developing and building cheap, reliable, long-term energy-storage systems ... non-battery systems like the pumped-water, sand-ballast, and molten-salt reservoirs ... that can store energy for weeks or months.
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Comment on Rooftop solar panels are flooding California’s grid. That’s a problem. in ~enviro
Eric_the_Cerise LinkThis is part of a "sea change" for utilities. They are in the process of changing from energy providers to energy regulators/managers. Many utility companies have been fighting this change...This is part of a "sea change" for utilities. They are in the process of changing from energy providers to energy regulators/managers. Many utility companies have been fighting this change tooth-and-nail every step of the way. Others are trying, but it's a tricky, complicated change to a business model that hasn't seen innovation in, IDK, a century or more.
California is, I think, better, more innovative, more accepting of these changes. This article is mainly just talking about rooftop solar gaining popularity faster than the utilities anticipated, and so now there is often excess client power that they don't know what to do with; it's an issue that they will work out, but it'll take years for them to adjust their central production and storage plans, to meet the faster-than-expected rate of change.
Several years ago, there was a huge legal battle in Hawaii about the utility providers not wanting to pay fair market prices for the electricity flowing into their grids from solar-electric client homes, and even blocking solar-electric clients from feeding their excess into the grid, forcing homeowners to either set up battery back-ups and/or throw away their excess electricity. The utility provider(s) had some legitimate issues relating to the difficulty and risk to the entire grid, from allowing individual homes to feed current into the grid ... but as I recall, they were using that as an excuse to try to maintain their monopoly on electricity.
This is also where the rise of micro-grids is coming into play ... communities -- sometimes quite small, just a few dozen, or even a handful of homes -- communally purchasing large, common-use battery back-up systems to feed their electricity into and then tap into during high-use, low-generation periods.
Ultimately, I think a larger version of that community-based model is the future of electricity, with a kind of Internet of microgrids, and the utilities more and more existing to manage and maintain the lines and the local back-up systems, and less and less, to actually create power to sell, except as a kind of emergency provider of last resort.
Of course, people will still have to pay them for those maintenance, management and--effectively--power-insurance services ... but in a perfect world, those fees should be a tiny fraction of the cost of actually buying power from them.
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Comment on All the good email clients go to hell in ~tech
Eric_the_Cerise LinkHey @delphi, Have you ever looked at MailPile? It started out as a crowd-funded effort and I'm not sure it was ever "completely" finished (a fuzzy concept in the software world). I've chatted a...Hey @delphi,
Have you ever looked at MailPile? It started out as a crowd-funded effort and I'm not sure it was ever "completely" finished (a fuzzy concept in the software world). I've chatted a lot online with the guy primarily responsible for it; he's cool and sharp.
But the main point is, it's not just another email client. He/They really came up with a very original, new-and-different way of managing email. It may not be entirely user-friendly (and as I noted, it may not even qualify as "done"), but it is both different and more powerful than traditional clients.
He's also come up with several other interesting, fairly original software ideas. Worth a look, I think.
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Comment on All the good email clients go to hell in ~tech
Eric_the_Cerise Link ParentThunderbird spent a decade wandering the desert, when there was really, really minimal support and development and modernization and such-like. I forget the reasons, but in the past couple of...Thunderbird spent a decade wandering the desert, when there was really, really minimal support and development and modernization and such-like.
I forget the reasons, but in the past couple of years, it is experiencing a revival. Mozilla is throwing a lot of time, money and effort at bringing it up to speed as a high-quality modern email client. They also took over (ahem, "merged with") K-9 email and are in the process of retooling it to become T-Bird mobile for Android.
A) they're not "there" yet, and 2) I'm not entirely happy with some of the choices they're making in how to modernize it.
Regardless, though, T-Bird is right now in the process of becoming much better than it has been in a very long time.
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Comment on Scientists push new paradigm of animal consciousness, saying even insects may be sentient in ~enviro
Eric_the_Cerise Link ParentPeople often talk about a "God of the gaps" ... I think Carl Sagan may have coined the expression originally ... the idea that, whatever Science has not (yet) figured out, people attribute to God...People often talk about a "God of the gaps" ... I think Carl Sagan may have coined the expression originally ... the idea that, whatever Science has not (yet) figured out, people attribute to God and miracles, until Science does figure it out and religion (often, reluctantly) gives up its hold over that particular domain ... and as Science learns more and more of how our world actually works, we gradually see "God" disappearing from the equation.
I suspect we are entering a similar "free will of the gaps" phase, where more and more, Science is discovering that people's motivations and behaviors and choices in life are dictated by environmental variables beyond their control, much more so than by their own personal volition ... changes in the gut biome driving our decisions ... chemicals and pollutants in the environment ... Scrooge's declaration that "you may just be an undigested bit of beef...", etc.
Perhaps, in the end, we determine that it's 50/50, half of the decisions we think we make are just illusions that were actually outside our control, and the other half is us, actually choosing our path in life. Or perhaps that "free will" part of our world keeps shrinking as Science understands better and better how our brains actually work.
Clockwork Universe.
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Comment on Scientists push new paradigm of animal consciousness, saying even insects may be sentient in ~enviro
Eric_the_Cerise Link ParentHard disagree. There is, of course, a philosophical side of the discussion, and it is easy to start pushing a discussion in that direction. However, basically the entire scientific field of AGI...Hard disagree. There is, of course, a philosophical side of the discussion, and it is easy to start pushing a discussion in that direction.
However, basically the entire scientific field of AGI ("real" artificial intelligence, so-to-speak) is devoted explicitly to figuring out exactly what these things are, and whether/how they can be duplicated with computer code.
There are also things like, eg, the recent reports about the Arc virus, suggesting that self consciousness in humans (and, I think, most/all mammals?) may be nothing more than a side-effect of a viral symbiotic thing going on in our brains.
Specific findings and claims are certainly open to debate, but to suggest these subjects aren't even in the domain of science ... no.
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Comment on Is Tildes failing to thrive? in ~tildes
Eric_the_Cerise Link ParentHonestly, I think it is still actually invite-only. First, the simple fact that the registration page says you need an invite probably already drives off a huge horde of potential...Honestly, I think it is still actually invite-only.
First, the simple fact that the registration page says you need an invite probably already drives off a huge horde of potential scammers/spammers, in search of lower-hanging fruit.
Second, people who are not already on Tildes probably don't know how easy it is to get an invite ... you kinda have to be motivated enough to plan for putting in the effort to look for one, before you discover that, hey-hey, it actually doesn't require much effort.
Thirdly, as I understand it, it serves as a tiered tracking system. If I invite a bunch of people, and 9 out of 10 are not trouble-makers, but my 10th one is a spammer, no biggie. But if I invite 10 spammers to join, and then each of those spammers also invite 10 more spammers, and etc ... there is an electronic paper trail leading right back to me as the source of the problem. Not only do the 2nd and 3rd level spammers get banned, I also get booted.
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Comment on Is Tildes failing to thrive? in ~tildes
Eric_the_Cerise (edited )Link ParentOh, that was just my snarky way of saying I won't randomly hand out invites to anyone w/o doing some due diligence on their history. Edit: I actually don't vet people very much, before giving out...Oh, that was just my snarky way of saying I won't randomly hand out invites to anyone w/o doing some due diligence on their history.
Edit: I actually don't vet people very much, before giving out an invite, but just looking to see they have a real posting history somewhere, that looks like a human posted things, that already prunes out a lot of the bot-ish riff-raff.
I have, in fact, had people ask me for an invite, and at a quick glance I can see that they have little or no history, on reddit or wherever, and/or their history looks really sketchy, and I've not handed out an invite to those people.
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Comment on Generation Z is unprecedentedly rich in ~finance
Eric_the_Cerise Link ParentI have followed Shadowstats for, I think, decades. It makes excellent points about the official governmental calculations of inflation. Practically every Administration (both Parties) has taken...I have followed Shadowstats for, I think, decades.
It makes excellent points about the official governmental calculations of inflation. Practically every Administration (both Parties) has taken the opportunity to "redefine" inflation and/or the CPI, to make their Admin look better. Some product makes the calculated inflation too high? Just exclude it from the package, or replace it with something similar-but-cheaper.
However, Shadowstats itself also seems to have gradually become less accurate, and so, less relevant, over the years.
The truth is somewhere else (I hesitate to say "in between" because I think it's too complicated for simple, straight-line analysis).
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Comment on Is Tildes failing to thrive? in ~tildes
Eric_the_Cerise LinkI recently saw an outside discussion of Tildes, where someone asked, "wait, is this right? They've been in 'invite-only' alpha mode for 6 years?". I replied with, "yes ... and we like it that...I recently saw an outside discussion of Tildes, where someone asked, "wait, is this right? They've been in 'invite-only' alpha mode for 6 years?".
I replied with, "yes ... and we like it that way."
Then I added "(and DM me with irrefutable proof that you are a decent human being, for an invite)".
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Comment on Scientists push new paradigm of animal consciousness, saying even insects may be sentient in ~enviro
Eric_the_Cerise Link ParentI think an argument can be made, that scientific understanding is gradually moving towards the realization that this is true for all animals, including humans ... that some, much, perhaps even...I think an argument can be made, that scientific understanding is gradually moving towards the realization that this is true for all animals, including humans ... that some, much, perhaps even all, free will, self-awareness and sentience ... is illusory.
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Comment on Two years to save the planet, says UN climate chief in ~enviro
Eric_the_Cerise LinkMy position and (personal) policy in recent years has been, "screw the timelines; we need to quit using fossil fuels, right now, today, 100%". Yes, I know that is, practically speaking,...My position and (personal) policy in recent years has been, "screw the timelines; we need to quit using fossil fuels, right now, today, 100%".
Yes, I know that is, practically speaking, impossible. People own cars, there's the entire global airline industry, global shipping is still 99% fossil fuel powered, etc, etc.
However, I have watched for 40+ years now as we--as a species/culture--have repeatedly said, "okay, here is the minimum that we have to do to avoid the really bad effects", and then for the next decade, half-ass those absolute bare-minimum requirements.
Human nature or capitalism or what, IDK, I don't care ... we do not have the ability (political will or whatever you want to call it), to do slow, steady, gradual decreases and transitions over time.
So, that's where we need to start ... 100% end to fossil fuels, immediately, right now. And then let people, politicians, industries try to argue their way into deserving exceptions, why they might be special enough to risk killing off our species.
Of course, that's just me, sitting here, armchair-quarterbacking after 4 decades of frustration and disbelief at my species. But I also no longer believe there is ever going to be a top-down political solution. We need literal riots.
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Comment on On M*A*S*H, was Klinger a cross-dresser? Was Klinger trans? in ~lgbt
Eric_the_Cerise (edited )Link ParentThe show is circa 50 years old now; nothing in our culture ever ages perfectly, going back that far. That said, the show was legendary for being ahead of its time, and challenging so many basic...The show is circa 50 years old now; nothing in our culture ever ages perfectly, going back that far.
That said, the show was legendary for being ahead of its time, and challenging so many basic tenets in society back then. It was also just plain funny and touching and endearing, with fleshed-out, interesting, original characters everywhere. The final episode was a cultural phenomenon, that held the record as the most-watched broadcast on TV for almost 30 years.
Frankly, I kinda want to go back now and rewatch with this new perspective in mind.
It was officially about the US involvement in the Korean war, but under the hood, we all knew it was actually about the Vietnam War, which hadn't even ended yet, when the series began.
As a cis-het guy growing up in a time when homo/transphobia was utterly normal, the thought that they would have made a character in the US Army who was gay, and/or trans, and/or a cross-dresser ... and hide him under the storyline of "he's just faking it to get out of the army" ... that's exactly the kind of thing the writers of that show might have done.
I definitely entertained the idea that this trans person I discussed it with, was just looking for anyone to identify with in a world that pretended people like her didn't exist ... but at the same time, I also began to entertain the idea that yeah, the writers actually did intend Klinger to be a second-level joke on all us cis-folk who wouldn't "get it".
Edit to add -- Single episode spoiler
They did one show where everybody else was putting together a Christmas party for the local orphans, while in a back operating room, one of the surgeons spent the entire episode, trying to keep a guy alive long enough so that he wouldn't die on Christmas Day and they could at least spare the family that added heartbreak.
He failed, and the guy died 15 minutes before midnight.
Hawkeye (one of the assisting surgeons) walked over to the clock on the wall, turned it forward to 12:05 am and said "Oh look, he made it."
That's the kind of show it was.
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On M*A*S*H, was Klinger a cross-dresser? Was Klinger trans?
I had a long-running discussion about this last year with a trans person on the Fediverse. Before that conversation, it had never even crossed my mind that Klinger was anything other than a...
I had a long-running discussion about this last year with a trans person on the Fediverse. Before that conversation, it had never even crossed my mind that Klinger was anything other than a cis-het guy desperately trying to exploit a weird Army regulation to escape from a war zone ... who may admittedly have become a bit too attached to his wardrobe in the process.
However, she pointed out that Klinger was the closest thing to a role model she had on TV growing up at the time, and that she had definitely seen and identified a lot of traits in Klinger that strongly suggest he (she?) was a semi-closeted trans character, effectively pulling a double-switch, pretending to be a "regular guy" who was pretending to be a cross-dresser just to get out of the Army, while actually having found a way to be openly trans in the US Army all the way back in the 1950s.
Thoughts?
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Comment on Networked geothermal is catching on in Minnesota in ~enviro
Eric_the_Cerise LinkThis is becoming a thing ... several towns/cities in Germany are doing similar projects right now ... Here is Mannheim, building a large-scale heat pump for district heating, pulling its energy...This is becoming a thing ... several towns/cities in Germany are doing similar projects right now ... Here is Mannheim, building a large-scale heat pump for district heating, pulling its energy from the Rhine river, aiming to provide ~20 megawatts of thermal energy to heat ~2,000 homes.
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Comment on Networked geothermal is catching on in Minnesota in ~enviro
Eric_the_Cerise Link ParentAdding to others' comments ... there are multiple correct definitions of "geothermal" ... even before you look at any specific Wikipedia articles, you can start with their "Disambiguation" page...Adding to others' comments ... there are multiple correct definitions of "geothermal" ... even before you look at any specific Wikipedia articles, you can start with their "Disambiguation" page for geothermal which makes it pretty clear that it means many different things, including both your definition, and--among other things--ground source heat pumps such as this article is discussing.
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Comment on Thinking about quitting the Internet in ~tech
Eric_the_Cerise Link ParentSlow responses on my part, in this thread I started ... apologies for that. I am looking into this book, and I just noticed he's the same guy that wrote Deep Work. I may have to start paying...Slow responses on my part, in this thread I started ... apologies for that.
I am looking into this book, and I just noticed he's the same guy that wrote Deep Work. I may have to start paying attention to this author. Thanks for the tip.
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Comment on The best way to help bees? Don’t become a beekeeper like I did. in ~enviro
Eric_the_Cerise Link ParentAgreed. Standing water also doesn't really qualify as "clean water" ... at least, not for long. I am thinking of small bubblers of the bird fountain variety, that either include design elements...Agreed. Standing water also doesn't really qualify as "clean water" ... at least, not for long.
I am thinking of small bubblers of the bird fountain variety, that either include design elements allowing insects to reach the water safely, or adding half-submerged sticks or rocks that provide such access.
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Is climate change driving the global rise in populism? If so ... how? If not ... what is?
Preamble ... this is another rambling, jumbled soliloquy that may or may not make any actual points ... or, you know, sense. "Climate Change is causing the rise in populism". That is a theory I...
Preamble ... this is another rambling, jumbled soliloquy that may or may not make any actual points ... or, you know, sense.
"Climate Change is causing the rise in populism".
That is a theory I have entertained for many years -- going back to before the 2016 US Presidential election. And--confirmation bias being what it is--since I believe the theory, I keep seeing anecdotal evidence all over the place connecting the two.
But, thinking about it this morning, looking at it logically ... I still think there is probably a connection, but I'm not really sure. It may well just be a coincidence of timing. And even if there is a connection, I'm just not quite sure what it is. If it is true ... why? What is the actual connection?
So ... why do countries keep electing populist "Trump-like" leaders?
That's already a hard question to answer clearly, without quickly descending into personal attacks and ad hominems and such.
Plus, of course, generalization is problematic ... we're talking about different countries, different cultures, different histories driving each vote. It's not all the same. And yet, over and over again, election after election, it sure looks the same.
I think the main reason is a tribal "fear of invaders" reaction, mostly against the rise of immigration, particularly immigration from (to paraphrase Trump) "the shit-hole countries". Maybe it's an even more basic "fear of change" reaction. But I definitely think, in the US, the rise of Trump was a direct result of the illegal immigration issue -- not exclusively, but that was a big piece of the puzzle. In particular, Trump equating Muslims with terrorists, and Mexican immigrants with criminals, etc.
Here in the EU, immigration -- particularly the 2015 refugee crisis caused by the wars in the Middle East -- was probably the top reason for Brexit, as has been most of the populist surge over here since then. One country after another here keeps electing right-wing leadership based on the "we'll keep out the dirty immigrants" campaign promises. Hungary, Italy, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, the list just keeps going. I live in Germany these days, and I gotta tell you, there is nothing scarier than seeing a huge surge in popularity in the German far-right.
The other top reason that seems to be driving it is some kind of sense of nationalistic self-determination. People feeling like their country--their home--is being changed by Outside Forces, and trying to lock it down, trying to find a way back to the good old days when the white people ran things and the brown people cooked and cleaned for them.
In Hungary, Orban routinely gets massive support with his constant rants about "Brussels" (meaning the EU) trying to force their gay liberal anti-Christian agenda down the throats of decent God-fearing Hungarians, and I see variations of that theme in most of the populist movements.
Right now, I want to say the populist trend is a response to (or rather, a denial of) the consequences of Colonialism and resource depletion. I think (again, over-simplified), people here in the Industrial Western World do not want to hear that the problems in the rest of the world are our fault, and that we have a responsibility to the people there, to try to help address some of the problems we've helped cause ... and instead, people are electing leaders who tell them the rest of the world is going to hell but it's not their fault and if they just lock down their borders, everything will stay "nice" in their country.
Something like that, anyway.
Okay ... so, resource depletion and a backlash against the consequences of Colonialism.
Does that seem like a fair and reasonable generalization of what is driving the rise in populism?
Because none of that is really connected to Climate Change. Sure, it depends on "which" resources we're talking about, but even in a magical hypothetical world where burning fossil fuels doesn't cause the planet to heat up ... wouldn't we still be seeing just about the same results from the Colonialism-and-resource-depletion issues?
But then again, at a global level, everything is pretty much connected to everything else. I feel like, coming at it from that angle, I could make a fairly good argument that Climate Change and resource depletion are pretty closely related, regardless of which resources you're talking about.
Oh yeah ... one more wrinkle. I'm primarily talking about populism in the US, Canada, UK, EU. I actually know a lot less about the situations in other regions. Asia. Latin America. Bolsonaro. Millei. I know there are others, but names elude me at the moment, and I don't have an understanding of why they are getting elected. Are they part of this trend? Do they blow a hole in my logic? IDK.
tl;dr
Okay ... I guess that's my new thesis -- populism is primarily being driven by a denial of the consequences of Colonialism and resource depletion ... which may or may not be closely related to Climate Change itself; I'm still just not sure.
Or, more broadly, more Climate-Change-inclusive -- populism is about people seeing that the world is dying, and electing leaders who A) tell them it's not their fault, and B) promise to save their country, even as the rest of the world burns.
Thoughts?
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I'm having trouble understanding what (if anything) we're disagreeing on. The statistics you just cited sound great to me. Having to pull in power from an outside source once a year or less sounds like a great set-up, especially if the opportunity arises to feed into that outside source on the days your local system is running over capacity.