spctrvl's recent activity
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
spctrvl LinkI'm going to try and mod one of my PSPs to run off 18650 batteries rather than the onboard one. For some background, the UMD drive on this one was broken; I got it out of a trashcan for that...I'm going to try and mod one of my PSPs to run off 18650 batteries rather than the onboard one. For some background, the UMD drive on this one was broken; I got it out of a trashcan for that reason. Fine for my purposes since all PSPs are rootable and can play ripped PSP games and emulated games off a memory stick (or even microsd card with an adapter).
But after I stripped out the broken disc drive, I realized that there was now a lot of spare room in this thing, so I measured it, and the old drive bay is the perfect size to fit 4x18650 cells, with a minor bulge in the back. Since the power adapter for the PSP is 5V2A, aka standard USB battery bank, all that needs to be done is to add an off the shelf BMS, wire it to the charger jack, and it should be good. The PSP doesn't actually need the proper battery in to run as long as it's got power from the jack.
I'm going to 3D print a new back for the thing to account for the slight bulge and add a USB C port for charging. Currently I think I'm just going to connect it to the power jack with a short cable routed externally, but if I'm ever feeling ambitious, I should be able to run the leads internally with some disassembly. If I'm ever feeling really ambitious, it should be possible to reroute the power jack to charge the 18650s, but I do still like the novelty of a PSP with a USB C port, even if it's just for charging.
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Comment on Elon Musk is not your friend in ~tech
spctrvl Link ParentI agree that he definitely does, he's an exploitative capitalist tyrant with all the emotional maturity of a 12 year old, but it seems like it's always either all or nothing, and I find that...I agree that he definitely does, he's an exploitative capitalist tyrant with all the emotional maturity of a 12 year old, but it seems like it's always either all or nothing, and I find that unnuaunced and incomplete. There tends to be either cringey sycophantic mass media coverage and musk fanboys, or people shitting on genuinely good ideas because he's the one that had them. You don't see many people wondering if he might have been a net gain for society if it weren't for an economic system that makes him ludicrously and undemocratically powerful and unaccountable.
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Comment on What did you do this weekend? in ~talk
spctrvl Link ParentOh I'll have to try that. I love MSG and I love pickles, so it seems like a winning combo.Oh I'll have to try that. I love MSG and I love pickles, so it seems like a winning combo.
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Comment on What did you do this weekend? in ~talk
spctrvl Link ParentWhat're MSG pickles? Just pickles with MSG in the juice?What're MSG pickles? Just pickles with MSG in the juice?
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of May 3 in ~news
spctrvl Link ParentCall me a cynic, but I don't think the Republicans will go for anything that actually impacts the corporate bottom line. What you'll more likely see is attempts, largely at the state level, to...Call me a cynic, but I don't think the Republicans will go for anything that actually impacts the corporate bottom line. What you'll more likely see is attempts, largely at the state level, to place some narrow and targeted limits on corporate speech that they don't like, like deplatforming fascists, similar to the laws in many states against the BDS movement.
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Comment on Is there anything considered pseudoscientific/unscientific that you suspect has some truth to it and might be re-examined in the future? in ~talk
spctrvl Link ParentTo reinforce your point, American per capita emissions are more like 20 times Africa's at face value, and perhaps 30 or 40 times if you count emissions for outsourced goods made on our behalf,...To reinforce your point, American per capita emissions are more like 20 times Africa's at face value, and perhaps 30 or 40 times if you count emissions for outsourced goods made on our behalf, which if not considered does a lot to obfuscate first world carbon emissions. Hell, if you do that, Africa's emissions are probably even lower since a lot of their carbon footprint is tied up in resource extraction for the benefit of corporations in the global north.
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Comment on Rental companies buy up used cars as chip crisis gets worse in ~finance
spctrvl Link ParentDoes it? The same number of cards are being produced, but instead of being run with variable loads for a couple hours a day, they're being run at maximum power 24/7 on the cheapest, and often...Just like graphic card shortage due to extremely environmentally unfriendly cryptomining ironically has a good environmental impact on consumer consumption of graphic cards
Does it? The same number of cards are being produced, but instead of being run with variable loads for a couple hours a day, they're being run at maximum power 24/7 on the cheapest, and often dirtiest energy available.
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Comment on Carbon markets stand to reward ‘no-till’ farmers. But most are still tilling the soil. in ~enviro
spctrvl Link ParentIt's still a big task to make agriculture sustainable, but thankfully population is not growing exponentially. The growth rate has been in decline since the 60's and absolute growth peaked in the...It's still a big task to make agriculture sustainable, but thankfully population is not growing exponentially. The growth rate has been in decline since the 60's and absolute growth peaked in the late 80's. It's now expected for population to level off at 9-11 billion and start declining thereafter.
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Comment on What's a question you want to ask, but you're worried about how it might come across? in ~talk
spctrvl Link ParentI think it's very unlikely gender dysphoria can be caused by an outside source. While gender expression is constructed, gender identity seems more or less inborn; if it were possible to influence...I think it's very unlikely gender dysphoria can be caused by an outside source. While gender expression is constructed, gender identity seems more or less inborn; if it were possible to influence it socially, I can't imagine there'd be anywhere near the number of people bucking the overwhelming social pressure to conform to their assigned gender.
I think the only impact that greater recognition and acceptance of trans people has had is that people who might otherwise have stuck it out and lived their whole lives in the closet are feeling more able to transition. Ending gatekeeping measures like lived experience has also eased the path to transition for people who don't wholly conform to the expectations of their preferred gender, so you see a lot more trans lesbians or tomboys for instance, but it's not that they have milder or acquired dysphoria, it's that the stigma for being a trans person not conforming to your new gender expectations is like, trans squared, so visibility was near nil until fairly recently.
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Comment on Caitlyn Jenner opposes trans girls competing in girls' sports: 'It just isn't fair' in ~lgbt
spctrvl Link ParentJust that Caitlyn Jenner is a republican, and all that entails.Just that Caitlyn Jenner is a republican, and all that entails.
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Comment on PoW is efficient in ~finance
spctrvl Link ParentI'm more concerned about the energy than the silicon, but I'd say entertainment is perfectly socially valuable, even neglecting the computational value of the chips, and especially considering...I'm more concerned about the energy than the silicon, but I'd say entertainment is perfectly socially valuable, even neglecting the computational value of the chips, and especially considering that cards used for gaming last longer and consume much less power over their lifespans.
But what I more precisely meant is that there is no social function that crypto fills better than alternatives. Obviously it does something, but it's fully replaceable, its replacements are older, more established, more efficient, more convenient, and just generally better in every way.
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Comment on PoW is efficient in ~finance
spctrvl Link ParentOkay, but cryptocurrency doesn't store value. That's the point I'm trying to make. Cryptocurrency generates a log saying that at such and such time I burned electricity to generate this token, or...Okay, but cryptocurrency doesn't store value. That's the point I'm trying to make. Cryptocurrency generates a log saying that at such and such time I burned electricity to generate this token, or transfer this token to this address. The fact that something of value was consumed to generate these tokens does not make them valuable, value is a social phenomenon that's not transferable in that way.
I've made this analogy before, but I'll make it again. It seems really myopic to say that that we should stick with horse-drawn carriages just because you tried a steam tractor and found it lacking.
That's a dreadful analogy because even a rudimentary steam tractor would have obvious benefits even if it were at the time inferior. Cryptocurrency has no such benefits, as is a technological solution to a social problem that must already be solved for it to exist in the first place, since it relies on incredibly long supply chains and incredibly complicated infrastructure.
Imagine a world in which all energy is green. Do you see cryptocurrency as being more viable in that world?
No, it's still an economic drag locking up valuable energy and computational resources in attempting to solve a solved problem.
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Comment on PoW is efficient in ~finance
spctrvl Link ParentWhat's really at the heart of it, that I think people dance around a little, is that cryptocurrency fills no socially valuable function. It is technically interesting, but inferior to any system...What's really at the heart of it, that I think people dance around a little, is that cryptocurrency fills no socially valuable function. It is technically interesting, but inferior to any system of currency or value stores or transfers it could as yet replace, in terms of convenience, fees, environmental impact, liquidity, legality, you name it, because it's trying to apply a first generation technological solution to a social problem as old as humanity.
Providing a framework for peaceful cooperation between strangers is one of the core functions of any society, and as such the solutions currently in use are rather more mature than anything the blockchain has to offer. Not that it shouldn't be an active area of study, but we shouldn't be sinking terawatt hours of juice and megatons of carbon into what are basically socially redundant novelties that, again, serve no real purpose outside of that novelty.
Even if all PoW mining could be done using only green energy, it's still tremendously wasteful having all those solar panels and all that silicon tied up in the digital equivalent of rolling coal when they could be doing something useful, like offsetting grid carbon emissions to stop the planet from cooking in twenty years. We ultimately only have so much productive capacity, and we shouldn't be using it to generate tokens proving that we used it.
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Comment on What's something that took you a long time to like? in ~talk
spctrvl Link ParentOne thing I like along those lines is just eating raw rolled oats in a bowl of milk, like breakfast cereal. Keeps the texture and they pair well, especially with something like bran flakes mixed...One thing I like along those lines is just eating raw rolled oats in a bowl of milk, like breakfast cereal. Keeps the texture and they pair well, especially with something like bran flakes mixed in for sweetness.
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Comment on Amsterdam’s ‘doughnut economy’ puts climate ahead of GDP in ~finance
spctrvl Link ParentYeah, but with the amount of infrastructure redesign needed for mass adoption of composting toilets, plus having to sell people on them in the first place, I think we'd be better off redesigning...Yeah, but with the amount of infrastructure redesign needed for mass adoption of composting toilets, plus having to sell people on them in the first place, I think we'd be better off redesigning existing waste treatment facilities to capture phosphorus.
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Comment on Amsterdam’s ‘doughnut economy’ puts climate ahead of GDP in ~finance
spctrvl Link ParentAlso important for the food supply is closing the production loop on phosphorus, which would involve redesigning sanitation infrastructure for its capture from feces. Phosphorus is important to...Also important for the food supply is closing the production loop on phosphorus, which would involve redesigning sanitation infrastructure for its capture from feces. Phosphorus is important to agriculture as a fertilizer component since it's sort of the ultimate limiting reagent for life, and we rely mainly on fossil supplies vulnerable to depletion. Though that's not due to happen for centuries most likely, it's worth bearing in mind both out of consideration for the future and because phosphate mining increases the overall environmental impact of agriculture.
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Comment on A summary of the book "Why Nuclear Power Has Been a Flop" by Jack Devanney in ~enviro
spctrvl Link ParentIt's gonna take a lot longer than that to ramp up energy storage infrastructure on the scale needed for a fully renewable grid. I take the opposite position that a crash nuclearization program...It's gonna take a lot longer than that to ramp up energy storage infrastructure on the scale needed for a fully renewable grid. I take the opposite position that a crash nuclearization program like France undertook in the 70's and 80's is the quickest realistic path to a carbon neutral grid. It has precedent, and doesn't involve a total redesign of the electric grid and creation of entire supporting industries and supply chains.
While growth in solar and wind use is impressive, storage represents a fundamental barrier to full adoption far higher than the up front costs and lead times of nuclear plants (especially considering they've been built cheaper and more quickly in the past, per the article) and without that, renewables are just a way to burn less coal, not a viable source of primary power. That's not to say storage is insurmountable, but that there's no way you can ramp up battery production by a factor of over a hundred faster than you can build some nuclear power plants. And non-battery storage is either geographically limited, or in need of further development that makes it equally or more unlikely to meet deadlines.
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Comment on Our miserable 21st century in ~life
spctrvl Link ParentI just don't think this position is borne out by the evidence, it's very simplistic and doesn't take into account things that happened after the oil crises, social forces driving policy, or even...I just don't think this position is borne out by the evidence, it's very simplistic and doesn't take into account things that happened after the oil crises, social forces driving policy, or even the actual impacts of resource abundance on economies with regard to things like the resource curse. Energy and oil were cheap again after the 70's. Energy and oil are cheap now. We're still not prospering because of economic doctrines that were mainstreamed during those crises, but not due to the particular material concerns of those crises.
It wasn't material abundance that that drove the shattered, bombed out countries of post-war Europe to adopt social democratic economics, and it wasn't material scarcity that drove their abandonment of the same. Crisis conditions simply allow for heterodox thinking to become the new orthodox with surprising rapidity, fairly independently of how good those ideas actually are, so long as they have enough social support.
Neoliberalism (reaganomics if you prefer) was not a rational response to the energy crisis, it was just a school of thought that was appealing and convenient to a certain type of policymaker, had spent a lot of time building up parallel institutions to feign intellectual legitimacy, and was basically ready to go when the opportunity arose to remake the economy. It's a lot more complicated than a decrease in domestic oil production, regardless of how important oil is to the economy, because economics isn't a matter of geology, it's a matter of sociology.
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Comment on Our miserable 21st century in ~life
spctrvl Link ParentThat is a fantastic article that I hadn't read yet. I think it's all interrelated, the financialization of the economy led directly to stagnation through shifting of capital, human and otherwise,...That is a fantastic article that I hadn't read yet. I think it's all interrelated, the financialization of the economy led directly to stagnation through shifting of capital, human and otherwise, into essentially unproductive and highly socially stratified industries, and led both directly and indirectly to the neoliberal policy decisions perpetuating the same, through lobbying and the appearance of economic growth, while undercutting the economic and political power of the working class to fight this policy shift.
Should be 17-34 hours of gaming, since my 4x2ah cells plus the original 1.8ah add up to five and a half times stock battery capacity. Probably even more than that, since that's just multiplying stock numbers, while mine also has no disc drive to power and I can underclock for Gameboy and some SNES emulation, which is most of what I use it for. To be honest, I didn't even realize how ludicrous it was going to be until I ran the numbers just now, I mostly just wanted a way to use more reliable sources of standardized batteries.