sqew's recent activity

  1. Comment on What's good in modern flashlights/headlamps? in ~hobbies

    sqew
    Link Parent
    I saw that Petzl and Black Diamond both have "3 AAA or our lithium pack" options, which I'm definitely a fan of. Glad to hear you like it! Definitely leaning towards a "replaceable lithiums, bring...

    I saw that Petzl and Black Diamond both have "3 AAA or our lithium pack" options, which I'm definitely a fan of. Glad to hear you like it!

    Definitely leaning towards a "replaceable lithiums, bring a power bank, make sure everything's USB-C" strategy.

  2. Comment on What's good in modern flashlights/headlamps? in ~hobbies

    sqew
    Link Parent
    A little bit of both - I love backpacking, but don't have the full set of gear for it at the moment. After reading people's comments, I'm leaning towards getting a flashlight and a headlamp with...

    A little bit of both - I love backpacking, but don't have the full set of gear for it at the moment.

    After reading people's comments, I'm leaning towards getting a flashlight and a headlamp with replaceable lithium batteries to get the best of both worlds.

    Curious about your experience with the solar panel charger. I remember thinking they were kind of gimmicky 5-10y ago on the thesis that "what would I bring that needs to be charged?", but now they're making some more sense to me. Some of the smaller ones seem like they wouldn't be too bad to lug out into the backcountry if you wanted to keep things charged up.

  3. Comment on What's good in modern flashlights/headlamps? in ~hobbies

    sqew
    Link Parent
    Thanks for the link to the list and the point about 18650s not being as safe to dump in a drawer. I'm looking mostly at lights that do let you swap lithium batteries around to avoid having to...

    Thanks for the link to the list and the point about 18650s not being as safe to dump in a drawer.

    I'm looking mostly at lights that do let you swap lithium batteries around to avoid having to throw a light away when a non-replaceable battery wears out, but I hadn't thought through storage and fire risk yet. Good to have on my mind :)

  4. Comment on What's good in modern flashlights/headlamps? in ~hobbies

    sqew
    Link Parent
    Yes, I think the weird feeling I'm having looking at these is coming from the colliding of my technology and outdoorsy worlds. Seeing USB charging on stuff I might take backpacking miles out in...

    Yes, I think the weird feeling I'm having looking at these is coming from the colliding of my technology and outdoorsy worlds. Seeing USB charging on stuff I might take backpacking miles out in the woods feels odd, but it makes total sense given the benefits of lithium batteries over regular old AA and AAAs.

    Looking at the comments and around online some more, I think I'm going to prioritize brands that still let you e.g. pop in an 18650 battery. Don't want to end up throwing away a perfectly good tool when a non-replaceable battery wears out.

    1 vote

  5. What's good in modern flashlights/headlamps?

    ~hobbies Ask (recommendations)
    So I've been out of the loop on camping and, more generally, outdoorsy stuff beyond day hikes for a good couple of years now. In my absence, it seems like a large chunk of the manufacturers I used...

    So I've been out of the loop on camping and, more generally, outdoorsy stuff beyond day hikes for a good couple of years now. In my absence, it seems like a large chunk of the manufacturers I used to rely on for flashlights and headlamps (Black Diamond, Petzl, Fenix, etc.) have switched over to lithium batteries, many to USB chargeable internal batteries.

    That feels weird to me, coming from the era of "carry a couple of spare double and triple A's with you", since you only needed a few of one or the other to keep all your lights going, even on a longer trip. Given that everyone's doing it now, though, I'm assuming it works out fine.

    Anyone have recs on what brands are good these days, what models, and how to buy to maximize the "keep all your lights going with the least backup energy sources" factor?

    18 votes

  6. Comment on You are being misled about renewable energy technology in ~enviro

    sqew
    Link Parent
    One great disappointment for me in the current willy-nilly application of tariffs by the US federal government is that they actually could be put to decent and reasonable use on things like this....

    One great disappointment for me in the current willy-nilly application of tariffs by the US federal government is that they actually could be put to decent and reasonable use on things like this.

    "Just" tariff Chinese panels and provide incentives to build solar panel manufacturing capability in the US, and we could, hopefully, give our industry here the time that it needs to grow to meet demand and scale to lower prices.

    But, alas, judicious, long-term industrial policy is not our forte, and we'll just continue to do absurd things that push away our trade partners.

    8 votes

  7. Comment on You are being misled about renewable energy technology in ~enviro

    sqew
    Link Parent
    Yeah... I think I just ignored those because I already agreed with his earlier videos about dishwashers and don't have a whole home to humidify. Absolutely love him for going into such detail...

    Yeah... I think I just ignored those because I already agreed with his earlier videos about dishwashers and don't have a whole home to humidify. Absolutely love him for going into such detail about simple ways to make our lives better.

    2 votes

  8. Comment on You are being misled about renewable energy technology in ~enviro

    sqew
    Link
    I'd been wondering where he'd been since No Effort November, and now I have my answer :) Takes a while to put together an hour and a half video, even for him, I'd guess!

    I'd been wondering where he'd been since No Effort November, and now I have my answer :)

    Takes a while to put together an hour and a half video, even for him, I'd guess!

    8 votes

  9. Comment on Do you have American healthcare? Do you pay for a gym membership? Perhaps you can pay less and get more! in ~health

    sqew
    Link Parent
    I was thinking the same thing as I read the post: “cool! but I bet they don’t have any/many climbing gyms…”

    I was thinking the same thing as I read the post: “cool! but I bet they don’t have any/many climbing gyms…”

    2 votes

  10. Comment on The assistant axis: situating and stabilizing the character of large language models in ~tech

    sqew
    Link Parent
    I was interested in and gave a good read to some of the earlier ones, but I eventually realized that they’re completely uncritical of themselves, as you point out. LLMs are fascinating tools, but...

    I was interested in and gave a good read to some of the earlier ones, but I eventually realized that they’re completely uncritical of themselves, as you point out.

    LLMs are fascinating tools, but I don’t think that breathlessly talking about “wow we understand nothing about these cool math machines we’ve made” does anything for the misplaced, blind trust I see people developing in them. Which is, of course, to Anthropic’s (short term?) benefit…

    7 votes

  11. Comment on How to practically liquidate lots of little things of moderate value in ~finance

    sqew
    Link Parent
    Question for you since I've been thinking about selling a few things on eBay, how do you protect yourself as a seller? I'm thinking of selling an old-but-still-somehow-valuable GPU, among other...

    Question for you since I've been thinking about selling a few things on eBay, how do you protect yourself as a seller?

    I'm thinking of selling an old-but-still-somehow-valuable GPU, among other things, and one thing I consistently hear of is tech sellers getting scammed by buyers claiming whatever it was is broken on arrival.

    3 votes

  12. Comment on Candice Owens and the death of the decay of the American brain in ~society

    sqew
    Link
    I read this the other day when it was posted, and am coming back to it now after randomly seeing an r/conspiracy post about yesterday's shooting at Brown. It sucks and is disturbing to see how...

    I read this the other day when it was posted, and am coming back to it now after randomly seeing an r/conspiracy post about yesterday's shooting at Brown.

    It sucks and is disturbing to see how many people have fallen so far into these compounding delusions about everything that goes on in the world around them.

    1 vote

  13. Comment on Useful patterns for building HTML tools in ~tech

    sqew
    Link
    I read this yesterday and thought it was interesting. I'm more of a systems software person, but I do periodically have a need to make something that'll run in a browser. These seem like good...

    I read this yesterday and thought it was interesting. I'm more of a systems software person, but I do periodically have a need to make something that'll run in a browser.

    These seem like good strategies (maybe minus the AI for me...) to make little, working tools that don't require me to get up to speed on the JS framework-of-the-week.

    3 votes

  15. Comment on Why Japan has issued an advisory for a possible megaquake in the country’s north in ~enviro

    sqew
    Link Parent
    I had to google “NERV” because I was thinking of NERV from Neon Genesis Evangelion… but apparently this NERV is a warning app that uses Neon Genesis Evangelion theming? I love it!

    I had to google “NERV” because I was thinking of NERV from Neon Genesis Evangelion… but apparently this NERV is a warning app that uses Neon Genesis Evangelion theming?

    I love it!

    2 votes

  16. Comment on How to actually feed America (food bank logistics) in ~society

    sqew
    Link Parent
    I worked at a food bank/kitchen for a while, and this is spot on. Most of the grocery stores we picked up from in bulk gave us a mix of good stuff to effectively garbage. It was pretty clear that...

    I worked at a food bank/kitchen for a while, and this is spot on. Most of the grocery stores we picked up from in bulk gave us a mix of good stuff to effectively garbage.

    It was pretty clear that employees were just told “all near-spoiled produce goes here, anything expiring today goes here”. The notable exception was Trader Joes, which put a solid amount of employee time into making sure everything they gave us was good and usable.

    13 votes

  17. Comment on This climbing gear is designed to fail in ~hobbies

    sqew
    Link Parent
    I’ve been climbing for about a year! Almost entirely indoors, though. Such a fun hobby and way to exercise.

    I’ve been climbing for about a year! Almost entirely indoors, though. Such a fun hobby and way to exercise.

    6 votes

  18. Comment on “The Edmund Fitzgerald - First divers on the Fitz” in ~humanities.history

    sqew
    Link
    Saw this old article by one of the two divers who went down to the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1995 posted on the anniversary of the wreck today. Thought it was interesting, given the extremely technical...

    Saw this old article by one of the two divers who went down to the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1995 posted on the anniversary of the wreck today. Thought it was interesting, given the extremely technical nature of a dive that deep and cold.

    9 votes

  20. Comment on Cataloging your home library in ~books

    sqew
    Link
    I'm no expert on library stuff specifically, but my $0.02 would be to do it in a spreadsheet or something just to get a feel for it and have the data on hand. You can fill it out bit by bit and...

    I'm no expert on library stuff specifically, but my $0.02 would be to do it in a spreadsheet or something just to get a feel for it and have the data on hand. You can fill it out bit by bit and then you have the data collected if you ever want to switch to some fancier system.

    (this is just what works for me, since I constantly let the perfect be the enemy of the good...)

    4 votes