Jim Garrett

I've just made arrangements to get a Cala heat-pump water heater thermal battery installed: https://www.calasystems.com/ We also looked at: https://www.reservoirhome.com/ This looks good too and I would be happy with either. Cala is made in the US and is already supported by Home Assistant Free/Libre/Open-source home automation software: https://www.home-assistant.io/ I refer to these as "thermal batteries" because they allow you to use energy at the time of your choosing, and use it later. This will be the first time I've had the option to choose how much electricity I'm using, and when. (Other than setting my electric car's charging time and level.) Both Reservoir and Cala come with adaptive control algorithms that learn your usage patterns. This is potentially *very useful* for a heat-pump water heater, because heat pumps heat water slowly but efficiently. Predictive/adaptive planning can minimize relying on backup electric resistance heating. A grand(iose) idea: getting Embedded Common Lisp (ECL) running on a Raspbery Pi running Home Assistant to predict need for hot water, car charging, and home heating. I'm imagining fitting single-hidden-layer quantile neural nets (to predict the median and, say, 10% and 90% quantiles, useful for planning purposes) using SPSA: https://www.jhuapl.edu/spsa/ I imagine a modest processor could chew on the fitting for a while, using little memory, and come up with something pretty good. It would be awesome if a small processor running Home Assistant could do this on its own. Totally scratching an itch rather than fulfilling a real need, except that (I think) most existing algorithms are proprietary. E.g., Kraken: https://www.kraken.tech/residential-flexibility #algorithms #AI #homeassistant #thermalbatteries

There's a line of argument that energy prices are rising and we need to build more pipelines and fossil fuel plants to make electricity more plentiful and therefore cheaper. And that deploying wind and solar is expensive and is driving up rates.

But in Australia, electricity prices have dropped 10% in some places, and it's because battery storage has joined solar.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2026/may/31/cheaper-energy-bills-battery-revolution-climate-crisis

#batteries #electricityprices

Watching Jon Stewart on The Daily Show show Trump's own words contradicting themselves reminded me how Trump always, always talks like the student who didn't do the assignment and is trying to BS his way through, trying to come up with convincing-sounding words that actually convey a minimum of content.

Hmm, where else do we see strings of words trying to sound convincing while conveying a minimum of real content? AI!

It is tiring and irritating for the brain to have to continually process realistic strings of words and then be rewarded by nothingness. Let's bring fewer words and more content into our lives. And push back when this is violated.

I had an English teacher in high school who had us write papers no longer than one page, yet which had to convey content. He had the right idea.

#Trump #AI #slop

I just drove our 2019 Hyundai Kona electric from Northampton, Massachusetts to Boston and back. It's a 2-hour drive each way.

I left Northampton with 90% charge. In the pleasant weather we've been having lately, this was enough charge to go to Boston and halfway back. Then I charged for 30-40 minutes (not sure precisely) and returned to Northampton with 71% charge.

This car charges slowly on road trips, by the standards of EV's today. However, it's small and super-efficient, and has a smaller battery. Hence on a time-per-mile-gained basis, it's not as much slower as one might think.

Furthermore, there are old chargers here and there which are priced lower because people with modern fast-charging cars will prefer modern faster chargers. My car is indifferent, as it can't take advantage of the higher charging speed. So more chargers for me!

There is still virtue in small and efficient, even if it's out of date.

#EV #electriccar

Once-eradicated flesh-eating parasite discovered in calf in Texas.

(Note: unlikely to eat humans, very likely to eat cows.)

The parasite has been expanding northwards steadily across Mexico.

USDA secretary says, "There is no reason to believe this incursion will result in establishment of the pest in our country."

Translation: "We're not gonna do Jack for you losers."

Which, if you think about it, is a pretty apt motto for the Trump administration.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/04/new-world-screwworm-texas-cattle-industry

#politics #Trump #parasite

I was just about to get up when she twisted her head down in complete relaxation and contentment. Who would have the heart to push her off now!

#cats

We've moved into an apartment with a gas cook top after using induction for several years and, for all those who are hanging on to the notion that gas is the ultimate cooking setup, let me tell you that you're completely missing out, and for a very simple reason.

Top-flight gas cook tops give lots of little flames projecting straight up. Turn the gas higher, you get bigger flames, still projecting straight up. Fine and dandy. But normal folks don't get that equipment; we get a pipe with a cap on the top, with gas venting horizontally. So flames form a horizontal ring, and hot exhaust has momentum flowing outwards, not up.

Want to heat a big pot fast? Put it on a big burner. Except this forms a wide ring that doesn't heat the center of the pot. Turn up the gas and much of the heat flows *around* and up the sides of the pot, doing a great job of heating the sides and *handles* of the pot. The contents of the pot? Not so much.

This is a cheap, simple, primitive setup that barely works at its intended function. It's not the biggest problem in the world, just don't tell me it's the ultimate cooking experience and you couldn't possibly switch to induction.

#cookingwithgas #cooking #fossilfuels #BoycottFossilFuels

Fediverse, are you ready for intense cuteness?

Brace yourself.

(1/?)

#caturday

@DeliaChristina@sfba.social Amen!

@maltimore@social.tchncs.de I got mine at pork bun: https://porkbun.com/products/domains

@BenitaSkinner@mastodon.social 🙂

@BenitaSkinner@mastodon.social

@BenitaSkinner@mastodon.social I have a personal story about a color combination very close to this. I'm a statistician and a long time ago I was working on a biomarker discovery project trying to discriminate two clinical groups. I was showing color-coded plots to a group of about 20 people when a guy said, "I'm color blind and the colors you're using look the same to me." Then a second guy said, "Me too!" We followed up afterward and settled on two colors that the statistical software R calls "coral" and "steelblue". Which very much resemble your color choices here. So for the last >25 years if I've needed two colors in a plot, they've been coral and steelblue. They're beautiful colors that go well together. I'm sure that was no small consideration when we settled on them! When I'm back at my laptop I'll add an image.

@kali@discuss.systems @petergleick@fediscience.org @MichaelEMann@fediscience.org I don't have a solution to the problem, whether the problem is global heating, getting people to care, or doomerism. Regardless, if someone had a solution to any of them we wouldn't have the problems we do. I do have some thoughts, because not having hopeful thoughts would also be doomerist. I find this notion convincing: https://www.volts.wtf/p/volts-podcast-how-the-left-can-suck Short summary: don't ask people to "fight climate change". Tell them specific people are doing specific things which foreclose options and make our lives worse, for their own short-term gain. The Democratic Party's general reluctance to name names and pose individuals and/or corporations as villains has led to a generalized, diffuse, amorphous "Climate change" which deflates urgency and direction. Useful thoughts: "The Language of Climate Politics" at https://genevieveguenther.com/ There's also a theory that direct mass communication just doesn't do much: https://www.porchlightbooks.com/products/dont-talk-about-politics-sarah-stein-lubrano-9781399413923 The theory goes that we should build community and expand our reach through personal interactions. Along those lines, I advocate taking action in our own lives where we can, and where we can't, advocate ("Why don't we have a bus line there?") It appears to me that Ehrlich made a good-faith effort during his career. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe his words have been misinterpreted or misused, especially by entrenched wealthy interests who are looking for material to feed an agenda. But he did his best and that's all I can ask of anyone. Did he have a hidden agenda? Was he honest? If you have issues with his arguments, by all means raise your objections as loudly as you can. (Of course your critique should be objective, and may be subject to its own critique.) It sounds like you feel that Ehrlich's narrative once led you astray, relative to the perspective you have now, and that gives you some emotional heft and a desire to prevent others from going that route. Great! I just can't provide that emotional heft myself because that hasn't been my path. Not sure if this is an answer or even helpful....

@kali@discuss.systems I've come to believe that the leading cause of climate despair in society is the many hundreds of millions of dollars that the fossil fuel industry dumps into advertising, political campaigns, political lobbying, and curriculum development. I'm not saying that advocates are going about it optimally. I do think, however, that if they did speak optimally, and we didn't point to fossil fuel actors, it wouldn't make much difference. @MichaelEMann@fediscience.org @petergleick@fediscience.org