The Weekly Update

[Durian Fiend]

Streaming movies is an entirely different process.  You are accessing one file.  AI searches through every image that has ever been uploaded to the internet to decide what the silly cartoon is going to look like.

Streaming a movie uses less energy than buying and watching a DVD.   So says Google, and I believe it.

[Wao nahele kane]

• 10 kWh PV array • 30 kWh LiFePO4 bank • 5 kW 220 VAC inverter • dual 100 A MPPT charge controllers
3× redundancy and typically charged to full before 9 AM. No generator ever needed—not even during dark, gloomy weeks. 

I don’t subscribe to any of the ignorant nonsense in climate fear porn. Our Allfather Odin, scoffs at such ignorance.

https://g.co/gemini/share/57e7f75b7eee
   

[Durian Fiend]

The planet is not dying. It will eventually recover..

Anyone that says that as an excuse for gluttonous selfish behavior.. 

Has anyone stated that to excuse themselves of such behavior?   I missed it.

[Punatang]

Streaming movies is an entirely different process.  You are accessing one file.  AI searches through every image that has ever been uploaded to the internet to decide what the silly cartoon is going to look like.

Streaming a movie uses less energy than buying and watching a DVD.   So says Google, and I believe it.

 This really is a fascinating topic.  Edge I like your take.  'Mao, would you mind if I have a few questions?  Please just give your best guess if needed.  Mahalo in advance for your avid participation.

For your typical photo shoot:

How far do you travel round trip?
What mode of transportation do you use (specific vehicle info would be helpful if applicable)?
What type of camera do you use?
On average, how many photos do you take in a shoot?
On average how many photos make the cut and are displayed in the final product?
What kind of film do you use?
Do you develop your own film or have it done commercially?
What chemicals do you use in the process?
How do you distribute your photos (I have several of your books - are you making more)?
Is there anything I should have asked but didn't, that would help in calculating the resources used and environmental impact of your photos?

[randomq]

Nice setup Wao. I'm ~ 5kW, 7.5kWh. Probably run the generator once or twice a year, which for us could be fixed with more battery capacity. I have a power sipping unified memory PC that can run relatively large AI models locally, along with completely offline copies of Wikipedia and other resources, so I can be truly "off-grid" in every sense if needed.

Climate change is proved, no debate. No need to fear it, just need to be brave enough to push for the changes needed, even if it's politically unpopular. We're uniquely positioned here in so many ways to actually benefit from the changes. Geothermal, solar, everything in EV range, recycling our green waste, etc.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Climate change is proved, no debate. No need to fear it

I moved to Puna last century, in 1999.  At that time I considered summer temperatures to start in mid to late May, end late September when the trade winds resumed after a week or two of clear skies and windless days.  Mauna Kea view days.

Now, summer temps run from later April through early or mid October.  I’ve adjusted my garden planting schedule accordingly.  So have commercial vegetable growers in Waimea.  This is not a weather vs climate disagreement. It’s not one or two years warmer or cooler than a steady average.  It’s a gradual change to demonstrably and measurable higher average temperatures.  It’s a real thing.

In Japan the Japan Meteorological Agency has added a new designation, Kokushobi (酷暑日), translated as "cruelly hot" or "brutally hot day" to their forecasts, now the upper end of the scale.  Government offices have been asked to increase the temperature on their air conditioning by a degree or two to save electricity, and they’re approved a more causal office wear for summer.  Men can wear appropriate shorts and t shirts to work.  They’ve requested private businesses to adopt the same strategy.  As usual social media has weighed in on the debate.  Here however they don’t discuss whether or not climate change is a hoax, but if it’s gross to have to look at the unattractive bare legs of middle aged men at work, or on the trains as they travel to work.  Most young woman agree, that yes it’s gross, and an additional torment on top of the heat. 

Another Great things about Puna though:
SHORTS!

I’m returning to Big Island tonight. I have not worn shorts in over a month here in Japan, and I guarantee the first thing I’m gonna do when I get back, is walk into the house, and put on a pair of cargo shorts.  And a thin well worn cotton work t shirt.  And rubbah slippahs when I go outside to check on the avocados.

Another Great thing about Puna:
AVOCADOS!

[Punatang]

Welcome home Edge!  Hopefully you enjoyed a comfortable holoholo and return to find ideal conditions at your hale.

[kalianna]

"cargo shorts. And a thin well worn cotton work t shirt. And rubbah slippahs when I go outside"

At my house we call that our "at home wear".

[MyManao]

For your typical photo shoot...

I gave up being a professional photographer when Kodak stopped processing Kodachrome film. And shortly thereafter sold all my equipment.

I shot with Nikon F2s, Hasselblad 500s, a Seitz Roundshot, and used a Pentax light meter, all with Kodachrome64 film. Very old school, ’Tang.

I traveled far more on foot than otherwise. Get to the Mauna Ulu parking lot and hoof it out to Oo. Sometimes drive down to Pahoa and around Kalapana side.. and hoof it… Occasionally get to the end of Capt’s drive and hoof it through the that dense rainforest.. out to Oo. But then if you want to play gotcha I did a lot of time in a helicopter.. as part of the HVO monitoring crew we flew out to the vent once a week.. and for quite a while I had a contract to do mapping run photos through the belly of fixed wings, for government agencies around the islands. ’Tang, I used to have to fly 20,000 feet above terrain in a little twin engine Cessna.. it was how we made maps before we had satellites.. imagine the gas brah!

Besides being in art galleries (Cibachrome prints I produced in my own color lab in Volcano), having museum shows (I had an exhibit at the Smithsonian back in the day that then toured the country) and publishing books, I represented my collection of images (over 35,000 of Kilauea eruptions) under the company name Volcanic Resources, that advertised as a stock photo agency in the trades. The Black Book and the Workbook specifically. A lot of business via UPS and FedEx. Oh the waste!

I have not pursued photography, professionally, since, though I have a Lumix full frame mirrorless digital camera that hardly gets used, and the camera on my phone fills in for almost everything. But admittedly the phone cameras I have had are junk for anything professional. The Lumix is a nice little box.

If you’re looking for a gotcha.. besides all that air time.. Kodachrome was down right the worst. It was a black and white film that then had the color added in the lab through a 41 bath chemical process that included bleaches that were so strong they destroyed tungsten tanks within weeks, and, the EPA was trying to get the film banned for years. And, of course, between my private lab, and having run HVO’s darkroom after Jim retired, I put a lot of chemistry down the drain. These days.. I am sure the EPA would be looking for me!

Still, global warming is an entirely different thing, and besides, I’m a programmer now, and use Apple Silicone devices that make no heat.. literally my CPUs are running in the high 80s - low 90s Fahrenheit and take a minimum amount of electricity to run. And no, my programming doesn't involve AI. Apple is trying to foist Claude on everyone but we’ve found it doesn’t help all that much with what we’re doing. And I, running the front end development, find it to be a waste of time. Designing GUIs for humans is a human thing.

Global warming became an issue when scientists said, hey look, our lifestyle is killing the planet. Right then and there we had a choice.. change our lifestyle or contribute to the demise of life as we found it when we became aware of our surroundings. Some hold out for their “rights” to do whatever they want. “It’s my right man..” And other’s feel if a person takes that stand they have become nature’s enemy. For me, nobody has the right to destroy life on Earth for their pleasure. There is no constitutional, no god given, any of that crap, none. And those that claim that right by saying who gives a shit the planet with recover eventually should be seen for what they are. Killers, that should be dealt with accordingly.

I don’t know shit about god. I have stated, clearly, repeatedly, all I do is have faith in an underlying unification of all things.. of a system I have no way of comprehending with the small, incredibly small amount of computational power of the human mind. What that system is, how it works and all that, I have no idea, but I have faith it exists. 

Equally, I have no idea what happens when we die. Are we just random life forms that dissolve when we stop functioning, or is there more to it than that? Although, for all the effort made to answer that question, the findings, the beliefs of the Tibetan people, pre the overthrow by China, seem to have put the most effort into figuring it out. And, as such, I give weight to their beliefs. So, if reincarnation is real, then all those who cavalierly say oh well the planet will recover someday, I say fuck you! Because in essence you’re saying you have the right to to trash a place someone else, in the future, yourself even, may need to reincarnate in. You’re willing to deny paradise to others so you can trash it for yourself.

So yeah, one AI pic equals one gram of CO2. That certainly sounds like no big deal.. to me it sounds like an excuse to kill.

I don't know it that is the answer you were looking for 'Tang, but it's what came to mind..

[TomK]

So yeah, one AI pic equals one gram of CO2. That certainly sounds like no big deal.. to me it sounds like an excuse to kill.

Given your recent posts, that's quite a disturbing statement. For example:

"Anyone that says that as an excuse for gluttonous selfish behavior.. in my book.. has forfeited any respect.. any right to exist.. and their life is worthless. I would rather an obscure salamander survive than them. I would rather share this life with a slug.. an ameba.. than folks that justify their greed that way. In fact, to be blunt, they are the enemy. And, before all is said and done, will be dealt with accordingly."