Tootfinder

The main pond is basically full now. I have been gradually increased the power of the pump. Now 100% at 160W. I won't normally have it at full power but this is good for testing.
I am basically patrolling the edge of the ponds looking for low points. Have shored up a few but nothing serious. The first round of tests with the filter addressed most of them.
When the holes filled over the winter I actually shored up the edges of the main pond then, so there isn't much to do there.
Just waiting for the pump bay to fill up completely now. It'll probably be about an hour. (the water hose has not been on full blast this whole time, only about 1/4)
Then we will see the full level of the entire system.
The Finger of water closest to me in this picture is the overflow that goes into the storm/sewer system. That is the final arbiter of the fill point of the pond.
#poolpond #diy #portalberni #backyardproject

A new report from global energy think tank Ember says
🔥batteries have officially hit the price point that lets solar power deliver affordable electricity almost every hour of the year in the sunniest parts of the world
https://ember-ene…

Solar electricity every hour of every day is here and it changes everything | Ember
Batteries are now cheap enough to unleash solar energy’s full potential, getting as close as 97% of the way to delivering constant electricity supply 24 hours across 365 days cost-effectively in the sunniest places.

Market power abuse in wholesale electricity markets
Alice Lixuan Xu, Jorge S\'anchez Canales, Chiara Fusar Bassini, Lynn H. Kaack, Lion Hirth
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.03808 …

Market power abuse in wholesale electricity markets
In wholesale electricity markets, prices fluctuate widely from hour to hour and electricity generators price-hedge their output using longer-term contracts, such as monthly base futures. Consequently, the incentives they face to drive up the power prices by reducing supply has a high hourly specificity, and because of hedging, they regularly also face an incentive to depress prices by inflating supply. In this study, we explain the dynamics between hedging and market power abuse in wholesale el…

We're live in one hour with this month's Living Between Worlds salon.
Please join us for another conversation for possibility about how we might live effectively in these times, with courage, grace, and power. 
Our topic this month? Well, it’s a moving target—just like the world these days! You’ll have to attend to find out. ;-)  
Register here: …

The top MS-A2 server is very, very warm as it's ingesting heat from the RPis above along with the two switches. Grabbed a couple of fans, a 12V power supply, and a few fan screws. Give it an hour or two and see if I'll need to add something else or change the airflow.
#minirack #homelab

This is the time to speak out, to disembed our selves from a fascist system, to place principles over profit and self-advancement.
To be what Viet Thanh Nguyen calls “disagreeable”.
Yes, of course there are risks.
But at this moment, with ICE in the streets and at our door,
when each hour another liberty is being erased,
and those who speak truth to power are being removed from TV,
from universities, from cultural centers,
when the cultural platform…

Challan: Solar Full-disk Imaging-Spectroscopic Telescope using the Drift-Scanning Technique
Heesu Yang, Maria S. Madjarska, Donguk Song, Hannah Kwak, Sung-Hong Park, Eun-Kyung Lim, Sujin Kim, Su-Chan Bong, Yeon-Han Kim, Seonghwan Choi
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.16294

Challan: Solar Full-disk Imaging-Spectroscopic Telescope using the Drift-Scanning Technique
The Challan instrument is a solar full-disk imaging spectroscopic telescope planned to be installed at three sites with a 120-degree longitudinal difference, enabling continuous 24-hour observations of the Sun. It will take data every 2.5 min with a spatial resolution of $2-3^{\prime\prime}$ and a spectral resolving power (R) of >43,000 in H$α$ and Ca II 854.2 nm bands simultaneously. Challan is composed of two modules, each dedicated to a specific waveband. This modular design is beneficial i…