ebc

joined 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 hours ago

I own a sailboat, and let's just say that it's not as simple as it looks. If you want to have good sailing performance you can't just weld a mast to the deck and call it good: Half of what makes a sailboat go happens underwater, so it has to be designed as a sailboat from the get-go. Not an impossible task, but it'll need new ship types and perhaps new construction methods; it's not something you can just retrofit onto an existing fleet.

All sailboats large enough to sleep in also have an engine, and most of the time it's a 20-60HP diesel depending on the size of the boat. There's a lot of buzz currently around switching to electric auxiliary propulsion, but the benefits aren't as big as you get on cars. Main "issue" is that marine diesel engines already spend most of their operating time in their most efficient range of RPMs; you don't get stop-and-go like you get on cars. Given that, there's no regen braking to be had on a boat. Regen can still happen when you're sailing, but the available energy from that derives from the velocity squared or something, so you only get something negligible like 200W when sailing at 5 knots (which is the common case for most 30-40 ft sailboats). You see, the main limit to speed on a displacement hull (like sailboats or container ships) is hull speed, which is mostly a function of hull length. Longer boat, faster boat.

This is good news for a container ship, though, because they're much bigger and thus tend to operate at much faster speeds like 12-16 knots. I know some bigger sailboats in the 50-60 ft range routinely see 2kW+ of regen when sailing at 7-8 knots, so a containership sailing at 12+ knots could conceivably generate in the tens of kW, which could recharge batteries for when they're becalmed or in confined waters where they can't sail.

Also, a lot of newer ships already use diesel-electric drivetrains with AziPods, where the powerplant is actually a big generator, and the propellers are attached to electric motors mounted in rotating pods under the hull. Helps a lot with maneuverability and is actually more efficient. It'd be relatively easy to add batteries in there, but the main obstacle here is that it substracts available mass for cargo.

Other main point about sails on a boat is that it's very labour-intensive to manage, so I don't think current ships with their skeleton crews could do it without almost double the people.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

For self-hosting purposes, Docker = lightweight disposable VMs that are configured via docker-compose.yml. All important data should be in "volumes", which are just shared folders between the host and the container.

The end result is that you can delete and re-create containers at any time and they should just pick up where they left off from the data that's in these volumes.

Each individual published image has some paths they want to use for that; everything is usually specified in their example docker-compose files.

If you're not a dev, don't even try to understand Dockerfiles, it's not for you.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It's not quite as point-and-click, but I'm using Docker for that because Yunohost kept messing up updates. Most server apps will have some instructions on how to run them in docker, especially a docker-compose.yml file, so you don't have to rely on the Yunohost team to package said app.

The way I do it is that I put each suggested compose file in their own file, and import them in my main docker-compose.yml file like this:

version:  '3'
include:
    - syncthing.yml

Then just run docker compose pull && docker compose up -d every time you change something or want to update your apps, and you're good to go.

Software updates in particular are waaaaaayyy easier on Docker than Yunohost.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Owner of 2 pinecils here, there are buttons and a display that shows the current temperature and other stuff. I only just learned that there's an app, it works more than fine on its own, out of the box.

I got that specific iron because I needed to power it from 12v, and it works very well on the USB PD power supply I already have for my laptop.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

Docker's secret that most "getting started" tutorials seem to miss is docker-compose.yml. Who wants to type these long-ass commands to start containers? I always just create a compose file, and then docker compose up -d.

Dockerfile is for developers, you shouldn't need more than a docker-compose.yml for self-hosting stuff.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah, there's some stuff on the side, but get a can of chef boyardee, a sealed packet of crackers and a pop tart, and that's pretty much it. Add some Qwik and Gatorade powder for hydration, maybe. At 250$ per 12-pack it's more expensive than eating out.

I'm involved with the Canadian cadet program, and these are the exact ones we eat when we go on expédition, they're nothing fancy. They are convenient, though.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (3 children)

It's still basically canned food, it's just that the can is a pouch. It's more expensive too.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Well, someone did it at least partly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdPRhkbeQJk

Altough in this case it's to improve acceleration, not anything related to privacy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

That's exactly what I was saying a few comments up. There's a use-case for cars, and there needs to be a way to get into the city when you arrive by car. Any good solution will probably involve parking the car somewhere outside city limits, otherwise it'll probably be co-opted by suburbanites.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I'm not talking about commutes, I'm talking about going to the city for an appointment/shopping/conference/concert/sightseeing/etc.

But yeah, cycling the last mile works in the Netherlands between cities or suburbs because they are relatively well served by inter-city transit, but what about places like this random dairy farm . Can this guy just take his bike to downtown Amsterdam?

[–] [email protected] 82 points 1 month ago (2 children)

He meant 3/5 (the mother) plus 3/5 (the child), so a total of 6/5.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Canadian here. It really depends on if it's a cultural use or something the government might have an influence on through legislation. They can force industries to label packages in metric, but they can't force grandma to change her manually-transcribed recipes. The other big influence is obviously our neighbours to the south. A lot of industries haven't switched over there, and we get their products. Main culprit here would be the construction industry, lumber and hardware is all in US customary units and I hate it.

view more: next ›