@stshank@mstdn.social
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stshank

@stshank@mstdn.social

Head of Content at Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a startup developing zero-carbon power plants to help fight climate change. Former science and technology journalist at CNET.

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nyquildotorg, to random
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Don't do this, geez. Talking to you, @Vivaldi

stshank,
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@nyquildotorg @Vivaldi Boo! This kind of thing prompts me to disable notifications for software.

stshank, to Birds
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An osprey halfway through consuming a pretty large fish, Clear Lake State Park, California.

stshank,
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@alexf24 Well, I mean, come on, it makes the fish lighter to transport — seems the practical decision.

stshank, to science
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Wicked smart scientists calculate how long volcanoes on Jupiter moon Io have been active. Measure relative abundance of 2 sulphur isotopes belched into the atmosphere then reprocessed as crust — bias toward heavy sulphur. Compare ratio to early solar system meteorites. https://www.science.org/content/podcast/very-volcanic-moon-and-better-protections-human-study-subjects

stshank,
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@karlauerbach Neat! Also check out radioactive decay used for measuring the age of the Earth (lead and uranium) and of lava flows (argon and potassium).

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/03/3/l_033_01.html
https://www.whoi.edu/know-your-ocean/ocean-topics/how-the-ocean-works/seafloor-below/volcanoes/how-old-is-that-volcano/

stshank, to ai
@stshank@mstdn.social avatar

Using AI to oversee dynamic fusion machines is a hot area of research. It doesn't mean generative AI like ChatGPT. It's old-school AI, where you train a machine to recognize patterns in complex real-world data then let it make decisions.

https://www.pppl.gov/news/2024/using-artificial-intelligence-speed-and-improve-most-computationally-intensive-aspects

stshank, to random
@stshank@mstdn.social avatar

I used to joke about my parents having a solar and wind powered dryer, because they used a clothesline. But now when I try that joke, people look at me blankly, thinking they have some renewables option checked on the utility bill. Bummer for my joke, but it died for a worthy cause.

hsivonen, to random
@hsivonen@mastodon.social avatar

iPad Pro reviewers collectively don’t appear to care enough about viewing the photos they’ve taken on their iPhones in HDR on iPad Pro. None of the reviews I’ve checked so far mention the use case.

For me, viewing the photos I’ve taken in HDR is the only thing that is enabled by the new iPad Pro and is not enabled by my current (not even M series CPU) iPad Pro that I particularly would like to be able to do.

Other things I wish my iPad Pro was allowed to do the new one doesn’t do, either.

stshank,
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@hsivonen Cascading HDR photo support through the software and hardware ecosystem is a pain. I'd think Apple would be keen on showing off this potential of its vertical integration but oh well. Still no HDR photo support in Safari, either.

design_law, to random
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Good morning to everyone except the dude who was shooting me (and my mask) nasty looks in the airport security line

stshank,
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@design_law I wear a mask for airplane partly because I want it to look ordinary.

stshank, to random
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It's hard to expose a photo to see both the overall scene and details on the surface of the sun like these monster sunspots. Lovely photo. https://social.beachcom.org/@nasa/112433839153217936

stshank, to Health
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Because methane is a potent greenhouse gas, the climate is a good reason to replace your gas stove with an induction cooktop. But health risks could be even more motivating. Pollution reaches bedrooms. Asthma and death rates rise. And I bet you don't use your fume hood much.

https://news.stanford.edu/2024/05/03/people-gas-propane-stoves-breathe-unhealthy-nitrogen-dioxide/

stshank, to MIjazz
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Big personal news: after 25 years at CNET, I’ve joined Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a startup developing zero-carbon power plants to help fight climate change. As head of content, I'll work to make knowledge of fusion mainstream as the technology proves itself worthy. Questions? Hit me up! Details: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7187102636267995138/

stshank,
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@Bryan not that soon, nor furled with banana peels. We're aiming for the early 2030s for power on the grid.

stshank, to space
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Unexpected benefit of working at a fusion energy startup: plasma emoji already preloaded into Slack for appreciating people's aurora photos.

stshank, to TeslaMotors
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"Instead of competing, [Western automakers would] rather just shut out competition entirely. The concerns about cybersecurity don’t address the elephant in the room here: Your product sucks, compared to what China is putting out now." https://insideevs.com/features/719015/china-is-ahead-of-west/

stshank, to random
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New power lines are a big deal for renewable energy. More grid interconnection means areas where it's sunny or windy can supply more juice to other areas, cutting back on the tragedy of curtailment. Also more resilience generally. https://www.energy.gov/articles/biden-harris-administration-announces-initial-list-high-priority-areas-accelerated

stshank, to internet
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Direct messaging coming to Bluesky in coming months. This is a shortcoming of other Twitter alternatives IMO, so I'm pleased to see it. No word about end-to-end-encryption but it's starting with 1:1 chat, where that's easier. https://bsky.social/about/blog/05-07-2024-product-roadmap

stshank,
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@mackuba Thanks for the extra info! Seems a not unreasonable approach. You don't want to screw up your E2EE with a hasty implementation.

stshank, to random
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I and my peers had a childhood of such privation and hardship that we all burst into tears when we lost our balloons to the sky. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/08/climate/florida-balloons-outdoors-ban.html

stshank, to MIjazz
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Batteries are growing on the grid to handle evening power use surges when solar peters out. California just hit 7GW out of 10GW capacity. Our house is battery powered from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. and will be part of a virtual power plant soon.

Today batteries help with daily peak shaving; longer gaps in solar/wind production are harder. could help with that but is only one part of the overall solution. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/05/07/climate/battery-electricity-solar-california-texas.html

stshank, to random
@stshank@mstdn.social avatar

Glad to see Apple breaking out RAM levels for the new iPad Pro models. 8GB or 16GB, depending. As usual, the profit margin on the flash memory storage is plumper than plump — $200 premium to go from 256GB to 512GB. https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-ipad/ipad-pro

stshank,
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@my_actual_brain Apple can legitimately claim some success democratizing personal computing technology by making it easier to use IMO. But they are a premium brand, and there are limits to just how much democratizing they're willing to do, absent used/refurbished devices. I don't think we'll ever see a $500 Mac.

stshank, to TeslaMotors
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WashPo on the increasingly partisan issue of buying EVs.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/05/06/ev-polarization-republicans-electric-cars/

stshank, to Texas
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New energy storage company came out of stealth today: Base Power. Batteries in your home, but the company owns and operates them. https://www.basepowercompany.com/#FAQ

stshank, to photography
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A bighorn sheep — a younger ram from a mini-herd that dropped by to eat the yard when I was staying in New Mexico a month ago — walking behind a cholla cactus in the middle of a spring snowstorm.

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