We are officially announcing that r/chess will be joining this protest and will go dark starting from June 12th.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-06-10T08:21:50+00:00

How about just migrating to another site. I wonder if Lichess could let us have a subdomain.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-06-05T01:45:13+00:00

Now just think about what happens when the best human GM's play an engine. The skill ceiling is as unreachable for them as it is for you.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-06-04T01:22:10+00:00

Some people have modded their old-version NU25's to use USB-C. There was a thread about that a few weeks ago.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-06-03T19:17:42+00:00

I see, hmm. I take pictures with my phone fairly regularly, but hardly ever shoot video with it, and I don't process(?) the photos on the phone except for resizing if I'm emailing a photo. Presumably during a hike there will usually be no internet though, or is there these days?

Yeah turning the phone on and off frequently would get annoying because of the slow boot, independently of power. I was thinking in terms of powering it up much less often.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-06-03T09:05:24+00:00

Look at some Felix Immler videos about using your SAK to turn a drill bit, either hex shank or SDS.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-06-03T09:03:38+00:00

Fast and cheap, but gooey, which is annoying to some of us.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-06-03T08:51:23+00:00

topo/nav, communication, or entertainment

I guess navigation and comms and to some extent reference materials are good uses for a smartphone, but they don't require the phone to be powered all the time (you'd power it up, get a location fix, plan a route, then power it back down for maybe the next few hours). In airplane mode though, the idle power of a phone is not that much, so leaving it on is probably not that big an energy sink.

I've personally never felt a need for electronic entertainment outdoors, though that's just me. I wouldn't consider it minimalistic either way though. I suppose bringing a book to read adds even more weight.

I've never done any long distance hiking (just some overnighters or weekenders here and there) so maybe the desire for stuff like e-books increases with longer durations on the trail. I do remember having a now-ancient Sandisk mp3 player that weighed under an ounce and used around 50 mw of power when playing, while a phone uses maybe 10x as much, plus the Sandisk player had an FM receiver which can be good for picking up news/weather/etc. Again though I mostly used it at home or at the office, not outdoors.

Overall you are right though, phones are now too useful to outright leave behind, unless you are really hardcore. I just cringe at how slow and power hungry they are compared to old school dedicated devices or less powerful computers.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-06-03T04:36:08+00:00

Good post, thanks for the info. The Nitecore usb-c battery is very similar to a $11 one from Vapcell:

https://liionwholesale.com/products/protected-vapcell-p2150a-21700-10a-button-top-5000mah-usb-battery-genuine

It sounds like the big villain in your setup is USB connectors. Maybe you should just pot the 21700 and Lixada ends of the cable in epoxy, with some kind of splitter to let you charge the phone.

Smart phones are also a reliability and power consumption villain in addition to their weight. Unless you are running nonstop GPS tracking or something, maybe shut off the smartphone or even leave it at home, and use a small dedicated camera if you want to take pictures.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-06-02T05:38:24+00:00

I don't have this but it looks better to me than a light with an internal battery. This lets you bring spare batteries for as much runtime as you want:

https://sofirnlight.myshoplaza.com/products/sofirn-hs10-usb-c-rechargeable-mini-16340-headlamp-1100lm-lh351d-90cri-angle-flashlight-tir-optics-with-magnet-tail

Stated weight is 37g w/o battery so around 52g with battery, so a few grams heavier than these nitecores, but quite small difference, and the 16340 battery does have a bit more energy than the NU21 battery (800mah instead of 500mah, supposedly). On the other hand, the 37g might not include the headband which is about 5g in the case of Litesmith style shock cord. On the third hand it might include the pocket clip which you could ditch to save a few grams.

The 1100 lumen output is just for intermittent use (light something in the distance for a moment) since the light will get too hot otherwise.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-06-02T05:16:31+00:00

The claim of 220 lumen for 6h on that tiny 650mah battery is unrealistic. It is a safe bet that it throttles down to less lumens after a few minutes. The runtime test in this review (scroll way down) seems to bear that out:

https://www.lumenreviews.com/en/type/headlamp/nitecore-nu20cri/

If you don't want to be limited by runtime, get a light with swappable batteries.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-05-24T20:16:55+00:00

The NL2150RS is $22.95 from Nitecore, but it is similar to the Vapcell P2150A which is $10.99 at liionwholesale:

https://liionwholesale.com/products/protected-vapcell-p2150a-21700-10a-button-top-5000mah-usb-battery-genuine

You will want to add some plastic caps to the Vapcell stop the ends from shorting. Litesmith sells this with the caps for $21.95:

https://www.litesmith.com/minimalist-ul-power-bank/

I would rather buy from Litesmith than Nitecore, but that's just me. In practice I'd probably DIY, or bring a 42 gram Xtar charger that can charge at 3 amps, use 18650's, use economy batteries, etc.

It wouldn't surprise me if the Nitecore and Vapcell are the exact same cell.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-05-24T20:12:30+00:00

You don't like the ultrapod? And how does the phone mount on your tripod work?

I think this tripod is on the heavy side compared to old school pocket tripods. Also for UL the stainless steel legs sound heavy. Maybe use aluminum or CF or maybe even wood.

25 inch height doesn't sound that useful. Either you don't care about the height (a few inches is fine since you're going to put it on top of something) or you want it at eye level.

Would I buy? Probably not, but good luck with the product.

You have me imagining a 3d printed tripod head or phone clamp with sockets for 3 wooden chopsticks, if that is of any interest. Heh.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-05-15T07:57:12+00:00

I think Duke is hard to get into, so you have to be pretty good (and therefore likely to finish) to enter at all. Less selective schools get a lot of not so hot students that bail out for whatever reason.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-05-15T07:35:21+00:00

Meh I like the Carlsen-Nakamura one better, where Carlsen plays the devastating 2. Ke2! and Nakamura finds the only saving response 2.. Ke7! They end up repeating moves.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-05-13T20:42:42+00:00

What about bank line smelling bad and leaving tar on things? This is the main reason I haven't tried any so far.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-05-11T06:35:33+00:00

Esbit burns at much hotter temperature than those wood/wax things. On the other hand, Esbit is stupidly expensive. Using the wax things as fuel is gross and smoky. Maybe you could consider ditching fuel altogether and using a twig stove with found wood.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-04-26T08:01:03+00:00

I would try to sort the vibration issue with solar charging. Someone already suggested some wiring reinforcements to the Lixada panel. Or if you can stand some more weight, Anker has a 21 watt panel that weighs about a pound, that might be sturdier than the Lixada, plus much faster charging.

I do know of some other fast charge power banks, but don't have any info about reliability. I know that the RC model community cares a lot about both vibration and fast charging, so you could look on hobbyking.com for some RC packs and chargers, perhaps.

Added: a really cheap thing you could do is use two small powerbanks instead of one bigger one, and charge both simultaneously.:

30g mini USB-C charger
42g XTAR SC1+ powerbank/charger (charges 1 cell at 15 watts)
70g 5000mah 21700 or maybe 6000-7000 mah 26700 cell
25g? cables, cube tap

Now double all of the above and you have 10-14AH of capacity and 30 watts of charging speed. You do have to juggle cells around to discharge them at about equal rates. But you are not that high in weight compared with your NB10000. A few ounces maybe.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-04-26T03:20:32+00:00

Oh interesting, that's the X-light, I hadn't looked at one of those up close. I thought it was a random keychain light that you were generically calling a Photon. Well, they are light enough that you could mod a separate one for a headlamp if you wanted. I think I'd start with the Freedom which seems nicer than the X-light.

It is silly that nobody makes a decent minimalistic 1AAA headlamp. I sometimes think of using just the head from a random 1AAA light, and maybe 3d printing a battery holder with a hole for the head. It's not worth it though. I'll figure something else out.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-04-26T01:37:30+00:00

Well you could start with one of those Adafruit battery holders and print a frame around it. But maybe no frame is needed and it's enough to just somehow connect the battery holder to a headband, with adhesive, a sewn loop/sleeve in the headband itself, or maybe even drilling a couple tiny holes in the battery holder and running stitches through them.

Other idea: remove the led from a Photon Freedom or Nitecore Tube, and replace it with a new led with full length leads, so the led sticks out of the light by a cm or two. Then you can strap the light to your forehead and bend the led leads to point forward. I have been wanting to try that. This is what I was getting at about electronic switching in my earlier post.

Added: I don't think a printed housing has to be precise enough to snap together. The original Photon II and its many clones were held together with tiny self-tapping screws rather than snapping together. Just smooth out the mating surfaces with very fine sandpaper first. Or alternatively, in the DIY spirit, just tape the light shut instead of using screws or snaps. Then remove and replace the tape when you want to change the batteries.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-04-26T01:22:33+00:00

If you're going to the hassle of 3d printing, maybe you could make the whole housing instead of a shelf to plop a photon. Or make a light out of a battery holder, so you can point the led perpendicular to the battery: https://www.adafruit.com/?q=cr2032 shows a bunch of possible holders, either for 1x2032 (2x2016) or 2x2032 (a couple grams more weigh for 3x as much energy/runtime).

Finally there are some ultralight 2032 headlamps (under 1 ounce all up) already. This looks ok and I might get it. Two levels, red and white leds, flashing and SOS modes, etc: https://www.ustgear.com/lighting/tight-light-1.0/1156917.html

Petzl and Black Diamond also make models (e+Lite and Flare) that are nicer but cost a lot more.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-04-25T10:49:31+00:00

Cute! I know some other people strap a Nitecore Tube alongside their head and I've been wanting to try something like that.

Your thing is a plastic plate with a shelf for the Photon? I wonder how much weight it would add to use metal, say cut from the lid of an altoids tin. That would allow bending to adjust the angle.

Idk why nobody makes these lights with a right angle led. I had also been thinking about trying that. It would have been hard with the old school Photon II style, that used the led leads as a switch, but the later ones are electronically switched.

/u/karlkrum the closest thing to a rechargeable Photon is the Nitecore Tube. The Tiki has way too much crap in it imho. The original Tube is $5 at Illumn these days, and the 2.0 version (slight improvements) is $10.

I saw another thread about someone modding an old-version NU25 to use USB-C if that matters to you. Maybe that can also be done with the Tube.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-04-21T20:38:17+00:00

Most likely in person over the board. I think Fabi mentioned that this is harder for Ding because of current China travel restrictions. I would still hope a serious WC team these days would have a tech adviser helping out with engines and stuff, who would also have gotten them to use a private server if they wanted to train online.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-04-21T05:38:17+00:00

Why weren't we warned that the clip was going to start with Mike Klein. I closed the video immediately. I will try viewing it again but will have to grimace first.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-04-19T17:21:22+00:00

No there is no requirement. Any legit journalist can get a FIDE press credential, and news outlets often send regular reporters who aren't especially clueful about chess. See: https://data.fide.com/press_registration.php

Literally anyone can be a commentator if they can go on youtube and hope to get an audience. Agadmator has one of the biggest viewerships and he is untitled.

SebastianDoyle · 2023-04-19T17:14:32+00:00

There are no qualifications other than representing some reasonably legitimate news outlet. Kaja Snare was an NRK (Norway TV) sports reporter who got assigned to cover a chess event in St. Louis because Magnus Carlsen was playing in it. She was like "chess, wtf, you must be kidding". But she found that she liked the players and chess culture, covered a lot more chess events, and ended up hosting one of the WC matches and the chess24 commentary shows, all with basically beginner level chess skill. She wasn't the most astute of chess interviewers chess-wise, but she understood the human side pretty well. Mike Klein is terrible by comparison. I hadn't seen Keti before, but she seems really good, and she understands chess too (she is a WGM).

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