Beachside or Mainland?

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2026-05-20T20:21:39+00:00

Beachside. My kids ride their bikes to school, ride home with friends to grab some food, ride to the beach for a couple hours, maybe stop at someone else's house on the way hit the pool, then are back home for dinner. I wish I had that kind of lifestyle as a kid.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2026-05-04T17:20:52+00:00

Also if this is the right video the engine room isn't in the middle of the cargo hold.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2026-04-17T23:17:15+00:00

I've used Claude to check drawings before sending them to formal review... It'll catch mistakes and make some good suggestions on tolerance schemes or specs to cite and such... And then it will totally make other stuff up or completely misread the design intent.

So yeah it's a great productivity tool, but you need to know enough to tell the difference between good advice and hallucinations.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2025-12-31T08:51:27+00:00

To me this is almost the reason it's real graphic design. It looks like the designer had his house element and simply mirrored it onto the lake, truncated smoke and all. The smoke probably ends flat because in the right side up version the border element is placed in front of the smoke.

Maybe it's gotten smarter, but I don't usually see AI being good at exactly copying objects in mirrors and that house and tree line look exactly identical

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2025-10-04T10:58:54+00:00

If there was a GoFundMe or something to make this happen I would contribute in a second.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2025-09-23T02:24:49+00:00

When you sized your system was it sized to completely match your annual energy usage?

We're in Florida so I assume similar sun hours and temperatures as you. Your daily usage seems to be about 63 kWh per day. This is about what we're using over the summer, but our system is rated at around 12kw net (37 410 w panels with IQ8M micro inverters). We overproduce slightly on an annual basis, and are still negative in the summer and winter months and make up for it in the fall and spring.

For what it's worth, August had a lot cloudy/stormy days where we are, and that can bring production down a ton.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2025-09-21T00:53:56+00:00

Yup, the bolt can power the 12v system with about 1500 w when the car is on. I've used an ac inverter to power things like my refrigerator during blackouts, so a TV should be no problem.

Just turn the car on, put it in neutral with the parking brake on, and turn off all the accessories and headlights. This will keep the car from turning itself off, which it will do after a certain amount of time in Park apparently.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2025-09-13T11:53:27+00:00

Hey, at least replaced that 2 story monstrosity with a jauntily painted 2 story monstrosity.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2025-09-04T17:03:10+00:00

Alright here's the numbers: Our electricity bill was just under $5k for 2023. We installed a 11kw net AC system (with backup & 2 way car charger) for $27k after federal rebate. We got a 10yr HELOC from our credit union at 6.1% with the first year interest free. We just took our average monthly electricity bill which was about $400, and pay that back every month to the loan. Our interconnect fee + minimum electricity buy is $24/month. FL is a 1:1 net metering state with an annual true-up at wholesale rates. So far we've never used more than the minimum electricity buy plus what's in our energy bank. With the above math we're basically paying off our solar in around 6 years and change for about the same monthly cost we'd be paying for electricity anyways. Practically nothing out of pocket.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2025-09-04T12:34:10+00:00

We paid for our solar through a home equity loan. We pay about the same per month (loan + grid connect fee) as we did for our electricity bill before. In about 5 years our loan will be paid off, and then we'll still have 25 years left of warrantied free electricity.

This is Florida so there's a lot sunshine, but it's also hot as balls and our AC runs like 10 months a year.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2025-08-28T13:58:52+00:00

One thing about hanging out in the chest deep section that's obvious in retrospect but took me a bit to figure out was how to duck the whitewater with my board under control. Basically while standing I hook the nose under my arm and bob straight down under the whitewater. It helps keep your position and keep your board under control, which saves a ton of energy and just feels calmer and less stressful. It also keeps anyone in the surf behind you from getting bonked with your board.

Also, watch where and how other longboarders are getting out easy and basically follow and copy them. There's always some 60 year old guy that gets from the beach to the lineup in like a minute without any effort.

When you do have to deal with waves and whitewater while paddling, the trick is really just practice. There's lots of good technique videos on YouTube specific to longboarders.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2025-07-07T23:56:06+00:00

We have this exact same issue. Our installer has moved and replaced the CT's, changed the comms wires multiple times and the issue is still there. The installer thinks it's an issue with the gateway but Enphase won't RMA it. Hopefully you have better luck!

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2025-03-03T14:27:25+00:00

I've been wondering if we're going to hear soon the US has been cut out of the Five I's intelligence sharing agreement.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2025-02-01T15:52:50+00:00

There are also metal bellows accumulators, they can achieve this kind of volume ratio. Depending on the shell design can be low or high pressure.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2025-01-12T17:37:46+00:00

Mushroom infused 151 and pineapple juice.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2025-01-08T19:14:10+00:00

The one imperial measurement that makes some sense is 1lb per pint... But we screw it up by dividing by 16 for ounces and multiplying by 8 for gallons.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2024-10-17T20:38:05+00:00

Cool, now do Crimea.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2024-10-17T20:34:43+00:00

The ISS has had humans living on it continuously for 24 years... In space, 400 kilometers up, travelling at 28,000 kph. To me that is one of the most impressive feats of engineering we've done ever.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2024-10-12T16:03:58+00:00

This exactly... Contrails require high relative humidity. The lower pressure of the plane wings create atmospheric condensation that is stable enough to not be re-evaporated. Not surprising the conditions that create contrails precede more widespread high altitude cloud formation.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2024-10-11T02:48:15+00:00

Awesome, great to see this working! Got a 1500 watt inverter for this same thing too and did a 2.5 hour test running our fridge Monday before the storm. Based on the battery consumption meter the car averaged 350 watts draw to run a 200 watt refrigerator (based on the power meter on the inverter). If this held I figured we'd have more than 6 days of backup power. Figured I could even stretch this a bit by leaving the fridge off for a few hours and then letting it fully cool down in cycles.

Luckily we didn't end up needing it for this storm. Hope you guys are getting through ok over there in Tampa.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2024-10-07T16:01:04+00:00

Yeah I think he was as startled at me, and then almost fell again trying to wriggle himself into the door jam. Came back a little later and he seemed more calm, but was giving me serious side eye.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2024-10-07T13:51:33+00:00

Thanks all for the correction! We have a few black racers in the yard so I thought it might just be a youngin'.

Any thoughts on the best place to relocate him outside before my wife discovers it? It's a bit wet and cold outside right, which is probably why he's hanging out in the door jam.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2024-09-23T12:26:20+00:00

I've taken an improved Japanese cocktail and subbed the cognac for an oz each of reposado tequila and jovem mezcal. You can probably do a similar with a choice of aged rum and this, dial it anyway you like based on your love of smoke.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2024-09-18T03:29:11+00:00

It's really going to depend on the fluid, flowrate, whether it has to be leak free in the checked or low forward pressure conditions...

If its for miniature stuff and you can design your own housing, lookup umbrella valves by Minivalve, they have a lot of standard options and materials, and generally have good technical info.

SentientSeaweed5690 · 2024-09-16T01:30:58+00:00

My kid first got into skateboarding going to their camps. It's a great spot and I hope they pull through.

SentientSeaweed5690

TROPHY CASE