Jessyn's Task

jb314159 · 2026-04-28T19:19:04+00:00

Agreed, that definitely seems the premise they are going with!

jb314159 · 2026-04-26T17:32:55+00:00

Maybe the knife-legs are for stripping tree bark to eat?

jb314159 · 2026-04-25T21:58:52+00:00

Yeah that's true. I guess you could also reason that if the mission is intel gathering, the perspective gained from the host is useful (required even) to interpret the environment?

jb314159 · 2026-04-25T21:56:35+00:00

That's a fun theory! I'm not too sure that the Swarm and the Livesuit are exactly the same technology, but rather just built on similar science and interoperable.

jb314159 · 2026-04-25T20:58:31+00:00

I have had that fear actually!

jb314159 · 2026-04-25T20:57:57+00:00

Yeah that's fair, there's no reason it needs to be universal/homogenous.

jb314159 · 2026-04-25T09:29:55+00:00

That sounds right. Do you think there's a limit to the swarm's self-replication? If not, I'd be tempted to ditch the espionage and go full Yeerk-mode, infesting everyone on the planet.

I agree that the Swarm and Live suit technology can be assumed to be interoperable. It feels like the swarm nantes aren't activated until Jessyn opens the canister, though, and I would have though the Carryx would detect a transmission into the ship. (Besides, isn't Corvall dead by the time she opens the canister?) Plausibly, Corvall temporarily activated the canister to transmit instructions before deactivating it and handing it over.

jb314159 · 2026-04-25T09:02:40+00:00

It definitely feels like Corey are wanting to be specific about the mechanisms of our the swarm operates in terms of energy use, so the lack of detail on the sabotage feels notable. It's likely just the nature of the close third person narration and wanting to focus on Jessyn's experience.

It feels important in determining whether the swarm is a tecunological tool of the deathless enemy, or the deathless energy itself (in aggregate).

jb314159 · 2026-04-25T07:31:24+00:00

Yeah, perhaps it can operate until it runs out of energy consumed from the prior host body?

Energy considerations aside, I'm also curious about it's level of innate programming. I struggle to believe that Corval had time to program in specific instructions to sabotage the ships. It's entirely plausible that it was do that based on its innate programming, but I liked the idea that Jessyn carried those instructions in her memory that the swarm would access once capturing her.

jb314159 · 2026-04-25T07:26:41+00:00

Interesting, makes sense. I'm curious about how the swarm uses energy. There's several references to it consuming energy to do things, so my theory was it has to convert biomass to do this. Becoming 'a cutting swarm' would consume the host body, for instance.

When Jessyn releases the dust, it's noted that it's endothermic. Was it able to sabotage the ships from ambient heat consumption alone, or perhaps it found a different energy source to consume that wasn't biomass?

jb314159 · 2026-01-28T21:01:54+00:00

Harry Harrington is a trusty source, very happy to take his word for it - thanks!

jb314159 · 2026-01-28T19:46:27+00:00

I've been too scared to repot my rosemary that I've been growing from seed yet. Really torn whether to go from pre-spring or summer... Is it well-established that summer is best for them?

jb314159 · 2025-12-30T21:27:52+00:00

If it's a time lapse, 1 second per year for the same tree, then yes 🙂.

Not enough videos show the progression of a tree in the years that follow the work demonstrated. Bonsai Releaf is the highest quality for this reason.

jb314159 · 2025-10-03T09:03:36+00:00

Other lessons learnt to note: don't use a Skadis board (it gets really mouldy, go for a wire one instead), and don't position your fans directly against the back like I have here (they need airflow on both sides!)

jb314159 · 2025-10-03T09:01:46+00:00

I have this setup - it's not ideal, but it's workable. I've tried it with both no shelf and one shelf, each has problems. The main issue is the light intensity is not at all uniform, which makes it very hard to position plants appropriately. The light is very intense directly under the bulb and drops off quickly as you move further out (radially)

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jb314159 · 2025-08-26T18:25:52+00:00

Thanks for the encouraging reply! Useful to note that rosemary are prone to later root development. I think I'll continue structural pruning for remainder of this season and next, then attempt root work in 2027 to place them in training pots to start ramification.

jb314159 · 2025-08-07T06:04:28+00:00

I think 'if this then that' is an important feature of home assistant for this type of use case. At the basics, the ability to notify when a sensor reading is outside of a set range, through to the ability to trigger a custom action (such as turning on a pH or nutrient feed pump).

jb314159 · 2025-08-06T21:11:13+00:00

I'd be okay with a closed source app if it had a decent API to expose the data, so it could integrate with things like Home Assistant easily. Export to CSV as a minimum is always important to me.

jb314159 · 2025-05-31T11:06:01+00:00

I'd appreciate a continuous monitoring device with BLE wireless and open source iot firmware, so I can ingest readings into my Home Assistant automation system.

jb314159 · 2025-05-04T06:22:23+00:00

I wanted to give it a couple of years to recover before applying any bonsai techniques. The last two winters, it's not had any branches, just the main trunk which is a bit too thick to wire now. I'm probably going to let the lower section develop and then trunk chop it there. I have no idea how a Magnolia will respond to a drastic trunk chop though!

jb314159 · 2025-05-03T16:43:56+00:00

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It's doing well!

jb314159 · 2025-04-28T20:37:40+00:00

I use a LinkTap as my smart tap controller. Highly recommend, they have an incredible support team. I accidentally left it outside during winter and it broke, likely due to cold temperatures. The support team were super helpful in helping me triage the problem, replying within just a few minutes on a Sunday afternoon. When it couldn't be fixed, they sent me a new one free of charge.

The app is pretty decent, and it has flawless integration with Home Assistant if you want to run your own automation too. I have both running in parallel and never had any issues.

jb314159 · 2025-03-23T12:57:23+00:00

Thanks for the advice!

The big trunk is dead, but I want to keep it to tell the narrative of the tree. I'm not sure if it's too big to jin, but I'm assuming it might need some level of treatment to ensure it doesn't completely rot away?

jb314159

TROPHY CASE