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Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

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Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#291
post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do seconds have anything to do with the Earth rotating around the sun? I thought a second just has to do with the Earth’s rotation on its axis. Also, I wonder how usable a unit of time that was not based on a day would be, since so much of our life revolves around that cycle.

Yes, seconds are related to the Earth rotating around the sun. Simplifying slightly, the normal definition of a day relates to how long for Earth to rotate on its axis until the same spot on the Earth points at the sun again. Compare Mean solar day vs Stellar day vs Sideral day - the difference is less than 5 minutes or so.

[deleted]

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#292
post #2

Why your [ultra-light hiker] friend suddenly has [the world's lightest] power bank. I remember Colin Fletcher, years ago, writing in The Complete Walker about trimming the borders off his paper maps to save weight, which seemed like an insane over-optimization to me. But then, I'm not an ultralight hiker. I am impressed folks are getting their loads down to 10 pounds though.

I recall reading about mountain climbing and some experienced climber was joking about the folks who are all about the weight and gear and so forth. He didn't say it was unimportant, but he did say that everything that makes him better than the amateurs, or even amateurs better than other amateurs had nothing to do with gear or weight fixation.

It was the same thing when I got into photography. It's always easy to talk about the easily measurable things. This lens is better than that and so on. Gear is cool and fun...

But the old guy with the beat up camera and not optimal lens shooting next to me ... he will take better photos almost every single shot.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#293
post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do seconds have anything to do with the Earth rotating around the sun? I thought a second just has to do with the Earth’s rotation on its axis. Also, I wonder how usable a unit of time that was not based on a day would be, since so much of our life revolves around that cycle.

Yes, seconds are related to the Earth rotating around the sun. Simplifying slightly, the normal definition of a day relates to how long for Earth to rotate on its axis until the same spot on the Earth points at the sun again. Compare Mean solar day vs Stellar day vs Sideral day - the difference is less than 5 minutes or so.

Thanks, I see now from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_time

I was thinking along the lines of the ancient Sumerians arbitrarily deciding to divide 1 day into 24 hours, and 24 hours into 60 minutes, and 60 minutes into 60 seconds, and how that doesn't have anything to do with how humans came up with the concept of 1 year (the Earth rotating around the sun).

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#294
post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With ultralight activities you're supposed to be so exhausted by bedtime that it isn't necessary to be comfortable to fall asleep.

Hypothermia helps with exhaustion too.

When you wake up in the middle of the night shivering that's a good incentive to get up and get moving again.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#295
post #199

Are these actually designed by Haribo? Or is it just a branding on top of a Chinese generic?

They're crowdfunded: https://www.makuake.com/project/haribo_dcglobal/ If you Google XU102998-24006, you can find some seemingly identical generic version

Power of SEO--the top result on Google for "XU102998-24006" is actually your HN reply. :)

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#296
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Very easy to bring crap you don't need as well. This is so true it's not even funny. I keep a spreadsheet for each trip, and among other things, I record which of the items I actually used on the trips. It was very surprising to me how many things I thought I used and therefore needed, but when reviewing the records, I never (or very rarely) actually used. Those items get cut from future loads.

I'm not a backpacker, but I presume there is stuff you normally don't use, but don't want to be without. Some amount of first-aid supplies, etc.

Yes, there are. Not many, but I take a first-aid kit, shortwave radio, and signalling devices (I tend to be in the wilderness far from civilization). I've never used them and hope that I never will.

I was talking about the other stuff.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve met people on trail with 5-6 pound baseweights. Crazy world out there.

does that include food and water?

With ultralighters, food and water aren't usually counted in the weight.

I'm no ultralighter, but I rarely carry water aside from a 16oz bag to sip on while I'm heading towards my destination. Water is crazy heavy. I make sure that the route I'm taking, and my destination, have water nearby that I filter and drink.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#298
post #171
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paper is very heavy. Even if you just carry a single map, you could likely save much of an ounce by trimming the borders.

If you are bringing your phone anyway, might as well use that for your mapping needs? You can have a backup paper map inked on your skin.

I like to keep my orientering skills sharp, so use a compass and map to navigate. I take my phone with me and it can serve as backup navigation, but I usually just keep it powered off and sealed in a waterproof bag.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ounces equal pounds and pounds equal pain.

Pain equals gain. Most ultralight hikers optimize for low weight, I optimize for low weight and maximum leftover space to haul a ton of weight back. https://imgur.com/a/ezPqNG1 Cuz trust me, you don't wanna leave that behind when you find it.

yours will be an unpopular view, for good reason. however it is funny imagining you hiking back with a backpack full of stolen rocks.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#300
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

10 years ago most of these battery packs were relative to the 5V output voltage, so they advertised lower amp-hours. That stopped making sense with fast charging at higher voltages so they restandardized on 3.7V. But watt-hours would make infinitely more sense for all batteries.

Then the fact we’ve “standardized” on mah as the unit is just another in our long proud tradition, same reason we still use “Watts” as the main measure of light output, even when it has to be made up for use on LED bulbs.

Mostly all flashlights advertise in lumen though? I suppose you mean light bulbs?
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