I’m a 7 minute drive from downtown and my options are satellite, cellular, or fixed wireless. Everyone around me has gigabit ethernet, but due to costs involved in running fiber and the fact my little community is mostly old folks (and thus likely not going to buy in) ISPs don’t want to “invest” in us.

Before any tankies claim the word is a blanket slur against communists: “tankie” was coined by British communists that were disgusted by the attitudes of some of their so-called “fellows”.

It’s like they say: when you’re making an orange juice you’ve gotta break a few eggs.

Predators? That sounds expensive, complicated, and could negatively affect profits.

Can’t we just spray the trees with massive quantities of something cheap and effective like DDT?

One: you can be sued for anything regardless of if it’s true or not. Someone could find some sleazebag lawyer and sue you for drowning hundreds of puppies while laughing about it – does that make you a puppy killer?

Two: We have presidents that we know directly ordered genocides of native people … yet weren’t sued for it.

They almost certainly have in house legal teams and those lawyers are salaried.

Not really, unless the house was built incredibly cheaply with thin studs and crappy drywall.

Wood is pretty decent at blocking sound – it the voids between the studs that’s an issue. Filling them with sound deadening insulation solves that problem.

It’s not as good at blocking sound as a masonry wall obviously, but it’s “good enough” at a fraction of the price.

My toolbag calipers are cheap hardware store ones. They’re accurate enough and I’m not out much when they inevitably get damaged or lost.

That saying holds more truth if you’re using the “non-political” definitions of conservative – i.e. moderate, cautious, or resistant to change.

Moreso “set in your ways” as the world changes around you.

The tired, old trope of “Every accusation is a confession” tends to be true with conservatives.

Oh, they’re talking about bear bears – the animal.

… I feel like the original scenario didn’t make that clear.

I don’t get it: a bear just makes more sense. Despite their intimidating appearance most are gentle creatures. Their fur and mass can provide warmth, and if you’re injured they can easily carry you out of the woods.

If you pick “random man” you might get a twink and I feel like they’re more of a liability in a survival situation.

In a hypothetical civil war peoole wouldn’t shoot the helicopters and jets. They’d blend with the regular population in to hide from them. They’d shoot the pilot when the pilot is out buying groceries or filling their car with gas … or kidnap their loved ones.

A civil war would be horrifying. There would be no uniforms, no front lines, and no rules of war. Both sides would go after the other’s friends and family when they can’t find or attack their enemy directly.

As someone 10 minutes outside of a major city, my (slow, unreliable, expensive) options are:

• Cellular
• Satellite
• Fixed wireless

Americans are entirely at the whim of ISPs and what areas they determine are worth investing infrastructure in.

I’d suggest a cheap used or spare laptop/desktop with a beginner friendly distro like Linux Mint Cinnamon to learn on. Just use it for casual stuff – you’ll pick up what you need to learn as you go.

That way if something breaks or you don’t know how to do something while you’re learning you’re not “stuck”.

I often go to nursing homes for medical calls, and asking for basic patient information is always a treat at the crappier ones.

Pro-tip: when the medic asks you things like “What are we here for?”, “How long have they been having this issue?”, or “What’s their medical history?” you don’t actually have to answer. Just give a blank stare and say “I don’t know, I just started my shift” or “They’re not my patient”. All you have to do is give the ambulance crew the patient’s name and birthday, and even that’s optional.

Is the patient dead and you don’t know when it happened? Say “I was talking to them a few minutes ago!” even if they’re cold to the touch. Bonus points if the pt has a DNR and you don’t give it to the medic.

If all that is too much work, say “I’ll go check” and find somewhere to hide until they leave with the patient – this situation is their problem now.

You know it’s bad when you recognize the user name.

You made me realize I haven’t fired up my Windows 11 machine in a while, so I went to check it – even re-enabling the copilot toggle … which weirdly did nothing. Then I remembered I had lobotomized all the AI and assistant “features” a while ago.

I’m a little disappointed: I wanted to ask Copilot “How do I purge you from my machine?”

I’ve seen a few open hardware projects for “dumb” MP3 players over the years. I found this article on the Tangara project and am tempted to build one.

Edit: Scrolled down and saw someone already posted this.

And it’s available on Archive.org