missfrizzle

between Gentoo and Arch, but so far down the y-axis it clipped off the chart.

t. masochistic NixOS user

...you're literally on the fediverse right now?

Why do we pipe natural gas into homes?

puts on Technology Connections hat

because heat pumps and green energy weren't a thing in the US until recently!

heat efficiency is weird. electric heaters are 100% efficient, but 1) they're only as efficient as the generator, and 2) transmission losses add up. and until recently, most power was generated by coal and natural gas. turning those into electricity is lossy, since lots of energy is lost as waste heat. so why not send the gas you were going to burn for electricity directly to the customer?

heat pumps can be 300-400% efficient, since they move heat - from outdoors, into the home - rather than generating it. they can get >100% efficiency even in cold climates! but stupidly the US never bothered make our air conditioners reversible, or every home would have a heat pump by now.

and with solar/wind (for peak) + nuclear or grid storage (for base) power, we can now get rid of natural gas. ...once we give everybody heat pumps. ...and shutdown our gas generators. ...we should probably get on that.

pragmatically I think reducing meat consumption rather than eliminating it is an easier sell. I'll admit, I'm too weak of will to become a vegetarian. I've been inside a chicken plant, I've seen the horrid conditions firsthand. I know the climate change impact. I know my diet is hurting animals and the climate. but I crave meat, and none of the delicious vegan food my partner makes hits the spot.

it's too hard to forswear every future pot roast, chop and drumstick. I can probably get myself to eat less meat though.

at a museum in the US, a security guard yelled at me for taking a photo of a Miró painting. he pointed to a sign saying that to respect the owner's copyright, photography was strictly forbidden.

pretty sure I had the legal right to take the photo, but that they had the legal right to trespass me if I kept doing it. :/

fun fact, Mr. Rogers testified at the Supreme Court to save format shifting, in a landmark copyright case:

"I have always felt that with the advent of all of this new technology that allows people to tape the 'Neighborhood' off-the-air ... they then become much more active in the programming of their family’s television life. Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My whole approach in broadcasting has always been ‘You are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions’ ... I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important."

the Court agreed with Mr. Rogers and cited him in the majority Opinion.

international treaties, for one. second because lack of encryption discourages commercial/non-hobbyist use. third because the spirit of Ham is for Hams to all listen and transmit to each other.

I think FCC still takes it pretty seriously.

just use Meshtastic/LoRa. you can use encryption and you don't need a Ham license. your output power is limited but I've heard of people getting 50+ miles of range for reception.

specifically, for ham you're not allowed to obscure the meaning of your transmissions. this means no:

• symmetric cryptography
• numbers stations (one-time pad ciphers)
• communicating in codewords ("the Falcon has left the nest, over!"

but you can use:

• compression
• commercial telegraph codes (e.g. 22415 = "Partly cloudy with a chance of showers"), as long as you're using a public codebook
• message authentication codes (to prevent forging messages)
• (arguably) asymmetric cryptography for signatures, identity challenge/response
• encrypted control messages for hobbyist satellites (special exemption)

so authentication is possible, just not privacy.

Moogie 2028!

let me know if you find any countries who will take us in please.

it makes you a harder target. think of the SovCit and cult groups that squatted on Federal land for years. the government popped a couple (Waco and Ruby Ridge) but in others (e.g. the Bundy standoff, Malheur) the fringe groups were somewhat successful. sure, maybe in part because they were white male conservatives, but I think also because the government knew it'd be a bloody mess, and likely cause them casualties too. most cops are cowards. will they risk life and limb to bag a trans person?

basically, the goal is just to make it hard to round us up, not impossible. it's harder to sweep us up if we're strapped.

the brain worm was Substance D all along..