I’m getting a T-Deck, but I don’t feel too bad about using Bluetooth on a phone, as long as everything else is disabled. It isn’t hard to track, but it will be a distant third after cell and Wifi in terms of what the authorities will be tracking. Not ideal, but an acceptable compromise for now.

That much cuteness certainly deserves treats.

We got some Meshtastic radios that we use for protests (as well as for protests). They solve most of the problems quite neatly.

My microwave can boil a single cup of water faster than my kettle. My kettle can boil four cups of water a lot faster than my microwave. It all depends on the microwave and kettle (and the voltage available).

I live in the US and I heat my tea water in an electric kettle. It probably isn’t as fast as yours, but it is still close to microwave speed. And I can heat up enough for several cups of tea and have it keep the rest hot. I usually drink more than one at a sitting.

If you live in a place where there are still old lead pipes in the system, which almost everyone in the US does, you should start pushing your city representatives to get it fixed. It’s a major hazard in all sorts of ways.

I live in one of the very few cities in the US that replaced all of its lead pipes a couple of decades ago.

AI is already replacing significant parts of the technical workforce. The key is that it doesn’t have to successfully replace them. It just has to convince the sociopaths in the C-suites that they can pretend it will so they can layoff masses of employees. That will allow them to collect obscenely large bonuses, sell their stock at a huge profit, and move on to destroying the next round of businesses. Fortunately, the only people this will hurt are, well, us.

I’m reading Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series. They fit modern fantasy into a British police procedural framework. What makes them exceptional are the characterizations, plus the wit and snark of the dialog. They are both good stories and a lot of fun to read.

As an American, I would be happy with either Denmark or Canada invading.

That is an amazingly boopable nose.

Based on your use of the term Left Wing orthodoxy, I infer that you mean the misogynist, racist, homophobic, and transphobic communities. They still exist but have mostly moved to X.

Go bears!

I don’t think this really deserves an answer, but I’m going to give you one anyway. If you were actually paying attention to the current Catholic teachings you would be aware that they are extremely progressive on almost every issue except for abortion. That is appropriate, since that is in line with the actual teachings of Jesus, who was a far more radical progressive than anyone currently in US politics.

So what network are you getting your version of Catholicism from? It certainly isn’t the Pope.

AI is so far from being the main problem with our current US educational system that I’m not sure why we bother to talk about it. Until we can produce students who meet minimum standards for literacy and critical thinking, AI is a sideshow.

That is a good point. I think you’re right that being raised in an entitled environment by a socipathic parent brings out the worst in people. It also selects for the worst child being the one who wins the fight to take over the business.

American Football: Every time a player suffers a traumatic brain injury the owner takes a punch to the head from a professional heavyweight boxer.

The ratio of poor to ultra wealthy is far greater than a million to one. Other than that, the only practical reason they have for not doing it is that they still need human labor for most of what they do. That isn’t going to change anytime soon, despite AI. However, they don’t need their labor force to be free or happy, which is why the US is on the cusp of a fascist takeover.

The rule of law has largely stopped mattering to the ultra wealthy. It may occasionally inconvenience them, but they know it will never affect them in any personal way.

Not all of the ultra wealthy are socipaths. Unfortunately, terminal-stage capitalism does a surprisingly good job of selecting for sociopathy at the very top of the hierarchy. Becoming that rich requires both a strong belief that you deserve it and a disregard for how acquiring it harms others.

This is actually a triumph for Musk. SpaceX has figured out how to blow up their rockets without all the cost and time required to prepare for a launch.

I edited my previous post to replace some links that had become obsolete. PeakMesh has a great set of options, but they update their links to match their inventory and the one I got has cycled in and out a few times.

The fact that you’re asking the question means you’ve made a lot of progress already. Give yourself real credit for wanting to be a better person. A lot of people don’t ever reach that point.

I’m working on the same things myself and I don’t think there are any simple or complete solutions. All you can do is keep in mind where you want to be, look at where you are, and try to get a little closer all the time.

You can’t control how you feel, but you can control what you do about it. Don’t act on your anger. Treat everyone as if they are a decent person, even if you don’t really think they are. You don’t have to enable them or accept the destructive things they do, but show kindness when you can and show sorrow, instead of anger, when you can’t.

Do this for yourself. Even if nothing else changes, it will change you. And over time, it will have a positive effect on other people, even if you often won’t know.