aetherspoon

[aetherspoon]

Genuinely so angry I can't live in the places I grew up because they are fundamentally too expensive for me to go home.

I miss San Diego. I miss Monterey. I miss my home so much every time I go back and visit my parents. But living in the place they live, in the place I grew up, is so wildly expensive that it might as well be Narnia. All I want to do is go home, and I simply can't. There is something fundamentally wrong with the world.

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Worse. Once it is online, a malicious hacker can use it as a foothold and start doing all sorts of nasty things to your network because they pwned a device physically in your network. It isn't even that hard to do.

Or for more nefarious purposes, pull an HP and demand always online DRM for some consumable to ensure you are only buying their product {at an astronomical markup, of course}.

The sad thing is, I actually like the idea of a lot of IoT things. I would love to set up lighting programs for the house to turn on different sets of lights automatically based on the time of day, the position of the sun, and the weather.. but I do not EVER want them on or be controlled by the Internet. And the moment corporations figured out they could collect and sell data this way, the promise of that IoT future died.

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Is a cat on top of you right now?

Yes

No

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I absolutely think adults, especially parents, ascribe manipulative intent to children when they shouldn't and it's absolutely a problem but it's always kind of funny to me when people go online and proclaim that children are incapable of manipulation. When I was three I asked my mom to get my older sibling their favorite candy bar at the grocery story because I knew she'd get me mine too as a reward for being thoughtful and that was way more likely to succeed than if I just asked for a candy bar for me. And it worked. Children scheme at a developmentally appropriate level the trick is not assuming children scheme at an adult level.

[aetherspoon]

please watch my favorite game changer clip ever

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Sound on

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I remember a professor of mine mentioning that the calculus required to figure out how to properly walk upright would make any physics student cry.

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mariah carey is nearly defrosted and they're playing christmas music in shopping malls

[aetherspoon]

Hooray for Spa Day! 🧖‍♀️

[aetherspoon]

Fun fact! Those miniPCs that are out there? A lot of them are also user serviceable! Well, not the Apple ones. Trick is to buy one of the miniPCs meant for enterprise use, because IT folk also care about user serviceability! My HP Elitedesk Mini has a single thumbscrew in the back. With that one screw, I can replace the RAM, CPU, heatsink, and all of the SSDs! Now, it still doesn't fit a standard form factor - I can't put a Dell motherboard into my HP miniPC - so it isn't perfect.. but it is a lot better than a Mac Mini that doesn't even let you change its RAM.

Apple propaganda notwithstanding, the reason tower PCs are big isn’t because they’re outdated. The reason tower PCs are so bulky is because they’re designed to be user serviceable. The case has lots of open space so your big, meaty hands can easily access all of the components, and everything is secured with friction-fit tabs and standard machine screws to minimise the need for specialised tools. A properly laid out tower PC is fully serviceable with a single Phillips-head screwdriver and no greater manual skill than your average Lego playset – heck, for some of the more modern case layouts you don’t even need the screwdriver, unless you’re performing major surgery like a full motherboard replacement.

Like, think about who benefits from convincing you that a fully modular computing device that can be serviced and repaired with your bare hands and minimal technical skill is unfashionable.

[aetherspoon]

she says hi

[aetherspoon]

I emigrated out of the US. I can help answer questions specifically about Norway and probably broadly about moving to Europe.

Here are a couple of broad points though.

The one thing that I would like to note is that this takes a while. It took me four months from getting married to getting my visa, but truth be told the process was only that fast because I had both the fastest visa processing possible (family unification with a citizen of that country) and prepped well in advance. It is about the same time for my work visa to Denmark, so expect 3ish months if you have all of your ducks in a row.

Another big thing is that a lot of European countries are very anti-immigrant at the moment. You basically have to have a job willing to sponsor a visa for you in order to move a family. Not impossible, but usually difficult since most times the job has to be one no one else can do. Think "specialist in your field" type of work, because most jobs need to be offered locally first. Canada might be a bit easier there, but they have age-based discrimination for their immigration process instead.

Anybody have advice/resources for emigrating out of a country?

To answer your questions 1) yes, this is a sincere and legitimate request 2) yes, I'm aware this process is long and laborious (unless things escalate to the point we need to go full refugee which God forbid) and 3) it would be two adults (40s, advanced degrees, decent if not ideal health) and two minors.

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Check your voter registration status - YOU CAN REGISTER AND VOTE IN PERSON DAY OF

Know your rights as a voter

Voter safety and resources for domestic violence survivors - you can cast a secret ballot at the polls

How to stay safe during civil unrest (PDF)

27/7 LGBTQ+ friendly suicide hotline that you can call, text, or chat

[aetherspoon]

contrary to popular belief not everyone has an innate sense of internal gender or care to have one or seek a name for it, some people go their whole lives without questioning their occupation in one of two gender roles, but for some people, if pressed, they don’t feel that internal sense of ‘i am a woman’ or ‘i am a man’, and in that case i feel the switch over to transgender vs cisgender relies on active identification of a gender other than the one they were assigned. if someone’s like ‘idk dude I just work here’ then that’s valid