Excellent advice. It’s a game of cat and mouse (or whack-a-mole, whatever metaphor works…).

Sites that want your data for whatever reason hate VPNs, so they identify exit points and blacklist traffic from them. VPN providers know this so they spin up new exit points with different IP.

Just try a different server. Sometimes it’s a regional ’rights’ issue, so pick another server that is in the same jurisdiction, for instance in the case of streaming.

I love OpenSCAD and also realize it is a super backward way to make 3D models, according to most other people. I don’t bother even mentioning OpenScad as an option for most people, I know it is only for certain people.

I tried my hand at modeling and designing using more traditional CAD programs that work more visually. I have good spatial reasoning and visualization abilities but I could never get the breakthrough to a point where I felt literate in those tools.

Constructive Solid Geometry approaches just work for my brain. Now when I need a part designed, I can quickly sketch it out in rough code and I feel confident seeing myself as a ‘designer’ now. Other more ‘visual’ tools waste my time as I get sucked into finger painting instead of working out the fundamentals of the design.

With the code-first framework, I have to really think about what the part needs to do before I tweak the code.

I think the best question to ask first is ‘what kind of server?’

A web server could run a reasonably busy low-tech web2.0 blog site on a phone, I think without breaking a sweat.

Other types of serving (media, especially) would be resource limited) maybe not.

And there is an important difference between ’novelty’ and ‘demo’. Even a novelty server can demonstrate new ways to think about tech. Maybe an author could host their book launch on such a setup, serving only a single file and showing that we don’t exactly need to involve Amazon. That’s where my head goes when thinking about these efforts.

Super cool project. I visited, and I hope you keep building the site stats views out. So many people are curious about self hosting and solar, if you just kept it as a demo that shows how the system holds up over longer term, well I know I would appreciate occasional reminders to check it out. It may inspire others to try similar things.

And I would have happily signed any digital wall you implemented.

Can we get Ron Howard to deliver the last line?

You have told us what you both watch, but what do either of you do that isn’t just consuming someone elses creative work?

Here’s the original publication for those wanting more implementation details.

The original publication

You also need the horn section for that phat sound.

Extruded aluminum of that type is insanely stable and easy enough to build for a reasonably handy person.

You only need a cheap cutoff saw and a drill, or you can order pre-cut and ore-drilled pieces to order.

There are a number of makers of extruded aluminum building systems, basically tinkertoys for adults. I have personal experience using 80/20 and the Tslots brands. They are functionally identical.

I have used it to build stands for heavy equipment like ultra-cold freezers for labs. It is more than sufficient for any server racking.

Unequivocally yes, but not always. You need a coordinated media campaign, a potent symbol, a dedicated core of supporters and the right combo of circumstances.

The Indian Independence movement depended in large part on boycotts. Ghandi’s followers wove their own cloth and wore traditional dhoti, both as a boycott of British cloth and as a public symbol of solidarity.

My favorite was the Salt March, wherein Ghandi used the general unfocused bitchiness around new salt taxes to make a media spectacle and demonstrate that Indians didn’t need British salt. Or anything British at all.

He marched down to the beach over a period of days gathering followers and media attention. Then he stood in the water and made salt in his bare hands using seawater and the bright hot sunshine.

18 years later they won their independence in a relatively bloodless way.

As an example Salt March

It would look like the aftermath of a Nestea plunge.

(An old tv commercial reference)

Eewww

People frequently conflate capitalism with enterprise, not seeing the distinctions.

A prohibition on charging interest. It’s not the only way to do things

‘Squids’ is a good daily-driver descriptor. I prefer to go straight to ‘organ donors’ usually.

They are not bad if they never forget it is about family.

Naw, jk, they are terrible. Those douchebags hucked bottles at us when we walked up to just watch. Buncha wankers.

Once the shock value of a simple ‘cunt’ has worn off, ‘thundercunt’ is my next escalation.

Get the fuck drunk enough and it will suck itself.

I loved it too. And also had the same thought. It is atmospheric, a slow burn, captivating. In the end not much actually happened. So I am not compelled to see it again.

Sam R is one of several GOAT actors however.

How is dirt different from a building in terms of thermal mass? It’s the same setup. Panels can shade buildings just as well as dirt. It’s actually a super complex situation that depends on a huge number of variables.

I’m pushing back because this common trope (solar panels cause heat islands) was part of a whirlwind of anti-solar FUD about a decade ago.

The moronosphere turned some wonky studies that showed some local heating effect (in some situations, not all) into a panic about it causing mega-storms and causing dogs and cats to want to live together.

Since then, actual experts have been working hard to understand the costs and benefits of large installations.

An example:

Agrivoltaics

So you ignored the fact that it’s not the earth that is getting heated, it’s the panels. So when the sun goes down the thin panels and the air around them cool down quickly, much more quickly than a large mass of hot rocks and dirt.

‘Thermal mass’ is a huge factor here. You ignored the basic finding that buildings with panels on the roof are cheaper to cool just because of the shading effect of the panels.