The dash brightness is computer-controlled and flaky, but I really don't think that's due to the OnStar removal. That's it.

But I was worried about issues, so I unplugged it and tested for a while before I actually threw out the unit.

I ripped the OnStar out of my GM as soon as it was in my driveway. Google still tracks my phone and knows way too much about me even after I rooted it and removed a bunch of 'unremoveable,' Google apps, but I'll be damned if I'll give up one more bit of data than I have to in order to get the functionality i want.

It's a car. Get me from a to b safely, that is not only all I ask, it's all I want.

And that 'counterpoint' is hot garbage.

We are not capable of building anything that can withstand the surface pressures and temperatures for very long. The rock of Venus is dry-baked to incredible strength, you're not mining anything even if you could build equipment that could survive there.

I pretty much stopped building my sf&f collection in the 1990s. The writers moved on and I don't like where most of them moved to.

In fact, I put off updates as long as possible. A lot of things can't be backed out of they go wrong, and the devs do this on purpose to avoid having infinite version compatibility issues. It really sucks to update something like that and find people who held back a version are OK... And you just have to deal with having something broken until a dev feels like it should be a priority.

They're pretty good about that, but I just want my system to work.

Typically I back up my entire VM and then spend a day or so trying to update all the configurations they've moved or changed the formatting on. If it's too annoying, I revert the whole thing and try again at a later date.

Only tinkerers should have auto-updates enabled.

The reason people look to Mars is that it is more hospitable than the Moon and has greater potential to be made self-sufficient.

We really ought to be putting small mammals in centrifuges in orbit though, to get some data on whether or not our biology will function normally in .38g. It might be no better for our health than freefall.

I honestly don't know what to say to that. I run my HA in a VM on a grossly over-powered server now, but I started on a PI and never noticed an issue beyond it being difficult to install and configure the RTL_433 addon back in the day.

Venus is not a valid colonisation target with current or foreseeable future technology.

Floating around in a bubble in an acidic atmosphere above a surface you will never reach for resource extraction limits you to an Earth-based supply chain. At least on Mars you can walk around and dig stuff up. On Venus you are crushed and melted.

Not sexism, statistical accuracy.

35 is also young enough you could be creating a horde of desperate, violent men.

I purchased a Chinese generic of the Leadingstar USB dongle. It should cost around $20 through Walmart.

No power consumption data for you, but... I just installed the RTL_433 addon with the config wide open and I pull in everything.

It all shows in the MQTT console with the mosquito_sub command. The challenge can be picking out your own stuff if there are a lot of devices in your vicinity.

Zigbee does mesh net, so you can plan your device placements to help with range. Though that only applies to line powered devices, so trying to chain the power-miser battery sensors won't work. I have a smart outlet I use to help some sensors that are at the edge of useful range from the hub.

I do kind of wish I'd initially chosen Z-Wave for my low-power encrypted wireless for the extra range, but Zigbee has been adequate for my uses so far and I like to keep things as homogeneous as possible, so I'm not switching any time soon.

No, they're morons.

I am overwhelmed by them, but not because I lack the ability to understand them. There are simply so many of them and they are dedicated not only to not adapting, but to holding everyone else back with them.

Morons. Maybe not by medical definition, but close enough that it is a descriptively useful term.

Globe is another brand you'll find on the discount shelves. Total garbage.

My general rule is to start with Zigbee devices for anything I want secured because they cannot route to the Internet. 433MHz devices for anything I'm OK sending data in the clear (like my weather station).

I fall back to WiFi if I must, a lot of that stuff you can get to work by configuring it with the manufacturer's app, THEN blocking it from further communications with the Internet. I don't like it, and I'm definitely boned if I have to reconfigure something and the manufacturer no longer supports it, but some devices are just only available with WiFi communications, or sometimes you need more range than you're going to get with Zigbee.