Due to extended WFH (until June 2021) and online schooling (Until November 14 which will likely get extended to punish Republicans after the election) I find myself in the situation of a special needs child needing help from time to time in a different room.

Does anybody know of a good Intercom-over-WIFI-on-the-LAN solution? I really don't want this sending traffic through my overworked firewall, so many of the game intercom systems are not really what I'm looking for.

An ethical hacker point of view of the cancel culture:

First they came for the conservatives- banning their posts and videos, canceling voices they could not stand.

Then they came for the statues and paintings and works of art- the Iconoclasm. Every hint that the past ever existed, must be destroyed.

Next they will come for the books, burning any that give a hint that any other way of life than theirs existed.

After that they'll be writing memory hole worms to edit the internet to their liking so that no post can be made without approved speech and thought codes applied.

At what level of historical revisionism are you comfortable with?

Because I am not comfortable with any of it.

If you must practice historical revision, add data, don't delete it.

Write your own point of view on a plaque to attach to the base of a statue or the frame of that painting so that future inhabitants of the city can get both sides.

Don't burn books, write books!

Don't edit the internet, start your own web page or social media service.

Censorship is NEVER valid.

As protesters last night in Portland got ugly one of the incidents involved a green laser pointer and a news helicopter.

It got me wondering- for the sake of the safety of cameramen and pilots, is it time for an upgrade from the venerable old "eye in the sky" to more modern drone tech?

Well, if you've succumbed to the Office 365 rental model and can thus load spreadsheets off of a onedrive view anyway.

I present, May 7th, 2020 Coronavirus Counties in Oregon with population density information attached. https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=2A1ED1E3CF60A906!6024&id=documents

Myself, I am fortunate enough to be able to work from home, so that is not a problem. I know several of my friends in Meat Space aren't quite as fortunate. :(

How are you all passing the time?

Ok, with SARS-COV-2 or COVID-19 or whatever we're calling it today shutting down the world, I may have some time for some other projects.

With Radio Shack Dead and Fry's sucked up into the UFO graveyard in the sky, where does the discerning geek go to find small electronic parts these days? I assume online someplace.....

I rarely write in my journal, but when I do, it's to ask an incredibly geeky question about either computer programming or science fiction. Today, it's science fiction.

While considering questions about the constitutionality of executive officers ordering quarantines, a vague memory comes to mind of a science fiction story I once read. Can anybody tell me author/series/title from this description?

The planet of LostRoses has a very small human population made primarily of tree farmer/miners who mine diamonds from a certain species of tree- the diamonds are in the nut meat of the seeds of the tree. These crystal roses are in high demand across the quadrant. The planet is a total democracy, except for one quirk in the constitution: In time of emergency, the population gathers in the local bar, and elects somebody God- essentially giving them dictatorship powers for the length of the emergency.

It's virtually a death sentence. Out of 6 emergencies, 5 times God was lynched as soon as the emergency was over. But for the duration of the emergency that person has the sole duty to *solve the problem*.

It seems to me I might have read it back in the 1980s in either Asimov or Astounding, or it might have been a book....I do remember the story I read, God was a female paraplegic whose sole joy in life was hang gliding- and negotiations took place when she took the head of the invading army hang gliding, and that at the end of the story, she became the first person to survive being God due to the treaty she had negotiated.

I can't seem to get google sync to log in this morning, nor my gmail account. It's fine on my phone, but not on the computer.

I have a blog elsewhere, I don't need this journal like I used to. I'm not even sure I'm still a subscriber or not.

But Drinkypoo mentioned there was a bug that was preventing him from posting in his journal, and if it is fixed, you will see this.

I hate HR

High functioning autism is kind of like being a human being, but being asked to take a Turing Test every single day and always failing to be human enough to pass.

It seems right to post this here, where it all started. Farewell, ~talinom.

A priest in Pakistan is trying to use crowdfunding to build an orphanage by Christmas.

For some reason I don't understand, Facebook has already labeled this adventure as being "Against Community Standards"

Just finished my 30th high school reunion, and realized....I haven't seen anybody in the slashdot journals in like forever.

Now true, the advertising on this site (when viewed without adblock) has become horrible- with that quarter-of-your-screen banner advert at the top- but I used to use you guys for tech sounding boards.

I don't remember the last time I did that.

and there you are

I started off 2018 by finally getting my Amateur Radio license. I went in with nothing and came out with General class.

I finished the year by going for Amateur Extra, and I passed. I was a little surprised, but it took a lot of work to learn what I needed to know for the exam.

What's that got to do with the title? Simple: The tests prove that I know a certain amount of a few topics. That's "the more you know". The rest of it is demonstrated by a common phrase in Radio: "Now, the real learning begins."

I'd like to get involved with emergency communication (look up "ARES" if you're curious) and try my hand at building antennas. I have a few in the queue and one in progress for the 2m band, so we'll see how it goes.