dghughes

One could even say politics is also a science.

Tik Tok has trained a generation to want to self-censor and even worse to believe it's good to do so. The terrifying result may be to lose access to Tik Tok. Obey, self-censor giving up the entire idea of a democracy and freedom of expression, or you lose access to...stupid fluff.

That's why I hope Helion Fusion does well. The system they are developing sends power to a device that captures power directly no boiling water.

What does it do to people? Do I get a transparent anus if I eat a family size bag of Doritos?

1990s IRC, Yahoo! and MSN Messenger were wild places. I don't know if those are considered social media. It's anonymous global Internet communications people have no fear of reprecussions. It's like a person in a riot throwing a rock there is no control and no fear.

If a home had a detached garage or a storage shed that would be a better area. Some of the newer model batteries can be outside in winter cold and snow on its own base like a stand-by generator would be.

I like the idea of a backup system or a system to offset high rates by storing power on off-peak times. Even if you don't have solar storing power from the grid at low demand times at night then use power from the battery at high energy cost times during the day.

Whatever way it's installed it's still a good idea to have an emergency plan or at the very least assume the worst and place the device away from the home.

I like the idea of a home battery systems. I live in a place with frequent winter storms and also hurricanes.

Grid storage large containerized batteries is a great idea too. There's even a local company (Aspin-Kemp) that makes them and also marine hybrid boats. The electric company here is a dinosaur wanting gas turbines and no interest in renewable energy just profits for shareholders. They even got caught with their pants down after a hurricane trees fell on power lines due to no tree maintenance for 40 years.

One issue with large battery storage is fires. Where I live is small and island with small towns the biggest city is at best 50,000. The next smallest city of about 15,000 uses grid storage batteries one of which recently caught fire and burned for a week. It's in a small town so the toxic smoke was a big problem. It would be very bad for a home battery system to ignite that's likely why my city does not allow home batteries inside homes.

A new method to douse battery fires needs to be developed. A week long fire and toxic smoke is very stressful.

> The bigger problem there is that we don't have the people any more.

You don't have the education system and work ethic, stable family, curiosity. Many young people feel college is a waste and YouTube or AI has all the answers. Children in schools even now in 2026 right up to high school and even college can't read. Many who can read can't comprehend what they are reading.

In addition to that I recall a UK study that said smartphones have caused a lack of hand dexterity. Not social media or content but the phone itself a two dimensional surface means hand dexterity is not developed. People do not have hobbies like wood working, sewing, anything that involves fine manipulation and strength. The biggest hit is to the medical field and lack of surgeons because people in medical school now do not have fine motor skills needed for the job.

Cell towers failed in my region after a hurricane. SMS is pointless in that situation.

My 81 year-old mother has never owned a computer. So yes it's not good to have critical government services only on apps or websites that require log in or subscriptions. Although to her it doesn't matter since she has no clue of these sites.

We went through a hurricane in 2022 and that was an eye opener too. Most "land lines" are no longer a line to anywhere it's just a phone connected to the Internet. Anyone with that type phone had no service after 24 hours without power. My 85 uncle still (even now) had an actual land line and it worked no issues.

After the hurricane no citizen had any way to communicate. Cell towers failed when generators ran out of fuel. No fuel because gas stations couldn't pump gas without power.

My dad passed away just a year earlier he had been on an oxygen generator that needed power 24/7. I don't think he would have survived. I'm not sure if I could even have reached 911.

For awareness radio is the best solution but even emergency services radio stations are being decommissioned here in Canada in favour of Internet services.

Yes I was there it wasn't as bad as now. TV or radio it was never the same three ads over and over and over. And the media is now truncated so cram in more ads. Plus the time between ads is shorter. So it's basically ads with a brief TV show in between mostly ads.

Yeah I bought a five bay Synology NAS two or three years ago I think it and three 18TB WD Red drives total cost $3,000CAD? I was going to save up for two more drives. Now each drive is $1,000 CAD a 150% jump. edit: I checked $1,350 each so about 250% jump ugh!