*banned 4 MarkDown love* @design_RG@qoto.org

@mngrif Oh, you barely landed and already going high. 😜

@realcaseyrollins From the awesome TV series "Kung Fu", starred by David Carradine, the disciple in the photo.

His master called him "young grasshopper". Beautiful series.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Fu_(TV_series)

https://youtu.be/gbNCBVzPYak

@binsrc @zevahs

I agree there's a lot to worry about, you mentioned the major points. There is also the economy:

- grow has dropped to very low levels, and has not recovered even with the ridiculously low interest rates now in place for over 10 years.

- there will be economic impacts from climate change. Crops not growing as well, soils drying, stronger storms than in the past on average.

- energy, the petroleum we have is a finite resource and unclear when demand for it will be reduced by alternative transportation, electric vehicles, etc.

Worrisome times to live in.

The use of computing to monitor the population and influence elections and public opinion is disheartening.

@realcaseyrollins Want Not, Waste Not, grasshopper.

@teknonomicon I am worried about the coming year. With all the polarization, agit propaganda by Fox on the public airwaves and so many people armed, it's worrisome there could be something bad happening.

The Atlantic has a whole recent issue on this - they considered the current situation very similar to the political climate just before the American Civil War exploded.

Haven't read the issue yet, they are one of my favourite sources but I have been absorbed in the fediverse and all the new things to discover and learn.

@pganssle Hello Paul, good evening and welcome to Qoto.

Seems no one replied to you and gave you the welcome we try to post to all new users; until now, that it is.

I wouldn't consider that you are worrying too much - taking a risk when it's not essential is not a good thing, there are a lot of bad actors out there, including state agents. Lock it down and keep it private is the best, imo.

I wouldn't think it's an exaggeration or an undue scare. I had a linux firewall for years on my home network, before the commercial routers started to become any good and secure.

I used SmoothWall, running on a spare older computer, and it had a lot of nice features and controls.

Have been using commercial routers for the past few years, most of the time with custom firmware - Tomato is the one I use.

Enjoy your stay, post any topics you are interested in for discussion. Reminds me I should go and take a look how the Smoothwall project is doing nowadays! 😄

@togs You skipped it?

@teknonomicon Absolutely.

It's unbelievable that the USA is the only developed country where health is a profit center, and there's no public health insurance.

Might be easier to change your country of residence though, as the interest entrenched are huge and the political system largely corrupted by lobbying and corporate "citizenship", unfettered political donations, etc.

And that's only the publicly acknowledged facts. Shame. 😔

You can reproduce that search result with this link: https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&ref=bf_s2_a1_t1_1&qi=pSWvPizpR3S51sWhI8N7Ao7zY1M_1497963026_1:2:2&bq=author%3Dneal%2520stephenson%26title%3Dcryptonomicon&ps=tp

...and from there, can even change the Currency or destination if you like.

Good luck, happy shopping, get your books before the Christmas rush and clogged mail systems!

Once you have selected the search terms hit enter and wait. A numer of editions might popup - unless you used the ISBN of the one you really want, not necessary in most cases.

From the few possible edition results, pick one, the system will display a screen full of results.

Including price with Shipping included, if you enabled that, in your currency choice, for new and Used books alike.

A screnshot, I cropped it to half width to keep size manageable - and I am usually looking for more affordable used copies too.

Prices show are in Canadian dollars, shipped to Canada, for a Hardcover edition.

Used books normally have some kind of condition description on their listing.

Almost new. Good Condition. Acceptable, etc, with the price going down for less desirable copies.

Like Books? Want a nice one for a Good Price, shipped to your home, maybe even from overseas?

http://bookfinder.com is the place I go to, search and find the best deal. New or used, paperback or hardcover. Price with or without shipping, in your own currency.

Lovely site, clean and has Advanced Search if you want to tune down to a specidfic type, maybe an author signed copy even!

Some examples of a search and results follow. I am using the wonderful "Cryptonomicon" novel by Neal Stephenson as a search item. (I do have it, discovered the talent of the author and have been a fan for years)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptonomicon

Frist step, head to BookFinder, fill in title, author or ISBN, select your country as destination, what currency.

In my screenshot -- I used an Advanced search (not required) since I wanted a Hardcover edition, check marked on pic.

Search results on the next post!

@zsc @_lunawinters

here's the current shipping costs for Awesomebooks.

Note that there's a flat fee charge for the first book, it's UKP 2.99, the prices showing in the picture are in Canadian Dollar at today's exchange.

For North America, first book pays 2.99 UKP fee, any additional books no charge. Good incentive to place a larger order!! 😺

I have received tons of books from them, an order of say 5 or more is usually shipped in envelopes with one or two books to limit bulk and weight, Delivery right to my front door.

info from : https://www.awesomebooks.com/help/shipping/

@zsc @_lunawinters

Bookfinder is excellent. They link to Abebooks, Thriftbooks, Amazon in various countries, plus smaller book sellers in the UK and Europe.

I have bought many boks from searches there. The search results show seller price, including shipping to my locale.

Some nice large UK sellers are good to know too, https://awesomebooks.com is one I have bought probably over a hundred books from. They do ship overseas, their books are UK editions, lovely quality.

I buy hardcovers mostly. Recommended. 😉

A lot of their stock comes from charities like Oxfam and others, collected by local donations.

@zsc I am using a nice HP Elitebook, lovely machine, I don't carry it much so the hefty weight doesn't matter to me. Best laptop I have, takes zillion tabs open in browser, image editor, other things in complete stride.

I replaced the original HDD with an SSD, and that makes it nicer than most machines for sale today.

Love the quality, design. Aluminum body, milspec design, and not for the high price MBP goes for.

@freemo LOL, so true. I visit and travel slowly, backpackign and staying in hostels or small hotels. Travel by train whenever possible, a joy in itself, we can rarely do it here in North America.

History everywhere, castles in mountaintops, signs of the presence of other cultures like the Moors that were so advance in their time, cultural and scientifically.

Here, distances are huge and I doubt I can find accommodations for similar prices. So, I take a plane and enjoy time abroad.

Live with what I have on my backpack, eat local foods, delicious and affordable, lots of choices, meet interesting people from all over the world.

Spring is when I usually take off. Love the season, and it arrives at least a month sooner in southern Europe, compared to my region here.

@cowanon @freemo @pschwede

The analisys and reporting on criminality and poverty in minorities neighbourhoods was an excellent example. Agreed it can be pulled either way, in extreme ways.

@freemo Agreed, I think Europe is currently the best place to live, Wish I could convince my kids to consider moving there, quality of life and happiness seem much more attainable.

Even myself, I am sorely tempted to once again move countries completely.

@zsc Oh, man, sorry to hear that. 😞

Compounds your loss, all these tries and no luck, plus expenses. Replacing an LCD is not something I have done, and it has to be the right part, plus the cabling is so fragile.

Hope you do get it back! It's a nice machine. Good luck!