My experience with a Pi4B has been rock solid and plenty fast for what I’ve tried so far, at low power consumption.

While I had problems in the beginning, it was all from the micro-SD card. People here will recommend staying away but I’ve had no problems since buying an “extreme” card. Well, starting to hit the size limit now - I can no longer kick off multiple concurrent updates because limited free space available on, I think, 16G card. Get bigger

If you’re starting with ha, don’t feel confined to only one.

IMPORTANT: a local area mesh is not just a low powered way of connecting devices but is inherently local-only. Highly recommended

The more common local area meshes include

• Zigbee - open standard, lots of inexpensive sensors
• Z-Wave - devices need to pay for certification but are more standard. I found more smart switches using this in my area
• Thread - the new standard. Same frequency as Zigbee but IPv6 based. Slowly rolling out.

The new Matter/Thread standard has support of the major players (Apple, Google, Amazon) so seems like the way to go for the future, but products are slow to roll out so you can’t count on it yet

Personally I found the strengths of each compelling so quickly added all three of the above to my ha setup. Ha is fine with it so why limit yourself

I follow the principle that devices must work “as expected” for my users, automation adds capabilities but does not replace them. This comes together with a focus on smart switches

• can be used interactively just like any switch
• continue to work as expected even if ha is down
• typically act as routers to strengthen your local area mesh. I have switches acting as routers for Zigbee, zwave, and Thread, so all my local area meshes are solid everywhere
• then I can automate

I still believe it’s a pretty good system that has generally held up well for a couple hundred years.

It’s in tatters right now as all three branches are being run by power hungry sociopaths. Yet The people who run those branches at lower levels are still trying to do their jobs. There are still checks and balances. There is still hope our partly capsized ship will right itself. Authoritarianism required collusion across the heads of all three branches, yet each branch is still partly functioning

That’s frustrating as hell

I imagine a big part of it is lack of infrastructure spendinf.

• Is there a place to stop for whatever reason they’re stopping?
• Are there always at least two tracks to prevent bottlenecks?
• are sidings big enough to fit any train allowed?
• are there sufficient non-grade crossings?

Or are we just letting freight lines continue to milk century old infrastructure without regard to anyone else?

The US doesn’t have a national language, but does have significant communities of many ethnicities. It is well recognized that a second language is beneficial and I have to assume most states require it, although my experience there is limited. However it’s not reasonable to mandate that everyone learn a specific one. You should learn the one specific to your circumstances.

That being said, most people have no reason to actually use the language they learned in school so are never fluent or lose it quickly. It’s a newer thing for schools to offer immersion programs to establish fluency

I’d definitely like to identify ones that have not been - these days it can be a challenge to sear chicken on the stovetop because of all the water.

I always assumed they were such small jars because they’re I tended to be single use

Pay it off over time with lower taxes income.

If I earn $1M I have to pay a lot of income tax. But if I take a loan for $1M, I may only need to earn a taxable income of $100K

Maybe I’d take the opportunity to sell a losing stock so can write off that income as a loss

It’s a waste of time to have a “survey” of languages in an environment where you’re not regularly using them : much better to learn an additional one well. Maybe it’s different in countries with multiple languages and borders where you’ll need multiple languages every day. Yes, a second language is a good idea for any kid.

Here school generally has a fixed curriculum through eighth grade, then high school is more flexible, with minimum requirements set by state and student choice filling it out. For example my state had a requirement for three years of languages to graduate high school: I decided on 5 Spanish classes.

My youngest kid took two years of Italian but then had to switch schools where they did not offer that language, so took a little Spanish. Yes I consider that somewhat a waste because it would have been better for him to learn either of those more. However in everyday life he’s not exposed to either.

I can see the argument of more focus on a second language, but more languages usually means not enough for any of them.

My high school required 3 years of a language: I took 5 Spanish courses but was clearly never fluent.

In my kids high school, it was the first class in an immersion program program from early elementary through high school. Many of them were fluent. That should be a goal.

We should keep going. There’s already a history of changing actors and timeframes, changing levels of violence and action. James Bond isn’t a series where anyone expects one to follow another. The Daniel Craig bonds were very different from all previous - time to find a new Bond and a new feel.

An incremental step would be to look at the tax cuts of the last few decades, and role them back. That especially includes other types of income and passthroughs

As someone who has participated in startups, the options and shares market is a rigged game. We also need to restore rules for the ultra wealthy so they play the same game as we do

The flower shouldn’t be allowed a voice or a vote anyway. The flower should just stay at home and receive the bee’s attention. /s

Yea, the few times I remembered ear plugs, I had a more enjoyable experience

I also follow that pattern for small local theaters, but the huge national chains can kiss my ass. It helps that local theaters feel welcoming while the giant chains are are manufactured

I read a book once where a character with a sensitive nose kept referring to the popcorn butter-like chemical as “pee” and that really fits My experience as well. The stuff is not good and does not taste like butter but is admittedly addicting

I really like that fourth row, as close to the middle as it goes. I know that’s on the close side so I’ll be looking up, but it also means the screen fills my field of vision more so more immersive

Yeah, I just got back from Project Hail Mary - excellent movie, but like always I wished for earplugs too late.

I don’t think this movie was particularly louder than others but I find most movies painfully loud

Don’t overthink it - most are still Available. Stay away from edges and corners

Obviously then you’d trust everything it says and fire half your staff to replace them with a row of ducks