u/NotThePopeProbably

Hi all! SAR guy here. I just have basic WFA right now (we get WFA-level training for free on the team as part of our initial training).

This year, our DEM is offering us an optional WFR course through one of the myriad curricula out there. While not free, it's pretty reasonably priced (think 1/2-1/3 the price of, say, NOLS) for a hybrid course.

I'm interested in taking WFR, then doing a WFR-to-EMR bridge course. Unfortunately, the curriculum provider our DEM is using offers no such course. Could I get WFR certified through this provider and use that cert. as the basis to take NOLS' bridge course, or is NOLS going to tell me I have to buy their WFR course, as well?

Thanks in advance!

I've never used Linux before.

Yesterday: I opened my personal laptop for the first time in, like, a year (I'm a small business owner so I usually just do stuff on my smartphone or my work laptop). Windows bloat made it literally unusable (i.e., after 3 attempts and 2 hours of load time, I couldn't get a single Chrome tab to load a webpage, and pulling up File Manager took 2 minutes).

Using my work computer, I etched Debian Linux onto a thumb drive. I then booted my personal computer from the thumb drive, overwrote my HDD, and installed Debian/XFCE.

Today: My work computer (still running Windows 11) has a scheduled update that was heavily impacting system performance (one of those "we'll automatically restart at night" jobs that makes the whole day feel like you're working in slow motion). I chose to restart and update now to improve performance and just get it out of the way.

45 minutes later: No clue how much longer the update is going to take (it said the updates were 30% complete before the screen went black). Meanwhile: I can't load my work files. My personal computer (a 7-year-old Intel i3 now running Debian), on the other hand, is running faster than my work computer (a 2.5yo Ryzen 7 running Windows 11).

Windows is the worst.

Idk if it's just my state, just me, or what, but, like, half of the forensic psychologists at the state mental hospital are just total rockets. Is this a universal experience, or am I uniquely attracted to women with PhDs?

Since AR-15s are illegal to purchase on Washington, what are we buying instead that serves the same purpose? I've see the flow chart. Just wondering what the standard answer is here.

Lame, Bro. I like to keep my investigations more low-key than that. Anywho, let me know what your tuxedoed former-cop comes up with.

I've repped plenty of people facing life: Homicides, armed robberies, federal drug traffickers, etc. I haven't done a ton of sex crimes, though. Recently, I've gotten assigned quite a few in rapid succession.

All these guys do is bitch, bitch, bitch. They call every fucking day to ask if there's been an update. I had the "You're one of my 50 clients, and any time I spend talking with you, I can't spend actually working on your case" talk to no avail. Now, one wants to sue his last attorney, against whom he's already lodged a frivolous bar complaint.

I thought drug dealers complained a lot, but this shit is next level. Why do they whine so much?

Hi! New (as of last night) mesh-user here. I'm running a WisMesh Tag as my companion and a WisMesh Repeater on top of my second-story roof.

I manually input my repeater location onto the Meshcore.io map, but it shows as gray (manually input) rather than green (recently seen). It also shows as "RAK4631 Repeater" rather than the name I gave it. It does not show up at all on any of the network analyzers.

I'm doing okay on receive, but performance is unacceptable on transmit. I'm about 15-20 miles (geodesic) from downtown Seattle, but I'm only occasionally getting picked up by the Seattle Bot. Honestly, Kelso Bot (85-90 miles geodesic) is more consistent (though still not great), and essentially all my paths bounce off Bellingham for some reason.

The ultimate goal (once I get things figured out on my end) is to mirror this setup for my mom down in Southern Oregon as an emcomm solution for when the Cascadia earthquake happens. That seems like a bit of a far-cry at the moment, though.

I live in the woods. Do you reckon tree cover is my issue? Do I need an aftermarket antenna for the repeater? Is a second story roof not high enough when the nearest repeater is 2-3 miles away?

Thanks in advance.

At this point, it's not exactly groundbreaking that cars are collecting data about us and sending it to third parties, such as insurance companies. Considering that, according to Mozilla, literally all major brands are doing this, the only solution seems to be to buy an older car.

How far back must I go in model year before I can be reasonably confident that the car isn't collecting data about me and either saving it or sharing it with third parties?

My dad's old Chevy Suburban had barn doors. My mom's second-gen Isuzu Trooper had side-opening rear doors. Since the tailgate didn't have to lift up, the Isuzu mounted a full-size spare wheel/tire on the rear, saving interior space.

Why is this so uncommon now in the SUV market? Is it a crash safety thing? Is it the same "Well, these are basically just road cars anyway, so why bother messing up the lines the designers spent so much time in?" factor that has meant they're all unibodies now? Does it reduce fuel economy meaningfully?

Off the top of my head, I can only think of Land Rover, INEOS (so, copycat Land Rover), and the Mercedes G-Wagon, the Ford Bronco, and the Jeep Wrangler. I'm aware there are aftermarket kits for other makes/models, but I still want to know why this change occurred.

Sup nerds! My mom lives in Oregon and is only moderately prepared for the Cascadia megathrust earthquake. As our family's resident Chicken Little, I'm trying to fix that.

Currently, she has neither a generator nor a battery backup. We discussed pros and cons of each, and I don't think she wants to have to keep rotating through fresh gas storage once a quarter, so solar/battery it is.

The main thing we're going for is preventing food spoilage for as long as possible, which means keeping a chest freezer and one of those terrible, inefficient french door refrigerators going. Other than that, it's just going to be accessory charging (phone, radio, flashlights, etc.). We hold no misconceptions that she'll be able to work the AC or anything.

I've never built a battery/solar backup before, but I reckon learning how will either save me money compared to a pre-built "solar generator" (if I can make it work), or at least get me out of going to work tomorrow (if I screw up and electrocute myself). Win-win, really.

Anywho, I'm trying to size this thing. I *think* a 300 amp-hour lithium battery will be enough storage (though correct me if you think I'm wrong).

I'm envisioning a "portable" setup that allows the battery, charge controller, breakers, and some foldable/rollable panels to live on a hand truck or wagon in her closet or garage. She could pull it out, set up a panel or two, plug them into the charger controller, and we're off to the races.

Here's the problem. Since she's in the PNW, it can get really cloudy in the winter. And since we're preparing for a disaster, we should probably just assume it will occur at the worst possible time. Project Sunroof says a full rooftop solar install would only cover ~88% of her annual electrical use (and that includes beautiful Oregon summers). Depending on the source, various websites reckon that a 1kw panel, left out all year, would generate 1,100-1,600 kwh in her area. With that level of inefficiency, the foldable panels (like the 200W jobs you get at Harbor Freight) don't seem to individually generate enough power for a woman without any electrical training to set them up quickly and safely. 2-3 full-size panels could keep a 300 ah battery topper up even in winter. But I don't know if lugging around multiple 40-pound, full-size panels is realistic for a gal her age.

Is this a pipe dream? Am I improperly estimating refrigeration power usage? Help a newbie out.

Thanks in advance!