I study a lot of geopolitics and history and I have read of many different aid programs, domestically for citizens or abroad to poverty and war stricken countries.
Unfortunately it’s not as easy as dumping a bunch of money, food or whatever resource into the problem. For example there are cities with tons of homeless shelters but many stay on the streets. There are massive teams of social workers dedicated to helping people in need but many of them refuse their help.
When it comes to countries sometimes this aid is embezzled and only given to those loyal to the government. Sometimes used to fuel armies to continue conflicts, or just disappear into corruption and resold by crooked politicians to make a profit. Additionally it can hurt local, and in turn, the wider economy. The aid distributed for free kills many local businesses and livelihoods because you can compete with free.
Especially when you have some stupid company pulling a publicity stunt to send their own products as aid to struggling countries. One example was this brand of shoes that would donate a pair for every pair sold. This “friendly gesture” killed off all local cobblers, shoe manufacturers, shoe stores and prevented anyone from doing so to make a living, not to mention preventing self sufficiency of the country. That’s just one example, there are a lot of companies and misguided companies that do exactly this and many economists recommend that these poor countries should refuse this aid.
I work as a computer repair technician and my workplace has some really old cheap (90$) server hardware for sale. They have 32gb of DDR3 and old dual xeon 5606. I would probably upgrade them because old xeons are dirt cheap. They also have some old workstations too that could be suitable for hosting, similar amounts of ram but new processors.
Not energy efficient but that’s fine since they would literally be a space heater, and if maxed out those old CPUs can still get some work done.
What do you recommend hosting because oddly enough I already want a server but I don’t know what to host. I feel it’s such a waste to burn electricity just to produce heat since using electricity in any capacity produces heat so I would literally use my server as a space heater.
I thought of hosting a Minecraft server for friends (or even friends of friends) and folding @ home as well. I already have a computer much better suited for file hosting so I would not need more of that.
Like others I think it would make more sense to continue the path of software dev but as someone with more experience in IT and computer repair you usually want to work with a company.
(Prior to the below steps study THE HELL out of the books and the certification itself and be very confident that you could ace the test and fulfill any position that requires the certification, despite not formally having it)
I find it better to mention your knowledge directly in the resume itself instead of solely work experience and certifications (I got my first job like this, didn’t even have a high school diploma or ANY previous work experience, small business give better chances albeit slightly less pay). You can hopefully land at least a beginner job with crappy pay. Once you’re on the payroll you can display and demonstrate your knowledge and work ethic. Hopefully your managers may consider a raise, which often requires certification, which is often paid for by the company when considering that promotion. You may need to ask your employer directly for this route (after building trust and a professional relationship of course). If your employer does not appreciate your work, knowledge and ethics, and you continue to be underpaid for the value you provide, you want to begin looking for another place to work.
I was taught this by my teacher in a class named after and exclusively about the CompTIA certification. Oftentimes it’s companies that pay for an individuals testing+education which is why it is so damn expensive. These corporations have the kind of cash to throw around like that.
A certification I’m looking towards personally is the IPC soldering certification and there are 20 or so books and usually $200-300 a pop. No way in hell is “some guy” gonna pay all that himself because it almost always involves the company he works for.
3d printing, wood working and carpentry is the trifecta of self sufficiency. 3d printing to make complex or small parts, wood working to build furniture, shelves and tools and carpentry to repair most everything in your house, from basic plumbing, electrician work, timber framing and dry wall repair.
I’m currently working my way down the rabbit hole, no 3d printer yet but I have some experience in CAD. Really the only things I buy brand new are tools to build more tools/stuff lol.
I agree tremendously. Additionally Japanese woodworking is pretty much devoid of commercialization entirely. Tools tend to be judged by their undeniable quality and the reputation of the blacksmith who forged it.
Additionally to avoid commercialization in western wood working (aside from buying vintage) is making a lot of your own tools. One of the most important rules in wood working is to buy tools that allow you to make more tools. So go ahead and buy some chisel blanks and make some handles, buy a vice screw and build your own leg vice (coincidentally the leg vice is almost extinct today due to commercialization of the cast iron vice, despite performing worse than the leg vice). Build your own bench, clamps (use some hardware kits) and if you have some guts you can cut your very own wooden planes and fit an aftermarket blade.
It’s a lot of work but it’s very rewarding and there is a tremendous amount of pride when using tools you make/restore yourself.
Probably not, to be like the people I mentioned and met you almost have to try to be as disinterested as possible. If you say more than just 1 or 2 words when talking to somebody you’re already a lot better.
Look at the reputation of the seller and usually if they specialize in only laptops that’s a good sign.
Additionally avoid really poorly made laptops, I usually avoid most HP laptops because they have the rigidity of a wet newspaper and break all the damn time. We get a lot of them for repair and it’s labour intensive and expensive. Some dells are just as bad so be careful.
Most of the time Thinkpads are pretty solid little machines and have pretty good build quality. Additionally if you want something to last it’s worth looking at business and professional machines, many consumer grade ones suck.
A specific seller I have bought from are “PC Server & Parts”. They have a free 90 day warranty and good customer service, their prices are also very competitive too. I would recommend looking at their website too (true for many eBay sellers) since the prices may be cheaper (eBay charges a fee to sellers).
As a guy that works at a repair store, used laptops are insanely cheap. You’ll get a much more powerful and capable laptop if you go used, and you’re not at any risk because many reputable sellers and refurbishers will provide warranties too.
Most importantly when looking on eBay for laptops you want an SSD, if it says it’s using an HDD or “hard drive” avoid it. SSDs are 6x faster or more than HDDs and are much more reliable in mobile devices. They are cheap now too and most quality refurbs will have an SSD in most of their devices.
A lot of SSDs are somewhat low capacity so make sure she gets a little more storage than what she needs right now, but also external storage is pretty effective if the laptop’s storage gets a little full.
Other important features. 1080 HD screen. This will be really nice to have and often means that the processor on the laptop is pretty decent too for day to day tasks (most modern CPUs on many computers are far more powerful than most people ever need).
8gb or preferably 16gb of RAM. A lot of new computers today have a lot of RAM, which now means software devs are a lot lazier optimizing their programs. More RAM nowadays is really important and for good longevity I highly recommend 16gb.
Availability of parts. If you’re interested in a laptop, open a new eBay tab and put in “laptop model number parts”. If you see an abundance of cheap parts available that’s a very good sign. This means repairs are not only possible but likely easy and cheap.
Additionally feel free to ask questions, if you see a laptop that’s great but lacks a bit of ram, or has an SSD a little too small you can ask the seller to upgrade it. It’s gonna cost a little but shouldn’t be much. Unfortunately screens and processors (in most cases!) cannot be upgraded and usually not worth asking.
There will likely be lots of wind energy too which could alleviate the solar problem, though this is based on luck. Passed that the ideal solution is nuclear energy and in the future fission based reactors if they are economically viable.
What’s most feasible today in most places would be burning gas. I know it’s not perfect and still emits plenty of CO2 but the plants are much faster, cheaper and easier to build than nuclear, and gas burns much cleaner than coal or oil. Plus it can be stored and transported fairly efficiently by LNG container ships.
I work in repair and we often simply use eBay. We do sometimes get items from AliExpress when it isn’t available on eBay however. We usually use eBay because shipping is generally much faster, and easier to return defective items (plus batteries from there are sketchy at times).
Depending on the part there may be other suppliers, like in the US we have used bright focal for laptop screens and there are likely different suppliers for Europe.
Unfortunately replacing laptop keys isn’t easy. First there’s no standard, even on the same model and it’s difficult. I’ve had supposedly identical keyboards but with slightly different mounting, and were incompatible with each other on a key to key basis. It’s necessary in most situations to buy the whole keyboard (sometimes the entire palm rest too) and replace that.
The witch from the witches house game. I won’t spoil it here but the second ending is really hearty breaking and cruel, I recommend you watch a playthrough of the game.
To me it’s who’s trying to kill who. Hamas (the group) wants to destroy Israel, Israel in turn wants to destroy Hamas, not Gaza (this part is actually very subjective)
Yeah the last point being so subjective is why many call it Israel vs Gaza and or Hamas. I find that Israel vs Hamas is more fitting however. This is because many civilian casualties are because Hamas officials use the population as their meat shield. Many of those schools, hospitals and other civilian centers often contained a cowardly official of Hamas. It’s important to acknowledge that this does not make it any less tragic but it does demonstrate Israel’s main objective is destroying Hamas and their leaders rather than Gaza itself. It’s all about intent