Trying out android. I forgot the instructions but it’s something to do with trygalaxy.com, shortcutting it and opening it. It gives you an android interface with home screen and apps. It’s really damn trippy and pretty cool.
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.
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.
It needs to be done carefully. If earwax has gotten onto the grill, it’s easy to squish it into the grill and your earbuds will sound extremely muddy and quiet. I usually try to prevent this by removing any visible wax collecting on the rubber ear bud. If it’s on the grill anyways, remove the rubber earbuds, add a drop of hydrogen peroxide onto the wax and let it sit for a minute. Afterwards use a toothbrush at an angle to “scrape” the wax off. This is to prevent mushing the earwax into the grill mentioned previously.
If the earbuds are muddy you can attempt to use a finer brush and scrub vigorously. It’s a little gross but you can blow on the grill to clear it sometimes. God forbid don’t suck.
I usually hoard random bits of veg and protein and when I have enough I make like 5 gallons of soup at a time. Nothing is stopping you from adding more stuff later, when youre microwaving a serving of soup you can add some more steamed or roast veggies you have laying around.
It’s also excellent with toast. Additionally you can dry leftover bread, crush it finely and add the breadcrumbs to the soup too.
Literally any leftovers you have can be incorporated into the soup one way or another.
I had some unappetizing lasagna so I chopped it up and threw it in my serving of soup, the cheesy sauce makes everything edible lol.
Man I’m so glad my glass side panel has a steel frame around it. At work I’ve had to repair a couple PCs like that and man they make me so anxious. It’s best to bite the bullet, unplug everything and lay the PC on it’s side.
Tool handles. If you apply a hard glossy coat they just become too damn slippery and if it’s summer it’ll often slip on your sweat and it feels all clammy.
Chopsticks for the same reason, I always find myself dropping my food like an idiot when they are glossy and laqcuered. Especially when I was at a restaurant and for whatever reason they had mirror finished steel chopsticks. What the fuck!
I have a cabinet with some sentimental items. My first knife (knives are my hobby), a candle from my sister’s and I birthday, and ESPECIALLY gifts from others, despite how insignificant it might seem. Birthday cards, handmade flowers, a tiny origami crane and other handmade trinkets. All really miniscule items but they all make me happy. I also have a tiny swedish flag from ikea. Oh and some cat chopstick holders I have on my shelf.
A stupid little quote that’s proven itself true time and time again is “small joy and big joy, all the same”. Because all these little, seemingly insignificant, items on display have often made me happier more often than other “more significant stuff”. Stuff like a new fancy office chair, expensive gaming PC and gaming set up, nice coffee maker, expensive speakers and other luxury items. It really is the simple things.
There are a lot of brands that aren’t AS anti repair as apple and have devices that are fairly simple to fix, like Nokia and IMO Sony. There is the fair phone that does market itself as repairable but they lost my trust by removing the headphone jack and selling their own wireless earbuds.
I work as a computer repair technician and my workplace has some really old cheap (90$) server hardware for sale. They have 32gb of DDR3 and old dual xeon 5606. I would probably upgrade them because old xeons are dirt cheap. They also have some old workstations too that could be suitable for hosting, similar amounts of ram but new processors.
Not energy efficient but that’s fine since they would literally be a space heater, and if maxed out those old CPUs can still get some work done.
What do you recommend hosting because oddly enough I already want a server but I don’t know what to host. I feel it’s such a waste to burn electricity just to produce heat since using electricity in any capacity produces heat so I would literally use my server as a space heater.
I thought of hosting a Minecraft server for friends (or even friends of friends) and folding @ home as well. I already have a computer much better suited for file hosting so I would not need more of that.
The witch from the witches house game. I won’t spoil it here but the second ending is really hearty breaking and cruel, I recommend you watch a playthrough of the game.
Honestly something that’s worth looking into is building homes with habitat for humanity (or any other organizations doing the same thing).
It’s pretty strenuous exercise and is good for you. Make sure to not abuse your body however and learn how to avoid doing so (i.e keeping back straight and squatting instead of bending over).
The most important aspect is learning carpentry, which is extremely good knowledge to have. It’s not just learning a new skill and an option for a new career but its the money it saves you. A carpenter is a jack of all trades and is far from just framing 2x4s. You learn a little plumbing, some electrician work, framing, finishing and repairing drywall and some more.
Granted a lot of it is pretty surface level but for a lot of repairs and installs around the house it’s all you need. Instead of paying like 1000$ for someone go install a toilet, do it yourself. Install outlets and light switches yourself, build basic custom furniture and shelves yourself. You become very self sufficient and it can save you so much money.