Em Adespoton

Perplexing.

Put it behind a PiHole that drops all traffic to Microsoft servers?

Perfect Dad joke material….

Terrorists need funding. Doing so is illegal, and can show up in tax filings.

That’s because they’re all out of business or bought up by their competitors.

My general rule is: “if they have data they can sell, sooner or later they will.”

There are very few corporations that have proved me wrong.

It’s like diving into cold water… the act of getting there can often be done better when your brain isn’t fully engaged.

So you run before your mind starts making excuses and before your body starts getting too insistent that you’re hungry and tired. And then it just does it and it’s over.

TIL acetaminophen isn’t a worldwide thing :)

The whole Tylenol thing is because they’re the ones who originally patented it. Same for Advil and ibuprofen.

No, No, and Yes.

Could be… also, the real allergen tends to show up in the essential oil, which is highly concentrated.

I find that odd actually; eucalyptus contains an oil that quite a few people are allergic to. I’d never heard it was a rare allergy, in fact, elements of its oils are often associated with allergies:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273331261_Eucalyptus_oil_Contact_allergy_and_safety

Once upon a time print shops would only accept files in Quark Xpress format. Eventually, they came to accept InDesign documents too. They have licenses for the software and workflows and toolchains set up to integrate those files into their existing prepress and press systems.

LaTeX is purely for academic markup for postscript printing. VivaDesigner and its kind? Only niche and hobby layout and print.

That said, I only share in PDF now, so I use other software for the layout phases and don’t care that it isn’t portable to other shops.

My personal opinion is that concealed filming in public should be illegal. Open filming should be courteous, and if someone requests they not be filmed (and they’re not a public figure/government employee), the filmer should honor that.

Otherwise, I see no problem with it, and I’ve been filmed in public a LOT.

I remembered something else I take that I’d totally forgotten that a few others mentioned: a compass.

I used to also take a topographical map of the area, but these days I tend to depend on my watch (which can drop waypoints and a breadcrumb map) and my phone. But I keep a compass in my survival pack.

Why? Because worst-case scenario is that the batteries in your electronics die. A compass will always work.

The compass doesn’t have to be for finding your way on a map — when you reach the trailhead, turn around and try to find something you’ll be able to see from a distance. Take a compass reading to see what direction it’s in. Then do the same if you ever leave the trail and when setting up camp. This will help you figure out the relative orientation of the land, so if you end up lost, you can pull out the compass and use it to find your way back, even if you can’t see the landmark, instead of wandering in circles.

Useful to practice with it somewhere familiar before using it in the wild too.

I miss the roflcopter.

My attempts at finding a good Ferengi fungi came up empty. I would have thought someone would have done that by now.

So that leaves me with the awful “the spores are strong with that image.”

Not only that, most of those cars coming available are from Hertz — they’re rental cars. But not just any rental cars… most are from Hertz’s Uber fleet.

So these are EVs with over 100,000 miles on them, worn out back seats and blistered rear armrests that have been driven by employees using a fleet lease vehicle. And migrating the cars’ software ownership to an unlocked non-fleet private owner state has proven to be… difficult.

If you’re doing Scotland, be prepared for the quick changes in weather/temperature and the wind chill. And for the landscape to be bigger than it appears with lots of invisible folds in the landscape. Don’t go solo in unfamiliar areas.

Ah yes… deranged ultralight hikers :D This reminds me of one thing to add: try to ensure your fully packed backpack doesn’t weigh more than 30Kg; that should be enough for do a 4-day hike with at least one other person. For an overnighter, you’re still going to have to carry a lot of the same stuff except less food and toilet paper. But if planning to do longer hikes, there’s no harm in over packing for a single night a few times to get the feel of what you’re comfortable having vs how much it weighs.

One other thing: I trail run, so I’ll be in and out in four hours on trails where others are planning to stay one or more nights. Sometimes I get looks of disbelief from people with the full 30kg packs on as I run past them on the trail — but no, I’m not crazy enough to have that little on my back AND be planning to stay the night. Conversely, the reason I’ve got all that stuff on my back at all is because accidents happen.

I’ve had more than one time where I’ve been on a run and encountered a group that neglected to bring along a first aid kit, or a group that ran out of water. Always good to pack for slightly more than you’re expecting, just in case you need to help someone else out, or survive an extra night while others come looking for you.

I’d add a few more suggestions to the other excellent ones provided:

First, start with a few day trips. Go somewhere you can walk into, have a lunch, and walk out. First time you do it, the only things you need are serviceable shoes, layered clothing, a backpack to carry your lunch (and any layers you take off) and some water, and a survival kit (just in case things don’t go as expected).

What’s in a survival kit?

What I pack in mine is:

• A pen and paper
• A candle and a lighter
• A signal mirror (shiny surface with a hole in the middle)
• An emergency thermal blanket (comes folded up about the size of your hand, shiny metal/plastic thing
• A basic first aid kit (the really small ones)
• A pocket knife with a saw blade
• iodine tablets (that haven’t expired)
• a phone

That kit should all fit inside the first aid kit, and the first aid kit should be small enough to clip on your belt or go in a standard backpack.

So after you’ve gone on a few daytrips, you’ll want to get overnight equipment, which adds a few things: a tent, a sleeping mat, a properly rated sleeping bag (err on colder ratings, just in case), a cookstove of some sort and a proper pair of hiking boots.

If you can, test the tent out in-store before you buy it to make sure it’s the right size for you. Next, set it up when you get home a few times, to make sure you understand how it works and there are no surprises. If you’ve got a back yard, set it up there overnight and sleep in it with your sleeping mat and bag. Do this on a dry night, but then do it on a rainy night as well. Figure out how to use the fly and ground sheet so you don’t get water coming in. Also figure out where you’ll put your wet and dirty pack if you have to set up camp in the rain.

Next step is to pack for an overnight with all your existing gear and do the day trip you did above with full kit. This will help you figure out if anything needs to be adjusted, and to sort out the best way to pack everything. Do this once in dodgy weather, and you’ll get another perspective on how your gear works.

Finally, you’re ready for a basic overnight. By this point you should be very familiar with all your equipment, how much weight you’re comfortable carrying, and how to set up and take down camp.

Last word of advice is: always go with someone else, and always leave behind an itinerary so others know where you plan to be. This is of significant help to search and rescue workers should you end up getting lost or injured.