I’ve done this before with a laptop and KVM switch. It worked fine. YMMV depending on the dock and switch in question though. The only issue I ran into was needing separate cables for the mouse/keyboard and video from the switch to the dock.

One of my new favorites when trying to decide if something is worth doing - “Is the juice worth the squeeze?”

Wichita Lineman is excellent - “the first existential country song”

I, too, enjoy being investigated by the USPIS

Where are you planning to go?

Fortunately, I have advanced degrees and an internationally recognized professional certification, and my partner is a doctor. I don’t imagine emigrating would be easy by any stretch, but I think we’d have better odds than if we didn’t have those credentials.

Good point on Canada. I’ve also been looking at Panama or Costa Rica. Europe may be an option (I work in clean energy and remember Macron’s outreach to climate scientists after Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement), but may be harder.

Oh, and someone here reminded me: cannabis. Lots and lots of it.

I shudder to think about how poorly I’d be handling things if I didn’t have cannabis lol

I feel you on voting with your feet. I left beet-red Indiana for a Democratic-leaning swing state a few years ago. And yet, once you get outside the city by just a few minutes, it’s Trump signs everywhere. Doesn’t feel very reassuring.

It’s cliche to talk about moving to Canada after a US election, but I have started to collect my passport and papers and look at multiple countries for ease of entry, in case shit hits the fan.

What exercise plan, if any, are you following? I let my fitness slip pretty hard during COVID, and haven’t had good luck getting back into the groove with anything I’ve tried so far

Very true. And more easily said than done, unfortunately.

I used to be much more into meditation and reading Buddhist literature. I reflect on that time in my life as being happier and more peaceful (I was also exercising a lot more then too). I’ve started going to a yoga class a few times a month, but I wish I had an easier time getting back into the rest of it.

PeerTube?

Who do you think you’re helping with this?

IIRC, California overproduces electricity during sunny summer days due to solar, but solar production drops in the evenings right when demand is peaking due to people getting home from work and cooking dinner and whatnot. There are better applications for that energy than desalination though - battery storage right now, and maybe running electrolyzers for green hydrogen production someday in the future.

It usually makes more sense to pump water to a nearby reservoir uphill. That water can be released back through turbines when solar production is lower - pumped hydro are basically giant batteries. So not so much pumping it back upstream, but a similar idea, just without expensive desalination.

Not a saltwater coast, but the Ludington plant on Lake Michigan is a good example of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludington_Pumped_Storage_Power_Plant

Oh, no worries! But yep, she’s pretty great :)

Oh, nah, it’s just a meme. My wife has a biology degree and my family go hiking and camping together a bit, so cool environmental stuff gets discussed plenty

I’ve recently been fascinated by lichen. I never knew they are a symbiosis of fungi and algae!

I think you’re totally on point! I think that’s similar with other religious or spiritual practices, like specific meditations, spells, or rituals - you’re priming yourself to be more aware of opportunities to achieve that goal

They’re good background music while studying, but not for any magical reason. Some just sound nice