Yesterday a nice young woman asked me how the changes in restrictions were going this week, or some such phrase. I didn't realize at first what she was talking about, then I laughed and said, oh, you mean COVID mandates! Shoot, I'm in Texas, we gave those up a long time ago. I can't remember the last time I wore a mask. The schools have been open forever. Most of us old folks got vaccinated a year ago and then moved on.
She was shocked. She didn't seem aware that much of the country hasn't been going along with this stuff, and that our disease trajectory was every bit as favorable as her area's. I daresay all she hears about Texas culture these days is that we're being cruel to transgender children, if that. More likely, we're like the giant gray area on Weather Channel maps south of the Rio Grande.
Another odd thing is that, because we're usually chatting on these calls because of a slow internet, I often mention that we're looking forward to Elon Musk and Starlink service. So far I haven't run into any tech support staff who know what I'm talking about. I'd have thought young people in the tech world would be keenly aware of Elon Musk, such a flamboyant figure.
5 comments:
I am at this moment awaiting a FedEx delivery with my Starlink "dishy" kit. Been on the list about a year.
Oh, congratulations! You give us hope.
I'm tempted to get on the list so we'll have a back-up system. Our current internet provider is OK, but I'd like to have suspenders to go with the belt, so to speak.
LittleRed1
There must have been a new ground link terminal open in the South Dallas region. A whole bunch of us on the "NextDoor" neighborhood social app ("a whole bunch" being more than 4 but less than 10) expecting arrivals this week.
Set up was amazing easy. If the protagonist of "The Martian" in that movie had had to go out and set this up while wearing a space suit, with duct tape covering his visor, and no tools but a sharp rock -- he wouldn't even have needed the rock. Easy!
The problem is not the internet side. The Starlink WiFi router is 5Ghz and I'm still running a bunch of legacy 2.4 Ghz devices. (Cameras, mostly.) An adapter to add to the Starlink proprietary data cable allowing a standard Ethernet connection (adapter to bridge, bridge to old WiFi router, Old Router to cameras) is a new order and so another few weeks delay. *Sigh*.
I've just been through a maddening 2 months trying to improve our internet service, and at the same time as wrestling with my laptop, which was a top-spec science-professional-grade desktop equivalent when it was made - 10 years ago.
We got the internet fiberoptic issues sorted out and I bought a laptop cooling stand - the laptop sits on it and it has 5 fans blowing air into the laptop's fan intakes. I was amazed at (a) how much it lowered the laptop's internal temperatures at the core, CPU, and chip sets, and (b) how much better the laptop has been operating ever since - including the modem. Highly recommend this $30 fix, especially if you notice your laptop fans are always running on a higher speed.
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