chiefofgxbxl

I recently received a promotional offer in the mail for a home security system. It boasts both a camera doorbell, but also cameras for the sole purpose of monitoring rooms inside your house. The ad shows an example of monitoring your living room on your phone [0].

In the past month I've been to a few homes of family and friends, and was disturbed to see some of them have cameras monitoring the kitchen, dining room, living room, etc. An extended family member even noticed one of the cameras in the corner, pointed to it, and exclaimed jovially, "Don't run around naked!", to which other people laughed.

I have so many questions...

  - Are people really buying into this?
  - How pervasive is this?
  - How does the general public express outrage over privacy incidents (e.g. Facebook revelations) but not make the connection to installing 24/7 monitoring in their own home opening them up to that risk?
  - Do people not consider the ability for hackers or even state-agents to maliciously use this?
  - What sort of chilling effects will our future hold where governments can shut down any sign of disagreement, without you even having to step out into a public forum?
  - Is there a good way for me to discuss my concerns with family members without overstepping my bounds (*don't come in my house and tell me how to live*)
  - Is privacy dead beyond resuscitation?
  - Is the future really leaving me behind, where people like myself must become digital hermits against their own will, because "if you don't want to be on camera, don't come into my house"

[0] https://i.postimg.cc/QxxHp9yC/security-system.jpg

Many months back there were mainstream discussions about HVAC solutions for Covid-19, such as purifying and sanitizing indoor air, or simply getting a lot of air flow through regions to reduce Covid risk. This was probably around fall in preparation for being indoors for the winter, but has anything happened since?

Has there been any significant progress for making indoor spaces safer by treating air? While spring and summer will alleviate some of the risk by having people outdoors more, there are still places like gyms, grocery stores, etc. that are indoors. I'm fully vaccinated, but the particular idea of going back to my weightlifting gym seems slightly risky to me, mostly from the thought of being indoors where people are heavily breathing (I'm not concerned about touching equipment... that can be sanitized and I can wash my hands).

Any elected office, including school board, local government, not-for-profits, etc.

What was your experience? How did you get started? Why did you run?

Ever since Firefox updated their in-browser PDF renderer (a few months ago?) PDFs are always mis-drawn to the point of illegibility and has the banner: "This PDF document may not be displayed correctly."

Does anyone else encounter this issue?

I'm pondering using a small sum of inheritance to start a makerspace (after the pandemic).

Does anyone have advice on things to be aware of? Have you ever started one or been a member of one, and what have you seen?

My thoughts: (1) start by sending a survey to a few thousand tech workers we have in the area, (2) draft a business plan that balances (membership fees) with expenses (rent, equipment, insurance, ...)

What are you looking for in the place you live? Have you found a place that satisfies your needs?

I'm getting more involved in my city, and like the HN crowd I am aware of issues like suburban sprawl. I'm communicating with public officials and researching development patterns in my small city, but few officials recognize lane expansions or the fact that we are car-dependent as issues.

My dream town is one where most people ride bikes, values quiet, and spends money on public space that makes us better human beings. Does such a place exist in the north eastern U.S.?

I've been a software developer for years, and even prior, as a kid spent many many man-hours in front of a monitor.

I'm wondering from the HN crowd if others experience this self-dubbed "pixel vision", where when you look at a distance or don't focus your eyes on anything particular it seems like there are still RGB pixels twinkling at you. It's hard to describe sometimes because it's not an in-your-face, immediately-obvious-all-the-time thing. It's like a "soft filter" put over the world.