Yeah I’m not really trying to hide from the govt, but I would vote on limiting their power if given the chance. Anyway, what I don’t want is every corporation I deal with (car, bank, phone, apps, isp, etc) to track me so excessively.

If the govt did get curious it would take zero leg work, just ask those companies that are very willing to hand over my data to damn near anyone, or hold onto it long enough to have it stolen.

So with that in mind limiting corporate surveillance and limiting ease of govt surveillance is essentially the same thing, but the govt has the ability to put in the work and get you if they really wanted to.

Idk how the new user experience is now but back when I first downloaded it I wanted a hybrid of sat imagery when cell signal allowed, with an overlay of offline OSM data. This was for two reasons, hiking and to see if the mapping in that hike area needed any major land use edits.

Anyway I had to fiddle with the menus and settings for a while to get the overlays where I wanted it to be. Don’t get me wrong I was able to figure it out but for users who want to install and go it can be understandably frustrating

Osmand is really cool and it’s really capable but I understand that it isn’t for people who don’t want to tinker a bit to make things work just right for them.

For that Organic Maps is what I recommend.

It’s like $20 for cheap devices that talk to your phone via bluetooth. They have standalone devices too to fix that potential vulnerability.

I’m messing around with a few rn. Heltec V3s and TBeam Supremes.

My grandma told me of a relative that came to visit them in the US from Eastern Europe (Slovakia I think) after the Soviet Union dissolved.

One thing they noticed is that he always wore his shoes. Even when staying at home. Even to bed. They asked why and he explained that it was to give him a chance of escape if the Secret Police came and he was surprised that our family didn’t have to do something similar.

Acoustic car

Nobody as in world leaders. Not nobody as in individual citizens.

People in the US know things are fucked up, but when was the last time you heard that said in a State of the Union address for example? When it’s on a world stage every country tries to look good.

I’m sure it’s not all 100% objective truth. Nobody wants to talk shit about themselves willingly. But yeah just sayin.

I bet there are, just a matter of scale and effectiveness.

There’s an organization that sneaks usb drives to North Korea. Full of news, shows, articles etc all hand picked by former NK citizens that defected

Just smile and wave to Igor and Dimitry when you see them from across the border. They are all they can spare and I’m sure they’re happy with their assignment away from the combat of Ukraine

Right? I am fairly rural myself and the mindset of some seems naive to me. Like not having candles and flashlights because the power always comes back in a few hours.

Oat Bran Crunch or something my parents bought had more sugar per serving than Lucky Charms.

I’d be down

Target id is very important. Weapon lights are important. This shit will haunt him for the rest of his life.

When people refer to it as prepping or some kind of bad behavior I remind them that ready.gov is meant for everyone and the stuff they recommend only works when it’s in place beforehand.

I agree. Responsible gun ownership is for everyone and when done right it’s a lot of fun.

And even in right leaning circles only the fudds like the NRA.

I think it only became strange a few generations ago

I think that improving your resilience as an individual citizen is important. I’m not saying the zombie robots are coming, but that if the climate is getting worse (it is) and local weather also gets worse (it will, just a matter of how much) you can’t count on food, water, power etc to be on hand 100% of the time.

It’s amazing how many people act like having a small garden, a solar panel to charge devices and some jugs of water just in case is some unspeakable crazy talk

Death Star designers avoided lawsuits with this simple trick!

Imagine the synthphonies that could be composed!