Brennan @Brennan@social.brennanbenkert.com

The need for the grid, however, does not go away. In fact, it must become more robust/reliable. What are some ways this is being accomplished today, that you know of? Are there utility companies focusing more on the transport of electricity rather than generation? Are there companies going to homeowners/businesses and requesting to install solar panels on rooftops?

If we do this right, we could reduce or eliminate the need for centralized power generation, instead relying on the efficient utilization of locally produced power. I love the idea of getting most electricity through solar, wind, etc. What I don't want to see (and what unfortunately seems to be our reality today) is enormous chunks of land devoted to solar electric generation. Acres and acres of mirrors or solar panels spread across the landscape.

We need more of this. More individuals choosing to implement renewable energy production methods at home. More effort to reduce energy use where we can, and maximize efficiency when energy is necessary. One home with solar panels could generate electricity for 1+ homes in many locations. Entire neighborhoods could in some circumstances be powered when only a fraction of homes install electric generation capacity.

It's a 6.6 kW system with 22 panels, estimated to produce 7,850 kWh annually in our location. Electric bills for each of the first two months in our home were less than the estimated value of what our system can produce monthly. This means we will likely have eliminated our electric costs with room to spare. Hooray!

My wife and I decided to put solar panels on our home. They finally were able to be turned on yesterday making this the first full day of solar power generation + use!

4g LTE internet uses as much as 23x the energy of WiFi. Do you really need all your apps to check for content updates in the background on cellular? Do your apps need to update themselves automatically on cellular? Do you need videos to play automatically?

Source: http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/10/can-the-internet-run-on-renewable-energy.html

Saw this today and of course I immediately thought “I wonder if @ajroach42 is planning on going?”

Facebook could face fines “into the millions of dollars” if found to have violated a 2011 consent decree.

According to its own reporting, Facebook had $4,268,000,000 of net income in the 4th quarter of 2017. Does anyone think a fine “into the millions” is a big enough stick here?

Problem: Facebook is now being scrutinized because “personal data of users was obtained...and used to help elect President Donald Trump.”

Note: Facebook needs to be scrutinized for the way(s) it obtains and uses/profits from user data.

Has anyone ever dug into their Microsoft account “Privacy Dashboard”? There is a section aptly named “Cortana’s Notebook”!!

So PIA has decided to release all their source. Interesting- https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2018/03/private-internet-access-goes-open-source/

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/next-ehrs-vendors-adding-artificial-intelligence-workflow

Question: Why is installing from “unknown sources” such a taboo thing on #android? Isn’t this basically the same as installing #chrome or #Firefox on any desktop PC?

An old (May 2007) MacBook 2,1 and a Dell Inspiron 1525 are posted for sale. Are they worth $40 apiece, the MacBook for libreboot experience and the other for general use?

Mozilla keep trumpeting about how much work went into making #firefox fast again, when all they really had to do was disable reader view. Seriously, anyone else try disabling this? What was your experience?