US centric, violent crime is down. Not the lowest it’s been currently, but better than it was when I was growing up.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/191129/reported-violent-crime-in-the-us-since-1990/

https://smartgun.com/

It’s a thing, and has been since the late 90’s (I think). Reliability is the main issue. The first one I had heard of had mechanical reliability problems If I remember correctly.

Haven’t looked at Biofires products lately, but they weren’t really weatherproof last I heard and weren’t recommended for duty use as a result. And then there is the eye watering sticker price. A Taurus PT92 is less than half the price of the Biofire, and has a track record for good reliability.

I seem to remember a state, New Jersey, I think, had a law on the books saying that if multiple manufacturers came out with biometricly locked firearms that biometric locks would then become mandatory. As for if that would help things, probably not.

Last time I tried (several years ago, pre-Proton) iTunes would run fine under Wine but couldn’t see a connected iPhone.

I agree with @qocu@hexbear.net . It sounds like you are trying to replicate your workflow. Windows and Linux come from different mentalities. There won’t always be a drop in replacement.

I’m short on time but perhaps I can help with your point 9 though.

Each distro’s repos are built by the people that use that particular distro. Somebody needed a particular piece of software, found it wasn’t in the repository and decided to package it and perhaps maintain it for the repo. Sometimes this is the original developer, sometimes not.

All software is built from source code. If the source code is available for Linux, you can compile it yourself. Instructions for how to do so are usually provided by the developer along with the source code, nowadays usually found at their git repository.

Of course, you don’t have to compile all your own software (it can be a headache, which is why someone came up with precompiled packages), but it is an option if the software in question is not available in your distribution’s repo.

Your number 1 point: I like Kate, vscode and micro as text editors. They are fairly simple.

Most of a tractor-trailer's stopping power is split between the trailer brakes and the tractor's drive tandems. If there is not enough weight on those axles, the tires can't grip the pavement properly. If I apply too much power to the brakes the wheels can start bouncing or just lock up and start skidding if the ABS system is acting up.

Most tractor-trailers you see on the road in the US are designed to weigh 60,000 to 80,000 lbs (~ 27,000 - 36,000 kg). For comparison, a Honda Civic weighs roughly 3,000 lbs (1360 kg). Every system on the truck is designed around moving that amount of mass safely. With an empty dry van trailer your looking at closer to 30,000 lbs (~ 13,000 kg). Makes a difference in performance. Ride is rougher, takes longer to stop.

I’m a truck driver.

• You are far safer behind me than in front of me. It can take me over two US football fields (200 yards or roughly 180 meters) to come to a full stop and it takes more distance if my trailer is empty. The average car can stop in half that distance. Most cars turn into tin cans when hit by a rig at 25 mph.
• If you see a number of trucks all moving into the same lane, might consider getting in the same lane, behind us. Odds are pretty good we either saw something in the lane ahead or we heard about something over the CB.
• I can see you playing on your phone while driving. Cops in some states have been known to hitch rides with truck drivers in order to catch distracted drivers.
• Learn zipper merging!

A couple of years ago I was using a transcription service, though that may be of less help nowadays due to AI transcription. Pay was crap, but it was better than nothing for me at the time. The service I was working with seems to have shut down, but you might try https://www.transcribeme.com/freelancers/

Never have I wanted something to wind up in the Google Graveyard more.

The thing that gets me with this is, how is anyone to know?

If you present as the gender on the door, what are they going to do? Rip your pants down and check? Cop a feel? That’s assault. Peep through the stall? Pretty sure that’s a misdemeanor, most places.

I get the idea behind this is terror, but “Fuck off! I’m shitting here!” should be the only response anyone should get to a nosy question in the bathroom.

Fifth Element

Honestly not seeing what the news story is here. Putin claims he won’t be invading any other neighboring nations (he doesn’t have the capability atm) but Ukrainian forces are fair game (they are at war!). The status quo continues, just as it has for the last 2 years.

Russian forces will down a couple of F-16s. Big whoop! At this point the 16s are practically mass manufactured to the point that they are one of the cheapest fighters available. I’m honestly surprised that the Mexican drug cartels aren’t flying them. Damn near every one else has.

First off, it sounds like congratulations are in order! A new life is always cause for celebration! I hope you, your spouse and your new child are doing well.

Short answer to your question: NO! DO NOT SEND ANY SENSITIVE DATA (INCLUDING PHOTOS) VIA ANY PATH, OR SERVICE YOU DO NOT FULLY CONTROL!!!

Long answer: While What'sApp, Meta and the like, are not known to be quite as... proactive as Google in cracking down on child pornography there is the very real risk that any data you send via any service may be scanned via a ML algorithm and flagged. What happens next depends on the particular service. Not sure about WhatsApp, but in the case of Google, once your account is flagged, your entire account is forwarded to Law Enforcement. As you are just sending pictures of your new arrival (Congrats again!), odds are that the officer assigned will take one look at it and clear you. All good, so far, right? Yea, not so much. You might not be going to jail but when Google locks down an account, they do not reactivate it, regardless of what law enforcement might decide, and as they are a private company, suing them to get your accounts reactivated is a lost cause. They are allowed to decide whom they want as a customer so long as their standard is applied evenly and doesn't target certain protected groups.

No service you use should ever be allowed to see anything important to you. Ever.

If you can, I would self host a cloud service like NextCloud out of your own home to share files freely, although an GPG encrypted email would work. Your current email provider is fine, although use a third party email client that supports encryption, like Thunderbird. and much as I like ProtonMail's stance on privacy, I would still use a separate encryption method for anything truly sensitive.

I know I sound like a privacy nutjob, but seriously. When the consequences of a false allegation are that high, you should recognize the threat and act accordingly. I use Google, TikTok, iCloud and others, but if the subject matter is anything much more consequential than the weather, then it doesn't touch their servers. It's not so much paranoia as it is threat mitigation. Google and Apple's services are incredibly useful, but if you depend on them too much, the loss of them could hurt, alot.

Like I said most of the other services don't have quite the reputation for uncalled for lockouts but here are a few news articles I came up with on a quick search:

• https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/03/08/when-google-locks-you-out-of-your-account-begging-the-internet-for-help-is-your-first-and-last-resort/

• https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/21/technology/google-surveillance-toddler-photo.html (Paywalled)

• https://www.theverge.com/2014/8/5/5970141/how-google-scans-your-gmail-for-child-porn

• https://nypost.com/2022/08/22/google-bans-dad-for-sending-pics-of-toddlers-swollen-genitals-to-doctor/

• https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/google-flagged-child-porn-case-shows-court-split-on-privacy-30 (Paywalled)

• https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/innocent-family-photos-or-child-porn-investigators-face-tricky-case

• https://www.npr.org/2021/08/06/1025402725/apple-iphone-for-child-sexual-abuse-privacy

• https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2022-09-19/google-closed-my-account-over-sexual-content-but-theyre-not-telling-me-what-it-is-and-ive-lost-everything.html

If your interested in learning more about self-hosting services out of you home you might check these out as a starting point:

• https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted (Non-exhaustive list of services)

• https://selfhosted.show/ (Podcast focused of self hosting services)

• https://www.howtogeek.com/846979/heres-why-self-hosting-a-server-is-worth-the-effort/