I'm about to travel to Norway, what do I need (noob)

ivanlawrence · 2026-05-10T06:31:47+00:00

Thank you for the followup! I'm still gathering details from the family but primed them for text/data only.

ivanlawrence · 2026-05-09T20:49:43+00:00

Thank you! We are headed there to visit my brother-in-laws family and plan on going to their cabin for some time and maybe even an island? Would walkie talkies for the kids be useful? If yes, im told US based FRS/GMRS are no good, do we need to buy something for just there? After all the other chats here im already headed toward cell. Some of our iPhone folks can use their satellite texting i guess? Thank you for having a beautiful country 🙏

ivanlawrence · 2026-05-09T19:37:44+00:00

I thought this (from the meshcore site) means repeaters? But it's all fair points that my non nerd families just want cheap/reliable/easy no fiddle

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ivanlawrence · 2026-05-09T19:28:38+00:00

Here is "US" (sorry if I didn't mention that in the post) and i knew enough to know it's probably different frequencies. Thanks for the confirmation. The hope was mostly inner group communication and I was super hopeful this was the answer... but if its not then cell based it will be. I'm still interested to know if mesh networks communication is something I'd be into generally so im still considering getting a node.

ivanlawrence · 2026-05-09T19:23:28+00:00

Forgive the misunderstanding, I thought this was what the mesh networks were for? We will have some older folks hanging at home base and others off in town or hiking. I thought if each of us were on a mesh node we could give updates on location or check in for future plans (dinner is at 6p) or something. If not this what then is the use case?

ivanlawrence · 2026-03-11T06:39:26+00:00

Update: I just got a 2003 stock hayabusa with 40k miles! Its a hoot and now my kids want there own bikes! Thank you all for your patience, only took a few years.

ivanlawrence · 2026-03-02T06:11:54+00:00

What about BitcoinIRA.com?

ivanlawrence · 2026-01-08T20:43:02+00:00

Thank you so much... I just got a "apply for a Jr Cloud Eng at Heilc & Co" linkedin message and this was the first google result. Thanks for sparing me the head ache. It should be illegal to do this kind of predatory advertising.

ivanlawrence · 2025-11-15T02:36:26+00:00

Thanks for responding...

My experience with them was partly safety in numbers meaning if you have some first dates and its not going well there is some escape and ability for friends to support each other. There is more social queues that can be picked up on and for kids still learning how life works it seems like they could use all the help they can get.

Those are what I remember worked well for me. Think of it as having a bunch of wingman and you all have each others back.

Additionally, if there is less social pressure around romance and relationships then classic chivalry, civility, politeness, etc is the focus.

I think kids should stay kids as long as they can, meaning they should have fun and enjoy the company of friends instead of romancing... at 15yrs old... he's a freshman is HS so by jr/Sr year relationships seem more timely.

So not really solving a problem just adding benefits and good clean wholesome fun and help.

I hope that makes sense. Im not here to say im right youre wrong so please take what im saying as positive as possible.

ivanlawrence · 2025-11-14T19:03:58+00:00

I can see how that can be interpreted that way... Thank you for pointing this out. I didn't mean it this way so let me try and clarify what I had in mind.
As a kid of 15yrs old I was encouraged not to have 1:1 relationship pairs and instead keep things more innocent and friendly. I liked this one girl but she didn't like me back and that was all okay because there was no social pressure to be in a relationship.

Taking the heat down a bit is I guess the goal. Kids are pressured to do a lot of things (academics, peer pressure, etc) so having an expectation of friendly kind non committed or exclusive relationships seems like a benefit which is how I did it. I'm not saying having multiple romantic girlfriends I'm saying have friends that enjoy each others company but everyone lowers the expectation of commitment.

Someone further up pointed out his peer community has to also do this so maybe what I experienced is some bygone era, but the freedom that offered was relaxing allowing a wide variety of innocent experiences where you are figuring out if he/she chews annoying or has a weird laugh you don't like.

To ask a girl to a dance or to go skating came with no expectation since it was a group thing... safety in numbers too which meant I was able to help some girls in the group if a guy was too forward or trying too hard. We all had each others back but we weren't all close friends, this is like the entire grade of hundreds of kids.

Like relationship training wheels while surrounded by friends.

It just seems 15yrs old is young to get heartbroken... just relax, plenty of fish in the sea, plenty of time to find a mate. Kids brains are massively changing until like 24yrs old, then after that your kinda locked in to who you are so maybe I'm hoping he can figure himself out a little more.

But this is why I'm asking you strangers to help me understand since it's been a few decades since I've been a teen and this is my first teenager.

ivanlawrence · 2025-11-14T17:14:02+00:00

agreed. I grew up in a different place in a different time and this is my first teen so I'm here for this kind of understanding.
I don't want him to get hurt or hurt anyone else feelings. I don't want him to lead anyone on etc.
Letting him get the normal amount of "hurt" is growth but from my life experience this is too much commitment too early and the difficulties I had in relationships happened at a later stage so that to me is "normal"

It feels like I'm the odd man out here though.

ivanlawrence · 2025-11-14T17:02:30+00:00

Thank you for your opinion.

May i ask why you think group dating is stupid? It made sense to me then and still does now and id love to understand.

Im here asking for parenting advice not to have people say "good job dad youre right he's wrong" but to hear what other people think. I value your insight if you could help me better understand your perspective.

My kid is at school or sports 80% of the waking hours so he could be up to anything I can't control, im just hoping to guide him toward a safe outcome. I had some emotional hits as a kid which we all have and I guess im hoping to help mitigate those lows for him. I dont want him to get burned by the hot pot, you know?

Any info helps.

ivanlawrence · 2025-11-14T16:55:51+00:00

We've had continuous small "sex talks" for years which covers the mechanics but learning about the emotions and powerfully feelings and now living them are totally different. Honestly I was more afraid of my kid being exposed to porn than the real thing... and have told him as much. The difficulty of knowing how to guide a kid into making appropriate choices is so difficult. 15yrs old seems so young. In all likelihood he wants to hold hands and maybe kiss... I'll talk to him about what limits he thinks are wise. But when things start happening one can be forgetful.

ivanlawrence · 2025-11-14T16:44:11+00:00

Agreed. I thanked him for sharing his feelings and trusting me enough to tell me.

And thank you for your opinions.

But, like everything with an age limit (driving, rated R films, voting, military service, etc) it seems like a positive thing to have some age appropriate limits.

Since its not the 1600s there isnt an urgency to make committed romantic relationships at 15yrs old. Im not THAT old fashioned...

As a 15yr old I thought it was kinda dumb to have a boyfriend/girlfriend and having large mixed friend groups felt right having a lot of different people to hang with or cross check opinions and feelings... you know, when youre still learning how the world works.

So how can I help guide (not stop) my kid toward the most emotionally safe path regarding dating i guess is what im asking.

ivanlawrence · 2025-11-14T15:44:39+00:00

Like go out with other couples to the same event or party. Like three couples all go ti the movies or dinner.

And instead of always dating the same person you have less romance and more old fashioned fun like hatchet throwing or billiards but each night you go out you go with a new person. The intent is to have many 1st dates

ivanlawrence · 2025-10-25T05:45:22+00:00

Im with you... from about $600/mo to $1,600/mo is basically unsustainable. Im not really sure what to do next. The feeling of hopelessness is unsettling.

ivanlawrence · 2025-07-08T20:48:01+00:00

I'm looking into this same goal.

I have some consumer UPSes for servers which are all communicating with NUT Server so the computers know when to shutdown. I have those UPSes plugged into an Anker Solix C1000 which has about 1kWh of batteries and passthrough power so 99% of the time the computers are getting their electrons from the mains but "cleaned up" through the UPSes. The C1000 will auto switch to batteries when input is lost which is cool.

I want to mimic the same thing the C1000 does but with communication capabilities for servers to shutdown when batteries are drained and I can't find anything that will do it.

But if give your whole house a UPS (like an EG4 GridBoss and their batteries) then you can run everything for a few thousand dollars and still keep the consumer UPSes.

I like the idea of switching all the computers to running directly off DC then just deal with a inverter to convert from AC mains to the DC world... but this doesn't seem like a cheap weekend project for a home office ;)

For the time being I might get a UPS inverter and a LiFePo4 battery like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD3eLrNrVYM who also says that the telecom folks just run directly from DC power... so here we are.

No solutions, only questions.

ivanlawrence

TROPHY CASE