While I get where you’re coming from, I’m of a very different opinion.

The whole Republican movement is paid for by backers that need consumers to bleed dry. The whole machine is based on having lower income people needing to spend money to get by, and to form their tax base. You take away the consumer and the worker, you take away their power. Kids are the next generation of consumers, and add a huge amount to family consumption even before they are born, so the effect will be noticeable well within four years. You only have to look at the sentiments from the Russian government regarding having children after they’ve sent all their men away as cannon fodder - this comment would get me fined or imprisoned there.

All that said, power to those who choose to have kids, but it shouldn’t be considered as any sort of boon to society. Humanity functioned with less people previously, and can easily do so again if we unsubscribe from the infinite growth model. With the climate crisis we find ourselves in, it’s also possibly the best mitigation route.

I do agree with you on the adoption route and hope many more people consider the option.

It’s not true or is meant as a joke. Our slimeball prime minister greased on right up to Trump. Unless poster is referring to another politician which doesn’t represent NZ as a whole.

This exactly. I’m an engineer but day-to-day I’m mainly using the Office shite (I tried for suite but ended up with former and happy to run with it) to do my job. The amount of extraneous effort I have to make to do tasks that would have been simple in 2005 is completely ridiculous. Yet on my home computer running Arch BTW, I can do everything instantaneously, the only downside is that some supplier I don’t really care for wants my presentation in pptx. If it wasn’t for work data security requirements, I’d just use my personal equipment for everything because I’d be able to work so much faster.

Edit: not to mention a lot of FOSS software is better than the professional bullshit (AutoCAD needs to die), it’s just a lot more effort to get up to speed with because colleagues around you don’t know it (yet)

Corporations need consumers (constant growth model). Military needs more living soldiers.

Flooding the batteries with water is the best way to put out a lithium-ion battery fire.

You’re wrong. As a New Zealander (where our conservative government bent the rules to make him a citizen), I can only emphasize how strongly I will care if that giant piece of shit moves to reside in my nation. I’m not negating your point (I upvoted you) and I don’t blame you for wanting to lose him, but just because you shovel your shit elsewhere doesn’t mean it don’t stink.

I’m running six Shelly Plug S and all working well with Home Assistant, but I could definitely play a bit more with the data it’s drawing from them. Only issue to date was that I bought a new clothes iron and it would trip the plug as it was over the 2.5 kW the plug is rated for, might just be something to keep in mind. The in-wall relays may go higher, I’m not sure.

I’m not against it but I upvoted you because I think you have a fair position and expressed it honestly and in a completely reasonable way.

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Esky? In NZ it’s a chilly bin.