This carbon-based unit approves of this artwork.

I like UMCOR (United Methodist Committee On Relief) and as a member of that (mostly) progressive, non-fundamentalist denomination I do give to them at times.

But I feel it’s important to let folks here know that a) UMCOR is the relief agency of a Christian church, because some may not want to donate through a religious agency; b) their international relief is not solely targeted at Gaza or Gaza+Israel; and c) some of its works are targeted there:

Long-time UMCOR partner International Blue Crescent (IBC) serving food to earthquake victims at the Kilis Community Center in Turkey. The community center is serving as a major hub for coordination and relief efforts, including cross-border response into Syria. UMCOR has provided an initial solidarity grant to IBC to provide basic supplies to earthquake victims UMCOR and its partners are responding to disasters across the globe every day. Please join us in prayer for the affected areas and consider giving to UMCOR International Disaster Response to support these efforts.

War in Israel/Gaza

Please join us in offering continued prayers for safety, comfort and peace for those in the Holy Land.

To date, UMCOR has awarded five emergency grants to local partners in Israel and Gaza. Partners are using funds for relocation support, food and hygiene kits for internally displaced people, psychosocial treatment and trauma counseling to women and children, and telemedicine services for disabled children in need of follow-up care, but without safe access to a clinic. We will provide additional updates as other grants are awarded.

In early October, Global Ministries issued a joint statement on the attacks with the World Methodist Council and the Methodist Church in the United Kingdom. On Friday, Nov. 11, The Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church issued a call for peace. On Monday, Nov. 13, Global Ministries General Secretary Roland Fernandes joined Churches for Middle East Peace and thirty American Christian leaders in calling for support of an immediate ceasefire, de-escalation and restraint by all involved.

You can give to UMCOR’s international disaster response and recovery efforts at: https://advance.umcmission.org/p-641-umcor-international-disaster-response-and-recovery.aspx[https://advance.umcmission.org/p-641-umcor-international-disaster-response-and-recovery.aspx](https://advance.umcmission.org/p-641-umcor-international-disaster-response-and-recovery.aspx).

(update as of Nov. 28, 2023)

Because sooner or later, some judge will decide it is enforceable.

Plus it serves as a deterrent for some from even filing a suit with the risk of it getting thrown out and them out thousands of dollars in legal fees.

The amount of consumer pressure within ham radio can be larger than you think. HF rigs can go for thousands of dollars, with VHF/UHF gear up there too.

Yes there are a lot of far less expensive ways to enjoy amateur radio. And I really should get my too-long unused cheap rig out of storage and do some of them, like digital modes on a computer over HF or satellite with a homebrew antenna and my old analog HTs.

P.S. It’s ham not HAM. It has never been an acronym so it should never be capitalized. Ham radio at the beginning of a sentence just follows normal English language capitalization rules.

73 from now actually old and apparently grumpy OM

Even before anything else, you should change your DNS from your ISP to one of the many third party, respected, fast resolvers. Clooudflare 1.1.1.1, Quad9 9.9.9.9, both do not log and are free. There are many others.

I use the paid $1.99 USD/mo NextDNS with malware-only blocking on my router, and malware, ads, trackers blocking on my Android devices, Linux desktop and Windows desktop.

Notice that the opposition to these scans happened only after a Senator was included in the warrantless dragnet.

The reforms introduced Tuesday reflect discomfort over the practice of warrantless scans, which are authorized under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Its opponents were galvanized when the Office of Director of National Intelligence revealed in July that the FBI had improperly conducted searches for information about a U.S. senator and two state officials.

emphasis mine

My first compsci course was on a PDP/11. On RSTS/E. On a paper teleprinter console.

Good times.

Do it, Kevin! That will reduce the Republican majority, because House rep vacancies need to be filled by a special election. The governor can’t name an immediate replacement the way it works for Senate vacancies.

I don’t know how long it takes under California to do a special election, but it is some non-trivial duration.

So thankful for your hard work bringing Boost to Lemmy. Everything feels “back to normal” now.

Edit: just bought it.

Mastodon, Lemmy, Bookwrym.

Spending more time on Lemmy than Mastodon lately.