My family and I are off to Germany.

After watching a violent coup attempt on Jan 6th, 2020, then absolutely no serious reaction by the US leadership to arrest and persecute the leaders of the coup, I knew it was time to bail. I started writing applications in fall 2020. It took years to get a good spot and to make arrangements with my ex wife over the kids, but it’s coming to fruition now.

I put in a few applications with Canada (BC/Victoria), but didn’t pursue it too hard. I figured if the US actually went down the fascism route as much as I feared, Canada wouldn’t be far enough away.

Is Germany better? Only maybe. They’re having a major fascism surge too with straight up neo-Nazi movements, but at least their government had some backbone to deal with it. The US is a fraking jellyfish in the face of open coup attempts so it’s done.

A failed coup with no actual punishment is just practice for the next one.

I’m no nuclear physicist, but I’m heading out with my family. It’s a computer science PhD, a applied mathematician with a PhD in education, and kids on track for engineering, history, computer science, art, and mathematics (we have a whole passel of kids).

My university has spent the last four years trying to hire a second faculty member to compliment my skill set and failed every time. I hope they succeed in the future, but now they’ll need to hire two people to fully cover the classes.

I bought a 386 motherboard that needed a patch. Not software, but by soldering a wire between two pads. You just basically figure it out and went from there with a soldering iron.

Build the computer from parts? Sure. Soldered it like it came as discrete components? Also sure.

Tech savvy is often in context of when you were learning in your teens to early twenties and then what of that skill set is still applicable today.

If I was a company facing possible tarrifs I’d raise prices now. Just a little, say 5% or so. Thar way, if tarrifs hit, I can bump up a bit without being a full hit in the moment. It also means I can get the money now as pure profit. If the tarrifs don’t happen I can either keep the 5% or drop it later to look good and undercut competitors.

All wins if I charge more now. Just the chance of a market disruption can be a benefit.

Desktops: Linux (Mint)
Laptops: Linux (Mint)
Phones: Linux (Android)
Servers: Linux (Debian)
SBC: Linux (Armbian / Raspberry Pi OS)
ESP32/ESP8266: Arduino (I’ve never really taken to MicroPython)
ATMega 328P/etc : Arduino