Depends. A city with just a bunch of folks with a 5km range on VHF screaming into the void is rather useless.
(D)ARES actually organises training sessions for those who participate, also to get in contact with the emergency services, and of course you can get messages out of a city to a place tens of kilometers away – something you’re not able to with just a handheld.
Whackers are useless, but there are a bunch of people who take the emergency stuff somewhat seriously and participate in traffic management training.

7-to-10 uplift still works as of last month

I found the controversy about unlicensed users interesting. It’s a reminder that while emergency situations can bring people together, they can also expose underlying tensions within communities. Hopefully, discussions can lead to more effective collaboration in the future.

On a different note, Microsoft’s “End of Life” announcement for Windows 10 is definitely a big deal. It’s hard to imagine so many users being pushed to migrate, especially when many are still hanging onto older systems. It’ll be interesting to see how this impacts the market.

As for Microsoft Flight Simulator, that bandwidth usage is staggering! It does make you wonder about the economics of virtual flying versus real flying. It’s a fascinating time for technology, with so many factors at play.

And speaking of technology, the SpaceX booster catch was nothing short of amazing! The engineering behind it is mind-blowing, and it’s inspiring to see what innovative solutions can be developed. I can’t wait to see what comes next from SpaceX.

Supposedly the free 7 to 10 upgrade window is closed. They said it was closed several years ago but it actually still worked until recently. You can run Win10 unactivated indefinitely, it just bugs you to buy a license and there’s less customizable options like wallpaper.

I also recommend Rufus (rufus.ie) to create a bootable USB Win11 installer that bypasses 4GB RAM and TPM 2.0 requirements (via registry edit). However MS could change this at any time rendering your old laptop running Win11 even more dysfunctional.

BINGO!!!! actual space exploration and colonization not a toe in the water and limp home with a suitcase full of rocks.

This is a step toward that. Wanna put your money on the Boeing “Apollo cement mixer capsule 2.0”? they couldn’t even replicate the ablative heat shield out of modern materials. They ended up altering their “terminal burn” thru the atmosphere into a “double hop” to slow down twice. Heck, SpaceX even provides complete signal contact from ship to shore (along with video) during reentry and controlled landing on land (or sea) of the whole space ship. Ship versus a converted missile nuclear warhead shaped package. SpaceX uses reusable components while NASA dumps their 1970s era antiques in the ocean. finally and most significantly, SpaceX costs WAY less, ansd can be turned around for reuse very quickly/ Something NASA promised with the Space Shuttle but in 30 years, never delivered.