rimu

You'll get taken to a random community. Once you arrive there's a link at the top of the page to /r/random so you can just hammer away at that until you get somewhere that's the right combo of random and interesting.

There is also /r/randnsfw that takes you to a random nsfw communty if your instance has them.

NASA live: Follow live television broadcasts on NASA+, the agency's streaming service, and NASA's social media channels with this schedule of upcoming live events including news briefings, launches and landings.

!fuel_crisis@piefed.social

Discuss the fuel & energy crisis unfolding as a consequence of the war.

So far their response has been tax cuts and getting rid of regulations. Two things they love doing. In Australia they're giving subsidies to the oil industry.

None of those will do anything to slow our consumption of oil or help people change their lifestyles to match the circumstances. By clinging desperately to business as usual they will make the eventual change more wrenching than it could have been.

Instead, what if:

Short term:

Free public transport.

Free bikes for everyone.

Begin emergency repairs on any old busses that can be pressed into service.

Implement a priority system for who gets fuel:

Tier 1: healthcare, emergency services

Tier 2: food production & distribution

Tier 3: essential infrastructure (power, water, telecoms)

Everything else: on yer bike, son (or heavily rationed)

Ration fertilizer. A lot of it is wasted, currently.

Daily govt briefings - what’s happening, what is being prioritised, what people should do. Maintain clear communication and transparency.

Medium term (but start NOW):

Electrify all busses.

Repair neglected railways.

Move freight by rail and ship as much as possible.

Build cycling infrastructure. Secure places to park many many bikes next to train stations - big sheds.

Remove regulatory barriers for local food production, farmers markets. Encourage urban gardening, local trade networks.

Plant corn everywhere for ethanol.

Strategic reserves of critical medicines, etc.

Diversify food production - for local needs, not for export market needs.

As a country with plentiful food and electricity primarily generated from renewable sources, our main difficulties in coming months will be logistical rather than a shortage of basic calories or electricity – we live at the ends of the earth far from where most products are made and most of our transport and freight is still fossil-fuel based.

Therefore our current preparations should focus on things that are imported and/or made from oil (plastic). It is tempting to go out and buy a large sack of flour, oats or pasta but most of those things will continue to be available as we grow quite a bit of them locally so there is no urgent need to stock up on them now.

Get a bicycle or two or do maintenance on the ones you have. This is the single biggest thing you can do. Ideally, ensure you can carry a full load of shopping on your bicycle - panniers or backpack.

Essential medications

• Painkillers
• Bandaids
• Any prescription meds (ask for repeats early)
• Specialty foods like gluten-free or vegan items
• Any niche medicine

Imported food

• Soy sauce or any other imported sauce that you commonly use
• Spices, including pepper
• Coffee / tea
• Pet food
• Sugar
• Imported canned food like pineapple
• Canned fish
• Niche oils like sesame oil
• Snacks and “fun” food like chocolate
• Mung beans (very cheap, for now!)

Other household things

• Cleaning supplies
• Laundry detergent
• Soap / shampoo
• Shoes (if current ones are getting old)
• Batteries (rechargeable, preferably)
• Glad wrap
• Warm clothing – if you need a new jacket, get it now not in 2 months
• Bin bags

For doing repairs

• Puncture repair kit for bikes
• Glue
• Duct tape
• Spare lightbulbs, fuses

This is obviously not a complete list - it is intended to get you thinking along the right lines. Focus on imported items that will be very inconvenient when unavailable. There is no need to prepare for total social breakdown, just for everything to get inconvenient, of less variety and sometimes-available.

Other misc concerns

Have a small amount of cash to pay for things at farmer’s markets or if the power is out (which stops eftpos and ATMs from working).

If your house uses natural gas for cooking, you’re going to need a secondary cooking method, like an electric hotplate. Using gas for heating? Find an alternative or at the very least have a backup bottle.

NOT urgent:

• Fresh vegetables
• Most grains
• Meat
• Milk (except powdered or long-life)
• Solar panels – electricity should be mostly ok in New Zealand.
• Excess petrol / diesel (storing it is a fire risk & just delays the inevitable). But fill your car tank and keep it full.

What the ministerial press conference got wrong about NZ's fuel supply, and what it didn't mention at all.

An example of normal Manila traffic:

Now:

(everyone knows roading budgets usually blow out - the total final cost of Transmission Gully appears to be $2.5bn – double the projected cost of $1.25bn).

From a shop owner in India to a community worker in New South Wales, rising fuel prices are forcing people to ration oil usage.

Live countdown to NZ fuel depletion. Reserve gauges, Pacific vessel tracking, Polymarket odds, demand analytics, and scenario modelling.

I was at a tech conference in Sweden when it started. I hadn't slept in days. I was one of the most prolific open source developers in the Python ecosystem, maintaining the most downloaded HTTP library on Earth, keynoting conferences across the world, and I was losing my mind in a hotel room six thousand miles from home.