https://web.archive.org/web/20231110021432/https://solar.low...
For the metaphorical warmer, something that could help people that you could probably help with as a programmer is a language learning platform: If people need to leave the country, knowing how helpful spaced repetition can be might save them a lot of strife.
If networking in your region becomes unreliable, it could be useful and helpful to know about mesh networking, but for that to be effective, cooperation needs to happen between multiple parties in different locations, and that can be difficult.
For about language learning and spaced repetition, things are running.
Just cup of days ago, Ukrainian government decided to make English a must for officials, and made changes to education regulations, so now English will study from first year in all Ukrainian schools.
Spaced repetition, from my own experience, is very depend on how well organized person, and war making huge interference in organization. Imagine, how hard to organize if you every day hear siren of air defense, and nobody could predict, how long war will last, and every day possible some extreme news.
To be honest, I envy to Yugoslavians, as they war last just few months, NATO aviation very fast finished Soviets offense. In Ukraine case, I literally seen few tides and ebbs, when things slowly become more extreme, and then again, slowly return some stability and feeling of safeness.
And the last what I must say, Ukrainians are good in peer interactions, unfortunately at the moment, we have not good reliable results in large scale peer interactions, I think we must study this part of democracy.
I think, my other answer also could say something additional: https://www.hackerneue.com/item?id=38503774
Thank you again, please share your thoughts and knowledge if possible.
For others, Medshare is running a fundraiser for Ukraine: https://www.medshare.org/zukraine/
They provide medical supplies and stuff like backup generators for medical facilities. They were running a match program and my company has a gift match. Last year google matched contributions to UNHCR. I can't pass up a 3x match to a good cause.
For more detailed explanation better if you read Goldratt's Theory of constraints and for beginners introduction good books "the goal" (1/2/3). Also good to read classics - Sun Tzu, the Art of war, it is very short but unfortunately written on old Chinese, which nobody knows, so different translations are significantly different, best if read all translations you could reach in parallel and compare.
Javelins are made with strict reporting, and considered to storage few years. American/European medicine working on evidence based principles and strict protocols.
But at war and emergency, strict protocols usually disabled (and planned operations shift right), because they are extremely slow and expensive, and most Western weapons and supplies are not stored significant time, they near immediately consumed.
And also important, bureaucracy is not good, but Ukrainian bureaucracy now is just disaster, fortunately Ukrainians smart and good in peer interaction, so always when possible, better to use lower level.
So exists few variants to help:
1. If you will help to medicine, via some large fund with their bureaucracy, well, I'm not very optimistic on effectiveness, but I'm grateful.
2. If you find some way to help buy weapons, like Bayraktar heavy drones, also via some big fund, this is better. I'm also grateful.
3. The best, if you hire me, or with your support I'll make my business, probably open source. In this case will be triple win: First, I'll make decent product, I feel very strong importance of tech for community; Second, I will have some predictable future, so I could plan my life and care about health, not wait for medical emergency, so 1st variant will be just not happen with me; Third, I will spend time to talk with Ukrainian military people, I think you understand, they could tell much more to me in private talk, than for people abroad, and I will try to make them best help for this time.
As example, what I could do, FPV drones, which are less effective then Javelin, but cheaper and cost effectiveness of drones is much better. Second example, all drones very depend on communications, I'm really good in communications hard/soft, so I could make things, to make Ukrainian drones communications more reliable, and to interfere enemy communications or intercept them. And others and others. We here at HN, are knowledge workers, all we talk about gather information, store information, and process information, and you might know, knowledge at war is literally life, because with modern weapons, people in many cases don't see enemy, just got info from intelligence that enemy in location X,Y, and who will make successful fire first - will survive.
To be strict, now Russians still have significant advantage in heavy and modern weapons, and strong intelligence, and for them typical to attack civilians, so anything what make more heavy/modern weapons for Ukrainians and less heavy/modern weapons for Russians, will made huge impact on volumes of work for medics.
Please shoot me an email if you have any specific requests I can help with and I will do whatever I can to help!
I'm contemplating getting a diesel generator, to share amongst them and their neighbours, but it's less than ideal as the generator has to be outside (for ventilation) and their apartment block doesn't have balconies.
For heat pumps (fridges, conditioners), boiler automation, microwave, modern high frequency furnaces, things are more complicated and this will not work directly, but for them usually written MAX power input, but in reality they consume max power only few seconds to start, and all other time, typical 1/4 of max power or even less. So, you need to check peak power output of your powerstation, many have constant power for example 1000W, but peak 2000W.
In some cases, may be good solution automobile booster, as they designed to have insane high peak power.
I could not recommend this, but in many cases, in modern tech, only digital part is much depend on voltage and consume very little power, and use closed loop control and sensors, but heaters are just old Ohm heaters, and they connected with digital by relays, so it is possible to power digital part from external power supply, like mobile charger (international variants usually work 100-240V), and heaters directly with lower voltage (120V instead of 220V).
Coffee? Batteries? Radios? Car parts?
What I think we have enough, is coffee, for other things, we need them, but exist nuances.
Most important, I'm veteran of Ukraine Maidan, but this war exhausted us economically.
I must admit, this time I just cannot spend enough money to talk with people offline, I think you know how this is important.
I know, Ukrainian defense need all these things, but not everything. I mean, we have technically powerful enemy, with developed radio intelligence, and environment changing constantly, for example, analog radios are not interest at all now.
And if we talk about radios, car parts, I must do even more - I must regularly talk with officials, and visit field tests, to check how they work on more or less real environment; for cars, I must calculate, which are more economy effective, so I'll not give military forces finance Black Holes.
Sorry, this time I need to take a pause and gather info. Will answer more later.
I think, my other answer also could say something additional: https://www.hackerneue.com/item?id=38503774
Thank you again, please share your thoughts and knowledge if possible.
In the meantime, I'm noting a few things from your comments. Can you confirm my impressions are correct?
1. Field communications are difficult, presumably due to Russian signals intelligence.
2. Russians have a weaponry advantage. Presumably this is mainly driven by artillery? Last I heard, airspace is still contested. Is that still the case?
Taken together, I'm under the impression field mobility and coordination is a challenge. Indeed, this is why my mind jumped to car parts, batteries and radio. Do you find yourselves needing to do things on foot? If so, I'm sure I could figure out a way to send things like socks, footwear and rain gear.
Also, please let me know if there are any supplies that could help with morale. I've also spent some time in a fox hole, so I know how much little things like coffee and chocolate can mean to someone after several days of rain or snow.
If you would prefer to speak about this somewhere else, I have a Matrix account I'm happy to share with you.
Exists three big problems.
First, they intercept signals and if possible use intercepted info to target their artillery or aviation, and they have superiority in both. In artillery they have about two times superiority (on begin of war was 10-20); in aviation, 5-10 times.
For about air defense, looks like they have more number of long range systems, like S-300, but we now have grown number of short range systems, like Gepard.
Second, they have developed electromagnetic warfare, and interfere our communications, and for example, in many cases could disable our drones just by EW equipment. They invested really huge resources on this, so even Western precision-guided munition suffered limited accuracy.
Third, they have their own spy satellites, and have experienced people working with tech intelligence for years, and we in Ukraine are mostly agrarian people, experienced only with light guns. Also, Russians actively involve academy resources (yes, literally universities) to conduct war research and to teach operators of new tech, like drone (uav) operators.
As example of war research, our hackers intercept documents, that in Russian civilian universities conducted researches of best routes for Russian drones to hit Ukrainian infrastructure objects.
Also, Russians heavily use civilian building equipment to build fortifications. And Russians constantly hit Ukrainian civilians, but Ukrainians, avoid to target civilians at all costs.
This sometimes remember me colonization of America history, where on one side was tribes with bows and arrows, and on other side colonizers with rifles and guns.
Partially, we in Ukraine working on peer level, to research and to teach people, but I near have not hear about government programs of doing this, and our bureaucracy is constantly late on this.
Fortunately, Ukrainians much better in peer working than Russians, but I'm not sure this will be long superiority.
And I don't know, when we fix our weak bureaucracy.
And yes, Western equipment is far better than Russian, but we have it in too little quantities, to achieve superiority. For example, Russians usually have to spent ~50 artillery shells to hit target; with Western guns, Ukrainians in many cases need only 10, but Russians have these 50 shells and Ukrainians have not these 10.
And sorry to repeat. This is really big war, in which things changed constantly. And changes are so huge, even NATO analysts sometimes said, they was not imagine this could happen. For example, people said, at NATO they trained that mine field will be square 200x200 meters, but in reality seen many kilometers strip about kilometer deep. And when Ukrainians use anti-mine system, make pass and go there, immediately, Russians fire from artillery and use systems for remote placing land mines.
Unfortunately, we still at war.
Must admit, now we are much better than year ago, Nov-Dec 2022, near from first day was constant blackouts due to rocket attacks. Your help was very warm light at all this.
Nov 2023 was boring waiting for fate, fortunately nothing special happen, but nobody could predict, how dangerous will be December 2023.
Thank you!
BTW I'm electric engineer and programmer, I ask to everybody who read this thread, please write, if you will got any ideas, how I could help others to feel warmer and safer.