Ask HN: What are you learning?
Learning Z80 assembler, matrix algebra, reloading (9mm, .45, etc.), how to draft detailed building plans (something that is detailed enough to get a building permit approved), and market &quot;Technical Analysis&quot; - the study of chart patterns to set buy&#x2F;sell points.<p><pre><code>  This all seems a bit silly, but everything is closed.  Also doing a lot of wood cutting and cleanup in the forest.  We built a custom designed Z80 SBC ( single board computer), with its own Z80MON monitor, and the genius guy I am working with has managed to put the BASIC interpreter into the monitor.  Just got MInipro installed and working on the MACbook, using HomeBrew.  I&#x27;m trying to get one of those TL866II pROM programmers - first one ordered got bounced by customs.  We&#x27;ve ordered second one, paid premium to have it couriered.  All the flights are ground-stopped, so it may be a while.   I really like the idea of building a whole computer from parts ordered from Mouser, having all the Monitor and interpreter code, and being able to download the code into A ROM chip, plug it in, and link to the thing with Kermit or Screen session from a Linux box, and have it process matrix data from our AI stuff.  
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We live in deep farm country, where self-reliance is pretty hard core.  Some farms up the road from ours, are not even on the grid.   (They have wind generators and diesel tractors - some even have CNC machines).<p>We still have good internet access, and we are on-grid, but this whole virus-driven economic meltdown has absolutely confirmed our expectations.   We are seriously looking at something that will look like the 1930&#x27;s now.  I worked in 8080 Assembler years ago, and I&#x27;d forgotten so much.
But I&#x27;ve got two Z80 SBC&#x27;s working now, one with it&#x27;s own standalone VT-100 emulator board, and a little 40$ Chinese made VGA screen, which actually works pretty good.  I can run that config off two lithium-ion batteries.   The missing piece is to be able to use an SD-card.   We have a prototype of a much more complex SBC that has a sound chip, and an SD card driver chip.  It runs full CP&#x2F;M, but I like the more simple design, since it does ot use surface mount - real old school.<p>And there is this ton of other stuff that must be done.  We need to be able to reload, and I have all the dies and such for this.   We are also doing a bunch of in-house food preparation, since the electricity is still working, and so we are making different types of food that can be easily frozen.<p>And the price action on the investment portfolios is requiring attention, since we have these predictive algorithms that are offering some insite into where to place trades.  The markets are insane, but there are opportunites that do crop up. I realize that most traditional &quot;fundamental&quot; analysis is of little value in this kind of environment, as the automatic algos are running most of the action.   We have no chance at all of accessing any &quot;government money&quot;, so we are really working our existing systems just to try to bring in some liquidity by quick in and out action.   So far this is working, but it is absolutely crazy.<p>We have non-trading long-term positions on the left side of a tradional barbell, and these are just getting slaughtered.  It feels like stories I read about in wartime, those First World War stories.   Your whole &quot;picture of the world&quot; falls apart, and suddenly, all that crazy, hacky stuff you thought you would never really need or use (like the gas-mask in the garage) - suddenly, it&#x27;s the stuff that is keeping you alive, and your economic and technical process actually working.<p>So, I am going thru notes, and invoking stuff that we documented back in 1987 ( mkt crash), and in 1998 (Russian Default), and of course the 9&#x2F;11 stuff, which was short and sharp, and followed by a big pop.   But the data this time suggests no - too much has been badly damaged already.  
So we are mainly working on a plan to survive economically, for the next 12 months.<p>We should be OK, but only because we had these backup Plan B and Plan C&#x27;s and such.  
We went to Costco two days ago, and a hundred people were lined up, out into the parking lot, as &quot;social distancing&quot; was being enforced.   It&#x27;s making us pull out the SHTF playbook plans.   It could all be summed up as &quot;We are reviewing our strategies for maximum independece, and actively working to enhance our capacity for fully independent action.&quot; And I am reviewing all my Linux notes - we have several flavours of Linux boxes, that run the analytic and data management stuff.  Need to ensure we can keep on keeping on.  So far, it&#x27;s all ticking along ok, but it&#x27;s all up to us now.  We are learning to be 100% self-supporting, I guess would sum it up. So far, it&#x27;s working.
But it&#x27;s a new world now.  We are all going to need a <i>lot</i> of different skills.