They also still use WhatsApp for their wider connections, but still, progress.

It’s what I did 5 years ago. All family and friends now on Signal.

If you are sufficiently wealthy in the US, you can afford what we have as routine in Europe, which is healthcare. In the US, there are many who cannot afford insurance, and even with insurance, the policy is unlikely to cover your needs, especially for anything other than acute care.

Thanks really to the chap who similarly brought it to my attention. I use it in the car and at work.

If you’re on Android, try InnerTune via FDroid. No subscription required, easy to find music. It has reasonable recommendations for music, but not the same standards as Spotify. If you buy a DAP and microSD card, or a mobile phone that takesmicrSD cards. After that, just download any and all music you like and play anytime, anywhere without neededing a data connection.

With Chinese phones, we have no real way of knowing where the spyware is. It may may be baked into the main OS, the added apps or other. Your safest bet would be a new ROM. ADB requires knowing which apps to pull out and unless someone has identified them, you’ll largely be guessing. Debloater will only remove what it knows about, so better than nothing. Whatever you do, I’d suggest something like RethinkDNS, or Netguard. These type of apps can go a great job of locking down anything that tries to connect to the outside world. It’s easier than it sounds, you simply select and allow at all the apps that you want to have connection.

Summary New ROM or ADB or Debloater plus, RethinkDNS or Netguard or similar.

I try for minimum 3 for fast or slow uploads. Generally my max is 5. It depends upon the total number of concurrent seeding files Slower torrents, I’ll just leave seeding. Some may still be below 1 after a month. If they have such low use, I can afford the small bandwidth and data impact.

Yup! The absolute best days of adventure and awe.

The lowtech option is to connect your device physically. I do this in hotels and at home. USB C to HDMI output. Connection cables are relatively cheap, and easily long enough for most use cases.

For flac albums, try galxytorrent2 or RUtracker.

I tried to watch this video. Wow It’s dumb. All speculation, no science. Perhaps it’s a spoof that I don’t appreciate.

In any scenario the brand of smart TV is irrelevant as thet all impair your privacy. Cost and effort are sadly now a feature, but not too much of a challenge. Never connect your TV to the internet directly. The easiest step is a Chromecast. I recently needed to replace my dumb TV with a smart TV. For me I just bought a TV at a price point that allowed me to also buy a used old PC box plus a wireless keyboard a touchpad. You could alternately use a Raspberry Pi. Either way, you ultimately have control of what is shared or escapes for your privacy.

Does Usenet require VPN or similar?

What would we suggest as a realistic alternative? Sears? Startpage? Brave? (I am no expert by the way, just looking for tips)

FOSS s such a wide area of practice. There is no detriment in supporting a FOSS keyboard or image editor. Perhaps for these, or for software that might sails across the lines you might consider Monero, or similar.

Yes yes and yes! These people are a lifeline for people like me who can’t code. People like me gain so much. Free is fun, but if you can donate, even one $, €, £ or other.

Thanks for the guidance. Bromite now replaced with Cromite. Mull remains my primary browser based upon comments. Also, far better experience already

When you are trying to remove inflammation from an area I.e. twisted ankle, you need to cool it as much as possible. That reduces the spread of inflammation and this includes reducing blood flow. Do that for a day or two after an acute injury or surgery, maybe longer to prevent inflammation. Once the tide of inflammation is under control, you can use heat to get that blood flow back and to allow removal of breakdown products and to bring in more blood to heal. There are situations where you will alternate between hot and cold but usually not with an acute injury.

Not a FB user, yet my firewall and DNS filters at home and on my devices stop a LOT of FBs continual monitoring and profiling. $10/month to stop ads suggests a price to be paid to me and everyone else for using our data, OR they need to let us have an easy way to opt out

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