I’ve been running PiHole for awhile, in short it’s your own DNS server that’s configured to block DNS requests to known advertising domains. So when you load a website and it sends a DNS request to PopularAdvertisingCompany.com to load an ad, PiHole blocks the request so the ad can’t be loaded. It’s useful for devices that you can’t put an ad blocker on, like iPhones and smart TVs and such, but can’t block stuff like YouTube ads cause they come from the same domain as the videos themselves.

It also has bonus features like DNS caching which can speed up web browsing.

Any router from a mainstream brand is likely fine, just don’t enable any of their “cloud” BS and don’t use their smartphone app. I’ve had good luck with Asus, they have an app but you don’t have to use it at all.

For security, try to enable WPA3 on your Wi-Fi networks, otherwise WPA2 is probably fine unless you’re being targeted by a government-sponsored hacking operation. Choose a long password for your network.

Once you get it up and running, then worry about DNS and PiHole and VPNs and all that. Don’t get in over your head.

Ha, I just came here to post this! It’s seriously cool, and the Navajo’s history in the semiconductor industry is something I never knew about.

I would love a rug like that.

The project started as an independently developed ZLUDA, meant for Intel GPUs. AMD started funding development of the project, expanding its scope to also work on AMD GPUs, with the condition that if AMD abandons it, the code would become open source. This happened a few months ago, but now for some reason AMD backtracked and pulled the open-source code for reasons we don’t know. AMD is usually pretty good with this stuff though, so I’m interested to find out what their motives are.

You just need to be careful that the supplies’ outputs are completely isolated from mains. Otherwise you’ll end up with a lovely spark show.

Funny enough, a number of years ago a giant 4chan archive surfaced which included a lot of the very first SCP posts that had been lost. It actually confirmed that 173 was posted after Blink aired, meaning it was almost certainly inspired by the episode. Not that it makes the SCP worse, but it’s some interesting lore.

They don’t really need to associate it with a specific person (although I’m sure they’d love to)- they can get plenty of data just within the context of what a single person buys in their store.

One thing to keep in mind: if someone gave you a 5.25" floppy disk with this type of data on it, even if the data was perfectly readable, would you have any way to do it? You’d need to hunt down someone whos into retro technology and hope you can figure out how to decode the information. The format itself became obsolete, so even if the data would theoretically be accessible, the means to access said data may not be.

Point is, what are the chances that CD drives will be around in hundreds of years outside of a museum or personal collection? They’re already becoming more and more uncommon after only a couple decades. But there really isn’t a great solution to this, especially when it comes to video, because you can’t just print it out.

Side note, are you sure that CD Golds are more durable than M-Disk?

They don’t actually provide decryption keys, the user has to either extract them from their own Switch or find them elsewhere online. However, it could be argued by Nintendo that using an unreleased game ROM for testing proves that the devs themselves were guilty of piracy, and were therefore somehow condoning the use of their emulator for piracy.

Either way, we won’t know how well Nintendo’s arguments would have held up in court, because the devs settled rather than fight it out.

It was a settlement. The devs decided, for reasons that are not public, that it would be easier to just pay Nintendo some money and take down the emulator than to fight them in court. It’s very possible (even likely) that they figured it would be more expensive to fight Nintendo’s lawyers than to just pay a fixed amount up front.

First, the IRS is doing a pilot of it’s new Direct File program, which is free. Not everyone qualifies but it’s worth checking: directfile.irs.gov

If you don’t qualify, FreeTaxUSA.com is what I’ve always used. It’s dead simple, especially if you don’t have any weird tax situations like investment properties or inheritance or anything. It’s $15 for state taxes, but federal taxes are free.

I think Google Voice still gives out a free phone number as long as you tie it to your actual phone number. I used it for Craigslist all the time years ago to avoid giving out my actual number

I have a 500/500 fiber connection, so generally a torrent download is the only thing that can actually make use of the entire capacity. So, I usually cap download speeds at 350Mbps as to not choke out the rest of my devices, but I leave upload uncapped because it never reaches high enough to have a noticable effect.

You failed to include a very relevant part of information in your post: your own gender. I don’t know if you omitted it on purpose, or out of obliviousness, but going on the assumption that you’re a man due to your language towards women:

Did it not occur to you that a male patient could actually be acting more aggressively towards your female coworkers? That he would be less cooperative towards those “damn nagging women” than towards a man? And that the standards of what makes a male patient scary could be completely different from the perspective of a woman?

Men experience the world very differently from women, particularly when it comes to social interactions. Just because YOU haven’t had too much of a problem with this patient doesn’t mean that your female coworkers have experienced the same thing.

The LED doesn’t make any noise. The only thing you could be hearing is a faint whine from the power supply current changing, although I’m surprised that an LED would have enough of an effect to noticeably change the sound.

Removing the LED will not damage anything. No reputable product would be designed so poorly that a small decrease in current would break something. Depending on where the LED is though, breaking/disconnecting it could be far more trouble than it’s worth, and you might risk damaging other parts of the monitor trying to get to it.

I would agree with the other commenter, your effort is probably better spent on something to help you remember to turn the monitor off. Or, even just buy a smart outlet and plug your monitor into that, so that if you forget, you can use your phone to power off the monitor without getting out of bed.

Honestly… I kinda think three microcontrollers is way overcomplicating things preemptively. I would try just a single MCU first, and see if the response time is adequate. If there’s any sort of noticeable input lag or delay, then try the multiple MCU route.

You know that you don’t have to declare copyright in every comment you make, yeah? All I can think of is the "Tryin’ to make a change :-/" SMS signature meme.

Counterpoint: a used PS5 will probably run $450, and including the cost of a TV isn’t fair because basically everybody already has one (you’d have to factor in the cost of a monitor too if you want a fair comparison).

Building a new PC is likely to be less cost effective if you only plan to use it for games, and if you’re building your first PC and can’t carry over components like storage and the chassis. The initial investment will pay off in the future, but not everyone has $800 to throw into a PC all at once.

Finally, saying that a mainline console like the PS5 will be “trash” in 5 years is objectively wrong. Modern consoles are often supported for 7-8+ years, and even after that point, they will continue to play all the games they did before.

I agree that a PC is generally a better investment than a console like the PS5. But you shouldn’t make that argument by being disingenuous or exaggerating the downsides of what you’re arguing against.

Unfortunately, you can sue anyone for any bogus reason you want. And if you have more money than whoever you’re suing, it doesn’t matter how frivolous it is, because you can just bankrupt them by forcing them to pay lawyer fees.

Umm… No? That’s quite a conclusion to jump to when a quick Google search would show that no such thing exists.

I swear, sometimes this community can be as bad as anti-vaxxers when it comes to pulling shit out of their ass and stating it as fact.