Your ISP controls what ports you can access using one or more firewalls and traffic control devices somewhere past the point where you connect to their network.

They can block whatever ports they want. The only way around this is to use a VPN, which creates a tunnel directly from your device to a remote server to route traffic. This still goes through your ISP and whatever firewall they have but does so over a port that they (probably) don’t block. They can’t see what ports your web or network requests are using so they can’t block it directly.

Depending on your technical know how and what type of router you have, you could set up a VPN at the device level (PC, phone, etc.) to send just requests from that device or at the router level which could send all traffic from your network through the VPN.

It’s important to remember when using a VPN that the VPN servers can still see (and potentially log) all of your traffic, even if your ISP cannot. You still need to find a VPN service that you trust to not monitor your traffic.

I think that sometimes the burnout is internal, rather than in relation to something external like my job. It’s also hard to separate the DGAF mood from other stressors like lack of sleep (something my video game habit has not helped with).

Burnout is absolutely real, though I had a vacation a few weeks ago so I think this is just due to not having enough downtime to myself over the weekend. It seems like the older I get the more distance that I need from people in order to recharge.

I think this idea could be true for some businesses, primarily those that only use their endpoints (laptops) for simple documentation tasks and/or as gateways to web-based tools. However, in addition to “user demand” there needs to be an adequate business case ($$ savings) plus enough technical knowledge on the IT implementation side to made the move. I’ve worked in shops moving from a large Microsoft Windows footprint to Apple products and it is not always an easy transition, even with tools like Jamf.

Since companies will still have to rely on a Windows- or Linux-based backend (on prem or cloud) they’ll need admins that can handle integrating those macOS and iOS devices into their MDM systems alongside the Windows systems. There are also a lot of users out there who may have no experience with using a Mac, either for personal or business use, that will need re-training to use a Mac laptop. Both integration / transition of systems and users will introduce delays and downtime into a company’s business processes, increasing the cost to transition.

None of the above is a reason not to move from Microsoft to Apple, but it’s definitely not a simple process and that can lead to slow (or no) transitions for large businesses, no matter how many users ask for it.

I don’t have much to say that might help, except that I feel what you’re saying. Many times I’ve been at a place where all I can do is look at my emotions and think “what the hell am I supposed to do with this?”. Nothing like not knowing how long you’ll have to wade through the swamp or what’s going to help you get out. Sometimes all you can do is keep moving and be open to what’s coming in the future.

This week is starting out complicated. I have a ton to do for work and absolutely no motivation to do any of it, so I’m having to spend more willpower than I’m used to just to get started. I’m coming off of a bad weekend mood-wise and really feeling the “want to run away to a cave and live there forever” vibes, which is also taking effort to move past.

One thing that’s cheering me up is planning out the details of some house changes for August/September, which hopefully will end up going well. Visualizing the end result is giving me something positive to look forward to.

I would absolutely choose this mode without any shame. I already spend plenty of time in “Story Mode” difficulty; I don’t care to spend hours of frustration trying to hit just the right dodge pattern for a boss because I no longer have the finger dexterity that I did when I was 20.

I’ve been using it for the last day or so on a separate account and I like it so far. It’s a new app and there’s plenty of stuff planned for it, but the ability to open comments in a separate column instead of another tab is fantastic. There’s already a request for light mode in the repo, which is my biggest issue right now.

Who wouldn’t trust that (obviously-not-a-robot-in-disguise) smiling face? 😅

That is completely accurate and logical representation of the article after it’s had the heart ripped out KALIMAAA-style and been lowered into a pit.

I’ve heard it described as “Eurovision in space”

Ok I’m sold, that’s going to the top of the list.

Thank you for the recommendation!

I just recently found her Substack and devoured most of the public posts. I haven’t gotten any of her books yet, but she’s on my list the next time I go into a bookstore. Are there any of her other works that you’d recommend?

If she’s ditching cable because of technical issues or the ratio of crap channels to good content then YouTube TV is a good option. It sucks that they don’t have a bundle with TV and YouTube Premium though.

If she’s concerned about price then it doesn’t really get better switching to a streaming option from cable. Especially now that cable companies are desperate to keep subscribers - they are often willing to give huge rate discounts to keep people.

The web UI doesn’t have a way to do that right now (hopefully an update will add that in the future) but some mobile and progressive web apps do have this option. I’m trying out wefwef on my Android phone and you can click the vertical … menu on a post and choose the hide option, or (thanks to a recent update) swipe to the left. I suggest trying out some of the apps in development and seeing if there’s one that’s useful.

What drives me crazy is that - at least for my former team - having to move to remote work essentially overnight forced us to come up with new communication and reporting processes that were better than in-person. Which we still had to use when forced to go back to the office because not everyone worked at the same location. So there was no benefit to going back except to please the bosses and those few workers who claimed they actually wanted to return.

I recently switched from a hybrid IT job to fully remote. There were several justifications for return to office from my former employer, both the spoken: better communication/collaboration, better meeting attendance, information security - and unspoken: monitoring of newer or less trusted people, office space going unused, managers’ feelings, etc.

There are technical solutions that could be implemented to address the spoken reasons, but the unspoken ones are the bigger drivers from a management perspective.

What I find irritating is seeing the long-form video channels that I watch repeatedly pushing new shorts videos to keep up with the algorithm and draw traffic, but because they don’t do a lot of quick daily vids they break up old videos into multiple shorts. So now my feed is full of snippets of videos from months ago, and it makes it harder to know when there’s actual new content to see.

This is good advice if your phone is actively being hacked in real time when you turn it off. Otherwise all you’re doing is delaying or temporarily interrupting any data collection that’s going on in the background. Any apps that are sophisticated enough to run undetected by a normal user are also going to restart themselves as soon as the phone boots up again.

Also, if you are being targeted by a hacker that is knowledgeable enough to actively get into your device (especially an iPhone) without physical access then you’re better off destroying it and buying a new one, along with doing a full reset of all of your passwords, 2FA setup, and anything else you think you’re relying on for “security”.