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.

It’s pretty hard though. Without mass, everything travels at the speed of light and doesn’t experience the flow of time, which don’t really mesh well with classical physics (or quantum mechanics, and definitely not relativity).

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.

Pretty much every food regulatory agency in the world has deemed aspartame safe. There were some worrying studies all the way back in the '70’s, but those were almost certainly bogus due to conflicts of interest with the sugar industry. It’s just as safe as MSG, which I personally believe people get so worked up over just because it has a “scary-sounding” chemical name.

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

And an ad blocker. Always an ad blocker.

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.

If you read the article, it says he arrived last May.

Anker’s peripherals have always worked great for me

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.

You will need a bank account to do pretty much anything in adult life. So, I would recommend opening an account at a local credit union. Credit unions are small and owned by their members, so they won’t sell your info to anyone or send you ads. There are many other pros to using a credit union instead of a large bank, but privacy is a big one.

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.

Exactly. Also, screenshots can easily be doctored. An embedded tweet could not be, since you could easily click the link to see the original tweet.

Are… Are you actually suggesting that “the internet” is a viable substitute for the UN?

These look very similar, although the listing is a bit vague on the specifics.

Could you post a picture of one of the bulbs? It would definitely help narrow things down