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This reminds me of the time that I asked if anyone had resources on the history of Shinto and while nobody had book recs, turns out an actual Temple Maiden followed me on Tumblr and was down to chat.
>First, we’ve discovered that about a quarter of all the internet connection in or out of the house were ad related. In a few hours, that’s about 10,000 out of 40,000 processed.
>We also discovered that every link on Twitter was blocked. This was solved by whitelisting the https://t.co domain.
>Once out browsing the Web, everything is loading pretty much instantly. It turns out most of that Page Loading malarkey we’ve been accustomed to is related to sites running auctions to sell Ad space to show you before the page loads. All gone now.
>We then found that the Samsung TV (which I really like) is very fond of yapping all about itself to Samsung HQ. All stopped now. No sign of any breakages in its function, so I’m happy enough with that.
>The primary source of distress came from the habitual Lemmings player in the house, who found they could no longer watch ads to build up their in-app gold. A workaround is being considered for this.
>The next ambition is to advance the Ad blocking so that it seamlessly removed YouTube Ads. This is the subject of ongoing research, and tinkering continues. All in all, a very successful experiment.
>Certainly this exceeds my equivalent childhood project of disassembling and assembling our rotary dial telephone. A project whose only utility was finding out how to make the phone ring when nobody was calling.
>Update: All4 on the telly appears not to have any ads any more. Goodbye Arnold Clarke!
>Lemmings problem now solved.
>Can confirm, after small tests, that RTÉ Player ads are now gone and the player on the phone is now just delivering swift, ad free streams at first click.
>Some queries along the lines of “Are you not stealing the internet?” Firstly, this is my network, so I may set it up as I please (or, you know, my son can do it and I can give him a stupid thumbs up in response). But there is a wider question, based on the ads=internet model.
>I’m afraid I passed the You Wouldn’t Download A Car point back when I first installed ad-blocking plug-ins on a browser. But consider my chatty TV. Individual consumer choice is not the method of addressing pervasive commercial surveillance.
>Should I feel morally obliged not to mute the TV when the ads come on? No, this is a standing tension- a clash of interests. But I think my interest in my family not being under intrusive or covert surveillance at home is superior to the ad company’s wish to profile them.
>Aside: 24 hours of Pi Hole stats suggests that Samsung TVs are very chatty. 14,170 chats a day.
>YouTube blocking seems difficult, as the ads usually come from the same domain as the videos. Haven’t tried it, but all of the content can also be delivered from a no-cookies version of the YouTube domain, which doesn’t have the ads. I have asked my son to poke at that idea.
fastest reblog in the west
Scientist want purple petunias to be more purple. Purple petunias said “lol nah I’m gonna become white petunia and also help with aids research”. Like a boss.
Source: here.
Anonymous asked:
Oh hey since you just reblogged a post about this, can I get some tech advice? I have two old Dell laptops that are running slow bc (I suspect) dell has some chip installed that can tell if the charger is Dell brand and throttles the cpu if not. And they have since stopped recognizing their chargers. If I install linux, will that fix the issue? Or is it a hardware problem?
ms-demeanor answered:
So there’s not really a way that Dell can do that but realistically the computers are probably just running slow because they’re old (5 years is the usable time we estimate for business laptops; after that they may continue *working* but they’ll likely be too slow for our customers to consider them good work computers without some significant upgrades). But if they aren’t recognizing the chargers there are 3 possibilities I can think of off the top of my head:
1 - It’s a battery issue, not a charger issue. Over time batteries fail and will stop holding a charge no matter how long they’re plugged in. The solution to this is to replace the battery, which you can usually do for between 20-45USD on amazon
2 - It’s a charger issue. Your AC adapters may have both independently failed, it’s possible! Low-cost non-OEM chargers often don’t have particularly long lifespans, and replacing them may be the way to fix this.
Second possible charger issue is that it may be the wrong power level for the batteries. Sometimes you might look up something like “Lenovo e15 charger” and you’ll see one that looks right but it turns out you’ve ordered a 45w instead of a 90w, and that is a pretty big problem. You need to make sure you’re getting something with the exact specs for your specific computer. Here’s an article about it.
3 - It’s a charging port issue. This is one of the more common problems we see on older computers; basically over time with enough plugging and unplugging the port that connects your charger to the motherboard comes loose. This is something that can be a relatively cheap and easy fix in some cases, or a really difficult fix if the thing is soldered directly to the board. Here’s a video of someone replacing the charging port on a Dell Laptop for a general idea of what kind of work might be involved in fixing this.
Okay! Now for some basic troubleshooting! Please test for the following:
If the computers don’t power on at all while the AC adapter is plugged in then the issue is either the AC adapter or the power port.
If the computers power on while plugged in but they don’t hold a charge, the issue is the battery.
If the battery holds a charge for some amount of time (over an hour) but takes forever to charge, then the problem is that you aren’t using the correct AC adapter.
If the battery doesn’t charge, the computer doesn’t come on, and it’s the correct AC adapter you can possibly test the adapter with a voltmeter, test the adapter on another computer with the same power requirements, or disassemble the computer and check the power port connection to the motherboard.
But yeah if the computers are powering on at all, right off the top of my head I’d guess either it’s a battery issue or a voltage issue with the adapter.
Linux would not help at all with those issues (though hopefully you’ve got someplace to start looking to resolve those problems now), but if your computer is running slow because it has older hardware that was designed for a different era of computer use (which can be as recent as 5 or so years ago depending on the specs) then a Linux install will likely help. Though keep in mind that if you do an OS swap you will not be able to run any of the programs you currently have for those laptops on those laptops. I think that Linux is good and want more people to use it generally, but I recommend Linux to new Linux users primarily when the computer they’re thinking of installing it on is used mostly as a web browsing machine. An old computer with Linux Lite will generally run faster than an old computer with Windows, but if you’re trying to get the old computer to play modern games it isn’t going to be fast with either OS.
Ah, I'm not seeing it on Wikipedia but digging around in some forums I found info on this. Dell does in fact have a bullshit data connector with their AC adapters that lets the motherboard know that it is a proper adapter. This is apparently something that is more common on home-user models, so I haven't personally run into it.
Here's a video on installing a 3rd-party software to turn off throttling on Windows, here's some info on how to do the same if you do get around to installing Linux. And here's your general reminder to be careful about installing anything you hear about from a rando on the internet.
finallygaveintothesirencall asked:
How do you preserve the food from your garden so it doesn't go bad before you can eat it?
gallusrostromegalus answered:
You are wildly underestimating my ability to go fucking feral about fresh produce. I don’t think I even brought snap peas into the house last year. Just ate them right off the vine.
Though I did end up freezing the strawberries/blue berries as they ripened, but even those were consumed within the week.
The only tough one was the potatoes, but that was resolved by just foisting potatoes on everyone I knew. Much more welcome than Zucchinis.
Oh this is why every gardening person I know keeps trying to give me the food they grow
That, and we love you. Homegrown produce is a love language.
Unless it's zucchini. Then it's a cry for help.
Tomato (June) - I think highly of you; treasured friend
Tomato (September) - you are a warm body that is nearby
Fresh new asparagus - romantic love
Artichoke - fondness
New rhubarb with leaves removed - flirtatious potential
Rhubarb with leaves left on - the bloom is gone
Swiss chard - I have made mistakes
Perpetual spinach - declaration of animosity between our houses
White-fleshed potato - you are a neighbor
Blue or red fleshed potato - as above, but with overtones of camaraderie/affection
Kale - you are a person who was nearby when I had kale
Raspberries - you are a person I admire
Strawberries - you are a treasure
Onion - I am confused
Young French beans or young peas - I thought of you especially
Runner beans - mild criticism; familial ties; gift from parent to child
Pumpkins - overt romantic, sexual or childhood-bestie interest; highest declaration of loyalty
Prettily coloured popping corn, I.e. glass gem - let this seal the breach between our houses
Zucchini/courgette - cry for help, resignation
Novelty pumpkins - marriage proposal
It speaks to the most basic instinct of ensuring those you care about are provided for.
@elodieunderglass - try mashing the potatoes and then freezing. Or in any format that you can find in a grocery store freezer section. It’s worked well for us. 😊
Thank you, the OP here is @gallusrostromegalus and my contribution was limited to the “system of correspondences.” I have personally solved my potato problems by distributing them, sometimes even consensually, in my local community























