Connect the TV to wifi, then go into your router’s settings and block it. It’s usually under “Access Control” or “Security”.

Projectors come with their own set of issues, but at least you can still get a really good one without all the “smart” features.

A set of torx screwdrivers and an exacto knife will take care of that. Pretty hard for a cellular modem to transmit data when the traces to the antenna are cut.

Every city in the western world already has at least one rack of servers running 24/7. The have their own domain names, they have a web presence, etc – running a mastodon instance on existing infrastructure hardly qualifies as wasteful.

Normally when you’re on a VPN all the network traffic to and from your device is going through the connection to the VPN server, e.g. browsing the internet, online games, etc. It can cause issues with other online services and uses bandwidth (cheap as it is) many VPS provider charges for.

A split tunnel tells the VPN client to only send certain traffic through the tunnel. My wireguard setup assigns IP addresses for the VPN interfaces in the subnet 192.168.2.x, so only traffic addressed to IPs on that subnet get sent through the tunnel. In wireguard it’s a single line in the config file:

AllowedIPs = 192.168.2.0/24

I’m in the same situation.

Fortunately there’s a million companies that offer VPS with a static IP address for only few bucks a month. I set one up to run a wireguard VPN server which all my devices and home servers connect to as clients. I also configured everything to use a split tunnel to save bandwidth.

It’s an added layer of security too.

You mean like the “multi-million units sold” Linux based Steam Deck?

That’s what I’m running, though I had issues with it randomly requiring a reset. Installing OpenWrt fixed that problem.

Hands you a random laptop.

“The thing doesn’t work.”

Refuses to elaborate and leaves.

I bought an LG microwave a few months ago to replace a dead 10 year old Sharp. My favorite “features”:

• The sticker on the door stating that by using the microwave I agree to LG’s TOS, including binding arbitration.
• The single 4 minutes and 30 seconds of use I got out of it before the magnetron broke.

When I returned it they customer service person asked if I wanted it serviced under warranty – hilarious. Bought a Panasonic instead.

Option 3. Get a job as part of the 5% of the population still employed in serving the various security apparatuses protecting the rich fucks – you could be a soldier, cop, or government official.

Better to be part of the boot than be the poor fuckers getting stepped on, right? You can sleep easily knowing you have it slightly better than the other 95% of the underclass.

You’re not wrong, but the idea that “plant based” is “safe” isn’t right either. Plants can create all kinds of horribly toxic, carcinogenic compounds – especially when burned or heated.

Wood smoke of all things is mildly carcinogenic and we cook our food with it.

There are jobs where it’s not feasible or practical to pay an actual human to do.

Human translators exist and are far superior to machine translators. Do you hire one every time you need something translated in a casual setting, or do you use something Google translate? LLMs are the reason modern machine translation is is infinitely better than it was a few years ago.

One of the major problems with LLMs is it’s a “boom”. People are rightfully soured on them as a concept because jackasses trying to make money lie about their capabilities and utility – never mind the ethics of obtaining the datasets used to train them.

They’re absolutely limited, flawed, and there are better solutions for most problems … but beyond the bullshit LLMs are a useful tool for some problems and they’re not going away.

How dare people cope with something horrible by making jokes. Everyone knows it’s impossible to make those jokes while simultaneously being horrified by and pushing back against the thing they’re joking about.

Cold fucking War

Czar of Russia

The Czar wasn’t around during the Cold War for … reasons.

Late teens, maybe early 20s.

How close am I?

I’m a 7 minute drive from downtown and my options are satellite, cellular, or fixed wireless. Everyone around me has gigabit ethernet, but due to costs involved in running fiber and the fact my little community is mostly old folks (and thus likely not going to buy in) ISPs don’t want to “invest” in us.

Before any tankies claim the word is a blanket slur against communists: “tankie” was coined by British communists that were disgusted by the attitudes of some of their so-called “fellows”.

The usual cesspits where one can find neckbeards and bigots: reddit, twitter, etc.