Looks like it was an Amazon AWS outage. Just geos to how how vulnerable the Internet is as it becomes ever more concentrated into the hands of the tech giants.

I think they were just pointing out that this is the problem with subscription services. You own nothing and you’re screwed when the service goes down.

It really doesn’t take “ludicrous amounts of time and money” to build a private library. It’s interesting how the subscription giants have managed to change people’s perceptions - when you buy content to keep, you keep some of the value, but when you subscribe you’re just getting a time pass to use someone else’s library and won’t see that money again.

They sold the proposition on convenience when everything was in one place, but now it’s all fragmented it’s a waste of money.

And of course plenty of people are building media libraries for free by sailing the seas.

Nah, this road was inevitable for the US - liberal apathy is a nonsense; it suggests US voters had a choice or a say - they don’t and never have. The two parties overlap in their beliefs - there has never been true choice. There was the veneer of democracy, but the system has been rigged for decades if not a century or more. There are 2 parties who have dominated in every state and at every level, and play voters off against each other. Anyone interested in politics has no choice but to join the red team or the blue team - if they don’t they’ll never achieve anything. The 2 parties have pushed beyond first-past-the-post to extremes with gerrymandering to ensure no 3rd party will ever get a look in. The Democrats and Republicans have written all the rules to suite themselves, and it’s ended up that the extreme end of one party can dominate the lot and do what it wants.

1/3 of voters vote Democrat, 1/3 Republican and 1/3 don’t vote because why bother. The US President has immense power, and their primary checks and balances are entirely partisan and always have been. The Supreme Court has always been partisan with Democrat and Republican political appointees, and Congress is by it’s nature partisan and divided in 2 between the 2 parties due to the entire system. The players of the game have set all the rules.

If you want to see what comes next, look at Russia. It never had a strong system post communism, and Yeltsin was drunk and out of touch with reality towards the end of his tenure. Putin was his advisor and managed to manipulate Yeltsin and make himself his heir apparent. Putin has then gone on to dismantle even the semblance of democracy they had, becoming a dictator and now an aggressor invading country after country. And unlike Hitler, his opponents in the west are divided.

Trump is a disaster, but what we should all be really worried about is what comes next. Trump is the USA’s Yeltsin; it’s the US Putin who comes next we should all be terrified of.

I honestly don’t see any way back from the abyss in the USA. Anyone who wants to stop Trump of course has to vote Democrat because that’s the system. But whose to say the US Putin won’t be a Democrat? Red team or Blue team - it doesn’t matter; neither believe in democracy they just believe in the game.

Lots of elements to this.

On the one hand a safe well paid job is very valuable to a lot of people. Even if it’s dull, job security is a huge thing and not to be taken lightly.

Having said that, if there is no progression then it may end up being a trap and not worth it. You say its well.paid but is it well paid overall - as in keep going until retirement in decades, or is it well.paid compared to other jobs at your current level of career?

If its just well paid for your level then it might make sense to take a pay cut to get into something new, interesting and with better progression and opportunities long term. If it’s well paid overall then you need to be thinking not just about now, but about how you’d feel in 10 or 20 years.

Going out into the field might be attractive now, but would it be attractive in 20 years? Have you got a job you might not value fully yet but may come to value as you get older?

Ultimately only you can decide what is more important to you about work. It’s natural to worry about doing something irreversible and regretting it. But it’s also important not to let fear get in the way of career progress. Sometimes you do need to move jobs to keep motivated or pursue better opportunities or even just because a well paid may just not be interesting enough or tolerable.

People talk a lot about work life balance now, which is great. But it’s not just about hours and working from home. It’s also about having a job you like and adds to your life, rather than one you hate or is drudgery. We spend about 1/3 of the week at work and it impacts everything else about our lives - money but also happiness and mental well being. So while it maybe a €300 pay cut, it may be worth it if you really enjoy it and it makes your work life better.

What a bizarre take. The EU council is backing down - they do want chat control but each time they propose it they meet resistance and back down. Then they come back again and try again.

To suggest the public reaction is overblown and media manipulation is bizarre. This is the 3rd or 4th time the EU has attempted to get this through. Just because they chickened out of a vote doesn’t mean the politicians don’t want this.

In a democracy votes happen. In the EU they keep resurrecting this terrible idea hoping to get it through but then backing away if they don’t think they can win. They know if there was an actual vote it likely would put an end to his.

Also the EU council is the antithesis of a democracy. It is not directly elected - instead it’s a club of the heads of states of all the countries in the EU. It just represents who happens to be in charge of each country, and gives equal weights to all those countries regardless of their population size. The EU has a Parliament but it’s a fig leaf of democracy as so much power is held in bodies like the Council and the Commission (which is 1 post per state and horse traded not elected).

So please don’t make this out as a sign that EU democracy works. If EI democracy was working properly they would have listened the first time, and they’d have moved to a directly elected system for the executive Council and commission years ago.

The EU gets too much of a free pass for “not being America” but it’s got huge problems that need fixing to make it an actual democracy.

This may or may not be the right role for you but should it not be that does not mean going back to your old job is the right way out. You got this role quickly on searching - it sounds like you do not know your own value and worth?

You wanted growth and change, but that is always anxiety inducing and will make you question your choice and decision. You will learn how your new role works and you will develop new skills to make it work. I’d stick it through for a good period and see how you feel.

But if it ends up being thay you really don’t like this job, it doesn’t then mean going back is or was the right decision. Nothing from your old job will be fixed or improved and you will feel the same again in a year. It feels like the safe option because it is familiar but rhwy didn’t value you enough to give you a salary your deserve. Your old manager obviously values you enough to want you back but mot enough to tell you that for your career to progress you do need to move forward.

You should look to move forward - if this new job isn’t a good fit in 6 months, work out what you really do want and look again. Don’t run back to familiar - you left for a reason but just becuase you haven’t found what you wanted yet downs mean give up.

I used to use Homeplug to get network from my router front downstairs of the house to the my office upstairs and back. It’s a small house, and I thought the homeplug was ok - I was getting about 150-200mbps of my 900mbps; not great but I thought it was a good as I could get. The electrics are about 10 years old but I could see there was a lot of noise and error correction when I looked at the software that came with the plugs. Simple direct wifi connection was atrocious as the walls are largely solid brick.

Then a couple of years later I read about how good they Mesh systems could be so I decided to try a cheap one. I was skeptical as wifi hadn’t worked for me. I got a Google Wifi system (not a fan of google but it was a cheap system compared to other mesh networks); it has no backhaul connection, just 3 wifi points (one in front room, one in hallway and one in office), and my speed jumped to 500mbps and low latency. I also hadn’t realised how bad the latency had been on my homeplug set up - it was night and day.

I have since upgraded to an ASUS XT8 system; 2 units only and I now get close to 800mbps on a good day, and 600-700mbps floor. My PC in my office is where I work (which involves high data transfers) and also game and chill, it’s been a huge boon.

So yeah, Homeplug does the job but it’s not great in my experience. It was cheap compared to a mesh network, but you get what you pay for. You can get some of the cheaper and older mesh systems 2nd hand on ebay - but unfortunately a good system is pricey. In my experience it was totally worth it.

They said “from what I know” which implies uncertainty, while the response made clear, no it doesn’t work.

Yeah Autism rates are going up in all groups because people are getting diagnoses. This is partly about better awareness but also partly about money - there is an incentive to expand the diagnosis, diagnose more people and treat more people, which somewhat muddies the water. Autistic Spectrum Disorder first appeared in the American DSM in 2012, unifying 5 existing conditions into one, and then it moved into the international ICD in 2018 (going live in 2022). It is no wonder awareness has gone up, and infrastructure for diagnosis has rolled out.

We’re not seeing an increase in Autism, we’re seeing an increase in the diagnosis of autism. This graph just shows how stupid and dumbed down the CDC and the White House is under this cretinous president.

Trying to rewrite history huh - they suspended the show because Kimmel criticised Trump, and the FCC threatened ABC/DIsney. Never forget.

I dunno, it’s good it wasn’t in the headline? It’d have been clickbait - the article makes it clear this is suspected suicide but that the police / FBI are keeping open minds because of the obvious connotations.

Suicide by hanging is unfortunately a common method taken by young men. The lack of any other signs makes foul play unlikely - without going into too much detail, unless he was drugged there would be signs of a struggle or injuries related to being restrained if it had been foul play. It sounds like there weren’t obvious signs of either and the toxicology results are awaited.

We didn’t “realise” we could watch stuff; we got touch screen technology, wifi and mobile data became cheaper as we got 3G, 4G and 5G. The we *could *watch stuff, and browse the internet - this was always the obvious course of phones even in the 90s when bricks were still around. Meanwhile battery tech hasn’t moved forwards much, so these big screen, wifi, Bluetooth & 5G connected,video playing devices need bigger batteries to keep going all day. Ironically a bigger device - even with a bigger screen - will have a longer battery life because you can physically fit a bigger battery in.

Also this chart stops at 2015 - and thats still accurate. Mobile phone tech has plateaued. Time was, iPhone launches each year were a big deal because Apple was good at bringing previously out a of reach tech into the mass market. Now all the changes are minor and phone launches are dull. iPhones are now just popular because they’re iPhones. Chips are getting a bit more energy efficient pushing the capabilities a bit; but cameras, screens, storage and connectivity are probably as good as they’re going to get for now beyone incremental changes.

We’re now probably in the enshittification phase where companies try to justify ever increasing prices but can’t - iPhone prices have been largely static for 5 years because Apple can’t find a compelling reason to increase them. Whether there are stupid notches in the phone display, or expensive accessories like wireless headphones or now trying to up-sell people on software / services - ultimately a phone is just a phone now. The manufacturers latest hope is that somehow AI will allow them to charge more but it’s looking like AI in it’s current form has little value to consumers. Apple has delayed it’s changes to Siri because it’s struggling to make something that isn’t basically just another unreliable overhyped LLM.

Realistically the next real leap in phones will probably only come if and when battery tech improves; if smaller high energy density batteries come then that really will unlock a new revolution. The AI bubble doesn’t look like it’s going to deliver.

Perhaps but what is the value of human life? Being remembered of living and enjoying life? You won’t be around to care that no one remembers you, but you are here to enjoy life right now. So why be bothered by what people in 600 years are up to.

I do get the discomfort but what are you “moral” objections? Is it that she too immature to make a decision? Or is it that you think your dad is taking advantage of her?

It’s worth working through why this is a moral issue for you, you’re a bit vague about it. In Europe the age of consent is variable but 16 is common, and it can be a bit jarring when you see the reactions of Americans to anyone under 18.

But in Europe adulthood has generally begun at 16, including being able to leave school and work in many places. The voting age is even being extended down to 16 from 18 in some places. So it’s not as clear cut that someone at 16 is not able to make independent decisions as American users sometimes make it seem.

Having said that, I personally don’t like the idea but more pragmatically for the age difference and the maturity difference. She can consent but there is a very significant change in maturity from 17 to 25, and I’m not sure how viable a relationship someone who is 48 can have with someone who is 17.

I think they are both adults and of the age of consent. You can express your concerns to your dad but ultimately it is both of their decisions and you should stay out of it beyond that (unless there are other issues that arise). I wouldn’t go too far judging him beyond that - he will be your dad for the rest of your life. If you had a best friend who was 17 and in a relationship with a 48 year old, you might express your opinion but would you interfere beyond that? Probably not - this should probably be the same.

Yeah absolutely, these things are cyclical! Hold on to those cabbage patch kids.

They might need access so that widgets can work?

I use Lawnchair which is FOSS rather than some company scraping data (like Nova which was bought by an analytics company and is being shut down)

Brave is being forced to use Googles version of Manifest 3 meaning ad blockers and anti trackers are crippled in favour of advertisers and Googles ad business. Brave will be including 4 manifest 2 extensions in its backend but that’s it. They’re stuck because Google decided to screw over the entire Chrome based ecosystem.

Mozilla is implementing Manifest 3 differently so the original techniques for adblocking and privacy still work.

So the only choice is Librewolf. Sacrificing privacy and security for smoother animations and Web translation of pages is not worth it.

Race is not the same as nationality, however it’s a difficult one because your examples Chinese and Indian are also perceived as ethnicities.

The question is a bit pointless anyway as the place itself will help determine who are the worst groups.

For example in this thread people are talking about British tourists - but in reality that is a subset of generally young and less well off British tourists who go to the Mediterranean - especially Spain but not exclusively - for cheap package holidays and party drunkardly. Meanwhile British tourists who go to other parts of Europe (families, wealthier tourists etc) or the rest of the world do not have that reputation.

Personally I don’t live in a tourist hot-spot now so tourists aren’t a problem. When I lived in London, the answer was generally European tourists but only because there were so many of them compared to other groups and they’d stand around in the middle of busy pavements blocking other people trying to get around. Worst was blocking Tube entrances. But far better than drunkardly vomiting and pissing all over the street I guess.

This version of the article misses important information from the original source Trend Force who issued a report on DDR4 prices which news sites have been quoting.

In addition to the supply constraints mentioned, the original report also cited Trump’s tarrifs which alongside the manufacturing supply slump could cause panic buying in the US specifically. This is speculation but based on the possibility Trump could “issue new tariffs or restrictions related to production capacity against China. This, in turn, may trigger another round of panic buying,”

The original report was posted to twitter with “Tarriff fears may trigger further panic buying”

It’s odd to talk about panic buying and not explain where that has come from. Also odd not to mention Trump’s tariffs when that was a key part of the original report in June.

The absolute basics:

1. Install qbittorrent
2. Install a VPN and run it so that all your Internet traffic goes down it
3. Open a Web browser and search for top torrent sites 2025. There are articles with lists of the big ones.
4. Go to a torrent site and search for what you want.
5. Download the .torrent file and open it in qbittorrent OR copy the magnet link and paste that into qbit torrent. Either will start your download.

Always use the VPN when searching and downloading.

There are lots of steps to make it more convenient - things like using a Virutal machine so the vpn and torrent do their thing while you do whatever else you want on your PC, or setting up a docker Servarr stack to make things more convenient, or setting up a Raspberry pi / other device as a servarr stack. But for the basics all you need is a torrent client, a VPN and a Web browser.

All the extra advanced stuff is just quality of life, like being able to leave it downloading securely 24hours a day or organising your downloads better.