Element/Matrix is pretty much what you’re looking for if you need self hosted. Could also look into Jabber/XMPP or IRC but Matrix is going to be way more modern and useable.

The info given above is incorrect. Normally, you’d need to forward ports on your router, but if you’re on a VPN your router doesn’t come into play. The VPN creates a tunnel directly from your PC to the VPN provider’s server, and whatever ports are open from that server are then forwarded to you, assuming they’re allowing port forwarding.

I used Nord a couple years ago and didn’t renew after they were breached and failed to disclose it to their users. I then tried Mozilla, but it regularly crashed when torrenting too fast. Slowing my torrents down to under 100mbit worked but sucked when I have a gbit connection. Then a family member passed away with an active expressvpn account so I used it and it was pretty fast for normal browsing, and just as good as Nord and better than Mozilla for torrents.

Now that ExpressVPN is expired, I just switched to proton and HOLY COW it is so much faster for torrents. Just check the button for port forwarding, and you’ll be assigned a random port. Plug that into qBittorrent and you’ll connect and start downloading so much faster it’s insane. Also go into the advanced setting in qBittorrent and you can set it to only use the ProtonVPN network connection, then if proton disconnects, qBittorrent won’t keep downloading on your normal ISP connection.

A crime isn’t a crime if the only punishment is a fine. In that case, it’s just the cost of doing business for the rich.

If the web is DRM’d in a way that requires chrome or windows then it could be difficult to bypass.

I remember the days of, “sorry, you must use Internet Explorer to use this website” when visiting my bank.

Get the Paperwhite Kids. Like $10 more than the ad supported version, no ads, free cover/case, 2 year accidental protection warranty instead of just one year manufacturer warranty. Just be sure to cancel the free trial of the kids service. Also, be sure to never connect it to wifi and just transfer your books through Calibre.

Coffee doesn’t give you energy. Coffee lets you borrow energy, and you pay it back with interest.

Ah, didn’t realize this. I never connected mine to WiFi

Ah, didn’t realize this. I never connected mine to WiFi.

Akshully, get the Paperwhite Kids. Like $10 more than the ad supported version, no ads, free cover/case, 2 year accidental protection warranty instead of just one year manufacturer warranty. Just be sure to cancel the free trial of the kids service.

Definitely a FLX Buzzz. Rocs have their place, but they’re so inconsistent and so many versions. A FLX Buzzz is gonna be close to the same every time. Get one a little beat in and I can power grip it and make it fly the wrong way. Throw it control and it has just enough fade. Can throw flick or backhand. Up against a tree and need to throw a short arm shot or a patent pending? Buzzz. Most courses, whether a little par 3 or even something as big as Winthrop Gold, you can shoot under par just by throwing a nice, consistent 300 feet on any line, and a Buzzz will do that every day of the week.

I went through a stage early in my disc golf “career” where I tried to have a disc for everything - wound up with 20+ discs in my bag and was exhausted every round from the weight. Pared down to just two buzzzes (one to throw and one to putt, or as a backup for OB/lost disc) and ended up winning a tourney that year. Now I’ve been using a small bag with 10-12 discs for most of a decade, but my two buzzzes in there haven’t changed.

You’re not wrong, it’s kind of like nuking from orbit. But there are definitely things you can do to help, like only spraying the house and immediately surrounding areas. Focus on spraying thick, decorative shrubs and not flowers where bees are likely to congregate. Spray at times bees aren’t out looking for food and mosquitoes are most likely hiding in shrubs during the heat of the day.

There are lots of other great suggestions in this thread, and I’d recommend the bait and zappers if OP only had the occasional mosquito in the house, or DEET if OP is temporarily outside, but bait doesn’t work on a large scale and deet is really bad for synthetic clothing/fabrics and wearing it all day in the house is a terrible idea.

The biggest thing everyone can do is clear out any standing water (buckets, tools, etc… mosquitoes will even lay eggs in a teaspoon of water given a chance), but op has already done that.

Call an exterminator, preferably a small mom&pop shop and not a big Orkin or Terminex or whatever, and have them come and and do a mosquito treatment. They’ll spray a chemical on the outside of your house, under the leaves of your trees/bushes, etc. Then they’ll spray inside, but just the corners for other bugs. You’ll need to keep your dog out of the chemical inside for about 10-20 minutes, and out of the chemical outside for probably an hour. After that it’s dry and non-toxic to mammals but will get soaked up by insects. Be sure to double check that with the exterminator, times vary depending on the chemical used.

Good treatments should last a solid 2-3 months, which ought to be enough to get you through the worst of mosquito season, unless you’re in Florida or something.

It feels really weird to go to one website and enter my credentials for another website. How secure is that? I guess whatever app I’m using could be storing credentials instead of using an API, but the fact I can see a URL and enter the wrong creds from my password manager feels off.

That sounds like a great idea!

/s

Last few books I’ve read I have thoroughly enjoyed, and I’m not a huge reader and very slow when I do read, but here you go:

Looking for Alaska by John Green. Picked up some books by this author because he’s been in the news for his books being banned from certain schools and classrooms. Might actually agree that this book shouldn’t be on the shelf for younger readers, but it’s very real and gritty and definitely something I would have loved to read in high school or college, but still enjoyed it as an adult. I read Perks of Being a Wallflower in high school and haven’t re-read it since, but it had a similar vibe to me.

Speaking of John Green, I saw an interview that his brother Hank Green did with Mary Robinette Kowal about her book The Spare Man. It’s a murder mystery set in space on a cruise ship going from Earth/Earth’s Moon to Mars. Think Hercule Poirot / Miss Marple, but in space, and with updated/modern sensibilities.

Currently reading the Tripod series by John Christopher. (Note that When the Tripods Came is a prequel, read that last.) Feels a little weird as a modern reader who’s seen Star Wars / Star Trek and consumed modern sci-fi media. Maybe not weird, but certainly feels not fully fleshed out in the first book. I’m on book 2 now and it’s taking a more sci-fi and even more dystopian tone. Books aren’t super long, designed for younger readers to enjoy, so the plot moves quick enough without getting bogged down in too many unnecessary details. I hate books like Great Expectations by Dickens because it could have been a better story if it weren’t being stretched out for periodical release. I felt like Dickens spent way too much time in his books describing things I care nothing about instead of progressing the story and explaining as necessary. The Tripod books are the opposite of that: just enough description to get you going, and a few reminders of the scenery as required, but otherwise you just fill in the blanks with your own imagination, which I think is wonderful.

Most important lesson I learned in DG, I learned early on: It doesn’t matter if you throw 50 ft further than the competition if they can make 50 ft putts.

For your 400 ft hole scenario, imagine throwing 425 long, you go OB, pull it back in, miss the putt, hit it for 4. OR, you throw 300 nice and controlled, little putter upshot of 100’, drop in for 3.

Drop that down to a 330 foot hole and throwing 300 and hitting a 30 ft putt gets you a 2, throwing 350 and missing the 20 foot comeback gets you a 3 at best, probably worse if you have an “interesting” green.

Practice driving if you want, but working on upshots from 50-100 feet and putting out to 20, then 30, 40, 50 ft will make you a SIGNIFICANTLY better disc golfer.

All that said, if you really want to increase distance, know that it’s all about speed, not necessarily strength. You also need to be smooth. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Watch some YT tutorials from a normal sized human like Dave Feldberg, especially older stuff from him, or maybe watch some of the ladies who throw well. Learning how to throw far from Big Jerm or Shoestring doesn’t help as much (at least for me) because they can do almost everything wrong and still throw far because they have 7 foot wingspans, LOL. Feldberg is 5’11".

Oh, and make sure you’re throwing the correct disc for your current arm speed, and one with plenty of glide. Try something slow with a lot of glide like a Kite. It’s kind of flippy. If you throw it flat and it flies straight, you don’t have the speed for a driver yet. When your Kite gets flippy, try a fairway driver like a Leopard or Cheetah. When those get flippy, try a Valkyrie or Roadrunner. You should be hitting 400 with a Valk or Roadrunner before trying anything faster or more stable than that.

Also check your disc weights. Only throw max weight mid ranges and maybe fairway drivers, or if you really need something overstable to fight a headwind. You’ll probably want a 150-160 class leopard/cheetah and a 150-160 Valk/Roadrunner to start with to get that extra float.

Finally disc plastic as that ties into weight. Champ/Z plastic is super overstable and takes forever to beat in and give you the S curves needed for distance. Champ and Z are also awful for your grip. If you need something premium for durability in the woods try Star/G Star and ESP/ESP FLX or equivalents. For long bombs in the open, look for DX or Pro or equivalent. It’ll give you better grip and beat in a bit for more glide and longer throws until it eventually gets too flippy.

Saint IGNUcius of the Church of Emacs.

Oof, too soon 😂

Looking for something physical? Try Disc Golf! Most courses are free to play and you probably have one at a public park near you. See https://dgcoursereview.com for lists and maps.

Same basic rules as normal “ball” golf apply: throw a disc (basically a frisbee) from a tee to a basket in as few throws as possible. A normal cheap frisbee you already have might work OK on a small short course, but just like golf clubs there are disc versions of putters, mid range, and drivers, including ones that are more likely to “turn” to the right (if you throw righty backhand) or “fade” left at the end of the flight.

I’d recommend picking up a starter pack from Innova or Discraft (two of the big disc golf brands) which can be had for about $20 on Amazon, or buy individual discs on discgolfcenter.com or a local store that sells them so you can get some tips and tricks for playing. The starter pack usually has lighter weight discs that are easier to throw. They are also generally “slower” and “float” more. Don’t believe the marketing about “super fast long range drivers” - they only go farther if you have the arm speed to throw them properly, and if you don’t you will probably throw your mid range or fairway driver further, so start with those discs for now.

Also search for local clubs in your area. Despite the reputation for DG players being stoners and hippies (lots of us are! 😉), we are also a generally friendly and helpful crowd. Find out when a club is meeting for a friendly round or family night (or maybe even a paid tourney), or ask at a local shop that carries discs if they know when and where the club is playing. Show up, find someone who looks old and in charge 🤣 and introduce yourself and tell them honestly you’ve never played and show them your discs and ask them if you can join. They’ll probably invite you into a group. If you find a group playing doubles or “Captain’s Choice” that’s even better - you and your partner both get to throw, and you take the best shot (probably your partner’s) and you won’t get as frustrated at 50-60 terrible throws as you would at 100 terrible throws playing by yourself.

Remind them you’ve never played and ask for help for everything, from what disc to throw to how to throw it. Most importantly, TAKE CRITICISM AND ADVICE WITH A SMILE. That old guy may not be amazing, and he may sound gruff, but when he suggests a different stance or disc, he’s got your best interest at heart. Maybe what you were about to do might work, but he know percentages and that a different shot will more likely work better. Or maybe he knows from experience you’re going to destroy your knees or elbows with a certain form, and you can get by with it as a teenager but you’ll regret those decisions in 20 years.

Once you get practice at the course a little bit, you won’t even need to go and play rounds all the time. A local empty football or soccer field or an empty lot can make a great driving range for practice. Tie some rope around a tree in the back yard about the distance between the bands of a disc golf basket and now you have a place to practice putting. If it’s raining and you have a big garage or open room, you can buy a collapsible indoor basket to practice putting or you could even aim at a piece of paper or pie plate taped to the back of the couch.

Finally, just have FUN! Disc golf will be super fun when you have low expectations. As you finally start to figure it out again couple of rounds you’ll get some beginner’s luck, then you’ll try to replicate that and get super frustrated. Just chill and remember: you’re still a beginner and I’ve played for 15 years and still can’t shoot under par consistently. 😂

That’s…um…interesting. Really thinking more simple, understated kind of light, that just kind of disappeas and doesn’t make a show. That light screams Rolls Royce, while I’m looking at upgrading from a Kia to a Camry, or maybe an Audi.