0x29A's recent activity
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Comment on Hisense TVs show ads during normal operation in ~tech
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
0x29A (edited )LinkSwitched my home unraid server from a tiny PC to a full-size one with much more memory. Upgraded to latest. Using a tiny PC in my living room now and just upgraded its memory. My powerful previous...Switched my home unraid server from a tiny PC to a full-size one with much more memory. Upgraded to latest. Using a tiny PC in my living room now and just upgraded its memory. My powerful previous living room PC is now my music production system, on Win10 for compatibility and annoyance reasons (screw updates and Win11). My prior music system (M4 mac mini) is gone. No more macOS or mac hardware for me. I am out and glad to be. All Linux now except the one Win10 box. Lots of MX Linux around now because I have come to love that OS. Testing Cachy out on a spare box.
Updated my DIY OPNsense router to latest.
I have a spare tiny PC with no use case yet but going to 3D print some VESA mounts to mount it behind a spare monitor of mine. Might use it for cameras or sensors or other project purposes.
Going to potentially 3D print a more airflow-friendly chassis for the living room tiny PC mostly for fun.
Also word of warning- if you install a Unifi controller app on Unraid, by default it will save configs to a temp folder for some reason because it's using some temp locations for speed. However if certain other things are not configured before this so that it backs up or saves somewhere- you can lose your Unifi config on reboot. Ask me how I know :)
I didn't back it up yet and had JUST reset my APs and adopted them to the new controller only to lose it all so now if I ever want to make changes or updates I have to go through all of that again :/
In the process of setting them up though I was able to find I had suboptimal configuration so I changed the width of the frequency bands and my wifi is now twice as fast as before. Getting like 500mbps down on a gigabit connection.
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Comment on Proton Mail helped US FBI unmask anonymous ‘Stop Cop City’ protester in ~tech
0x29A Link ParentI am a vehement AI hater but I don't get that sense from it at allI am a vehement AI hater but I don't get that sense from it at all
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Comment on Lenovo’s new ThinkPads score 10/10 for repairability in ~tech
0x29A (edited )Link ParentI mean, sure, it's a partnership, but that partnership seems to wholly consist of iFixit providing consulting about assessing and assisting with ideas for repairability and similar features. If...I mean, sure, it's a partnership, but that partnership seems to wholly consist of iFixit providing consulting about assessing and assisting with ideas for repairability and similar features.
If the partnership has a commission aspect or in some way pays iFixit per sale, then I feel like the criticism would hold more strongly. Or, if said partnership was exclusive and means they'd never partner with anyone else. Is there any evidence this is anything more than iFixit simply providing repairability consultation? If not, I don't get the "driving sales" angle- though I could say that's a good idea too, because the more people that buy repairable products, the more Lenovo might be inclined to keep it going forward
If a partnership is what it takes to get manufacturers on board then I don't see it as a negative that iFixit has found a way to work with companies that they're receptive to
I will concede that it could still have some effect of questionable significance on their ability to score it objectively, but I doubt it goes any deeper than that. And that's coming from me, who typically defaults to the cynical take (and I am still cynical about Lenovo's commitment to the idea)
Upgradability would be nice, though I think getting Lenovo even to this point was probably a struggle. While some parts will be upgradable (less focus on soldered RAM, SSDs, or other modules which is great), getting them to Framework level is probably an uphill battle. I don't envision a world where you can buy a new generation of motherboard and CPU and pop it in your Thinkpad chassis as much as I would love that
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Comment on Lenovo’s new ThinkPads score 10/10 for repairability in ~tech
0x29A LinkA bit surprised (and glad) to see this. Those thunderbolt ports being modular and easy to replace is huge though. Those ports and/or USB-C ports have historically (at least in my experience...A bit surprised (and glad) to see this. Those thunderbolt ports being modular and easy to replace is huge though. Those ports and/or USB-C ports have historically (at least in my experience supporting them) been a common failure point through wear and tear in an office environment, that used to require entire motherboard replacement.
I'm a bit skeptical/cynical, despite the Lenovo reps' comments which were a bit over-the-top and almost sounded written by a marketing team or something, whether the company really cares about this, but I'm glad it's happening regardless, that least some people care inside Lenovo, and that iFixit has found the right way to communicate with companies to get them on board with these kinds of changes. I don't want to punish a good deed by being overly negative, but it's one of these things that I have a sinking feeling won't last. But they could very well prove me wrong, and maybe iFixit's influence will help them do so.
Thinkpads being extremely repairable is unambiguously a good thing, especially since they often do make for good Linux machines
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
0x29A LinkRecently overhauled a ton of my computing devices in the home. Got rid of a mac mini for music production, switched to a Win10 box. Got tired of macOS annoyances + mac hardware annoyances...Recently overhauled a ton of my computing devices in the home. Got rid of a mac mini for music production, switched to a Win10 box. Got tired of macOS annoyances + mac hardware annoyances (non-upgradability, etc) and it's the one Windows exception I will make because I don't have to worry about updates anymore and Linux is just not ready for music production yet. It's getting closer with yabridge and such but it's just a pile of annoyances trying to get certain software to work.
Everything else in the home is fully linux.
My old living room PC is now my music production PC as its power is better used there. I have a mini PC in the living room now which makes much more sense and is no longer massively overkill for what I need. Moved my Unraid server to a bigger box with far more RAM and storage upgradability. That box used to be a "retro arcade" kind of box that never ended up getting used. Took the old mini PC that used to be the Unraid server and it's now just a spare mini PC I might use for projects (sensors? cameras/security DVR? etc). For now, using it to try out distros and such instead of using VMs
Daily driver gaming PC is about the only device that remains untouched. That and my laptop that I recently installed MX Linux on. Daily driver PC could use a distro change but it's a bigger undertaking I don't feel like doing at the moment because it just works in its current state, so why shake it up.
Been using the Kill-A-Watt in various places to get an idea of the power usage of different systems at idle and under load and such. It's cool to get that information to get an idea of what these various system change-outs could mean in terms of impact. Everything is low power enough that it shouldn't make a massive difference
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Comment on My T430 in ~comp
0x29A LinkI have a Thinkpad A485 I plan to try to keep as long as possible as my laptop. I gave up a much more powerful Dell laptop because I wanted to go more lightweight / silent / etc and it's been...I have a Thinkpad A485 I plan to try to keep as long as possible as my laptop. I gave up a much more powerful Dell laptop because I wanted to go more lightweight / silent / etc and it's been great. Did have to rollback BIOS to find one that worked well with Linux though. They've got some weird battery/power bugs in some versions. But it's rock solid now.
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Comment on What are you no longer a fan of? in ~talk
0x29A Link ParentYeah. I do find it somewhat amusing that I find Underoath's music was better when they were Christians, but that's just a matter of preference. But it's just funny to me that I like their views...Yeah. I do find it somewhat amusing that I find Underoath's music was better when they were Christians, but that's just a matter of preference. But it's just funny to me that I like their views better now but their music a lot less. That said, neither era of Underoath is really my thing anymore, but glad they've taken the personal trajectory they did
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Comment on What are you no longer a fan of? in ~talk
0x29A Link ParentThanks! Yeah for alcohol I used to drink heavily about once a week, then in the recent past 5-10 years maybe a couple drinks a week max. And lately even that small amount, just enjoying a single...Thanks! Yeah for alcohol I used to drink heavily about once a week, then in the recent past 5-10 years maybe a couple drinks a week max. And lately even that small amount, just enjoying a single whiskey, would sometimes give me instant headaches, or make me feel awful, mentally and physically. A lot of the time it just consistently led to feeling bad in some way or another. I look back at it like "I had my fun, I had my moderation, now it's time to leave it behind" and I'm so glad I did.
Tea and coffee are huge parts of my life now and also take the place of a lot of sweets / other things for me too. Also go for fruit sometimes. If I do have candy, I have individually wrapped small pieces that are only a couple of grams of sugar each, and that's enough friction to control my portions and keep my daily added sugars at a minimum. I do still intake some sweetness/sugar via condiments, but I try not to go overboard there either (at least then it's on top of food that has fiber/nutrients/etc).
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Comment on What are you no longer a fan of? in ~talk
0x29A (edited )Link ParentSpent a lot of time in Christian bookstores as a youth. Went to a Jars of Clay show myself early on. First CD I owned was DC Talk's Jesus Freak. I got deep into Solid State and Tooth & Nail...Spent a lot of time in Christian bookstores as a youth. Went to a Jars of Clay show myself early on. First CD I owned was DC Talk's Jesus Freak. I got deep into Solid State and Tooth & Nail releases. Went to small local punk and metal shows in a heavily religious town. Got into almost every genre outside of super benign radio CCM junk, started my metalhead journey in the Christian music scene first, first exposure to rap was Christian rap, etc. Later on was into the more extreme metal side of things. It's interesting looking back for sure, but putting on any of that music transports me to that era pretty quickly mentally and I don't like that feeling at all. These days I still listen to most genres, but completely outside of (or even adversarial towards) the Christian side of things.
I similarly lament a lot of what I've seen with many of the acts going super right-wing. Demon Hunter / Clark brother stuff went that direction too IIRC. I similarly think that entire scene is rotting. Like a comment I saw elsewhere said one time "I wonder if the Christian music industry is just a distilled form of all the more negative/toxic aspects of the church in general"
I am glad to see a number of artists that made it out, many of whom have good politics, or even have plenty of members that left evangelicalism, etc. Underoath are no longer believers. I am a massive Bazan fan- he has very publicly broken up with the faith and made that clear through his music and documentary (and is probably my favorite musician of all time). Love most Pedro The Lion and Bazan records. He wasn't shy even decades ago about really challenging the faith from within. Zao are no longer religious and still kick ass (and have good political views). There are quite a number of similar trajectories for bands from that era- so I'm glad to see not all of them remain trapped in that disaster. meWithoutYou later revealed some members weren't religious, others had varying faiths, etc. I was a HUGE fan of MXPX. I don't enjoy them as much now, but they also distanced themselves from religion quite a bit. Lead singer of Hawk Nelson no longer religious.
A Where Are They Now documentary about all of that would be so interesting. I'd be into that for sure
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Comment on What are you no longer a fan of? in ~talk
0x29A LinkMost traditional FPS games, especially war-themed and/or multiplayer Used to be a huge player of Call of Duty, Counter Strike, Unreal Tournament, etc. I no longer get any enjoyment out of them....Most traditional FPS games, especially war-themed and/or multiplayer
Used to be a huge player of Call of Duty, Counter Strike, Unreal Tournament, etc. I no longer get any enjoyment out of them. I've just completely grown out of it and I think most modern incarnations of this type of thing are just boring rehashes of the same stuff. Even things I would find interesting possibly (Helldivers) I just can't get into.Multiplayer games in general
Aside from Rocket League and a very occasional co-op (or asynchronous cooperative thing like an ARPG guild in PoE for trading, etc), I generally stay far away from anything multiplayer. I'm just not interested in interacting with any random people through games anymore. Even on Rocket League, I have all "typed chat" turned off- quick chats only. Never voice chat (unless its with a friend external to the game)Alcohol
Gave it up completely a couple of years ago. It's not that I hate it across the board, so I guess from a distance I could still be considered a "fan" of whiskey or whatever, it's just that I chose to move on. Decided even a single drink is no longer worth it. I don't like being around (or talking online to) people that are heavily under the influence. It all just gives me a vibe that no longer works for me AND also it's just bad for me to have at all (big headache trigger, even when drinking just one serving a day).Most nu-metal, 98% of Christian music
I've slowly started shedding some of my nostalgia and find a lot of what I used to listen to in some genres/etc to be much more mediocre than I ever dared to realize. So much of the lyrics are cringey and awful and a lot of the music is mid at best. I was so bent on listening to certain things that it was preventing me from taking the time to enjoy new or better things. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, and can easily cross a line from occasional fun to actually having a negative impact. As I left the faith, I also left behind nearly every bit of Christian music I used to listen to (and at one point, prior to being an adult- was the only thing I was allowed to listen to). There are a couple of artists I still appreciate, but it's just a past life for me I have no interest in revisiting (and often just feel uncomfortable doing so).Some subgenres/very particular expressions of music
Some other stuff I've left behind too are just cringe / bad humor music in general. I have no idea what I used to get out of hokey "pirate metal" type stuff. Drinking at the time and playing board games around the themes probably helped it "fit" (and the fact that it was a friend's choice of music not mine), but I can't stand the stuff today and think it's awful, not funny, and really just kinda despite that it even exists as a type of music. If I'm going to listen to any kind of "folk" metal, it needs to be very genuine and not cheesy / overdone melodies / etc. Music + comedy rarely works, but there are exceptions to the rule. Comedy is a lot harder than most bands think it is.Speaking of board games...
Used to play weekly with a group. Now, the reasons I stopped playing are more complex than just the board games. Politics/behavior were involved too. However, I did eventually burn out on playing board games in general. Just started to feel more like a chore than fun, and half way through I'd just not "feel it" anymore. After playing many hours in one sitting per week it just kinda got old, even though we kept getting new games.A lot of bands with iffy politics / views / behavior
I used to not care at all and not even investigate bands for a split second before listening to them. Now I've done a complete 180 on that and am rather particular. I still leave some leeway for private listening, but I'm overly (and okay with being so) careful about recommending, representing (patches/stickers/etc), or otherwise promoting or providing financial support to plenty of acts that I wouldn't have thought twice about previously.I'll say religion in general, especially Christianity, but no need for me to expand on that this time around.
Movies / TV Shows / especially Fiction, with games being the main exception to the rule
I watched movies and tv shows all the time as a kid and teen. As an adult, I don't watch any. It's only Youtube/Twitch style content, and when it's YouTube it's not fictional, it's science or trades or philosophy or technology, etc. I enjoy reading, but generally no fiction there either. I just don't get the same thing out of it others do most of the time. There can be exceptions, but 9 times out of 10 I want something non-fictional. Either educational, practical, social, political, etc. - and I understand fiction can still have something to say about these, I just prefer the directness of non-fiction.Candy / sugary things
I like the occasional treat, but as I've changed my eating habits, I do not eat most of the sweet stuff I used to, and I have no desire to go back. 1000 calorie pints of loaded ice cream, sweettarts ropes, just pure sugar stuff. Now, if I have snacks, it's the occasional chip, or mini pecan pie, or cheesecake, etc. -
Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative
0x29A Link ParentI did finally get my coffee notes / ratings / info online. It's subject to be updated often, as this is my initial version of it. Tea is in the works too, not sure when it will be up but soon!I did finally get my coffee notes / ratings / info online. It's subject to be updated often, as this is my initial version of it. Tea is in the works too, not sure when it will be up but soon!
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
0x29A Link ParentYeah, my big qualm with the industry is the licensing and pricing and all of that seems just annoying (like they're only thinking about big businesses and corporations), or you have things like...Yeah, my big qualm with the industry is the licensing and pricing and all of that seems just annoying (like they're only thinking about big businesses and corporations), or you have things like Autodesk having decent software but annoying terms, or they remove features, or make things a subscription, or require a big yearly fee for any commercial use, etc.
There seems to be no real regard for small operations/businesses or hobbyists in the space, and the tools that do exist for those are either somewhat difficult but powerful (like the open options) or do odd things with the licensing (I think TinkerCAD basically owns the rights to your designs or something weird).
There are a few small-time CAD software companies but I rarely hear about them much. Ones with one-time pricing and so on, which is where I ended up on Plasticity to try out. Reasonable pricing and licensing options, and an easy to use UI. I was able to make quick mockups of simple parts and print them from Plasticity pretty easily. I do still think they're a bit early in the game, because there are very integral options that they've only added recently and aren't obvious (like manually entering it dimensions).
Also one downside to Plasticity is currently their unions/subtractions/other boolean operations are permanent- not modular/undoable, so you can lock yourself into a particular design if you're not careful. So I wouldn't say it's really "there" yet, but it might be there enough for me to get by.
I hadn't tried Blender yet for this purpose. Does Blender allow accuracy of dimensions the way CAD does? A lot of times the things I'm designing aren't aesthetic "minis" or toys or anything, but instead need specific measurements because they're often parts for something around the house. Maybe CAD plugins would make it worthwhile actually? I should give that a shot
I've also heard about Alibre Atom3D but never tried it. What sold me on Plasticity was the Linux availability.
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Comment on Path of Exile | Mirage League content reveal in ~games
0x29A LinkAfter the most recent Phrecia event where I got ARPG-burnout before I really did much endgame (not Phrecia or PoE's fault, just have been playing too much ARPG stuff), I wasn't sure if I'd be...After the most recent Phrecia event where I got ARPG-burnout before I really did much endgame (not Phrecia or PoE's fault, just have been playing too much ARPG stuff), I wasn't sure if I'd be ready to jump back into PoE again, but there's so much good stuff in 3.28 I don't think I'll be able to avoid it.
There's so MANY changes and so many incredible shake-ups and QOL and so on that the game is going to feel very different and very much the same at the same time-which is what they were aiming for- leaving the "core" that people enjoy there but making some massive changes this time around.
Excited for the new atlas, and the "PoE2 waystones but good" change, as well as all sorts of things. They got me again!
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
0x29A LinkTrying to figure out if I want to try to wrap my head around OpenSCAD. It's hard for me to choose one specific route (and some neurodivergence likely contributes to this) so I've also been messing...Trying to figure out if I want to try to wrap my head around OpenSCAD. It's hard for me to choose one specific route (and some neurodivergence likely contributes to this) so I've also been messing around with OpenCAD as well as a demo of a paid CAD program with decent pricing/licensing, and Linux availability, which is Plasticity.
Not exactly sure where I'll land because, I can see for certain things the SCAD program working well with my brain- although I'm not a programmer I think programmatically creating CAD designs might just scratch an itch sometimes. Other times, I like how OpenCAD is incredibly powerful once you get used to it. But ultimately, a lot of the time, I want to avoid the annoying workflow of OpenCAD and the programmer-brain of SCAD and just design stuff by drawing / by hand, but in a more intuitive/fast way, and that's where a regular CAD program comes in.
After messing around with TinkerCAD a bit on the web, and liking that, but wanting to avoid a majority of the licensing/pricing and general "blah" of a lot of companies in the CAD space, Plasticity stood out as something that might be a good middle ground for me. Not sure yet, but we'll see. The couple of simple test designs I did quickly impressed me, at least.
On a positive note re: 3D printing, I changed my nozzle out to a steel one so that there's not even trace/minimal leeching of lead from a brass nozzle. Also swapped to a textured and two-sided build plate so I can dedicate one side to PLA and the other to PETG. Then I learned transparent PLA is a thing anyway, so PETG will probably be a rarity other than using the spool I have right now.
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Comment on Single vaccine could protect against all coughs, colds and flus, researchers say in ~health
0x29A LinkWorth being excited about the prospect but taking news like this with many grains of salt- in understanding that the study this is referring to was in mice, and those same benefits may or may not...Worth being excited about the prospect but taking news like this with many grains of salt- in understanding that the study this is referring to was in mice, and those same benefits may or may not translate to humans, and of course all the unknowns in regards to side-effects, downsides, etc.
Still worthwhile science being done, but this is one of those millions of times where the media makes this good work being done and runs with it for a quick headline, before anything is proven to work in humans, etc.
The article does go on to talk about it being in early stages, and being only done in mice, and so on, but the culture of bombastic media headlines running on the fumes of the "excitement of experts" I think does more harm to science communication than good
Is coffee good or bad for me this week? Did you hear about that new battery technology? etc
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Comment on Phil Spencer is leaving Microsoft/Xbox in ~games
0x29A LinkI don't feel like Spencer had much to offer, but I don't see this improving things at all. However my expectations of Microsoft and its subsidiaries are so on-the-ground low that I don't think...I don't feel like Spencer had much to offer, but I don't see this improving things at all. However my expectations of Microsoft and its subsidiaries are so on-the-ground low that I don't think there's any hope they do anything worthwhile
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Comment on Drinking two-three cups of coffee a day tied to lower dementia risk in ~health.mental
0x29A (edited )Link ParentI haven't. In fact, I am deeper into coffee now than ever before. I agree that I see no reason to think the study is just trying to get people to buy coffee. There's no sign of heavy industry...I haven't. In fact, I am deeper into coffee now than ever before. I agree that I see no reason to think the study is just trying to get people to buy coffee. There's no sign of heavy industry involvement in this study. The authors don't seem to have a conflict of interest. I don't know who funded it, to be fair, but I don't always think that industry funding leads to forced outcomes.
I was already getting used to higher prices because of buying specialty coffee that treats producers/farms well and as I have been pressed on budget heavily, I have given up many other things first. Coffee is one of a few small joys that I refuse to let go of among the horrors.
Edit: related video: The Coffee Commodity Market Explained in 12 Minutes
The commodity market price of coffee certainly is way higher than it has been historically, but that commodity price has always been too low. That doesn't mean that it going up translates to treating producers better but its historically wildly low price is indicative of a long history of underpricing coffee across the board in a way that makes it competitively priced at home but exploitatively priced at origin. It does fluctuate and has been coming down from peak a bit after some tariff things were settled and so on.The real truth is most grocery store coffee is still relatively VERY inexpensive, and a majority of the mass-produced stuff is still exploitatively low cost when it comes to paying producers properly regardless of it having to become more expensive because the underlying costs are higher due to commodity price changes, transportation prices, tariffs, the real threat of climate change to coffee, etc.
All about perspective. When I am used to spending $18-$28 on a bag of specialty my perspective has adjusted to actually be a bit suspicious of anything that costs $8-$12 for my personal values but all of that to say there's plenty of inexpensive coffee still on the market for anyone that wants it. Dunkin, 8 O' Clock, etc are still very affordable. Local roasters with grocery distributions are often only slightly above those costs.
Especially when people spend $4 for a coffee drink at Starbucks- one realizes that $4 of coffee beans can go much much further than that. Even at my specialty buying level I am paying $0.80-$1.50 per day of coffee, and a lot of non-specialty options are half that cost. Fair point that I drink less than a lot of people though (I am not making big pots of coffee)
I don't deny though that with peoples' budgets squeezed and especially for those struggling that some have probably given up coffee, because for them even a small uptick in price has a huge impact. I want to remain mindful of my privilege.
I just don't think that given the overall picture it makes much sense to assume a study like this is surreptitiously trying to get people to buy more coffee. This DOESN'T mean I think the study means much overall either. I am not defending its conclusions or methodology just not convinced of malintent
Dang this got long-winded and so on. I got rambling off on some tangent. Sorry :/
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Comment on WORM - Witchmoon: The Infernal Masquerade (Feat. Marty Friedman) (2026) in ~music
0x29A Link ParentYeah this release is so damn good. I was torn at first (being a fan of Worm's previous death/doom efforts) but they've nailed the new stuff so well I'm not mad at all hahaYeah this release is so damn good. I was torn at first (being a fan of Worm's previous death/doom efforts) but they've nailed the new stuff so well I'm not mad at all haha
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Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music
0x29A LinkBeen listening to some incredible releases from yesterday, both of which might be "top X of the year" contenders for me already: Worm - Necropalace - Death/doom band that has turned into vampiric...Been listening to some incredible releases from yesterday, both of which might be "top X of the year" contenders for me already:
Worm - Necropalace - Death/doom band that has turned into vampiric 90s symphonic doom-infused black metal with some incredible solos/guitar work by probably one of the best metal guitarists, Phil Tougas (of other incredible projects like Exxul and Zeicrydeus).
Fossilization - Advent of Wounds - One of my favorite bands. Murky, dark, weighty death/doom that hits you like a brick wall. Straight out of the crypt
+1 for NextDNS. I loved the Pi-hole when I had it set up, but I prefer NextDNS because I can use it anywhere/everywhere easily, not just on my own network. I have the app on my phone so I can block ads at the network level while using cellular data or public wifi too. Great for reducing data use on cell data (especially since my plan has a small amount of data for budget and "i never use it" reasons).
I have it configured on my router and also as a custom DNS over HTTPS URL in my browser settings