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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 16th, 2023

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  • 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.



  • There is nothing wrong with that PC but there is an opportunity cost to be aware of - upgrades.

    A PC like that is static - you pay £600 and you get the PC, but after a few years if you’ve out grown it then you need to get a whole other PC. It’s the same with laptops.

    However if you spend the £600 on a case, a motherboard, a cpu with a gpu, ram and storage you have a full starter PC. You can even save money by not paying for windows (built into the price of the mini PC) and get Linux for free. PCs are modular and any component can be upgraded and switched out at any time later.

    So in a couple of years you may decide the PC is slowing down, or you’re out growing it, and you can swap in some more RAM or upgrade the CPU. Or you decide you can afford a dedicated graphics card, you can just buy the card and slot it in, and every £ goes into getting a great graphics card instead of starting again from scratch

    Think of it like this: if you buy an all in one device you might spend £600 now and say another £600 in 3-5 years if you need to upgrade and fully replace it, and probably are still very limited in what you can get. A replacement will still have integrated graphics and still be behind cutting edge games, and just be a newer version of the same problem you have now. But with a full PC build you might spend £600 now for an OK PC and in 3-5years time you pay £600 just to add a great graphics card and have something way better than any mini PC. Or you spend £400 now and £200 in 2 years and £100 in 3 years and £500 in 4 years and gradually keep the PC how you want it without having to start from scratch. You end up with a decent PC now and gradually something powerful but without the upfront cost and without “wasting” money having to get a new device with a new motherboard, new cpu, new power supply, new RAM every time.You want an uplift .

    It’s a crude example but the point is a full size PC can be expanded and switched up continously, and you can adapt it, and likely get something far better for the same money long term, while a fixed spec all-in-one device can serve a purpose for now but then needs total replacement when you outgrow it.

    Building a full PC from scratch is easy - genuinely it’s plug and play, and only takes a bit of basic research to see what components are best to buy. There are loads of tutorials on how to put it together. Meanwhile your money goes much further over the longer term as you’re not having to buy a whole new PC everytime you need/want an upgrade - you can instead focus your money on the bits that need to change.

    Even if you get a prebuilt tower PC now (ATX or Mini ATX) your money will go further AND you have something that you can upgrade and adapt. Although I think building from scratch is the best option as prebuilt Pcs are a false economy - they save money with cheaper components and you pay for labour on the build, when you can build it yourself for free and put every £ into better components.

    Don’t be intimidated by building a PC - it’s nowhere near as difficult as it seems, and is an easy to obtain skill but worth learning as it’ll save you money, and allow you to fix and problem solve if you ever have problems in the future.

    If.you have a PC now - even if it’s a pre build from a manufacturer - you can very likely open it up and start upgrading it now, and your money can go much further.


  • 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.


  • 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.


  • It uses Android Web view which is essentially just Chrome without the interface, and is entirely proprietary. It suffers from all the drawbacks of Chrome based browsers with the added problem of being an Android component so out of much, if any, control of the developers.

    This app should not be a serious consideration for anyone who is privacy or security focused. The very first thing a secure browser should be providing is it’s own rendering engine. Even providing it’s own chrome based rendering engine would be more secure than this.

    Also in terms of extensions, as it is Chrome based it’s extensions such as uBlock will have the same privacy breaking restrictions as the rest of the chrome ecosystem with manifest v3 which favours Google’s advertising business over user security and privacy.


  • Not a scam but maybe over engineered and difficult to sell for most uses? Theoretically blockchain could be used for all sorts of applications, but apart from a bunch of startups it’s not taken off. Maybe it’s just not compelling financially for businesses.

    For an established business or organisation It’d be a big leap to switch over to blockchain but the benefits are not immediately relisable or tangible in a business setting. In a world where short term profits already trump long term investment, it does make sense that business are not rushing to adopt blockchain.

    I’d think of it like this - companies don’t have the foresight to invest in IT and security; they slash IT budgets, use equipment until the last possible moment deferring expensive upgrades and don’t put money in to protect themselves from cyber crime. For example, big banks quite literally still use systems that are decades out of date.

    If companies behave like that already why would they invest in switching to the block chain? The benefits are long term and not easily understood. It’s hard to sell investment in a technology on blockchain when most people struggle to understand what it is, let alone what it’s benefits may be.

    Most people only know about it because of cryptocurrency but even then don’t really understand how it works, and that usage scenario is world’s away from the other theoretical uses. Cryptocurrency makes money because it’s a speculative asset (at the moment at least). Other uses at best prevent fraud and companies are generally useless at trying to prevent fraud. When they do, it’s focused around the actual transactions not the ledger. They don’t see someone “cooking the books” being the priority problem to solve.

    Data security and verifying is not a priority for companies. If companies are spending money at the moment, it’s short term nonsense such as the AI bubble. And public organisations seldom have the imagination or freedom/resource to be an early adoptor a new technology.

    So, no I don’t think it’s a scam. I think it’s something that is difficult to implement and sell in the real world. And all people can see at present is “crypto currency goes up in value” not the actual underlying benefit of cryptocurency as a currency. Crytpcurrency is doing well currently because it is scarce and has become an asset bubble, not because the blockchain itself is the star.





  • Personally I’d be pissed off to be honest. It’s none of his business and this is crossing boundaries.

    Being set up with random women you’ve never met and he himself likely barely knows is very unlikely to be successful. He’s also aggressive and rude about it. Why is he so angry you’re single?

    This isn’t about the random date, this is about the way your dad treats you. You’re 22, not a child, it’s none of his business. How you react to this determines how he behaves in the future - if you don’t want him doing this again you need to tell him where to go.



  • All PCs are a frankenstein mix of parts, that’s the beauty of PCs. Components can be mixed and matched and usually work together well.

    So instead of a new PC think of how you can evolve your current PC. You may be able to upgrade the CPU or even better replace the motherboard and CPU but keep the case and other components for now until you can afford to make more changes. If that’s too expensive then look at upgrading other components until you can do a big shift with the motherboard and CPU. For example get an SSD if you don’t have one, maybe uograde the graphics card for a gaming boost etc.

    Don’t think of a PC as being a single thing - any component can be upgraded and switched out at any time and you can gradually move to your dream PC over time in steps, which spreads the cost over time. It’s easier to find a few hundred pounds / dollars / euros every 3-6 months than it is to find £2k in one go, and you can still end up in the same place if you’re patient

    The most important base components are definitely the motherboard and CPU though (it determines the ceiling of all the other components) - so make sure any changes you make fit with your long term plans for those. For example if your PC is old then start with the motherboard and CPU so you aren’t restricted in other components (E.g. RAM options are better on newer motherboards so it’s worth waiting to buy RAM if you intend to do a big motherboard upgrade).

    E.g. If I were starting from a basic ATX desktop, I’d aim to get a new motherboard first and ideally a good CPU. But I might get a decent motherboard with a modern socket and a cheaper CPU if I was short on cash. Then later when I have money again I’d sell the cheaper CPU and upgrade it to something better that my new motherboard can support. I might keep my current hard drive and then when I can afford it get an m.2 to make better use of the new motherboard. RAM can be brought from the old board, and even upgraded in steps to get to an eventual goal amount. Like start with 8gb or 16gb but eventually move to 32gb or 64gb when I can afford it. I might keep my current graphics card and then upgrade that once the other components are good. I might even buy a second hand older card so I get a boost until I can afford my dream card so I at least move forward of I had a crap one now. It’d take time but I’d be moving forwards every few months getting a better and better PC without having to find a huge amount of money in one go.

    Think of it like the ship.of theseus. Genuinely my current PC has evolved gradually since 2015 but I don’t think I have a single component left from that original PC apart from maybe some screws and the case. I’ve done 1 big motherboard change and 2 CPU changes since then, I’m onto my 3rd GPU and about to move to my 4th, and have replaced the RAM and then doubled it later with 2 more sticks. I’ve changed the power supply once, and lost count of how many hard drives I’ve been though - currently I have 2 m.2 cards and some SSDs of various ages.


  • A lot of it comes down to convention and convention is often set by those who did it first or whose work dominated a field. The whole mathematical notation system we use today is just a convention and is not the only one that exists, but is the one the world has decided to standardise to…

    Rene Descartes is usually regarded at he originator of the current system. He used abc for constants and xyz for unknown variables amongst other conventions.

    Sequential letter sets are easy to use as they are easily recognised, and convenient as a result, plus are generally accepted to have non specific or less specific meaning. For example:

    a2+b2=c2

    That formula is a much simpler concept to get round using sequential leffer than:

    V2 + G2 = z2

    Under the common system, when you don’t use sequential letters it also implies much more specific meaning to the individual letters, and that can introduce ambiguity and confusion.

    When writing a proof there can be many many statements made and you’d quickly run out of letters if you didn’t have a convention for accepting abc are variables and can be reused.

    We also do use symbols from other alphabet sets, and alpha/beta/gamma is commonly used trio. But in mathematical notation there are a huge range of defined constants and symbols now that many have been ascribed specific uses. Pi for example. So you risk bringing in ambiguity of meaning by moving away from the accepted conventions of current maths by using other sets.

    Even e has specific meaning and can be ambiguous if you need to stretch to 5 variables. When working with e it’s not uncommon to use a different string of lwtters in the latin alphabet to avoid confusion if you need to use variables

    And we don’t stop at 3; abcd etc is used.


  • This is a combination of terrible legislation in the UK meets awful social media site.

    The Online Safety Act is an abomination, compromising the privacy and freedom of the vast majority of the UK in the name of “protecting children”.

    I’m of the view parents are responsible for protecting their children. I know it’s hard but the Online Safety Act is not a solution.

    All it will.do is compromise the privacy and security of law abiding adults while kids will still access porn and all the other really bad stuff on the Internet will actually be unaffected. The dark illegal shit on the Internet is not happening on Pornhub or Reddit.

    The UK is gradually sliding further and further into censorship, and authoritarianism and all the in the name of do gooders. It’s scary to watch.


  • I think he first thing to check is, is the OS actually shutting down? Or is it appearing to shut down but actually staying on and running down the battery due to some error. I.e. Wheb you come back to it, the laptop just happens to be off as the battery finally ran out some.poijt over night

    I’d check the log files first to see what happens when you shut down. Is debian shutting down or is it stuck with one process running? Does the system off time match the time you sent the shutdown message?

    The other thing to consider here is not that the battery is running down but rather that it is not charging up properly. The OS may be telling you the battery is full when in fact it’s not so you’re actually always teetering on the edge of 0%. I.e. Maybe youve stimbked across a bug with power management in Debian with your hardware.

    Given you had no issues with Fedora, maybe use a USB stick with Fedora on it to boot the laptop up and see what it says about battery. Does it match what Debian told you? If not then maybe close to diagnosing the problem. If they do match have to keep looking.