I don’t think it is generally considered a good book, but I’m sure it depends on who you ask. I thought it had some interesting ideas, but was pretty weak overall.

I, for one, welcome our new squirrel overlords.

Casting themselves as victims is a critical part of the movement. What makes me sad is that many of them are victims, but of their own leaders. Progressive policies would actually make life better for the majority of them.

Take a look at the suggestions in this article: https://www.lifewire.com/stop-alexa-from-listening-5121012

If you disable the microphone, except when you want to use it, that should severely limit what it can do. If you also set the option that tells Amazon not to keep any of your recordings that should keep you fairly safe.

The caveat is that Amazon can decide to cheat at any time. They have repeatedly lied about what information that acquire, how long they retain it, and what they do with it. At the moment, they don’t seem to be cheating on the Echo functions, but that could change at any time with an invisible firmware update. There isn’t anything you can do about this except to be aware of the possibility.

It is definitely worth using the privacy options they offer, even if they aren’t enforced through hardware.

And people often don’t appreciate that a Vornado doesn’t need to oscillate. The air stream they generate will get all the air in a room moving without tilting or turning.

Agreed. The death floof is one of the cutest things on the planet.

I’ve been using a set of Yale’s digital combination locks for more than a decade and they have been great. They support multiple codes of up to at least 8 digits, but you can choose fewer. Battery life has been very good and they’re easy to change.

They have no exterior keyway, which makes them harder to bypass using conventional methods. If you get stuck outside with the battery dead, just hold a 9V battery against two contacts on the underside of the keypad to provide power.

We have them on all three of our exterior doors. Between those, and our keyless cars, we no longer need to use keys.

Energy pricing in Texas is managed for the benefit of the utilities, not their customers. Some of the people on non-fixed plans who got charged insane amounts just went bankrupt.

Texas is a nearly perfect example of how the Republicans think everything should work.

Titanium and carbon fiber, not iron. This isn’t the middle ages.

WearOS has a built-in media control that you can configure to pop up automatically when the phone is playing music or video. There are also multiple apps that act as remote controls for the phone’s camera. Mine also displays the camera view on the watch, which can be very handy.

The third-party media players often provide more detailed controls. They handle a broader range of formats (particularly VLC). And some of them perform better.

To be honest, though, the main reason I use third-party players is because I’m familiar with them. It’s similar to the advantages of using a third-party launcher. You have a lot more control over when and how you upgrade your UI experience.

And, on a side note, one of the best things about having a smartwatch is being able to control my phone’s media players without taking out my phone.

I use MX Player, PowerAmp, and VLC for various things.

I’m not sure if this helps, but my PayPal account has two sources configured. One is direct withdrawal from my checking account. The other is a debit card tied to my checking account. I have never had a merchant refuse it.

My city plows the bike paths at the same time it plows the emergency routes. We’re in Wisconsin, but a startling number of people still commute by bike all year long.

This seems like a useful tool. Thanks!

I try very hard to buy everything on physical media. I subscribe to a few streaming services, but I never buy non-physical media. You don’t really own anything that can suddenly disappear because a company changes policies, get bought, or goes out of business.

Everything I buy is then ripped and stored on my local media server. That makes them more convenient and allows me to store the physical media out of the way. If something goes wrong, I can always re-rip.

It is worth noting that optical discs age and can become unreadable over time. If that happens, I can always go in the opposite direction and burn a new disc from my digital copy.

Recorder is one of the easiest to learn. If you want something you can use to accompany yourself, guitar is the obvious choice, but it does require some cramped hand positions. If your joints are still recovering you may want to look into keyboards instead.

For what it’s worth, I’ve found leaving to read music for a particular instrument is easier than learning to read it more generally.

Best of luck!

This is just an attempt to keep their bots motivated.

One of the worst things about depression is all the sneaky ways in which it reinforces itself. You can’t function at full capacity, which is a direct problem, but also makes you feel lazy. You sometimes don’t have the energy to deal with people, which isolates you and makes you feel like you’re offending them. You just plain feel awful and feel guilty about inflicting it on the people around you. It seems like everything hits you twice.

Therapy can help with both aspects, but I think it is particularly useful in helping you recognize and deal with the secondary parts of the problem.

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