I think of it like having sex with or without a condom. If you don’t use a condom, there’s a chance to get an STD (or get “caught”). It’s not a guarantee to get caught, your IP address needs to end up in the pool of addresses they collect to send out DMCA notices so it won’t happen every time. But having a “condom” (VPN) reduces your chances by nearly 100%, assuming it’s properly setup which usually is a very simple process

What’s also interesting is that you have to factor in the costs and CO2 emissions of the fuel source and it’s delivery method. A new building code for a county in my area was adopted which requires calculations for energy efficient HVAC systems and also CO2 emissions with those systems. Surprisingly, natural gas has less CO2 emissions associated with it, while electricity is 2.86 times as much. This is because grid electricity is mostly produced by fossil fuels, then needs to be delivered to the site but there are many losses along the way. So even if the all electric equipment is twice as efficient as the equivalent natural gas equipment, it still contributes more CO2 production. This is part of the issue with phasing out natural gas and moving to all electric in its current state. But with that is the push (and requirements) to produce energy on site and shift towards net zero energy for commercial sites, which is definitely better than using grid power from an emissions standpoint.

I’ve seen this debate about the outcome of the moving portal. I’m pretty certain that because of inertia, and the people aren’t moving, they will just plop out the other side. Think of it like moving a hoola hoop through the people. That’s basically what the portal is.

The hoola hoop has inertia and is moving, but it doesn’t actually come in contact with the people, so it passes right around them. There’s no way for the people to have instant acceleration because the porta did, otherwise it’d be like them hitting a brick wall and they would probably explode

Those posts are people running wild with a hint of a conspiracy going on and many people immediately jumped on the bandwagon. You’re completely right and not every site will be 100% safe, but it’s not like there is some conspiracy with the mods getting paid off for malicious content. That’s just absurd to consider with the “evidence” provided.

As an American Engineer, the US measurement system disgusts me. The rest of the world uses SI, but my entire industry (and most of the US) uses the English system still and I absolutely hate it. Converting from ft to inches, or BTUs and tons, cubic feet, etc. Our lazy asses haven’t joined the rest of the world yet. I wish we would just force the change and get over it

But in the US it unfortunately is. The right has made it a political “stance” while it’s just a matter of human rights. It shouldn’t be political, but it is and it pisses me off

I remember having an S6 and it come with so many apps preinstalled that you can’t uninstall. There’s the default Google/android apps which is fine because those are the basics. Then Samsung puts a bunch of their own apps on there that basically duplicates a bunch of these and can’t be uninstalled, and then there’s other bloat apps like Facebook, maybe candy crush or some shit, maybe Netflix, that all can’t be uninstalled. The worst offender is Facebook because it was on almost any other phone not running stock android but supposedly had deeper privileges as a “system” app

Unrelated but this made me think of this chill ambient music artist I used to listen to named Exist Strategy

Yeah it is pretty haunting

Are you talking about the drop ride incident? Because after investigation it was discovered that the park modified the ride without involving the manufacturer to allow larger guests. That specific seat was modified and they put him in that seat because they made it for bigger people. However the ride was not designed for guests that size and it did not hold him properly.

Swiping from anywhere on the edge of the screen is faster because your thumb is already there. Having to move all the way down to the bottom of of the screen with your thumb takes longer. Also take into account the chance of missing the button and having to try again, vs a gesture that needs to be much less precise