NaibofTabr

This is such a great tool. It’s so satisfying to just delete tracking data from URLs and then just do what I wanted anyway.

NetGuard - allows you to block network traffic on a per-app basis. Basically NetGuard is a fake VPN that connects to nothing. If you switch it on for an app, the app and Android behave as if you’re using a VPN and push all the network traffic for that app into NetGuard, where it goes nowhere.

HeliBoard - an open source, configurable, private, 100% offline keyboard.

Insular - an open-source fork of Island. Insular is a sandbox environment that can be used to run apps isolated from the main user profile, preventing them from accessing user files, call logs, contacts, etc.

Aegis Authenticator - an open source 2FA token manager.

Breezy Weather - a very nice weather app.

Also, Chinese tourists everywhere.

And god forbid you ever have to be near any of the Saudi royal family.

All the rules are written in blood.

I went down to the beach and saw Kiki…

Seriously, fuck Pearson. Garbage company.

Nice save, and a fantastic PSA.

Also I’m a big fan of sleeping on a problem as a path to a solution. I’m not sure how exactly that skill develops, but it’s definitely something that I’ve done a few times over the years.

“Why don’t people like our user surveillance systems? they’re so impressively good at invading your privacy!”

The other leg is AWS. If both go down, it’s stone knives and bearskins.

*edit: somebody beat me to it

He’s on third.

Maybe?

Yes.

The statement in your posted image frames the interaction in question (“small talk”) as purely transactional. I am working inside that context. You seem to be drawing “understanding” from some external context which has not been presented here.

people who value small talk assume every stranger is someone to value and attempt to connect with

Strictly based on OP, people who value small talk assume every stranger is someone who needs to be assessed as a possible threat, and must “prove that we can get along”. They might be someone to value and attempt to connect with, but that is indeterminate until tested. The small talk is the test.

So… if you don’t live your life automatically assuming that every stranger is a threat, you don’t waste time and effort with small talk.

supagreen

There are definitely at least 9 circles of emacs filled with tormented souls.

This too shall pass

Perfect explanation.

Thank you, I try. It’s always tricky to keep network infrastructure explanations concise and readable - the Internet is such a complicated mess.

People like paying for convenience.

Well, I would simplify that to people like convenience. Infrastructure of any type is basically someone else solving convenience problems for you. People don’t really like paying, but they will if it’s the most convenient option.

Syncthing is doing this for you for free, I assume mostly because the developers wanted the infrastructure to work that way and didn’t want it to be dependent on DNS, and decided to make it available to users at large. It’s very convenient, but it also obscures a lot of the technical side of network services which can make learning harder.

This kind of thing shows why tech giants are giants and why selfhosted is a niche.

There’s also always the “why reinvent the wheel?” question, and consider that the guy who is selling wheels works on making wheels as a full-time occupation and has been doing so long enough to build a business on it, whereas you are a hobbyist. There are things that guy knows about wheelmaking that would take you ten years to learn, and he also has a properly equipped workshop for it - you have some YouTube videos, your garage and a handful of tools from Harbor Freight.

Sometimes there is good reason to do so (e.g. privacy from cloud service data gathering) but this is a real balancing act between cost (time and money, both up-front and long-term), risk (privacy exposure, data loss, failure tolerance), and convenience. If you’re going to do something yourself, you should have a specific answer to the question, and probably do a little cost-benefit checking.