working professional working unprofessionally

>First, we’ve discovered that about a quarter of all the internet connection in or out of the house were ad related. In a few hours, that’s about 10,000 out of 40,000 processed.

>We also discovered that every link on Twitter was blocked. This was solved by whitelisting the https://t.co domain.

>Once out browsing the Web, everything is loading pretty much instantly. It turns out most of that Page Loading malarkey we’ve been accustomed to is related to sites running auctions to sell Ad space to show you before the page loads. All gone now.

>We then found that the Samsung TV (which I really like) is very fond of yapping all about itself to Samsung HQ. All stopped now. No sign of any breakages in its function, so I’m happy enough with that.

>The primary source of distress came from the habitual Lemmings player in the house, who found they could no longer watch ads to build up their in-app gold. A workaround is being considered for this.

>The next ambition is to advance the Ad blocking so that it seamlessly removed YouTube Ads. This is the subject of ongoing research, and tinkering continues. All in all, a very successful experiment.

>Certainly this exceeds my equivalent childhood project of disassembling and assembling our rotary dial telephone. A project whose only utility was finding out how to make the phone ring when nobody was calling.

>Update: All4 on the telly appears not to have any ads any more. Goodbye Arnold Clarke!

>Lemmings problem now solved.

>Can confirm, after small tests, that RTÉ Player ads are now gone and the player on the phone is now just delivering swift, ad free streams at first click.

>Some queries along the lines of “Are you not stealing the internet?” Firstly, this is my network, so I may set it up as I please (or, you know, my son can do it and I can give him a stupid thumbs up in response). But there is a wider question, based on the ads=internet model.

>I’m afraid I passed the You Wouldn’t Download A Car point back when I first installed ad-blocking plug-ins on a browser. But consider my chatty TV. Individual consumer choice is not the method of addressing pervasive commercial surveillance.

>Should I feel morally obliged not to mute the TV when the ads come on? No, this is a standing tension- a clash of interests. But I think my interest in my family not being under intrusive or covert surveillance at home is superior to the ad company’s wish to profile them.

>Aside: 24 hours of Pi Hole stats suggests that Samsung TVs are very chatty. 14,170 chats a day.

>YouTube blocking seems difficult, as the ads usually come from the same domain as the videos. Haven’t tried it, but all of the content can also be delivered from a no-cookies version of the YouTube domain, which doesn’t have the ads. I have asked my son to poke at that idea.

fastest reblog in the west

Since moving to America I’ve found that apparently very few Americans know all this. So I spent six hours designing a fancy photoset to explain it all. Naturally.

My gf: wait, who’s that minor HP character you’re obsessed with? Dorky?

Me: You mean Dorcas? 👁️👄👁️

HP fans pls do not come for me

I couldn't find the original creator :(

timelapse of an evolving lenticular cloud

sitting on the couch, sleepy and wrapped in blankets while your girlfriend serenades you on guitar is like a calm summer sunset,,,,there is no greater peace in this world.

A hobby of mine is that whenever I’m frustrated with my college I like to photoshop it into being under attack by the daedra

These maps show the average time of day (hours after local solar noon) for severe hail, wind, and tornadoes using the SPC storm database (1955-2020).

by @Climatologist49

Watched a great talk today about web/technology accessibility, and the speaker pointed out that yes, accessibility is important for people with permanent disabilities, and we should definitely care about that. But also accessibility helps EVERYBODY, because everybody will, at some point in their lives, find themselves in situations that accessible technology can help with. Here are permanent, temporary, and situational disabilities that accessible technology can help with:

Remember that whether something is disabling or not depends on the situation, the environment, the technology, etc. We’re ALL disabled at some point. It is important to support permanently disabled people, but it is also important to remember that accessibility helps us all!

'The Botanist's Window' by Killian Eng

"A new day had just begun. During the night, a couple of creatures that were almost human in form had appeared out of the vegetation. Now they stood quiet under the trees without moving."

Spiders are the only web developers in the world that enjoys finding bugs

I want to sit on the couch with your head in my lap and my fingers running through your hair, while you tell me about everything that’s on your mind

I was initially planning on being a casual fan, but then I thought, why not just let it consume my soul instead? 

You're valid and if anyone has told you otherwise tell them to fuck off and mind their own business.

Emotionally I have little pink hearts floating around my head like a cartoon character who's in love