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  1. Mercutio

    Something Random

    Somebody clipped me with their passenger's side rear-view mirror. My area doesn't really have sidewalks, so I was walking on the very edge of the pavement along a hill with a steep fall-off. There was a good 30" of pavement past the white line defining the road though, so my guess is that...
  2. Mercutio

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - 2025

    I have had an absolute fuck of an end of year. A friend attempted suicide in my place a couple nights ago; another former roommate had her home invaded and was SA'd this morning and to top it all off, for the first time in my life, I got left alone with a 10 month old for about six hours because...
  3. Mercutio

    SSDs - State of the Product?

    Six months ago, I was able to price 90% health renewed 15TB Micron 9300s for $1100ish. Now I can't find one (Health% unknown) for less than $1600. Still going to buy some for my hosted systems but not as many as I'd hoped to get. This summer, Before the DRAM-pricing BS started, I picked up 12TB...
  4. Mercutio

    Motion activated camera for safety?

    IIRC Eufy has been involved in some of the same "other people can see your video" scandal that have hit a lot of companies; they mostly stem from a couple Chinese companies that control common APIs related to video transport in easily implemented Python code. Wyse (the indoor cameras I use)...
  5. Mercutio

    Something Random

    Normal-ish. I got hit by a car a couple years ago and it's really reduced my interest in going out to get exercise. No lasting harm done. I just have to on activity somewhat. But I am old and still overweight.
  6. Mercutio

    Something Random

    Snorlax, the Diabetes-type Pokemon, weighs 1014lbs and eats 900lbs a day. This has serious implications about its metabolism. I keep getting Snorlax stuff from my friends and now that I know that it's a half ton monster that sleeps all the time and takes giant shits, I think I'm a little insulted.
  7. Mercutio

    Personal Hardware Survey 2025

    I usually have a turn based game open. Often, it's a 30 year old title that I play about a round a day. My partner games nonstop. I usually watch her stream while we keep an open voice chat and I do whatever I'm doing.
  8. Mercutio

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - 2025

    I always refer to the time of year as gifting holidays. I give out horror themed cards devoted to the bleakness of short days or to Krampusnacht, the holiday for beating children. Followers of the Peacock Angel fast just before midwinter, the three days of Rojiet Ezi, and I expect all of you...
  9. Mercutio

    I've been scammed and I need help

    What an absolute shit show. This whole thing was painful to read. It's even worse knowing this happens to more people every day.
  10. Mercutio

    Mirrorless Cameras (MILC) and Lenses

    I got an amazing little out of nowhere gift, a Godox IT30 mini flash. It's TINY, only 130g, and charges over USB C instead of annihilating a bunch of Eneloop AAs like my traditional flashes do. Just getting an inexpensive and travel friendly flash is a big deal. I'm really excited to have...
  11. Mercutio

    question Which Tablets

    Microsoft needs to present as not being reliant on x86 and truthfully, there's a real market for datacenter hardware with low energy consumption and scads of cores. Working with ARM also applies pressure to get AMD and Intel to improve in areas they might not have chosen otherwise Finally...
  12. Mercutio

    Personal Hardware Survey 2025

    Maybe the AI bubble will finally pop and destroy the global economy sooner rather than later and then RAM will at least be cheap again.
  13. Mercutio

    Empire in Decline

    The feeble attempt at an insurrection on January 6th was unquestionably an attempt. This time the deck is stacked with toadies who have already put loyalty toTrump ahead of any other oath or reason. The administration has been functionally declared to be above the law and has demonstrated...
  14. Mercutio

    Something Random

    Speaking of kids, my friend and her baby stayed with me for two months and they played so much goddamned Cocomelon that it was my most-played artist on Spotify this year. Cocomelon is primarily a Youtube channel, but I just read that the version is available on Netflix has a teacher character...
  15. Mercutio

    Personal Hardware Survey 2025

    Curious as to that choice in particular. You've obviously chosen to stick with Apple in general, but the Studios are a particular sort of investment, especially if you're getting one with a meaningful amount of RAM. re: Linux gaming, it is extremely credible at this point and even moreso if...
  16. Mercutio

    Something Random

    The USA is kind of set up to force people to pair off somehow. I've never had a job that's offered me health insurance and that's been the one thing that might actually lead to me marrying my partner, but she doesn't get it either. Still, life is a lot easier when there's a second income, even...
  17. Mercutio

    DNS issues?

    I suspect that a physician doesn't have much time to mess with this stuff even if they want to. On an unrelated note, I mentioned SmartTube up-thread. SmartTube's primary developer had his Github key exposed over the weekend, so he revoked his signature for the application, which should disable...
  18. Mercutio

    Personal Hardware Survey 2025

    What are you doing with the server? Is it just running file services or do you have the *RR stack operating or? I'm kind of curious to see where people have landed on Windows 10 vs 11 or if we have any consensus on Linux distros. I haven't seen any mention of contemporary Intel on SF other than...
  19. Mercutio

    Something Random

    I never thought I'd get one either. Instead I have a few now. They're small, personal and in places where only one person might see them. Each one relates to someone special in my life. A couple of my close friends and my partner likewise have tattoos to represent me. I feel like it's an...
  20. Mercutio

    Something Random

    Yes. Tattoos are hideous. A direct quote that was in fact repeated multiple times. That one I'd at least prepared my partner for, so it mostly just turned in to eye rolling. My mom grew up in a house where time stopped in about 1960 and she just kind of doesn't understand the world outside the...
  21. Mercutio

    DNS issues?

    There shouldn't be much more than enabling it and telling it to use Unbound or Unbound Python mode. You can add more block lists if you feel like it. Easylist et al. There's a nice guide here.
  22. Mercutio

    DNS issues?

    uBlock on Firefox and uBlock Lite on other browsers + some form of network-level blocker everywhere I have control over the network. I use DNS66 for Android, which functions as a VPN but exists entirely to redirect DNS queries. I like this better than Samsung's built-in DNS redirector, which for...
  23. Mercutio

    Something Random

    re: Phone plans. I switched to US Mobile this morning. They're offering a year of service for $167 until the end of the day today (10PM EST). They're primarily a Tmo MVNO, so the only major issue I can see from switching is that my data service might be deprioritized in an emergency...
  24. Mercutio

    DNS issues?

    PfSense supports pfBlockerNG, which is as good or better than running PiHole. It's just a service you can enable in DNS configuration on your appliance. In theory you can use both by making the Pfsense DNS the upstream provider for Pihole but that's needless complexity IMO.
  25. Mercutio

    Personal Hardware Survey 2025

    I'm just curious what PC systems y'all have that are in active use in 2025. Some of you guys have a PC in their signature, but I'm curious to get an idea of what's out there being used, and what they're used for. The oldest PC I'm still actively using is a Thinkpad T420 with an i7 2640 in it...
  26. Mercutio

    DNS issues?

    Is it possible that you have computers with significant time drift?
  27. Mercutio

    Something Random

    I don't drink and I'm about to start. Sed, something I've found to watch out for is that some MVNOs don't support RCS chat yet. STILL. Also I am almost positive there are degrees of deprioritization, based on some experiments I've done between Tmo, Mint and US Mobile and a (gross!) iphone 13...
  28. Mercutio

    Windows 11

    Rather than improve overall Windows Explorer performance, it looks like Microsoft is going to set up File Explorer to preload on low-end systems. Something that actually endlessly pisses me off is that the 9950X I use for a desktop hitches for a couple seconds when I launch an Explorer window...
  29. Mercutio

    Something Random

    This is the first year my partner is coming to Thanksgiving. We did not talk about her doing this and I just found out maybe 10 minutes ago. She's going to meet my family, who will no doubt have many opinions about her tattoos and piercings and many questions about her ovulation cycle. I am...
  30. Mercutio

    Windows 11

    Here's a set of directions to switch back to OG notepad, if you don't want the increasingly stupid one Windows 11 is using now. Also it's winget install microsoft.edit If you want a normal-ass text editor and somehow can't be bothered to set up Notepad++.
  31. Mercutio

    Laptop time?

    One of my customers brought me this thing, asking why it was weirdly slow. They didn't realize it's a Qualcomm SoC system. Once I explained how it works, they were happy with it; it has a very nice screen and better construction from any consumer HP I've seen and the price, $450, is about right...
  32. Mercutio

    Firefox extremely slow

    Yes. A new Windows account. Firefox puts crap in a bunch of different places under %appdata% and it's hard telling what's left behind after a reinstall. I don't think your PC is slow, but there could be a weird addon or setting causing you problems.
  33. Mercutio

    Laptop time?

    Consumer notebooks are hard. My Ideapad 1s came from visiting a Walmart and a Best Buy to see what's acceptable at less than $350, because so very often, that's as much as people are willing to spend. I have a prejudice against 17" models and their breaky, breaky screens, and the moment I bring...
  34. Mercutio

    Firefox extremely slow

    I'm thinking that the fresh (Windows?) user account is a good idea just to avoid the possibility that there's some accumulation of cruft from past installs generally. Maybe even sanity check from a bootable Linux ISO or something.
  35. Mercutio

    Something Random

    I have the additional aggravation that my health care is non-traditional, so my meds are at least partially selected for what can be obtained for cheap.
  36. Mercutio

    Firefox extremely slow

    This does not align with my experiences with Firefox. Even on something deeply pathetic like a 4th gen i3 with 4GB RAM, Firefox and Chrome are subjectively similar with Chrome being maybe a hair faster generally (with the caveat that it also isn't blocking as much, either). What if you try...
  37. Mercutio

    Firefox extremely slow

    As an aside, Firefox and Brave are the only two mainstream browsers with ongoing support for thorough ad blocking. I've found no combination of settings on Chromium derived browsers like Chrome or Edge that actually work to provide the same level of safety. Of course I can put an ad blocking...
  38. Mercutio

    Firefox extremely slow

    Look under Settings --> Privacy & Security --> DNS over HTTPS. Try turning that on or off to see if that makes a difference.
  39. Mercutio

    Something Random

    Just blood pressure management. Both my parents needed blood pressure medication by my age so it's not surprising that I do too. I'm still having a hard time with the idea that a common medication would be in short supply nationally, but I did finally get some overnighted to me.
  40. Mercutio

    Something Random

    There's a stray I've been feeding for the last few years. She's had a litter of kittens every June like clockwork. She kind of nests with her babies under a car that only moves a few times a year; the guy who owns it can't drive it any more, but his son uses it maybe the second week in August...
  41. Mercutio

    Laptop time?

    Decent CPU and nice screen is an extremely solid recipe for almost everyone's day to day needs so long as they aren't doing gaming, engineering or content creation. Which kind of explains why Macbook Airs are somehow seen as acceptable. A couple months ago, I observed that I couldn't get a...
  42. Mercutio

    Nvidia 50xx

    I'm more than a little concerned that an entire generation of educated people and actually untold natural resources have been diverted to work on this instead of doing something that helps humanity as a whole. Between this and the commoditization of every system and resource on Earth by Fintech...
  43. Mercutio

    Nvidia 50xx

    Ed Zitron just published some leaked internal revenue data from OpenAI. This company that wants $70 billion this year from VCs and partners to build itself spent almost $9B on running its models on revenue of $2.3B. They're spending $3 to make less than a buck and apparently lying to everyone...
  44. Mercutio

    Ryzen

    New Steam Deck thing was announced today. It's a 30W Zen4 6c/12t CPU with 16GB RAM and either 500GB or 2TB of internal storage. That sounds to me like a less powerful version of the HX 370, although I suppose it'll have newer and fancier GPU cores than that. It will purportedly be able to...
  45. Mercutio

    Something Random

    I lost a cat to breast cancer at the beginning of 2024 and a kitten to brain cancer in 2020. The kitten absolutely killed me, because I spent so much money and went through so many different diagnoses that offered varying levels of hope for improvement. He literally passed while he was on the...
  46. Mercutio

    Nvidia 50xx

    Softbank announced that it is divesting itself from nVidia, currently the most valuable enterprise in human history, to fund OpenAI, a company that seems to do nothing but spend money on nVidia GPUs and datacenter construction contracts. Softbank is literally taking its holdings in nVidia to...
  47. Mercutio

    Ryzen

    It's been brought to my attention that it's possible to buy an Asrock BC250 SBC for around US$100. These things are 6c/12t Zen2 APUs with somewhere around Radeon RX580-class GPU cores and 16GB of all GDDR6 RAM. They're crypto-mining hardware and they don't have a bunch of traditional PC ports on...
  48. Mercutio

    Something Random

    Tiny baby roommate is finally gone. I don't know how parents do it. I've never letting one of those things in my place again.
  49. Mercutio

    Mirrorless Cameras (MILC) and Lenses

    The Canon R6 III was unveiled today. The new one has a 32MP sensor, a CFexpress slot and the ability to shoot video horizontally and vertically at the same time. I'm definitely intrigued.
  50. Mercutio

    Something Random

    Chris Thile was the replacement host for Garrison Keillor on A Prairie Home Companion, which was a very gentle and Midwestern part of my Saturday afternoons for around 40 years. It was more or less the last thing I made it a point to hear on the radio every week.
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