dRLY

I will have to give that a try. Is this the correct git? https://github.com/DNSCrypt/dnscrypt-proxy

The Italian national block list keeps causing lots of non-blocked sites from working at all. All because of Cloudflare being used by so many sites. It is basically an issue that is always in TorrentFreak's news feed every other day or so. lol

I am not sure if they are also being hit with orders. But Mullvad has some DNS options on their site. Doesn't require having their VPN either. I personally use either the Ad-block or Base ones. Even helps prevent in-app ads from loading in some games. Here is the relevant part of their site with the list of their options:

I was going to comment basically the same thing! Going to need more sites list IP addresses along side their mirrors on whichever sites/chats that they provide them currently.

Long rant below, but the real TL;DR is that you are very correct. lol

Length of years supported and general ability to get official repairs (non-sense of breaking random features if using unofficial parts aside) has been a no-brainier for going iPhone. I haven't owned one myself due to using third-party app stores and side loading. But it would have been great to have phones last longer with updates and general feel of still doing everything I need without devices showing their age so badly.

That being said, Samsung has done so much better than they used to. I have used HTC Evo, Galaxy S3, S6, S8+, S20+, S23 Ultra, and now have a S24 Ultra (only got it because damage coverage ended up giving store credit due to system that would normally replaced the S23 Ultra with another one was messed up). Starting with the S20+ the devices have been doing much better in the "showing their age" aspect (the S20+ was so OP with 12GB of RAM and the 120Hz display that I still like messing with it).

They stopped with major OS upgrades and was the main reason for the S23 Ultra as I thought it wouldn't get anymore updates. To my surprise it was still getting security updates at least through last year. If I hadn't been forced to "upgrade" to the 24 Ultra, I was planning to not even consider upgrading until maybe next year or the year after. Kind of got to feel like having an iPhone. It has been great to see at least longer term security upgrades than in years past.

Samsung still sucks with regards to their tablets though. Been happy with my Galaxy Tab S8+ hardware wise. But no idea how many OS upgrades it will get. My Pixel Tab will likely get more (which is awesome), but it will likely "show its age" sooner mostly because the 60Hz LCD display (AMOLED with high refresh rates really help make aging hardware feel nice to use). iPads will keep being the much better long term "value" for recommending to people that ask me what they should get.

I wish there were some kind of law passed that required OEMs to allow independent ROMs to be officially supported. Without tripping e-fuses after some amount of time that the OEMs stop providing OS or security updates. Kind of like how cell carriers send provider unlocks after certain time periods/after fully paying off the device if paying monthly. Would love to not have to do so many steps while risking being flagged by apps as not trusted due to root. E-waste is getting out of control as it is, and custom ROMs are really held back by virtue of the above and full driver support.

I'm over here doing both AND while medicated. Though most of the rage comes from bumping heads with people that don't have ADHD and keep pulling my attention away from shit. Sometimes the normal "hey check this out real quick shit is funny" or to dump a different problem/task on me. Because I am unfortunately the person that has fixed enough weird shit and they seem to refuse to remember stuff I have shown them (time after time after time). Which means I get stuck having to rush all the shit I was doing before the interruptions and end up staying later than everyone else to not forget what I need to do the next day.

I have begun giving a "me warning" to new folks to let them know that I might come across as an absolute asshole and very short with them at times. But that they should just be aware that I am not actually mad at them personally, and to be direct with me right back if I go too far and say something (like "too far man" or similar) as I will actually try to correct myself.

Or keep the guillotine.

I never had a WP, but I do have a few Zunes. The Live Tile main screen for WP is a bit too busy for me, but I would love to have the slightly cut-off styles in settings and menus that it and the Zune models had. Just really vibed with the look for some reason.

OneUI is much much better than Touchwiz was. It has been nice to see Samsung actually putting effort into their main launcher and having the options to add things (and that they can augment stuff while using other launchers). I was using Nova on both my phone and my old Tab S2, but found OneUI to "feel" more correct on my Tab S8+ than Nova. Though Nova has seemed better for my phones over the years.

Like others here, I tend to only download when I find (or remember) something I like. Most of the stuff I have was either downloaded to watch or listen to right away. Others are things I watched at some point, or that I just finished and really liked. Especially anything exclusive from the current services since they don't bother to release physical copies (or even legal digital purchases for that matter). When they do release a disc they fuck up getting any money from me by virtue of a HD/4k being only released on DVD.

After seeing the more and more open statements and updated TOS's about losing things if they just decide to ditch an outlet. I finally got around to getting a BDXL drive for my PC and flashed the unlock firmware. So I plan to rip my discs to have all the access I can give myself. Sadly I really really need to commit to getting some actual capacity drives, and move my server to a dedicated PC and not just keep running off my daily PC (though it can handle double duty pretty easy after a couple of years of big upgrades).

Weirdly enough my legal digital libraries tend to have more of an issue with "hoarding" if there are like "Steam sales" on whatever service. Also tend to get things that are part of Movies Anywhere since it is basically the closest thing to having a bit of protection of not losing stuff if any one service closes. Helpful for my current lacking of proper drive space. And I plan to rip those streams once the other PC gets built (or until I build a new main PC and setup the current as dedicated).

I hate when I have to punch out for lunch (even if I am not eating) for more or less similar reasons. I try to bring a book to read literally any amount as I really need to read the books I have (getting to feel like my Steam library). But I find myself too engaged in my "fix things" (I work on peoples' PCs) headspace/momentum. So I end up still just answering questions my co-workers that are customer facing are trying to deal with.

This is not something I expect from them or anyone under 96% of situations and try to not bother them when they are on lunch/break or on a day off. I even make sure that they know I give consent to hit me up and have even been able to help give the correct fix while drunk on vacation lol. I don't think bad of them if they don't do the same and even tell them to not be like me in that regard as I am just what I am. Only exception is if managers or higher try to bother me without some really really serious reasons (though they also tend to tell me to manually adjust my punches). I only donate my time/mind to people that are in the shit with me.

But I just feel more tense while on lunch and hate losing momentum or feeling "heavy" after eating. When I do eat it tends to be in small chunks over the course of the second half of my shift. So just spread out my paid 15min breaks. Just enough time to eat, but not enough time to lose whatever focus I have.

It really depends on the media and my level of interest in it. I was only bothering to try and get 1080p copies of stuff I liked due to only having a 1080p TV for so long. But I did make efforts to get 1080 where possible (and based on my drives at the time) even before I had a HD TV and the only thing I had to actually watch that resolution on was my laptop. And that was because I wanted to make sure I had (at the time) the best copies of torrented encodes of stuff I really loved and would want to look good later. But I got a 4K HDR TV a few months ago as my 13yo 1080p TV started just giving black screens on all inputs. And while a lot of things are fine, the limitations of the encodes are showing much more.

If I am just checking out something that I have heard about or was told to check out by a friend. I might just grab a 1080 or even 720 copy since they are often the top seeded results. Then go back and find 4k copies if I really get into it. Though my main issue today is similar to back when I was using my laptop. Storage space. I started ripping my Blu-rays and I am the worst about dealing with compression stuff. So I really really need to get on making that media server I have been "meaning to build" for years. Get some 18TB or 20TB drives and RAID the shit out of them for redundancy. lol.