fluffman86

Element/Matrix is pretty much what you're looking for if you need self hosted. Could also look into Jabber/XMPP or IRC but Matrix is going to be way more modern and useable.

The info given above is incorrect. Normally, you'd need to forward ports on your router, but if you're on a VPN your router doesn't come into play. The VPN creates a tunnel directly from your PC to the VPN provider's server, and whatever ports are open from that server are then forwarded to you, assuming they're allowing port forwarding.

I used Nord a couple years ago and didn't renew after they were breached and failed to disclose it to their users. I then tried Mozilla, but it regularly crashed when torrenting too fast. Slowing my torrents down to under 100mbit worked but sucked when I have a gbit connection. Then a family member passed away with an active expressvpn account so I used it and it was pretty fast for normal browsing, and just as good as Nord and better than Mozilla for torrents.

Now that ExpressVPN is expired, I just switched to proton and HOLY COW it is so much faster for torrents. Just check the button for port forwarding, and you'll be assigned a random port. Plug that into qBittorrent and you'll connect and start downloading so much faster it's insane. Also go into the advanced setting in qBittorrent and you can set it to only use the ProtonVPN network connection, then if proton disconnects, qBittorrent won't keep downloading on your normal ISP connection.

If the web is DRM'd in a way that requires chrome or windows then it could be difficult to bypass.

I remember the days of, "sorry, you must use Internet Explorer to use this website" when visiting my bank.

Get the Paperwhite Kids. Like $10 more than the ad supported version, no ads, free cover/case, 2 year accidental protection warranty instead of just one year manufacturer warranty. Just be sure to cancel the free trial of the kids service. Also, be sure to never connect it to wifi and just transfer your books through Calibre.

Ah, didn't realize this. I never connected mine to WiFi

Ah, didn't realize this. I never connected mine to WiFi.

Akshully, get the Paperwhite Kids. Like $10 more than the ad supported version, no ads, free cover/case, 2 year accidental protection warranty instead of just one year manufacturer warranty. Just be sure to cancel the free trial of the kids service.

You're not wrong, it's kind of like nuking from orbit. But there are definitely things you can do to help, like only spraying the house and immediately surrounding areas. Focus on spraying thick, decorative shrubs and not flowers where bees are likely to congregate. Spray at times bees aren't out looking for food and mosquitoes are most likely hiding in shrubs during the heat of the day.

There are lots of other great suggestions in this thread, and I'd recommend the bait and zappers if OP only had the occasional mosquito in the house, or DEET if OP is temporarily outside, but bait doesn't work on a large scale and deet is really bad for synthetic clothing/fabrics and wearing it all day in the house is a terrible idea.

The biggest thing everyone can do is clear out any standing water (buckets, tools, etc... mosquitoes will even lay eggs in a teaspoon of water given a chance), but op has already done that.

Call an exterminator, preferably a small mom&pop shop and not a big Orkin or Terminex or whatever, and have them come and and do a mosquito treatment. They'll spray a chemical on the outside of your house, under the leaves of your trees/bushes, etc. Then they'll spray inside, but just the corners for other bugs. You'll need to keep your dog out of the chemical inside for about 10-20 minutes, and out of the chemical outside for probably an hour. After that it's dry and non-toxic to mammals but will get soaked up by insects. Be sure to double check that with the exterminator, times vary depending on the chemical used.

Good treatments should last a solid 2-3 months, which ought to be enough to get you through the worst of mosquito season, unless you're in Florida or something.

It feels really weird to go to one website and enter my credentials for another website. How secure is that? I guess whatever app I'm using could be storing credentials instead of using an API, but the fact I can see a URL and enter the wrong creds from my password manager feels off.

That sounds like a great idea!

/s

Last few books I've read I have thoroughly enjoyed, and I'm not a huge reader and very slow when I do read, but here you go:

Looking for Alaska by John Green. Picked up some books by this author because he's been in the news for his books being banned from certain schools and classrooms. Might actually agree that this book shouldn't be on the shelf for younger readers, but it's very real and gritty and definitely something I would have loved to read in high school or college, but still enjoyed it as an adult. I read Perks of Being a Wallflower in high school and haven't re-read it since, but it had a similar vibe to me.

Speaking of John Green, I saw an interview that his brother Hank Green did with Mary Robinette Kowal about her book The Spare Man. It's a murder mystery set in space on a cruise ship going from Earth/Earth's Moon to Mars. Think Hercule Poirot / Miss Marple, but in space, and with updated/modern sensibilities.

Currently reading the Tripod series by John Christopher. (Note that When the Tripods Came is a prequel, read that last.) Feels a little weird as a modern reader who's seen Star Wars / Star Trek and consumed modern sci-fi media. Maybe not weird, but certainly feels not fully fleshed out in the first book. I'm on book 2 now and it's taking a more sci-fi and even more dystopian tone. Books aren't super long, designed for younger readers to enjoy, so the plot moves quick enough without getting bogged down in too many unnecessary details. I hate books like Great Expectations by Dickens because it could have been a better story if it weren't being stretched out for periodical release. I felt like Dickens spent way too much time in his books describing things I care nothing about instead of progressing the story and explaining as necessary. The Tripod books are the opposite of that: just enough description to get you going, and a few reminders of the scenery as required, but otherwise you just fill in the blanks with your own imagination, which I think is wonderful.