Brewchin

I agree, and do regret the harshness of my initial response.

I thought about editing or removing the response, but we did have some follow up in the thread (where I qualified some of my reasons), so I thought it better to leave me being a dick to a stranger untouched in that whole context. It opens up further discussion from others and serves to remind me to take a breath to consider why others post idealistic, well meaning content.

Not everyone’s had their idealism battered out of them by greedy companies and stupid managers yet. 😅

Just realised that I automatically filter out obvious scams, as I genuinely didn’t register the contents of either of those spam boxes…

That arrangement has existed for over 30 years, and it’s now an unconscious scan. 😒

But I think the point remains in the middle of the page, that it will run through the standard bullshit FOMO timer, and then start downloading the expected binary.

And it’s not VLC doing any advertising. They’re just choosing to use a shit download site to host the binary for that OS and download method

First indication of fake I’ve seen so far, based on OP’s detail-light post. I’d assumed the FOMO timer would eventually download the genuine binary.

So, share with the class…

I mean, sure? Fill yer boots.

That’s what the public forum is: a collection of different opinions and perspectives.

I think the state forcing someone to both learn to code and then force them to contribute to a state-approved FOSS project (as that’s how it will be selected) is, IMHO, the opposite of everything right in the world. But I also get that some people find comfort in things or circumstances that horrify me.

To each their own and, again, fill yer boots. 🤷‍♂️

Imagine voluntarily sharing such an objectively stupid idea.

Some people really seem to think the entire world needs to watch their brains fall out.

Gonna need a bit more info than you’ve provided.

What I will note, from the information that you’ve provided, is that you shared an internet exchange screenshot showing a couple of low key ads (with the usual opt out bullshit links), so any ads are not on the VLC site - it’s on their download partner site, a la 1995 - and they’re probably the most tame ads (repeat: not benefiting VLC) that I’ve seen in 30 years.

tl;dr: Late-stage PSTN/POTS dialup configuration of binaries hosted on a third party (pre-CDN) download site -who are free to inject whatever spam they like - (but have been astonishingly restrained here) along with the download link.

Don’t know its correct name, but we called it Paper Asteroids or Pen Wars? 🤷‍♂️

It works by placing a ballpoint pen (eg. a Bic) vertically on the paper held up by a fingertip, then moving your finger back and away from the direction you’re aiming until the pen tip slides/rolls itself and the pen drops onto the paper. You draw a small ‘x’ where there resulting line ends.

Your opponent then does the same thing. And you repeat from your previous ‘x’. You’ll each end up with a series of —×—× over the page.

I seem to recall there being two ways to play:

• Have your line hit the other player’s leading/current ‘x’. I think this is the normal way, but it’s hard.
• Have your line hit any mark the other player has made. Much easier, but doesn’t make much sense.

Either way, it was a fun and cheap way to entertain yourselves during a class break years before everyone had dopamine slabs in their pockets. 😄

Used to play this in primary school. First time I’ve ever seen it mentioned anywhere outside of that time and place. 😄

This is exactly what I came into the comments to say. 😄

I somehow remember the circle algorithm ahem years after learning and using it for anything I could…

10W? That’s incredibly low - under 100mA wherever in the world you live. About the same as an LED bulb, or a tenth of an average incandescent lightbulb.

For comparison: my NAS and NUC (mix of HDD and M.2 drives; both hosting services) draw 75W combined at idle, measured via Home Assistant and a smart plug, and that’s generally considered low-power self-hosting.

I’d be pleasantly amazed if you could get a laptop to use less, so I look forward to other replies.

I still use all 3, though I’m slowly moving CPU intensive containers to the NUC. The Pi is untouched so far, partly because having edge services there will make it easier of I decide to implement a DMZ.

The NUC+Proxmox is a great combination. Bit of a learning curve (eg. as with Docker, you need to pass devices in Proxmox and then to the container; same with CIFS shares), but there are lots of resources out there. I have no regrets going this route, and it had low power consumption.

On Windows thing, I was specifically referring to the server OS as the NUC came with Win11. Do whatever works for your desktop/gaming setup.

Though I also switched that to Linux (EndeavourOS, though there are other game-friendly options) a couple of years ago, and its worked out great. Guild Wars 2 was my most modded Windows game, and I can run all except one of the Windows-based addons I want for it. Setting it all up the first time is a ball ache (as it was with Windows, but that was done over time 🤷‍♂️). 😊

I was hosting most of my Docker stuff on my Synology DS920+, use Docker in a Pi 4B for AdGuard Home and WireGuard, and found myself wanting to use Home Assistant.

Can’t use Docker for HA if you want HACS (addons) and Synology decided to kill USB drivers some time back, so looked around for options. Considered a Nabu Casa Yellow with a CM5 compute module (for Voice PE) and its price was more than a GMKtek N150 NUC, which has far higher specs and enough headroom for other things. So I got the NUC.

First thing I did was nuke Windows and replaced it with Proxmox, then installed Home Assistant OS (HAOS) as a VM in it. Plenty of headroom left, so now it’s also got a Linux VM, a few LXCs, etc. (The Proxmox Helper Scripts site makes it very easy).

Could easily install AGH or PiHole and a bunch of other things on it. Think it’s the best bang for buck thing I’ve bought in years.

A much better reply that my planned “it’s intentional” response. Enjoyed that - thanks for sharing.

The Green brothers are interesting and thoughtful. They try to be an overall positive influence on the internet, even aside from their vlogbrothers thing.

FTA: The IDs leaked were from people appealing age verification.

That’s different from the age verification process, which goes through a third party provider.

In short, the leaked IDs were from a standard shitty support platform (Zendesk, Salesforce, etc), not the much-advertised “safe and private” age verification system.

This kind of malicious compliance is exactly what this dogshit Think Of The Children Act needs. Convenience is everything to the majority of population.

If other major sites and resources do this, then the pressure from the people impacted by it will force UK PLC to un-fuck this awful legislation.

It certainly removed my ability to say “Companies are shoehorning AI into everything! I wouldn’t be surprised if they do it with Notepad…” as a form of mockery. It was one of the first damned victims.

Edit: I’m genuinely surprised technical people (with appropriate rights on their PCs) still use it, though. I switched to Notepad++ nearly 20 years ago.

In case anyone is unaware of the point of this: it’s about the UK’s (for now) new age verification law, where you have to be 18 to have a credit card.

This really is the least-worst implementation of this I’ve seen so far, providing you have (or can get) a CC.

And at least it lets you continue buying games/content until this awful law gets repealed or rewritten by competent adults.

Doubling down on the batshit. Everyone knew VPNs were going to be the low effort workaround to this authoritarian batshittery.

I get what the (well meaning, I think) people lobbying for this are trying to achieve, but everything from the lobbying to legislation to enforcement seems to be happening in the worst way imaginable. Almost like it’s an intentional “You want to see how badly can we do this? Hold my drink! YOLO!!”

For me, the tell was UK PLC leaving it up to the sites themselves to decide who/how the verification would be done. Classic bad management “I don’t understand the slightest thing about any of this, but HOW HARD COULD IT BE?!” response. It’s like the “series of tubes” stupidity all over again.

Not sure it is the same kind of thing, but I’ve been using Homebank ever since the various personal financial management applications pulled out of the UK market.