averageblockhead

[averageblockhead]

>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.

[averageblockhead]

these are KILLING me

[averageblockhead]

sometimes you have a good idea for a story/drawing/whatever and you have to consider that if you make that good idea, some portion of the audience will stand up and point and say "homestuck" at you.

and you have to decide if your good idea is worth that. sometimes it is. sometimes it's not.

but every day you must make that choice

[averageblockhead]

sometimes, as a non-binary person, I find myself thinking "wow, non-binary people are awesome! I wish I could be non-binary..."

[averageblockhead]

not to be That Person but nonbinary people shouldn’t have to have a complex knowledge of the history of gender in every culture and scientific studies on gender vs biological sex and a history of all the neopronouns ever made and then be able to explain all of these to people we’re meeting for the first time ever in order to be respected and not misgendered. nonbinary people should be able to just go up to someone and give their pronouns and gender and have no one question it. we should not have to be scholars in a wide array of subjects and then have to articulate this to strangers in order to be taken seriously. thank you and have a nice day.

[averageblockhead]

*everyone say "thank you monomi park"

[averageblockhead]

just got shot by a sniper rifle

[averageblockhead]

very very evil to be a child in 2008 and an adult in 2025

[averageblockhead]

but you see, bunnies own the moon collectively

[averageblockhead]

gay people 👍

[averageblockhead]

did you know smores poptarts have all the nutrients needed to sustain the human body *stands up and Immediately

[averageblockhead]

two dumb joke ideas, ten minutes in paint.net, and a dream

[averageblockhead]

Gaming Dice.

I learned a lot about edges and light and color relationships here.

[averageblockhead]

[averageblockhead]

it's so wild to me that you absolutely cannot force a hyperfixation to happen. like you'll watch the most perfectly tailor-made-for-you content that everyone says you'll love and feel absolutely nothing, and then the thing you watch on a whim to fill time will reach through the screen and put its damn fingers in your brain and start rearranging the neurons right in front of you and every single time you're like THIS??? THIS??????? and this happens like every 6-12 months forever