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When did you get your first phone? First computer? What was it?
  • Like age? Couldn't really afford that many luxuries growing up so my first real phone was at 17, some kind of kyocera, as for my first computer think I was 11. The computer was actually a laptop, a Sony VAIO, from a thrift store. The keyboard, trackpad, battery and speakers didn't work and the screen had damage so I got a hell of a deal on it. Didn't know how to fix it at the time, so I just used USB peripherals, connected it to my TV and threw on lubuntu, that beast lasted me for another 6 years until I went to college.

  • How you all prevent Password/OTP/TOTP deadlocks?
  • Just to add on what you want is the 3,2,1 method of backing up. You're asking for trouble if you just rely on cloud storage for anything that important. Export your TOTP seeds or copy your 8-10 generated OTPs. If shit hits the fan you'll be able to use a TOTP generator or a password manager that has one built in to get your codes.

  • can you help me formulate an answer to a colleague who is not my boss but feels entitled to tell me how I have to work?
  • Top of my head something like "I appreciate your input however I prefer to handle things in my own way. Both our methods are efficient and can coexist. If you do have concerns, please direct it at our supervisor. Thank you for understanding." But I would wait for more answers first just to get more feedback

    Edit: in case things do escalate for whatever reason do yourself a favor and keep copies of your communications with her. Just document everything

  • What steps do you feel like are before a VPN?
  • The first major step is a tracker and ad blocker (DNS based, software or even both) a VPN could help with this since some do offer to block trackers and ads. Everything else is pretty secondary imo and depends on your threat model

  • What do you use Waydroid for?
  • Ahh didn't think about laptops with touchscreens just assumed touchpads or mice. That's fair honestly never knew that was a popular way to navigate would assume people just get tablets for that but you make a solid point.

  • What do you use Waydroid for?
  • No i get people use more than one computer but I don't understand your point though about using wayDroid specifically vs a desktop totp manager? You can achieve the same by just having your totp seeds on one computer and manually filling the generated code on the other. Only difference is no android application needed just a standalone desktop totp manager

  • What do you use Waydroid for?
  • Was straight up asking myself this the other day and still couldn't come up with a good answer. I keep reading for 2fa or my passwords but that's not really a reason IMO. Why not just have a copy of your totp seeds (any good android totp manager should let you export) and then use a desktop manager like keepassxc, the same with your passwords. The only reason i can personally think of are games but even then which games are worth keeping on your desktop that don't already have a port? Another application that might be worth emulating could be like Shazam but not sure how good the desktop alternatives are

  • I bought frozen BBQ eel and the best before date says LJ349. What does this mean?
  • Damn this one is tough my best guess LJ is like how the manufacturer tracks it internally or something like that and the 349 could be like eat before the 349th day of that year. Again this is just a guess probably contact the manufacturer to be 100% clear what that means.

  • Can you separate the artist as a person from the music?
  • Yeah I can. Gonna get a bit hippie on you here but it really comes down to how the art make you feel and not the artist. One personal example is jeepers creepers for me. I love that movie but victor salva is a POS that deserves to be castrated. Now another question you should ask yourself is the actual companies behind the media could be evil too, overworking their employees, underpaying them, etc..., are you going to stop watching it? A good example of this is the anime industry or some record producers

  • Help with HDD
  • Huh weird I do have experience of this happening especially on used drives that are technically beyond their lives, +7 years etc, guess it depends on manufacturer and classification since you haven't personally experienced it. When I say slow down I'm referring to the read and write speed not the platter rpm even though that could happen such as with motor bearing wear. There's really multiple potential hard wear issue that could cause read and write speeds to slow down: head wear, platter degradation, etc. Although i do want to clarify that I'm not necessarily saying its dying or even if its 100% a hardware issue since fragmentation could be the cause. Not even sure if it'll be throwing out errors yet so I can't wait to see what OP updates us with.

  • Help with HDD
  • Iirc with time mechanical drives do slow down significantly due to wear and tear so it kinda sounds its on its way out. If speed is a must maybe look at how much storage capacity you're using and switch to appropriate sized ssd/s. You can keep the mechanical drive as a cold backup.

    Edit: not sure if you already done this and I usually don't recommend it if you don't have backups but benchmarking would show you the read and write speeds. Also depending on warranty status, you also have the option of doing a manufacturer replacement. Not sure what info Toshiba asks for but doesn't hurt to look into if you do decide to replace it.

  • How do I test cast iron cookware for lead
  • I appreciate it and I totally understand what you mean but like how I replied to another person I see this more as a learning experienced than anything else. Obviously I have my limits budget wise but I do really want to continue buying secondhand cookware in the future so this is a good way to learn if that makes sense.

  • How do I test cast iron cookware for lead

    cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/9250689

    > How do I test cast iron cookware for lead > > So I found a griddle that was in pretty bad shape seasoning wise so I stripped it and noticed a small shiny area which worried me about lead. I ordered some lead tests that stated they were for metal (no specifics) and after doing the tests it came back positive. But this got me wondering if iron reacts with sodium rhodizonate, the main ingredient in these lead tests, to give false positives and load and behold it does. I confirmed this with another cast iron cookware that I know 100% never touched lead. So my question is how the hell do I test this? Everyone keeps recommending the same sodium rhodizonate lead test swabs just with different brand names. > > Tldr: After stripping a griddle and finding a shiny spot, I tested it for lead and it came back positive, leading to concerns about the reaction between iron and sodium rhodizonate. The question is how to accurately test for lead contamination in the griddle without potential false positives from the test method recommended by others? > > Edit: wanted to add some more info. I did experiment with the test themselves to see how reliable they were and they passed it so I don't suspect its the test themselves but the chemical reaction between iron and the sodium rhodizonate > > >

    11
    How do I test cast iron cookware for lead

    So I found a griddle that was in pretty bad shape seasoning wise so I stripped it and noticed a small shiny area which worried me about lead. I ordered some lead tests that stated they were for metal (no specifics) and after doing the tests it came back positive. But this got me wondering if iron reacts with sodium rhodizonate, the main ingredient in these lead tests, to give false positives and load and behold it does. I confirmed this with another cast iron cookware that I know 100% never touched lead. So my question is how the hell do I test this? Everyone keeps recommending the same sodium rhodizonate lead test swabs just with different brand names.

    Tldr: After stripping a griddle and finding a shiny spot, I tested it for lead and it came back positive, leading to concerns about the reaction between iron and sodium rhodizonate. The question is how to accurately test for lead contamination in the griddle without potential false positives from the test method recommended by others?

    Edit: wanted to add some more info. I did experiment with the test themselves to see how reliable they were and they passed it so I don't suspect its the test themselves but the chemical reaction between iron and the sodium rhodizonate

    14
    Whats the purpose for usernames on signal?

    Been using signal for years and love it and got the majority of my contacts on to it. My question is how are usernames useful now? You still need to register with a phone number with signal to limit spam and bots afaik and I'm assuming you should protect your username just like you do your phone number anyways because spam, malicious files/messages, etc... What scenario is this addressing where an average person gives up their username to a stranger? The only one I can think of is online dating or other online interactions like on forums. Just seems this is just more tailored to the people who need to be pseudo-anonymous for whatever reason than an actual privacy feature. Even then for the anonymous people does that mean usernames will be able to be changed?

    Tldr: Questioning what scenario does signal's new usernames address for the average Joe?

    Edit: Just realized can be very useful for work relationships

    18
    Blocking users on home feed

    Hope this is alright to ask here but was wondering if there was a setting I haven't enabled that would let me block a user without having to visit their "profile" for a lack of better words. I mostly block spammers that i see on my home feed and well I kinda don't like to expose myself to their other content just to block them. Thanks in advance for a point in the right direction

    3
    is there an android packages wiki

    cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/6586506

    > Wiki for android packages > > Another post made me wonder if there is some kind of wiki or website for android packages with descriptions that can/should be removed via adb. Back when I had a bloated phone, about 3 years back, I remember how much of a pain in the ass this was and had to go through XDA developers and reddit posts just to get the info on which to not remove. Has this process changed since?

    3
    Wiki for android packages

    Another post made me wonder if there is some kind of wiki or website for android packages with descriptions that can/should be removed via adb. Back when I had a bloated phone, about 3 years back, I remember how much of a pain in the ass this was and had to go through XDA developers and reddit posts just to get the info on which to not remove. Has this process changed since?

    6
    Is it dumb to connect yourself to a car's grounding point

    To start off: I was explaining to my friend that I don't have a grounding point in my house (plumbing is PVC, outlets are gcfi protected only, not allowed to drive a grounding rod into the ground, etc...) and that I've just been handling sensitive electronics with just luck and preparation (humidity, moisturizer, no synthetic clothing, etc...) all this time. He told me to just wire myself to a good, multimeter tested, grounding point in a car and that will discharge any built-up static electricity. I'm not smart enough to argue with him on this subject but that doesnt seem the safest. Would that work or should I just keep doing my method? My understanding is that chassis grounding is essentially replacing wires with the frame so the outcome would just be connecting myself to the negative terminal of a car battery.

    Tldr: I'm explaining my lack of a grounding point at home for sensitive electronics and is advised by my friend to wire myself to a grounded point in a car to discharge built-up static electricity. However, I'm uncertain about the safety of this suggestion and questions whether my current method of handling electronics with precautions is sufficient.

    Edit: lmao people are really getting hung up on the no grounded outlet part. Umm my best explanation I guess is that its an older house that had 2 prong outlets and was "updated" with gfci protected outlets afterwards think the breakers as well. My understanding is that its up to code but I'm not an electrician. As for the plumbing I'm sure there's still copper somewhere but the majority has been updated to pvc over the years. Again it's not my house I don't want to go biting the hand that feeds me. Thank you though, haha

    Edit #2: thank you all so much for the helpful advice, I really appreciate all of you!

    59
    How do scammers overtake a youtube account with 2fa enabled

    Saw a video of a youtuber that got his account overtaken which has 2fa enabled (not sure which method but I'm thinking sms). He says he didn't get phished, downloaded anything and his session cookies weren't stolen and I believe him. The only clue is that he received a sms otp from google but was invalid when he inputted it which let's me to believe he relied on SMS for 2fa in the first place. My theory is he reused passwords and his number was overtaken but I'm not sure if that's the case since he did receive the google otp so that leaves out the common phone rep social engineering methods of porting out and fowarding. What else could it be? My paranoia is kinda acting up

    Tldr: A YouTuber's account was hacked despite having 2FA. While unsure of the exact method, potential factors include relying on SMS OTP and the possibility of password reuse. No session cookies were stolen, nothing downloaded and no links clicked

    Edit for timestamp: its kinda difficult since he jumps around a lot but he begins to talk about it around the 2min 30sec mark and stops at around the 6min mark

    18
    How long til Blu-rays get phased out

    Basically just the title. With DVDs getting tossed to the wind it made me wonder when will blu-rays go? I'm gonna miss bloopers and extra scenes

    Edit: A bit confused but the general consensus is that in some areas BRs have already began to be phased out while in others they're just trucking along perfectly fine. It'll be that way until they stop being profitable to the studios who make them. Is that correct? I don't think the 8k argument is valid imo since that's really niche currently.

    88
    Why don't rabies infected humans act like rabies infected animals

    This always puzzled me. Why don't humans act much more aggressive or crazed like its often depicted with animals. Afaik there's 2 types of rabies, "dumb" and "furious" so my question is more towards the 2nd type. For example, we never hear of rabies causing a human to accidentally bite another human so why is that?

    55
    What podcasts did you listen to the most this year

    Just curious what are the top 3 podcasts you listened to this year on whatever platform. Antennapod released a feature that summarized your year and well the amount of hours kinda surprised me in a good way, haha.

    Edit: Mine were

    • The let's read podcast
    • Therapy gecko
    • How To Survive
    131
    How to get rid of the creeper

    Kinda bored so here we go: the government officially recognizes the creeper, from jeepers creepers, as a threat. Congratulations you are now task on coming up with a plan on killing or at least semi-permanently incapacitating the monster. You are backed by the government but keep the cost and destruction down. For obvious reasons, also prioritize life so that means no waiting it out

    Creeper Abilities:

    • Flight
    • healing factor through consuming food
    • Regeneration through consuming food
    • high pain tolerance
    • cunning
    • keen smelling
    • ageless
    • super strength unknown limit
    • adaptable
    13
    Alternatives for simplemobiletool gallery and calendar?

    Hi everyone, I'm In the need of an offline calendar and gallery now that simplemobiletools got sold off. I'm wondering what you guys use? My bad if the formatting is weird on this post, I'm trying out a new lemmy client

    Edit what I found so far

    Gallery replacment: gallery

    31
    Collabora alternatives to open/edit ods spreadsheets on android

    Hey, I've been using collabora to edit/open some spreadsheets on android but it's honestly becoming a bit of a pain for me, freezing and blanking some cells being the big ones, and so I'm looking for an alternative. I tried excel without network access and it works but I do have to clear storage everytime to bypass the "signin prompt" that shows up randomly when opening a spreadsheet which disables editing, so I would like to avoid that too if it's possible.

    8
    Signal's new version notification keeps popping up

    Hey just wondering if its a problem on my end but a self update notification indicating a newer version of signal keeps popping up. I already have the latest version of the apk, 6.40.4, installed from their website, but the notification does not go away. I click it and then it states the application has been updated but after a few minutes later it pops up again. Not sure where to ask this but I would assume this place is one of the best places to interact with people that also use signal's non-playstore apk. Is this a bug on my end or are you experiencing it too?

    Edit: forgot to mention I'm on grapheneos if thats a factor

    Edit 2: apparently it was already reported on github and I missed it

    8
    How far back in time can a modern computer be reversed engineered

    Another post regarding time travel got me wondering how far back in time can I hypothetically leave a modern computer where they, the most capable engineers of their time, can then somewhat reverse engineer it or even partially?

    24
    What to do with a bunch of vhs tapes

    Was cleaning out my storage shed and found a bunch of vhs movies (no home movies) in questionable state. Is there anything worth doing or should I dump them (think they can be recycled)? Before it's said, I don't think they're worth digitalizing imo.

    14
    Should I rethink the encryption method of my backup drives?

    I've been using veracrypt for the past 4 years to create container files in everything from thumb drives to external hard drives. After upgrading one of my backup drives, I decided that I will switch to a different filesystem altogether going on, from ntfs to ext4, since I havent really used windows in those 4 years. With the reasoning behind using veracrypt and ntfs in the first place being for compatibility, should I switch to LUKS? Veracrypt is dramatically more feature rich but I dont really take advantage of those. I just encrypt my drives in case of burglars and other unwanted eyes. I do already have a disaster plan in place so I would have to do a total overhaul of things, but I'm not sure if this is a wise decision. My gut says no but what do you think? What would I gain?

    Edit: shouldve added that these drives are for warm storage for my weekly manual backups of files.

    Edit 2: the general opinion is to use a tool that supports encryption but I dont really feel comfortable with that but do appreciate it. It's just I've been manually updating my backup drives for a while now and like how simple my routine is. Think my decision is to just stick with veracrypt but format every future drive (including a new one I ordered) as ext4. My current drives wont be reformatted in order to reduce unnecessary wear on them. Thank you all for your help

    11
    What would cause a hard drive's, in an enclosure, filesystem to not mount in PopOs?

    Originally posted in the linux community but wanted to expand my results a bit. Hopefully this isnt considered tech support since the problem is already solved and I just want information. (Copy & pasted) Still new to linux hope its ok to ask here. I decided to replace one of my backup drives for the first time in 5ish years with a new 2.5" HDD meant for internal use but in an enclosure (the enclosure works fine). I formatted it in ntfs via gparted and everything went as expected, I even created a large veracrypt container file. I safely removed the drive and after a few hours I re-connected it and it made the notification noise that indicates the drive was detected but it's filesystem wasn't mounted. It showed up in gparted, disks and lsblk (as sdb1). Searched online and learned to manually mount it in the /mnt/ directory but I didnt want to manually do that everytime. I ended up reformatting it and for good measure, connected to another port and boom it mounted once connected. Decided not to create the file container or even incorporate the drive into my backup strategy yet until I get input whether or not this is a hardware issue or software. So what do you guys think happened? Not sure what info to provide.

    Edit: the filesystem and encryption software I chose is for compatibility between my devices and both machines have the proper software to support that filesystem

    Edit 2: new errors relating to my hardware started showing up when further proceeding with my plan so I'm just going to return it and try again

    3
    What would cause a hard drive's, in an enclosure, filesystem to not mount in PopOs?

    Still new to linux hope its ok to ask here. I decided to replace one of my backup drives for the first time in 5ish years with a new 2.5" HDD meant for internal use but in an enclosure (the enclosure works fine). I formatted it in ntfs via gparted and everything went as expected, I even created a large veracrypt container file. I safely removed the drive and after a few hours I re-connected it and it made the notification noise that indicates the drive was detected but it's filesystem wasn't mounted. It showed up in gparted, disks and lsblk (as sdb1). Searched online and learned to manually mount it in the /mnt/ directory but I didnt want to manually do that everytime. I ended up reformatting it and for good measure, connected to another port and boom it mounted once connected. Decided not to create the file container or even incorporate the drive into my backup strategy yet until I get input whether or not this is a hardware issue or software. So what do you guys think happened? Not sure what info to provide

    Edit: the filesysten and encryption software I chose is for compatibility between my devices

    Edit 2: new errors relating to my hardware started showing up when further proceeding with my plan so I'm just going to return it and try again

    9
    InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)EX
    Extras @lemmy.today

    Backup your stuff

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