Seconding quiche. My wife makes a quiche with spinach, bacon, and mozzarella that’s a fantastic breakfast or brunch (or any meal, really).

Definitely not a stupid question! Networking infrastructure is complex. I’ve been working in IT for years and still find myself scratching my head at times going, “Wait, how does the OSI model work again?”

Connecting to a VPN on your phone while using mobile data basically means the cell phone tower handling your data only sees encrypted data. Whoever your VPN provider is will see your traffic instead of the cell tower.

However, in modern times it’s fair to be wary of backdoors and exploits that can compromise your device and render the VPN encryption moot. There’s not much that regular people can really do to mitigate that possibility other than not use a phone.

If you’re interested in learning more networking fundamentals, I’d recommend starting with the OSI model and its layers.

A handy mnemonic I whipped up with ChatGPT last year for better remembering the order of the layers:

Precise Data Navigation Takes Some Planning Ahead

I run my own wireguard VPN at home and connect to it from my phone when I’m traveling.

Grants me privacy (but not anonymity) from my mobile carrier. Sure, my home ISP still sees my VPN’s traffic, but that’s still one less company able to monitor my web traffic when I’m mobile.

I migrated from Plex to Jellyfin maybe a year and a half ago and haven’t looked back. Great user experience and works so well out of the box IMO. Good Android app, too. Works with Chromecast, too (though I’ve been trying to ditch Chromecast in favor of just a laptop connected to the TV via HDMI).

I started digitizing old home movies that were on VHS and created a “Home Movies” library for my family; none of us had watched them in ages since none of us have a VCR anymore, lol. Great mother’s/father’s day gift for one’s parent if you’ve got the time and equipment. It’s nice having the whole family able to easily stream our home movies.

It’s the belief online that […]

Well, the idea of the “Law of Attraction” is far older than the internet; I recall reading about it in a book on old timey “magick” teachings many years ago. If I recall correctly, the idea was that the only real “magick” in this world is our attention/willpower. So the things we’re attracted to, or the things that we use our willpower toward or spend our time on, are the things we are “magicking” into existence, so to speak.

So if one uses their willpower toward helping others and being a positive person, that’s using the law of attraction to the benefit of others and yourself.

If one uses their willpower to be a total jerk and only look out for themselves, that’s using the law of attraction purely for your own benefit, and maybe to the detriment of others.

One could also use their willpower to, say, stop smoking cigarettes. That would be using the law of attraction for self improvement.

That was my understanding of the idea, anyway. Haven’t read about it since then. I liked the book because it was very clear from the beginning that “magick” is no shortcut to real results because “magick” is just human willpower manifested through actions, and anyone who was offering quick solutions via “magick” was a scam artist.

I agree the situation is oppressive and untenable, but the plant manager isn’t the same as a King. We don’t know if the plant manager had the actual power to fix anything, given the corruption and embezzling going on behind the scenes. A King is the top of the pyramid, this guy wasn’t necessarily, so I don’t condone his murder based on pure speculation. The French people didn’t have to speculate that the King and Queen were directly responsible for the peoples’ misery and oppression.

We just don’t know enough.

I would say that’s a good reason not to condone mob violence, not a reason to support it.

Dunno if we should justify murder by violent mobs by speculating that the person might’ve deserved it.

Reminds me of this Weird Al bit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGWiTvYZR_w

I think OP has explained that he does let her type when it’s a shorter document. Which I think is perfectly reasonable at this age.

I couldn’t type very well until I took a dedicated typing class at school when I was 13. By the end of the semester, I was faster than 95% of all typists worldwide. Maybe OP’s kid might be interested in a class like that next year. And if not, she’ll still get better over time even if she isn’t typing these long essays right now.

Basically, give her (and OP) a break. They’re doing fine.

Edit: also, I don’t think you’re an asshole for offering your input. Nothing wrong with that. It just comes off as a bit overly judgemental given OP is guilty of… occasionally typing his daughter’s longer essays to save time (a finite resource that any parent has a limited quantity of).

I don’t know how so many snarky comments are getting upvoted here. Barely an ounce of empathy to be found in this entire comment section.

It isn’t hard to understand why you’d focus on the content of the essay rather than the mechanical process of typing it out. Clearly you’re letting her type shorter things, so she’s gonna get better over time even if you type for her on these longer essays for the moment.

Sorry you lost the essay. But I’ll look on the bright side and say it sounds like you’re doing a fine job working with your kid on their homework, and ideally this is just a growing pain as you use FOSS in the course of their education. I use LibreOffice too and am sometimes similarly frustrated at unintuitive or unexpected design choices.

Excuse me, we’re gonna need you to add more snark to your comment. All you did was offer helpful advice as to how OP can fix their problem.