Soo, OP’s account is currently ~30 minutes old. Not sure if it’s just me, but that makes me somewhat hesitant to join and I just wanted to highlight it for everyone.

Cookies do not directly communicate your IP address, they’re just bits of data about your visit. Logging out of LinkedIn and closing your browser should clear them, unless they’re persistent cookies.

Using a VPN to create a new Spotify account maskes your actual IP address. Meaning spotify wont know your home IP address. But, if Spotify uses cookies from your previous sessions or if you log in with the same credentials, it may still serve targeted ads based on your previous activity.

So while cookies don’t transmit your IP address, they still influence the ads you see based on your browsing history and/or account information. For enhanced privacy, it’s usually recommended to set cookies to be wiped when you close the browser. I have a handful of sites I like to keep cookies for, but everything else is gone after each session.

Well said! We figured it all came down to the membership aspect of the business, as well as their huge breadth of services offered. This results in them just wanting to get people in and out rather than fight customers over “trivial” transactions.

My brother found that sourcing his ADHD meds from Sam Club has been super hassle free. If you didn’t know, they legally must allow anyone to use their pharmacy, regardless of membership! Most states also require them to sell booze to everyone too. But hopefully your sister can give this a shot and she’ll get similar results.

Limiting the impact corporations have on the environment via legislation is one highly effective way. But I’m just a person from the 89% of the population with this stance. So asking me isn’t all that useful. Asking at the demonstrations in a manner which takes account of each response is a much more logical way to help figure this out. Additionally, there’s definitely organizations who’ve done a lot of work here and have plans drawn up on these matters.

If all 89% of us took part in demonstrations, that’d be a great start. Those pushing back would eventually break from the pressure.

I use a Iron Fox on mobile with uBlock, so I don’t get pop-ups, but thanks for the heads up. Does your mobile browser have reader mode? If so, enabling it as the site loads is a great workaround for this.

John Steinbeck’s story is a trip. He wrote about the “underbelly of society” according to the political leaders of the city he was from (Salinas, Ca) in his early/mid career. So much so, they kicked him out of town. After he blew up for his work, they felt shame for giving him the boot. There’s now a big museum dedicated to him in downtown Salinas, The National Steinbeck Center. What this proves is capitalist only care about you if they can make a buck off ya, otherwise, get lost!

Right! I’ve also always been blown away knowing their DNA is circular. Probably since they don’t have a nucleus, but not totally sure.

Ya, RPM Fusion is handled by a 3rd party I’m pretty sure. But I was thinking more along the lines of what software is available though.

I’d have to think RPM Fusion is comparable to the AUR, no? I’ve never used Arch btw, but I do know Fedora pretty well.

Well said! The aspects you highlighted here are great points to make when it comes down to the lab made conversation. If it was apples to apples regarding only mutation, I see SARS-CoV-2 having an edge. Yet, influenza has an ace up it’s sleeve known as reassortment. This compounds it’s already substantial mutation rate. Reassortment arises during the co-infection of different influenza viruses and produces novel variations 46%-86% of the time. Reassortment is attributed to influenza’s segmented RNA genome, which is a pretty rare trait across viruses. This is basically influenza’s mutation multiplier and keeps it ahead of the curve across the board.

To be alive on this planet means we’re constantly in an evolutionary arms race to remain alive. Our adaptive immune response (T-Cells and B-Cells) was the answer evolutionary to mammalian viruses. Meaning, the “toll” our immune system takes is literally why we have it. From a virology and immunology standpoint, it’s understood viral infections lead to dysregulation as viruses are parasites with one goal, hijack our cellular machinery to reproduce. As far as opportunistic infections are concerned, that’s also in the same boat. The immune system is distracted, so it’s not as focused on playing defense. But, we’re all at risk of opportunistic infections simply by taking antibiotics, even with zero environmental influence. As far as comparing the mutation rates of influenza and coronaviruses, influenza wins hands down every time, it’s not even a competition. Influenza is a single stranded -RNA virus, while SARS-CoV-2 is a single stranded +RNA virus. So basically, out the gate, influenza has more opportunity to mutate as it’s required to bring its own polymerase to infect a host, while the other is ready to rock when it shows up. This provides a lot more opportunity for influenza mutations, no if, and, or buts. Additionally, both influenza and SARS-CoV-2 are enveloped respiratory viruses, so neither really has an edge here. Moreover, there is absolutely no question that when a virus first jumps species as a result of a mutation, it’s much more fatal. Yet, mutations are random, so it’s a role of the dice at best. Depending on the virus, a certain amount of the “offspring” will always be non-infectious because of this gamble. But a virus needs us, so killing us also kills it. This is why they’re more fatal when it initially jumps species. Lastly, persistent infections are seen in both SARS-CoV-2 and influenza. Granted, more so in the former, as influenza’s been around for ages, so our immune response is much more wise to its tactics. I don’t mean to talk down here at all, this is just a field I’m VERY familiar with, so I wanted to help you hone in your understanding on the topic!

The fact she see’s this as a marketing opportunity is repulsive. Truly makes me loath those with power in the US government. Even Arizona seeing as this lady believes this BS would be well received there.

C’est la vie, especially these days. All you can do is come to terms with knowing we each have an expiration date and just live it up until that inevitable day.

For anyone new to the Linux world, I can’t recommend Learn Linux TV enough. He has a video walking through this exact process, here’s an Invidious and YouTube link for it.

As far as dual booting goes, issues can arise after updates. I recall this happening a few months back due to a Windows update. So just be aware of this possibly happening down the road. I need Windows for work at times too, but I strictly use a VM. I’ve hated Microsoft since Windows 8, their amount of user tracking is bonkers and a big part of why I just use a VM. This is just food for thought though.

Are you using the same network for those different approaches? If so, it could be your network. That or you have quite a unique online fingerprint. I’d be curious to know what it is they do when blocking someone, that’d make it much easier to work around.

How does blocking work when it’s pretty easy to get a new MAC address and IP while also using a different browser like Mullvad’s? Or even use an entirely different device on an entirely different network?

JMP Chat works in the US even though they’re based in Canada. I highly recommend the service, it’s absolutely fantastic!

Definitely checkout JMP Chat, they’re actually based in Canada and offer super affordable alternative phone numbers. Using their Cheogram app even lets you incorporate it fully into your phone, so when you call, it’ll ask which number you’d like to use for the call. Calling has limited minutes each month, but the overage charges are very reasonable. It comes with unlimited texting as well. They encrypt everything on their end and it’s fully open source!