I have had major issues with exFAT across a variety of platforms. But I also work with a bunch of niche gear. But my point is simply that being widely compatible isn’t the same as being fully compatible. And OP was asking for the best way to reach the widest compatibility. That calls for FAT32, even if it has issues with things like file size.

This was my immediate thought as well. Portable launchers for the various OS’es on a tiny (just large enough to store the launchers) FAT32 partition, then a large FAT32 partition (the majority of the drive) encrypted by VeraCrypt. As long as it can read FAT32 and run VeraCrypt, it’ll be compatible. And that covers Windows, Linux, Raspberry Pi, and Mac ecosystems. It’s not as simple as just plugging it in and getting a password prompt, but it’s going to be the most compatible while still allowing for (nearly) the entire drive to be encrypted.

Even worse, many of those scammy companies use the Do Not Call list as a list of known active numbers. Since the DNC is an opt-in thing, the call centers know that people have proactively added their numbers to the list.

Yeah, voice notes are the “your solution to your problem is somewhere in the middle of this 20 minute long YouTube video that could have been a short forum post with some screenshots instead” of the communication world.

The Bible Game. It’s a game that was originally released on the GBC or GBA; I honestly can’t even remember which… I downloaded a ROM pack for my retropie and discovered it hidden inside. My buddy and I got drunk one evening, and decided to boot it up for shiggles.

It has you running around trying to answer bible verse questions to get keys from demons. It’s the single most boring and unintuitive game I’ve played. It also blatantly got several of the Bible verses wrong. We looked it up online, and there’s also a version that was on the Xbox, but it apparently had wildly different gameplay and was more like a game show, where the players answered trivia questions.

Sure, but that feels a little bit like saying “We don’t need guards inside the prison, because we already have them patrolling around the perimeter.”

It’s important because it allows them to directly modify the CPU’s microcode. Basically, the CPU has its own set of instructions, called microcode, which controls how the chip functions on a physical level. If they manage to change your microcode, even a full system reformat won’t kill the virus; You’ll need to either re-flash the CPU (which is not something the standard user or even power user will know how to do) or replace the entire CPU.

Yeah, my MIL was Irish catholic, but she (and by extension, my wife) lost religion after my wife dealt with some horrific health issues as a child/teen. MIL had to watch my wife go through the horribly painful health issues for literal years, while being entirely unable to help.

At first she prayed, then as time went on she begged and tried bargaining… And eventually she fell into the epicurean paradox of “a truly benevolent god would never force this on a child.”

While I agree with the sentiment, return policies on receipts is a pet peeve of mine. On registers is fine. Even better if they also post it at the entrances. But if it’s only on the receipts, and you can’t read the policy until after you’ve made the purchase, then it’s a fundamental power imbalance between the consumer and supplier.

I’m an event planner. People won’t return my emails or phone calls about the most basic things. Oh, you want a full stage crew to be at your show? And you’re only telling me this the day before your event starts? Gee, it’s a good thing I’m good at my job, and already planned for your last minute request.

Because when I asked about your labor needs two months ago, a month ago, three weeks ago, two weeks ago, 10 days ago, 7 days ago, 5 days ago, 5 days ago, 5 days ago, 4 days ago, 4 days ago, 4 days ago, 3 days ago, and 2 days ago, you didn’t seem super enthusiastic about giving me an answer. But now it’s suddenly the most important thing in the world, and I’m expected to just pull an entire show crew out of my ass to have at your event. Believe it or not, those workers are people with their own lives, and they appreciate being told more than one day in advance if they’re going to be working.

We’re on the same side here. I want your event to go well. I don’t want to be bothered with off-hours phone calls because your event is a dumpster fire. So help me help you. My entire job is to help you get in the door, and make sure the (adequately staffed) crew has the right gear for the job. But I can’t do that if you won’t even tell me what type of event you’re planning, or what time it starts.

I’ve actually found that emojis are more of a GenZ and millennial thing. GenA doesn’t tend to use them, because there’s no novelty for them. Emojis were already invented by the time GenA was starting to use technology, so they’re not a new or exciting thing.

Nah, TikTok is mostly GenZ and younger millennials. Gen Alpha is mainly on YouTube.

This is great. Hit the gym memberships next.

There’s a LOT of snake oil in the audio world. Especially home theater and home studio setups. I’m a professional audio technician, and some of the “audiophile” setups I have seen are just outright asinine.

Use balanced signal for runs over ~3 feet. Use the cheapest star-quad cable you can get, and the most basic $4 Neutrik connectors. Why? Because that album you’re using to test your “hi-fi” sound system was recorded using exactly that: Cheap ¢30/foot cable and basic Neutrik connectors.

It’s also what concert setups use. You think a concert with six combined miles of cabling is going to be paying $2000 per cable? Fuck no, they’re using the cheap shit (which was hand soldered in bulk at the warehouse workbench by their lowest paid shop tech), to run that million dollar audio system. Their money goes to the speakers, amps, and mixer; Not gold plated wire, robotic soldering, or triple insulated jackets. In double-blind tests, audiophiles can’t hear the difference between a $500 cable and a couple of plasti-dipped coat hangers twisted together.

The people who complain about digital audio also can’t tell the difference in double-blind tests. Because modern audio hardware is able to perfectly emulate old analog gear. Google the Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem for a breakdown of how we can perfectly capture and recreate analog audio with digital equipment. Vacuum tubes were groundbreaking when they were first used. But they had a lot of issues, and have very little relevance in today’s systems. They’re prone to burning out, notoriously fragile, and can be emulated perfectly.

It depends entirely on how the airline boards their plane. If they board front-to-back (like boarding first class early) then any open spots in the front are just that: Open. The people sitting there have already boarded.

Also, the “raise it to $15 per hour” minimum wage debate has been going on for so long that the $15 is now outdated. If the debate started again today, the number would realistically be closer to $25-$30 per hour.

And if you just got upset because you’re making $30 per hour and don’t want to be equated with minimum wage, then maybe you need to consider how much you could be making if minimum wage were higher. Here’s a hint: You’d be making much more than $30 per hour.

The real trick is to just use whichever overhead you see open as you approach your seat. It doesn’t need to be directly above your seat. You’re going to have to pass by it again on your way out of the plane anyways, so it’s not like you’ll be delaying anything during deboarding.

This is a noise reduction thing. It’s the same reason apartments only do hardwood on the ground floor. Your downstairs neighbors don’t want to listen to you moving around, and carpet is a great insulator and cushion.

• red light and speed cameras are illegal in my state

This doesn’t ban license plate reader cameras. My state also bans red light and speed cameras, but automatic license plate readers are 100% legal. I have seen the ALPL systems firsthand, and know they’re in use. You wouldn’t even notice them, because they’re mounted on traffic lights and power lines. It’s not like red light cameras, where they have a blatantly obvious giant camera box.

My local municipality 100% uses ALPLs, and has referenced them in a number of arrests recently. They’re mostly used for Amber Alert situations, where police already have a description of what to look for. In these cases, the ALPL will basically allow them to track the car in real time, without even needing to follow the car. Because they simply get updates every time the car passes an intersection, so they can set up a stop ahead of where the person is traveling.

Eh, kind of. Remote Desktop with an admin account would be more useful than physical access to a locked computer. Because if Bitlocker is enabled, then all that matters is that you can sign into the computer. Use strong passwords, don’t open RDP to the WAN, lock your workstations when walking away, etc…

Even cloning the drive to crack later (historically, this was a popular choice if you had physical access) is pretty useless if you don’t have a user’s password.