welcome traveler

I have switched to using Startpage.com and vastly prefer it. for one thing, instead of displaying an "AI summary" at the top of the search results (unless you turn it off, yes I know), it displays the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article, with link, whenever it finds one that's relevant.

also a waaayyyyy better sense of design than duckduckgo

Search Engines

Infinity Search is an alternative search engine with a special focus on privacy

DuckDuckGo is a popular search engine for those who value their privacy and are put off by the thought of their every query being tracked and logged. Uses bangs, ![site] for in-page search (sells your data to microsoft and draws from fucking bing)

WolframAlpha is a privately owned search engine that allows you to “compute expert-level answers using Wolfram’s breakthrough algorithms, knowledgebase, and AI technology.” A data search engine.

Boardreader is a search engine for forums and message boards. It allows you to search forums and then filter down results by date and language.

Based in France, Qwant is a privacy-based search engine that won’t record your searches or use your personal details for advertising. Uses “&” as a bang search.

Another privacy-based search engine is Search Encrypt, which uses local encryption to ensure that users’ identifiable information cannot be tracked. Metasearch across multiple engines. 

Offering unbiased results from several sources, SearX is a metasearch engine that aims to present a free, decentralized view of the internet. Can be self-hosted. 

Gibiru’s tagline is “Unfiltered private search” and that’s exactly what it offers. Requires AnonymoX Firefox add-on for privacy. 

Disconnect allows you to conduct anonymous searches through a search engine of your choice.

Swisscows provides fully encrypted searches to protect your privacy and security. Built-in violence/porn filter cannot be overridden. 

MetaGer offers “Privacy Protected Search & Find” through its anonymised search. A plugin will allow it to be made a default.

Gigablast is a private search engine that indexes millions of websites and servers real-time information without tracking your data, keeping you hidden from marketers and spammers. Variety of filtration and refinement options for searching. 

Oscobo is a search engine that protects your privacy while you search the web. By not using any third-party tools or scripts, your data is protected from hacking and misuse. Has a Chrome extension to allow use in toolbar. 

https://search.marginalia.nu/ an independent DIY search engine that focuses on non-commercial content, and attempts to show you sites you perhaps weren't aware of in favor of the sort of sites you probably already knew existed. Use old-school searching rather than query-based for the best results. 

https://www.mojeek.com/ 

https://wiby.me/ - It’s goal is to index as many personalized websites as possible, and NOT commercial sites. 

https://4get.ca/ it works a lot like SearX, but honestly better. It doesn’t have its own index, but pulls from many others. I think it’s the best for research, since it allows you to search for answers from different indexes, is easy to configure, add free, and avoids censorship as much as it can.

https://www.searchenginemap.com/ for more on how search engines relate to each other.

https://yep.com/ is a crawler

https://www.etools.ch/ retrieves from Google, Mojeek, Bing, and Yandex, like Searx

https://www.dogpile.com/ 

https://searxng.org/ (next gen Searx)

https://luxxle.com/ - possibly conservative?

https://presearch.com/ - good for academic?

https://kagi.com/smallweb - free/randomised Kagi.

Other Searchers

www.refseek.com - Academic Resource Search. More than a billion sources: encyclopedia, monographies, magazines.

www.worldcat.org - a search for the contents of 20 thousand worldwide libraries. Find out where lies the nearest rare book you need.

https://link.springer.com - access to more than 10 million scientific documents: books, articles, research protocols.

www.bioline.org.br is a library of scientific bioscience journals published in developing countries.

http://repec.org - volunteers from 102 countries have collected almost 4 million publications on economics and related science.

www.science.gov is an American state search engine on 2200+ scientific sites. More than 200 million articles are indexed.

I've been having this periodic issue with Ubuntu where, seemingly at random, some of my drivers just.... Break. My ethernet stops working, my wifi adapter stops working, my secondary display stops working, my framerate is stuck at 60hz in a 144hz monitor, and probably other stuff too.

So the core of it seems to be internet and display drivers fucking up simultaneously.

My secondary windows boot is "working", but since it's windows it sucks ass and is stupidly slow and annoying about everything.

This has happened like... Monthly? For the past few months. The other times, I've been able to fix it by tethering my android to it, and the moment it sees an internet connection of any kind, it seems to fix. Either that, or an apt update will do it.

But without an Internet connection, it's EXTREMELY annoying to fix.

It just happened, and now even tethering is broken. There's probably a way to fix it, but tbh this has been an annoying enough periodic troubleshooting exercise that I'm thinking about switching distros.

I know I'm going to start a REALLY bad discussion here, but I used Ubuntu bc it was a "it just works" system that I didn't think about much or touch. This is the first major troubleshooting problem I've had with with.

So.

1. I dont think the drivers in question (network drivers) will be affected by which DE you use.

2. KUbuntu LTS 24.04 is in a really bad place. Weird issues with the version of KDE it is pinned to, that will almost definitely be fixed with LTS 26.04, but for now you should use rolling-release non-lts KUbuntu and while I personally have had 0 issues with it on my laptop... I dunno if you want "just works" it may not be what you want.

3. Mint is downstream of Ubuntu so it *also* may not fix your problems but it is worth a shot. Short of really learning another distro or going to base Debian from scratch I dont have a great "it just works out of the box" distro suggestion.

I'd try the following things in this order:

1. Switching from LTS to rolling release Ubuntu if you haven't already. If you are on LTS you are pinned to old software and kernel versions until the next LTS comes around; that will be 26.04 but you won't auto update until 26.09 comes out in September.

2. If that persists, try Mint. Mint has some of the most extensive documentation I have seen outside of Arch and is obviously far more user friendly. It's been my goto for new linuxeers for a few years now (I have Issues with Ubuntu but I won't bore you here) and I have mostly gotten solid reviews from friends who have made the jump.

I've been having this periodic issue with Ubuntu where, seemingly at random, some of my drivers just.... Break. My ethernet stops working, my wifi adapter stops working, my secondary display stops working, my framerate is stuck at 60hz in a 144hz monitor, and probably other stuff too.

So the core of it seems to be internet and display drivers fucking up simultaneously.

My secondary windows boot is "working", but since it's windows it sucks ass and is stupidly slow and annoying about everything.

This has happened like... Monthly? For the past few months. The other times, I've been able to fix it by tethering my android to it, and the moment it sees an internet connection of any kind, it seems to fix. Either that, or an apt update will do it.

But without an Internet connection, it's EXTREMELY annoying to fix.

It just happened, and now even tethering is broken. There's probably a way to fix it, but tbh this has been an annoying enough periodic troubleshooting exercise that I'm thinking about switching distros.

I know I'm going to start a REALLY bad discussion here, but I used Ubuntu bc it was a "it just works" system that I didn't think about much or touch. This is the first major troubleshooting problem I've had with with.

So.

1. I dont think the drivers in question (network drivers) will be affected by which DE you use.

2. KUbuntu LTS 24.04 is in a really bad place. Weird issues with the version of KDE it is pinned to, that will almost definitely be fixed with LTS 26.04, but for now you should use rolling-release non-lts KUbuntu and while I personally have had 0 issues with it on my laptop... I dunno if you want "just works" it may not be what you want.

3. Mint is downstream of Ubuntu so it *also* may not fix your problems but it is worth a shot. Short of really learning another distro or going to base Debian from scratch I dont have a great "it just works out of the box" distro suggestion.

I'd try the following things in this order:

1. Switching from LTS to rolling release Ubuntu if you haven't already. If you are on LTS you are pinned to old software and kernel versions until the next LTS comes around; that will be 26.04 but you won't auto update until 26.09 comes out in September.

2. If that persists, try Mint. Mint has some of the most extensive documentation I have seen outside of Arch and is obviously far more user friendly. It's been my goto for new linuxeers for a few years now (I have Issues with Ubuntu but I won't bore you here) and I have mostly gotten solid reviews from friends who have made the jump.

And yeah as several people pointed out it isn’t even explicitly in the bible, but something some radicals pieced together in maybe only the last century. My uncles all believe it to the letter and they all believe it’s what the Bible is “supposed” to be communicating.

A lot of people are also confused as to why they would believe the peace and unity are villainous things and what the difference even is then between the “antichrist” and actual Jesus, which brings me to another thing I realize some folks CRITICALLY overlook about American Christianity, which is that they do not believe in good or bad deeds. They believe the same deed can be right or wrong strictly according to whether or not it’s performed by a believer with God’s stamp of approval. Like, they KNOW the Satanic Church and Witch Covens do community service or donate to cancer research and they are not confused, surprised, bitter or embarrassed by that at all. It’s exactly what they’re taught to expect. They believe the forces of Satan do primarily “good” things so people will think he’s just as good or better than God. So if a pastor heals a sick child with a prayer then that’s good, but if a “witch” heals the same sick child with “magic” (not something I believe exists, but they do) then that’s a false miracle from the devil and the child was better off dying because now everyone involved is a sinner who deserves hell. They’re taught to view you as a ridiculous fool if you don’t grasp this difference, and every single argument you might make is a part of the satanic trickery.

….And something I’ve heard before but still neglected to mention:

…..so that’s all pretty nightmarish confirmation of how pervasive this mindset is around here, but you know, if the majority of reactions to this information have been either “what the fuck are you talking about?” or “yeah I WAS taught this and I’m better now,” maybe that’s a sign that it’s slowly but consistently fading with every generation?

1. jesus died on the cross for our sins. we must give thanks to god through constant worship and sharing of the gospel. (1 corinthians 15:3, matthew 28:19-20)

2. always be wary of and question worldly teachings and temper them by studying the word of god. (1 john 4:1-3)

3. you must study the word of god so that you can know sin and those who revel in it. followers of jesus must strive to be set apart and holy. (2 timothy 3:16-17, 1 peter 1:15-16)

4. there is none more powerful than god. (ephesians 1:19-21)

5. men must be godly so as to represent jesus and women must follow so as to represent his church. (ephesians 5:22-24, colossians 3:18, 1 peter 3:1)

6. be wary of what you see in the media because secular media teaches sinful and worldly beliefs. the holiest of god’s chosen people abstain from sinful content. (romans 12:2)

7. do not be tempted into sin by following the way of sinners. you must be constantly vigilant because satan will always try to tempt you through the ways of the world. (ephesians 5:6-11, 2 timothy 2:22, galatians 5:16-21)

8. godly leaders are those who lead by following his word for there is no higher calling than to be a godly man who leads his people. you should vote for godly leaders so that more can receive the truth of his gospel and turn away from sin. (romans 3:19-20)

9. those who dutifully live out their lives in the service of god receive the greatest reward in heaven and also will receive blessings while on earth. being a part of a church led by a holy man of god and having fellowship with other believers is crucial to building a strong faith. (colossians 3:23-24)

10. it is the role of god’s anointed to lead his people like the shepherd leads the flock. believers must be like sheep and receive the word of god through his anointed. (1 peter 5:2-4, hebrews 13:17, 1 thessalonians 5:12-13)

11. god’s word is the only truth you need. secular art can lead to sinful beliefs and weakening of faith. (colossians 2:8-10)

12. the wages of sin is death for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god. you must repent from your sin or face god’s wrath and eternal damnation in the fires of hell. (romans 6:23, romans 3:23)

13. church elders and ministers should be above reproach and keep each other accountable. (1 timothy 3:2, james 3:1-2)

14. the church should identify the most holy among the congregation to lead as elders of the church. (titus 1:7-9)

read all that? good. if you are an evangelical christian that probably sounded pretty good to you.

now look up the 14 characteristics of facism. read them? good. see any similarities?

So here‘s the thing: I recently bought a 4TB sandisk external ssd. A few years prior I already got a 1TB and later a 2TB one for all my 2D and 3D art files and backups, that worked just fine and everyone else I knew used sandisk, so I saw no problem. Now through coincidence I found out that since 2022 you should never ever buy a sandisk since they’re now faulty to begin with. And low and behold I checked and saw that my new sandisk is one of those faulty ones. On this 4TB is my whole dvd/bluray backup and I planned on connecting it to my TV, so I can revert to using it when watching smth that is not on streaming services or even when canceling streaming services.

I now need to spend a lot of money again on another external backup device and I don’t know which one. I want to make the right choice. I see forums recommending the samsung T7 ssd. Though I did some research and computer experts recommend hdd in general. I always thought ssd have at least the same longevity as hdd but are faster so I always chose ssd. But now I am reading that ssd always need to be „charged“ unlike hdd and have quicker wearout. Especially when you’re storing them in a drawer instead of constantly connected to a computer. Data starts to deteriorate faster. And hdd is fine with being stored in a drawer if not needed.

My first ssd was from 2019 I think (which also has important files on it) my second was from 2021 I guess. So I need to switch those soon too I guess. So what to do?

I need to store all my art stuff, my books, my backups, and separately my movies backup that is connected to a tv. Hdd? Ssd?

EDIT: I have my data stored on several external devices. That is one thing I learned from the past to store everything on at least two external devices.

EDIT2: I need a new setup. I will probably rely on online recommendations from experts to buy a samsung T7 or T9 ssd and a hdd one. Though I still need to figure out which one would be best. I often see seagate desktop expansion and toshiba canvio. Maybe one of those?

The primary limitation with SSD longevity is that they have a limited number of read/write cycles; once you hit that number you can't read data from the drive and you can't write data to it, and at that point it's just a useless piece of plastic. The goal is to replace SSDs before they get to that point in their lifespan.

SSDs don't have very predictable failure rates because when they fail is based on how much they are used; if you're using them a lot they'll fail faster, whereas if they mostly sit in a drawer they'll probably last longer.

All that said: the only advantage that SSDs have over HDDs is speed. Lifespan, cost, and predictability are all way, WAY better on HDDs, and data recovery on an HDD is cheaper and more likely to be successful.

So I'd say go with one HDD for backups and possibly an SSD for media, but even then video delivery doesn't have to be super fast and you'd probably be fine with an HDD? (I don't understand home media servers the same way I don't understand gaming rigs, my area of expertise is enterprise computing, but my buddies who have set up home media servers all use HDDs because SSDs aren't worth the cost but they're also storing like 12TB of movies)

Western Digital makes extremely reliable external HDDs for backups that have 3-5 year warranties depending on the model. The My Passport series is about $120 for a 5TB 2.5" external and is what I use for my backups; we recently got a 26TB 3.5" external WD for a client and it was around $500.

- Diskprices.com is incredibly useful for finding price per TB best value drives.

https://diskprices.com/?locale=us&condition=new

- Backblaze is a cloud storage provider that uses thousands of hard drives in their infrastructure. They put a quarterly report out about the number of drive failures they've had with all kinds of data. Below are stats for Q1 2025. Aside from a couple specific models, none of their drives have a failure rate higher than about 2% (lifetime). Hard drives are incredibly reliable long term!

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/backblaze-drive-stats-for-q1-2025/

*Note that the backblaze reports are all internal drives, externals work a little bit different but ultimately failure rates are very similar; usually an external drive is just an internal one in a USB enclosure. folks will even "shuck" cheap external drives that use the same hardware as pricier internal ones, pulling the drive out of the enclosure to put in their servers.

the use of complex machinery is kept to a minimum, even when a work requires dozens of the exact same item. everything is kept intimate, solely focused on guichon; it's not the sculptures themselves that are the main appeal or main focus of the videos, but rather the process itself.