Oh wow! That’s awesome! I wonder if I’ll see another upgrade soon too? I have a similar setup going too. Seed box for active torrents and other recently acquired files, and then anything I want to keep long term eventually gets moved to my local server.

I had tried a VPN + kill switch before getting a seed box, but it failed on me a few times. Plus, I was in school at the time, spending very little time at home, and my ISP increased their rates AGAIN, so I just cancelled my home internet. Trying to torrent through my laptop on public WiFi was a pain, but with a seed box it was way easier, and just needed to download the files to my laptop if I wanted to watch at home, which was also never a problem on public WiFi.

Also using whatbox.ca for a long time now. I remember quite a few years ago I received an email notification about them making changes to my plan, and I panicked for a moment until I finished reading and realized they were increasing my storage by 5x and my traffic limit by 2x, but my monthly price would remain the same.

I just take my meds then stare at my phone for an hour. Lol.

Not sure if Ritalin has similar effects in this sense as Adderall, but I used to run into a problem where I’d wake up, take my meds, get ready and head out the door, then suddenly the most urgent need to #2. I was attending community college at the time, and parking was beyond terrible there, so I’d arrive at like 6:30a, only to find most of the restrooms still locked! Fun times.

I’m pretty sure microplastics have even been detected in rainwater.

TL;DR: Great to have if you’re looking for less popular content, high quality files, and/or are concerned about copyright notices, but the rules that keep the niche content alive make them less appealing for super popular content.
I randomly made friends IRL about a year ago and got an invite to BTN & PTP. I don’t watch/download a lot of movies, so my account at PTP has lapsed, but I’ve kept my account with BTN.
From my recent searches, BTN tends to have higher quality files and more seeders than public trackers, but since a) I have a seed box, which provides a line of defense against copyright notices, and is only strengthened my my *aars (gets me in & out of the swarm before the studios find it), b) I usually can’t tell the difference in quality from the devices I’m using (and my friends/family most definitely don’t notice/care), c) seed ratio or time doesn’t impact access to public trackers, and d) I prefer to keep public torrents alive, I usually lean towards public trackers, and only use the private trackers for things that are harder to find and/or things I want in high quality.
I still try to seed to a minimum ratio of 3.0 on popular files (public or private), and ∞ for more niche files, but sometimes demand is so low, and I need to move files off of my seed box. While a ratio below 1.0 makes me feel “stuck” no matter where I got the file from, private tracker rules definitely amplify that feeling.

Maybe, but I might be busy avoiding responsibilities next week.

Nah, I don’t do things on weekends. Or Mondays. How about the following Tuesday?

Looks like Sonarr grabbed it for me from a private tracker about 5 hours ago. I’m sure it will hit public trackers later today, if it hasn’t already.

I do often put my tongue between my teeth in an attempt to recduce damage to my teeth, but I still bite my tongue, which I think still makes the muscle tension worse. My current approach is to open my jaw as wide as possible and hold it for like 30 seconds to stretch the muscles. It seems to kinda help, but depending on where I am, it can be kinda awkward.

I think many people may view those sort of costs differently than the monthly subscription costs of Netflix, etc. Hardware is generally seen as a “one time” cost, and the added electricity costs are difficult to tease out from all the other variable electricity costs.
My personal argument is that I pay a monthly subscription ($15/mo) for a seed box, which is roughly the same cost as subscribing to a single streaming service.
Back before the password sharing crackdown, I had access to my parents’ Netflix account, and every once in a while, I’d try it out, but I’d always quickly get annoyed and would finish watching whatever I was watching via my Plex server.

Cons: The side effects. It wasn’t always this bad, but they increase my tendency to clench my teeth, which can lead to enough pain by early afternoon that I can no longer focus on anything but the pain. I’m on a relatively low dose (10mg XR), and didn’t notice any benefit when I tried a non-stimulant medication.

Edit: I just need to shout into the void about this for a moment. No Adderall for at least 5 days, and no coffee/soda/energy drinks for even longer. It’s the weekend and I’m just vegging, so not a whole lot to be stressing about, but for some fucking reason I’m clenching and my jaw fucking hurts. 😬

I don’t have any experience with Usenet or any current DDL sources. I generally check public trackers first, then private trackers, and mostly use private trackers when I can’t find something on public trackers.
My selfish reasoning is that with public trackers, I don’t have to worry about my seed ratio, etc. I generally seed to a 3.0 ratio, and I do have some older/more niche stuff set to infinity, but when I need to clear some space in my seed box, it’s nice to be able to delete stuff without worrying I’ll be penalized.
From a less selfish perspective, if it exists in decent quality on public trackers, I’d rather contribute to keeping it alive there, where more people can access it.

Right as cold/flu season was taking off, the location near me went and removed over half of the equipment cleaning stations (paper towel dispensers & spray bottles), so I decided to cancel my membership. After hearing so many horror stores like yours, I was shocked at how easy it was, since I was able to cancel mine online.
Although, I did quickly learn that I had also effectively prepaid for another 3 months, so even though I cancelled on October 31st, and was not charged for anything after that date, my access didn’t end until January 31st. I think part of it was credits from the COVID times, but I never went back to test it, so if anyone reading this is thinking about cancelling, be aware that you may have access for quite some time after cancelling!

I was wondering the same thing recently when I saw a person walking outdoors wearing a lose fitting fabric mask covering only their mouth, not their nose. The conclusion I came to is that person must be aware that their breath smells terrible, so they wear the mask to prevent others from smelling their breath. And the mask is worn under their nose so they don’t have to smell their own breath.

So, there was this one time, back when I was in college (and very medicated), that I had a big research paper due, and I had a great idea: what if I get started “early” for once so that I’m not scrambling at the very last minute to finish? I’ll even have some time to proofread it and relax once I’m done, and it will be so nice to enjoy some downtime without the anxiety of the looming deadline!

I legitimately got started on it “early” and was reasonably focused. Most of my attention was directed towards the assignment, not cleaning my toilet or scrolling on Reddit. But guess what? I still wound up scrambling at the very last minute to finish and didn’t get to enjoy any of the supposed perks of starting early.

I think what happened was that since I had “so much time”, I got lost in the research portion of the assignment and really struggled to make much progress on the writing portion until that wave of adrenaline hit.

I realize this is just an anecdote, but that whole experience has made it even more difficult to try and get anything done early. I feel like if I start early, I’m not going to also finish early, instead I’m just going to spend more time on the task, so why bother?

I used to drive a lot, and other than traffic, I enjoyed it, especially when I had a fun little manual. I live in the middle of a city with decent public transportation now, and with all the traffic, driving is only enjoyable if I’m leaving the city. I no longer even own a car, so when I do drive, it’s an unfamiliar vehicle and unfamiliar roads, so the first few hours are pretty stressful. I’ve been considering owning a car again, but I’m fantasizing that full self driving will be a thing by then. Lol.