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.

And “driver crash”

“You made a valid point and have changed my mind.”

I enjoyed the original songs on the jukebox in Lego Island 1. Ran at 1fps on the old family computer back in the day. Good times

For me, it’s Dragon Ball. Across 3 mangas, 4 shows, and like 25 movies, the latest content is still enjoyable. Dragon Ball Super, both the anime and manga, are just super fun successors to the originals. It’s the only comic book I actually read when a new issue comes out.

A few of my favorites that I follow:

Open Culture - https://toot.community/@openculture
George Takei - https://universeodon.com/@georgetakei
Endless Screaming - https://botsin.space/@scream
The New Oil - https://mastodon.thenewoil.org/@thenewoil
Space Telescope Science Institute - https://astrodon.social/@spacetelescope
Linux on Mobile - https://fosstodon.org/@linmob

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

OP definitely didn’t “do the homework” for the kid based on the description of events. You are wildly exaggerating if you are suggesting typing the essay that the kid dictated is tantamount to doing the homework for them.

OP already made it a learning moment. He told his kid it was his fault and he’d take responsibility for it. The kid also learned her parent has humility and has her back when things go wrong.

Sure, you can go the other route and have her re-write it, but I don’t think that would’ve been as good a learning experience for the kid. “Life sucks sometimes kiddo. Sometimes you do nothing wrong and still get saddled with extra work and strife.” The kid’s 13. Give em a break, Red Forman.

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.

Seconding the recommendation for Virtualbox. Wanted to play my old Lego Island CD a few years ago and I just booted it up in an old Windows VM. Worked like a charm.

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.

I have the regular bags from Food Lion and have been amazed at how sturdy they are.

I only recently noticed they also sell the rigid bags as well, and now I’m thinking of upgrading

I think I accomplished a similar effect on my first linux distro a long time ago with a program called “compiz” (iirc). “I’m so frickin 1337,” I whispered under my breath. Nobody cared except me, though, lol.