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Resources for Dodging the Anti-Gooner Act

If you are in the UK you are no doubt aware of the reecently passed act dubbed by many as the "Anti-Gooner Act" which restricts the people's usage of the internet in the name of "protecting children". Anyone that knows me will know that I am not a fan of this and don't think it's very good.

I have had a few friends come to me asking for the best ways to circumvent this, because you should not have to relinquish your ID to various internet services simply to use them. So, I thought it would be best to make a post with all of the resources I think may be useful for people.

VPNs

You can use a VPN to hide the fact that you are in the UK, which should allow you to use most blocked sites without verification.

• Tor is a free VPN run by a community of volunteers whose computers act as "relays" which will make your internet requests in your place, so it's very good for privacy because it makes you damn near untraceable, to the extent that this is what most people use to access the "dark web" safely. Though, despite that, Tor is perfectly good for regular use and I can very much recommend it.
  • Tor has its own dedicated browser, the Tor browser, which is the primary method of using it. Tor is also accessible from the Brave browser.
  • While you can manually install Tor and then use it with your browser of choice, using Tor browser will help protect you from other forms of identification through browser fingerprinting. Consider using it!
  • You can download Tor for your phone using the "Orbot" app. I know this is available on the Google Play Store (and F-Droid if you're into that) but I don't know about on iPhones. If it is available, let me know and I'll update this.
  • If you need to spoof a site into thinking you're in a specific location, you can do that, it's just a bit of a faff. See this WikiHow tutorial here.
    • Because of how Tor works, your request gets passed between lots of countries. The last country it visits is the one websites think you are in!
• Mullvad VPN is one of the best paid VPNs and is excellent for privacy. It asks for absolutely no personal information for you to sign up, you simply use a randomly generated account number for all transactions.
  • Mullvad has its own browser which makes it very easy to use when surfing the web. Of course, you can also download the actual VPN application, and this will hide all your activities.
  • You can pay for your subscription using mail in cash to remain entirely anonymous!

If you use anything else, please do research beforehand to make sure it is trustworthy! The VPN you use will have access to your entire internet usage while it is active, so it is very important that you trust it before you use it.

Misc. Advice

• If the content you seek is a movie or some sort of popular media, consider using peer to peer filesharing (e.g. Soulseek) or something of the sort to find a copy rather than websites.
• Some services use facial scanning to determine whether you are an adult. Some of these can be tricked by using OBS virtual webcam and a picture of a character from a game or something and wiggle it around a bit to make it seem like you are real.

This is all I have for now, but if you have something you think would be good to add to the list, please send me an email (my email is on the home page) and I'll add it to the list. Thank you!

Salutations, all. It has been a bit so I thought I might nip in with a small update. Life has been going pretty alright. I've moved home from university for the summer and it's nice to be back. I've also started my internship for the summer! ...Sort of. The IT department is being really slow to install the necessary software onto my laptop, so I've not actually been able to do my job yet, really. So, I've been paid to do not very much for a week. Huzzah to that, I say!

Using my pay from work I'm currently intending to invest in a Nintendo Switch 2. I want to play Mario Kart World so badly, it looks so fun! Though, really, the thing that I'm most excited for is Kirby Air Riders. I might've mentioned this in the post after it was announced, but Kirby Air Ride is one of my favourite games because I think it's just so well designed, so I am so happy to be getting not a remake but a full sequel! Speaking of more details though, how has there not been a Nintendo Direct yet? Surely they'll have one at some point before Donkey Kong Banaza releases, since beyond that there's not that many titles in store. Maybe they'll finally announce the Fire Emblem Genealogy of the Holy War remake... (This is coppium.)

I have been very much enjoying the spoiler season for the new MTG expansion, Edge of Eternities. I currently have a commander deck centred around Ragost, Deft Gastronaut brewing in my mind. I've wanted to build a food deck for ages so I'm quite excited. I'll likely end up doing some shenanigans by reanimating baubles using Salvaging Station. I'm also considering making all my permanents have activated abilities so I can run Zirda, the Dawnwaker as a companion (that's the Boros one that makes all your activated abilities cheaper) since that will make eating a food every turn cheaper and easier.

I've also been playing a lot of MTG Arena lately (shoutouts to Plaao, Boggy and Slurp) and it has got me really enjoying Standard in particular. The metagame reshaping after the gutting of Esper self-bounce in the recent B&R announcement has been itneresting. I myself have been running a sort of variant of that list but only in Dimir and with various skeletons. It has been quite fun playing MTG in a different environment from commander.

Last, but not least: my latest bake is a batch of delicious cheese scones. I fell out of my baking mojo after being traumatised by exam season, but I'm trying to get back into it. I partook in a whimsical picnic with my university friends before I left, which was the perfect excuse to make a batch of scones. As always, you can find the recipe on the recipe book page.

That's all for now at least. I'll try my best to check in more over the summer while I have the time. So, see you soon.

Salutations, all. I am pleased to report I am free! Yesterday was the day of my last exam. I had it in the morning, then I went home, had a nap, ate pizza, played Deltarune, and watched Summer Game Fest with my housemates. A most exquisite array of activities!

So, how have I been? Pretty alright, actually! Revision was actually surprisingly tolerable. Since I am in third year all of my modules are actually interesting, so I rather enjoyed reviewing them. Though, I am now incredibly burnt out from working too much... I need a couple of days to rest before I can get back to work. This time, working on fun projects!

Though, as aforementioned, in my downtime I have been playing Deltarune, and, oh my goodness is it splendid. I really forget the caliber to which I love this game. Deltarune just has so much character to it and is such a good time. I don't really want to speak too much, but Chapter 3 is so whimsical and fun, and Chapter 4 is, well, quite the ride. I had so much fun playing it! It was absolutely worth every penny. I intend to replay the game soon to beat all of the secret bosses. And, I invested in the soundtrack from Bandcamp and have been thoroughly enjoying listening to it!

That's all I really have to say for now though. When I'm operational again, I intend to start working on the site again, and perhaps a few other things. We shall have to see. Until then!

Hello all. I'm here with a brief update, since I'm now on the other side of my dissertation, and one of my exams. It sure is nice to be free of all of that. Even though I've still got 5 exams left to go I feel quite free having only revision to worry about. It's great.

On the day after my report was due I went out with my friends to a Sealife aquarium because they wanted to see the Animal Crossing promotion going on. It was quite fun. I haven't been to an aquarium in years and it was fun to observe so many creatures.

I took my 3DS with my hoping to Streepass some Animal Crossing fans, and I actually did get 2 Streetpasses - my fourth and fifth this year. It's not wholly dead! I ended up taking some fun low-res pictures with my 3DS camera, too.

In my free time I've also been making a new MTG deck. I've been building an Azorius flicker deck and it's such an interesting archetype! You can generate value in so many ways. Originally, my deck's idea was to use Venser, Shaper Savant as a flicker outlet by using instant speed fast flicker effects like Ephemerate to have a repeatable source of Counterspells (or, in this case, Unsubstantiates), but I've been having fun with building it to do much more than that. In particular I am enjoying being able to flicker creatures that tutor on entry. Micromancer is great in particular on merit of being able to fetch more flicker effects!

For the commander I've chosen Yorion, Sky Nomad. This is a card I've been interested in for a while, mostly because I think companions are cool (though this one can't be your companion in commander) and I think Yorion is pretty. But now I understand it's excellent with the same spells I want to be using on Venser, specifically instant speed fast flickers. It lets you respond to a board wipe by casting Ephemerate on Yorion to repeat its entry effect, allowing you to slow flicker the rest of your board to dodge the wipe. How cool is that! You can even save Yorion by scooping it up into your hand with something like a Dour Port Mage. The shenanigans this archetype are capable of have thoroughly enamoured me.

Beyond that, I don't really have too much news. I'm hanging in there, so, I'll see you in the next post, if I make it that far.

Good day to you! I am once again writing a blog post, now on the other end of the holidays and back at university. So, I'll fill you in on what I've been up to.

University work has been most plentiful. With it being the summer term now, exams are looming, as well as the deadline for my report. In fact, my first exam is on the same day that my report is due! Ultimate despair... Please, wish me luck. I shall need it.

Over the holiday I did go to a Tarkir: Dragonstorm prerelease event which was most exciting. I managed to get a box with a Sultai seeded booster, and I did cobble together something... I ended up getting way too many payoffs for Renew effects, but not enough things that actually had the Renew keyword. So, I went 2-4, though I blame two of those losses on luck because I didn't draw any lands.

In the previous post I mentioned I had started replaying Pokemon White. Well, it sort of spiralled out of control and I'm in a big-time Pokemon phase again... I finished Pokemon White just a few days ago, and now I've been thinking a lot about Pokemon Sun & Moon again, so I'll probably replay my copy of Pokemon Moon soon. I've just been having so much fun revisiting some of my favourite games ever.

One last thing I want to talk about is my birthday. Firstly, you should behold the majestic monolith of a cake my mum made for me:

It's not one I've got the recipe for, but I thought I might as well put it here since I post a lot about good baked goods here. And, my birthday was very nice. I just got to hang out with my family and friends, and that's all I need to be satiated, really. I did receive some great presents, too. I got a pair of Koss Porta Pros, which are some very portable retro looking headphones with exquisite audio quality. And, I also got an iPod, which I took apart to give a new battery, screen and hard drive. I've been thoroughly enjoying using it to listen to my gigantic hoard of MP3s and I'm glad to have properly ditched Spotify.

That's about all I have to tell. Mainly I just need to keep soldiering on through exams. When I'm on the other end, though, hopefully I can make more blog posts. I've been meaning to get back to making them more regularly for a while, but year 3 of university has just been too tough.

Salutations, all. I hope this log post finds its readers well. I've not really much to tell, I'm simply checking in, mostly. So, here's the brief laydown of what's been going on with me.

Work has been going well, as plentiful as it is. I've finished the software for my dissertation and now I need only write the final report. This will be a ghastly and grueling task no doubt, but I'll survive. I always do.

Gaming has been going well. I felt the Pokemon itch recently and I've picked up my old DS Lite to start playing Pokemon White again. It is so fun. Playing this game again for the first time in, what, 6 years? has been making me incredibly happy. So far my party consists of Gregson the Oshawott, Agnes the Lillipup, and Butter the Munna. I shall be sure to give updates on their status next post.

Now that I'm free from uni, I'm working on a new deck for MTG centred around Jin-Gitaxias // The Great Synthesis which aims to satisfy my primal urge to draw a ridiculous amount of cards. It'll be fun. I've been meaning to build something mono-blue for a while.

In particular, I'm really excited for Tarkir: Dragonstorm. I really like the wedge colour sets, being a massive fan of Sultai and quite liking all the others (except for stinky Mardu). I am verily intending to invest in the Sultai Arisen precon, and I shall use it to construct the fastest turbo-mill deck the world has ever seen. I've wanted to build a turbo-mill deck for a while now, and, after trying one in Golgari, I definitely want to try building one in Sultai. I think the new lore for the Sultai is awesome, too. I really like the look of Kotis, the Sultai Fangkeeper, so hopefully his cards are cool so I can build a deck around him.

Last, but definitely not least: my latest bake.

That's about everything. This term of university has been very work filled and quite arduous. But, nonetheless, I press onwards for the sake of survival. See you next time.