TrueGeek

The UK is on my list. It’s not run by grown ups now, but neither are we. It’s an infinite step up, walkability-wise, and I think things will improve politically over time. Surely you guys are learning some lessons now, right?!

Good luck! Leetcode interviews SUCK, but remember: everyone you do makes you better prepared for the next one. It’s a grind, but keep at it!

> I often wonder whether the opportunity to stage your “life” in a beautiful place for social media is a part of why so many more people head into the woods

I think so. For me and my friends, we’re not “staging our life”, but a lot of times I’ll see someone post a photo of a trail on Instagram or Strava and I’ll comment asking where it is. We still went out 10 years ago. We still took photos 10 years ago. But now it’s SO much easier to share what the different trails look like and it’s possible to share the exact GPX tracks with each other.

It’s a wonderful time to be wandering around in the woods and if someone just got into the hobby yesterday and wants to post the beauty of their quarter mile “hike” more power to them.

I don't know that I've ever seen a road in the USA with a limit as low as 15. The road my house is on has a limit of 25, no sidewalks although children attempt to walk on it since the community swimming pool is at the end, and people regularly drive 35+. The road it connects to has a limit of 45 and no shoulder (although, amazingly I've still seen people attempting to walk on it too!) and I've seen people that must have been going 90 mph.

As you say, the roads in Europe are much different. The speed limits are MUCH lower and the roads are designed such that you really can't go much faster. If we invested in safer roads and public transportation a lot of our problems with cars would solve themselves.

I spent a month in the UK and was glad to have brought my CX bike instead of my road bike. Several of the routes (in Kent) that I had thought were going to be road routes suddenly turned into paths that we would classify as gravel here in the states. It was wonderful! So little traffic and not one F350.

Maybe it depends on the state? I’m in Georgia and just checked a few of my Apple invoices. A 99c app costs me exactly 99c, no tax is added.

Every now and then you hear about a leak at some company that was storing passwords in clear text. Thanks to password managers this only affects that one site, but it still makes me thankful for 2FA.

As someone who drives a car from the 60s on weekends this was terrifying.

I wrote an app called Migraine Weather that was specifically for that. I ended up selling it and it’s now called WeatherX. I no longer have any connection to the app, but I do continue to use it myself.

I really hope this add this in to the default app. I use it constantly!

"Service guarantees citizenship"

And the parents that don’t want their kids reading “Ruby Bridges Goes to School” certainly have their own agenda that says quite a bit about America.

If the school / library bans the book and the answer is “if you want YOUR kid to read it buy it yourself” then now we’ve got the problem of the next generation growing up with some kids learning only half of our history.

I hated the Apple Watch when it came out. It's just so ugly. It reminds me of the Hitchhikers to the Galaxy line about digital watches. If I'm going to wear a watch it's going to be analog.

But I had to wear one for a few weeks while working on a mobile app. I ended up asking to keep it, I had no idea it would end up being so useful. It really let me cut down on my screen time. And the less you take your phone out of your pocket the less chance you get sucked into the "oh, while I'm on my phone let me bring up the social media site".

It's a fine line between fear and reassurance. The first time I did an ultra event my wife and I didn't even consider that I wouldn't have cellular connectivity in southern Georgia. When it took longer than I told it would (because, of course it did) she got worried because it appeared I was stopped and not moving for a long time. She was about to call the race organizer when I finally got cell coverage again and texted her.

After that I agreed to buy a Spot device which is very expensive, bulky, and the interface (at least 4 years ago) isn't great. But it shows her my location anywhere in the world. The iPhone 14 does the same thing and it's just included.

Unfortunately our records don’t go back far enough to say for sure.

This just really sounds like you've never tasted marmite...

I had the exact same experience at the Delta counter in Atlanta. A Frenchman was having trouble understanding that he couldn't pay cash to check his bag. We paid for him (Amex reimburses us for Delta fees so we didn't take his cash) but otherwise he wouldn't have been able to fly.

Previously, I had always believed that in the US it was a law that places had to accept cash.

My wife is super not a fan of that plan.

The alternative is to do a work visa and then resident visa until we're 65 and then we can "opt" for citizenship which does allow for dual citizenship. It's a much longer route though.

UK is just easier for multiple reasons but comes with it's own bag of worms.

Sadly in the US were taxed no matter where we live. We have agreements with a lot (most?) countries though so we get "credit" for taxes paid to the country we are living in.

The cost of living definitely balances things out. I just wish The Netherlands would change their stance on dual citizenship.

If you work for 90 days or less then nothing happens.

If you work for 91+ days then you don't maintain your US employment. You must find new employment in The Netherlands and get a work visa. That may mean staying at your current company and switching from the US based company to their NL based company, but it's still a new job. You'll pay taxes in the NL, but you may get a SIGNIFICANT discount for the first 5 years as an IT worker [0].

You will still need to pay taxes in the US, but you'll get a discount of any taxes already paid to the NL so, effectively, you won't need to actually pay any taxes since taxes are higher in the NL. You'll still file every year.

0: https://www.expatica.com/nl/finance/taxes/the-dutch-30-rulin...

But where do you think it'll be in 10 years? Progress is being made towards renewable energy, people are taking trips by bicycle more, and although the change hasn't happened yet, public sentiment is that the NHS needs to be "fixed", whatever that may end up meaning.

For everyone saying this must be the Windows Insider ARM based Windows version - the linked YouTube video shows him using (and paying for) the full Windows 11 x86. He even gives a referral code. It's at 48 seconds into the video.

The best time to install a solar panel is 5 years ago. The second best time is today.

Interesting. How much money is lost by banks giving out cash back rewards to Americans using credit cards in Europe?

In Atlanta if you turn off your A/C at 6pm you’re not going to be able to cool the building back down by the time the employees return in the morning. Reduce it a bit, sure, but it needs to be running 24/7.

It would be a better benefit to society to turn most of these office buildings into apartments.

My wife and I just spent a month in the UK to see how we’d like it and if we’d want to move there. If you are willing to commute 40 mins (by train) there are plenty of towns with 2 bed apartments for £400k.

Using it as an external display would also get rid of the problem of vendor lock it to the Lumina app ecosystem. A desk should last a VERY long time.

From the article: he had $2.6MM in help from the "American Rescue Plan's Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds".

He's being paid by the government to bring Internet access to homes in the state that aren't currently wired for it.