dirktheman

Hard to tell without specifics, but my guess is that a 2% churn rate is about normal. You have to focus on acquisition to make up for the 2% loss. And yes, that takes a lot of ongoing effort.

It's the same in Dutch: "zoeken naar een speld in een hooiberg" is a well known analogy.

Can't speak for Samsung phones, but in our household we have several Xiaomi, Motorola and Apple devices and Gmail (or any other email for that matter) notifications are always instantaneous.

2005 Mitsubishi Grandis. Super reliable, it can haul my family and tow the caravan and since it's a little older I don't have to worry too much about a ding or a scratch. It's nearing 200,000 miles now so it's still fairly low mileage for a large japanese car.

I'm missing a reference to the hardcore 'gabber' techno which was a hugely popular subculture in The Netherlands in the 1990s... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabber

To me, it's a combination of the story, the storytelling, voice acting and music. The graphics can help with the immersiveness of a game, but they're only secondary. The games I used to play as a kid like Monkey Island, Sam&Max and Full Throttle still hold up today, despite their dated graphics.

I bought an Xbox last year and a copy of Red Dead Redemption 2. It instantly brought me back, the same feelings and attachment to the main characters. I broke up a little when Arthur died.

I can appreciate the modern, realistic graphics but without the rest... it's just a technical fad. While the other way around you can still make a great, immersive gaming experience without realistic graphics.

Yes, it usually ends up with a shadow economy where everybody just uses foreign currency for all things that don't concern the government.

What's the upside to this then? I mean, over a bank transfer or handing over cash?

I'm sure that Russian state owned media is way more biased than most Western media. However, if you factor in that for instance a large part of the US only watches Fox, OAN or Breitbart, I don't think one party is much better off in the news department. A lot of people have access to independent media, but actively choose not to use them.

Without picking any sides here, I think it is somewhat funny that both parties in the comments think the other party is indoctrinated by state propaganda about their own country...

This reminds me of two brothers who did a road trip through Britain to visit all the towns with naughty names and street names. I can't find a reputable link but here's one from the Mirror: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/rude-map-britain-revea...

I did a fun project with our 9yo: we installed Minecraft and did some programming tutorials!

https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/getting-started...

Ford actually envisioned nuclear cars in the 1950s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Nucleon

There's also a TON of people who can customize a template or write you a dedicated plugin for next to nothing. I'm talking about a 16-year-old dude from Romania or Algeria who can do this just fine for a couple of bucks, instead of hiring a SF-based ninja rockstar evangelist who can get you hooked up with JAMstack and a headless CMS for only 10K...

I did 4x9 also for a while, also with a long (1h15) commute. Was OK for a year, but I was glad that my next job was 4x8 again, with 1 day WFH. So 3 days in the office, 1 day from home. Perfect!

I've been working 4 days since 2006, when our first child was born. I don't see myself going back to working 5 days a week, even when the youngest one is older. I get to spend more time with our children, and when they're in school (I'm off on Wednesday) I have the entire day to myself. It's totally worth the pay cut!

Fun fact: 50% of employed people here in The Netherlands are working parttime in some form.

I have two children interested in programming, and they equally love Roblox and Minecraft. I chose Roblox since Minecraft requires the Java edition (€26,-) for both children: they each have to have their own account. Strange decision from Microsoft.

I ran into similar issues when using Rpi with SD cards, but I switched to a bootable SSD and had zero issues since.

If you don't like tinkering with your Rpi I can also recommend the Odroid C4: it has a better GPU and a native eMMC connector so you don't have to fiddle around with SD cards.

How is it that when I look at pictures from the 1990s they look... dated, I guess? But it doesn't feel that long ago!

Yes, we have the vacuum on a stick at work. It's a cheap plastic thing that looks like a sex toy for Buck Rogers and it doesn't perform nearly as well as the Numatic Henry we have at home.

Technology Connections did an episode on air humidifiers a while ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28

The fan and filter size matter the most. Most of these things are hugely overpriced for what they are.

Take a holiday! Rent a remote cabin in the woods, or fly (drive?) to a sunny destination. After last year you need to recharge your batteries!

Or even worse: little touchscreens that resemble a physical knob/button, even with haptic feedback!

All physical buttons/switches in my 20 year old Mitsubishi still work. I have a feeling the newfangled, fancy LCD-switches don't last that long, and will be very expensive to fix when they break.

I really enjoyed 'Marseille' (it's on Netflix I believe). Although I'm fairly proficient in french I watched it with the french subtitles on so I could learn all kinds of new swearing words and verlan (street language where you inverse the order of syllables).

Never been there, but I met a french-speaking couple from Montreal once. I could understand them just fine, but couldn't place the accent. It didn't really occur to me hearing white people speaking french were from another country than France. (My former neighbour was from Congo and I was able to converse with him in french although his patois was hard to follow).

Yes, they don't teach you the "on a...", "faire le truc avec...", "ouais" and "ca marche" at school, altough everyone uses this. I just wish schools would prepare you a little better for the difference between writing and speaking. My daughter learned to say "chouette, c'est jolie!" in her french class, which is preposterous and almost akin to saying 'Jolly gay, old chap!' in English today.

I scored straight A's in french back in school. Then I went to work in France, expecting little issues with understanding the locals.

Turns out understanding a heavy Auvergnat accent is... difficult! I wrestled with the accent a couple of weeks, but after a while it 'clicked'. This was pretty much a matter of 'waking up and not having to translate it in your mind', a very strange sensation. I learned to distinct several accents: Parisian and Marseillais are different beasts, and Swiss-french is also different (I totally dig their counting system though, septante, huitante et nonante makes so much more sense).

Also, I learned that the french in school is nothing like the french they speak in France. Sure, you get by and they'll understand you, but french relies heavy on vernacular, sayings and expressions.

Nowadays people think I'm a Walloon (French-speaking from Belgium, while I'm Dutch), which is a great compliment to me!

I agree with you on the 'door lock will offer protection'. The vast majority of break-ins are actually climb-ins through an open window (forced or not), or by smashing a door window. Once you have a decent lock installed thieves will find another way to enter your house.

Some of these smart locks however turn out to have MASSIVE exploits (sending out unencrypted bluetooth addresses for instance). Sure, you could research and pick a lock from a wellknown brand with proven security. The downside to software security is that there is a possibility that a hack can be developed in the future. With an old-fashioned key, the risks are pretty well known.

I'm a big fan of home automation (Home Assistant user here). I'm rather proud of my setup where I can measure, control and secure my entire house. But I'm not using smart locks. Their use cases are, in my case, very limited (I've never encountered a situation where I thought 'darnit, I wish I could open that door without a key') and therefore not worth the extra risk.

We had radio shows that transmitted software over the airwaves... still think that was incredible! It wasn't very reliable, though (and not very fun to listen to).

I'm fairly certain that projecting your own insecurities onto weaker victims is the main reason why bullies bully.