donogh

In his defence, Monkey Island is Ron’s creation and the ending is probably what he always intended. It felt like a fitting conclusion to me that neatly tied a bow on the whole saga.

I appreciate this is intellectually lazy but is there a tl;dr? It’s a clickbait headline followed by a conversation that’s, at least initially, not good at conveying context.

This minor deterrant to adoption scales up with lots of other minor deterrents. Users want "it just works" and that's the experience they get with Microsoft and Apple (however bad it is in other ways).

Desktop Linux must match or exceed that base level of experience if it wants to drive meaningful adoption.

Let's be practical: give users a brief explanation of the downsides before they make choices like installing proprietary codecs. Treat them like adults. Let them have an easier life in favor of getting them on board.

It doesn't come with a phone number: it's data only. Per the FAQ: https://www.firsty.app/#Support

I suppose it's a little like UIs. Old school, green screen UIs have a learning curve and can result in very efficient usage. Modern, friendly UIs sacrifice speed for presentation and accessibility.

You might like Clicks in that case: https://www.clicks.tech/

Agreed; Ireland is very similar

That’s a good point. I visited Latvia a few years ago and was struck by how large a section of society there identifies as Russian, to the extent that in some places you were more likely to hear people speaking Russian than Latvian.

Poland would be a more difficult target to justify than the Baltics; only 0.1% of Poles speak Russian; 30% of Latvians are native Russian speakers. I could see Putin going there next.

I struggle with the constant stream of fad terminology, the latest being Metaverse and Web 3.0.

In some ways, Metaverse appears to be simply a new way of describing what we already have —- aren’t social networks themselves already metaverses? In others, the likes of FB and Apple are pushing technologies to enhance “Metaverse immersion” (made that up), none of which is gaining significant traction.

VR and AR headsets continue to improve, and yet still fail to extend beyond the realm of tech demos for most people. (I understand AR has decent uses in industry: hardly a metaverse.) This criticism is coming from someone who was an enthusiastic early adopter with Oculus, and who currently owns a Quest 2, which is excellent at gathering dust, and at occasionally wowing VR noobs (who are amazed but never end up buying one).

Then you have iOS AR, another technology devoid of practical and compelling uses. I love the Measure app with the LiDAR sensor —- is that a metaverse, an electronic tape measure? I guess so.

My take: the Metaverse is the new chatbot.

I’m using repair and protect, and I have no idea whether it’s doing anything. Experienced a much greater impact by cutting out most added sugar from my diet (including in coffee).

On Regenerate NR5, there seems to be skepticism on Reddit. This analysis looks solid:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dentistry/comments/2afh74/has_anyon...

It suggests they’re using fairly standard ingredients that are present in many toothpastes.

Caveat emptor..

What those four countries have in common is their use of Sinopharm. It seems safe to assume that the efficacy of Sinopharm has been significantly exaggerated.

It is unfortunate that it has been elevated to the same level as vaccines that have been rigorously tested and validated.

For countries using US/EU-approved vaccines —- Pfizer, Moderna, J&J, and Astra Zeneca —- increasing vaccination rates are clearly showing a “decoupling” of cases and hospitalisations. That prevention of severe disease is their stated objective, that’s all we need to end the pandemic, and they are clearly a huge success story.

I’m learning Polish (from English), which is very similar grammatically and even allows for some understanding of Russian (with many false friends of course).

Going back to an earlier point re English speakers understanding beginners/non-natives, I find Polish to be the opposite — I imagine it’s similar with Russian? Examples of errors that cause Poles to look at me like I have two heads:

1. Mistakes in declination: granted changing an ending can dramatically change the meaning of a noun/adverb/adjective, but the ability to infer the intended meaning seems to be largely absent.

2. Mispronunciation of syllables: neglecting to pronounce an accent, for example “mnóstwo” (plenty) vs “mnostwo” (meaningless).

3. Using a wrong conjugation with verbs or slightly mangling the conjugation, e.g., “napisałem list” (I wrote a letter) vs “napisem list” (meaningless).

4. Not breaking up a word correctly —- it’s not always obvious where one syllable ends and another begins, e.g., pronouncing “zadzwonić” (to call) as “zadz-wonić” vs “za-dwonić”.

5. When not accenting the correct syllable (usually second to last in Polish but I understand there’s no general rule in Russian).

My best guess as to why there is little natural tolerance for mistakes is because of lack of immigration. Poland is nearly entirely homogenous, and the biggest immigrant population is Ukrainians, who also speak Slavic languages.

Anyway, personally, I still find it fun to learn, and I look forward to the day I can confidently wear this t-shirt: https://www.amazon.com/Speak-Polish-Whats-Superpower-Shirt/d...

Thanks!

URL is timing out. Anyone have a cached copy please?

In a sense entering the market is easy -- sign up to Shopify, drop ship from China, etc.

On the other hand, competing in the market is not easy.

Maybe that's what he meant?

There are plenty of commercial air purifiers that will at least trap SARS-CoV-2 particles, and they can be added to air conditioning systems.

The IQAir HealthPro Plus, which can be bought for $899[1], filters particles as small as 0.003 microns (Coronavirus is approximately 0.1 microns[2]). And their Perfect 16 product is designed for HVAC systems[3].

[1] https://www.sylvane.com/iqair-healthpro-plus-air-purifier.ht... [2] https://abcdust.net/how-large-is-a-corona-virus-virion-compa... [3] https://www.sylvane.com/iqair-perfect-16-air-purifiers.html

That’s a fair point. It is still a healthy market. I hope Facebook and Walmart don’t preclude other platforms and non-Shopify retailers.

True that it’s good to see competition for Amazon. So long as they don’t have exclusivity with Walmart and Facebook Shops, I don’t see a problem.

(Disclaimer: I work in the e-commerce space.)

I have to say I'm concerned about Shopify's growing dominance in the e-commerce market. They're selling a 'David vs Goliath' story about taking on Amazon, while at the same time becoming a Goliath themselves.

They are gradually building what seems to be an unassailable lead: preferential card processing rates with Stripe, hard-to-match discounts on shipping with the major logistics companies, warehousing to help retailers fulfil products, an anti-competitive app only for Shopify retailers, an exclusive arrangement with Facebook for Facebook Shops, and now a partnership with Walmart.

They are rapidly becoming the next FAANG.

He controls 57.9% of the voting shares[1] and, historically, hasn't exactly been a paragon of virtue.

[1] https://www.investopedia.com/articles/insights/082216/top-9-...

Technically, they are still negotiating, though negotiations stalled in 2016[1].

I can't ever see it happening; there is so much opposition. Human rights seems to be biggest sticking point, and is unlikely to be resolved any time soon.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_of_Turkey_to_the_Eur...

Irishman here. Not to further a cultural stereotype but.. I know plenty of binge drinkers who could put away 20-30 pints[1] over the course of a day-long drinking session. Get a couple of them together and they'd finish a keg that size in 2-3 days.

[1] Imperial pints: 568 ml / 19.2 US fl oz

Was it from a third-party seller? If they're not using FBA, they shipped it from their own warehouse.

What's more is that Telegram's approach to crypto has been shown to be deeply flawed[1].

I take my chances with Signal instead. Unfortunately, enticing all of my contacts to do the same has proven difficult.

An aside: is anyone else disturbed by the fact that Whatsapp now shows the Facebook logo when you first open the app? The day the Facebook Messenger/Instagram/Whatsapp merge happens is the day I'm deleting Whatsapp.

[1] https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/49782/is-telegr...

Tesla is the Apple of the auto industry. They are getting stellar customer satisfaction ratings, which is translating into brand loyalty[1]. They've built an ecosystem between their above-average EV hardware, industry-leading software (with frequent improvements), and a top-notch charging network.

I can see some automakers matching them on hardware, but they have a huge lead in software. Traditional car manufacturers update software at a glacial pace and, aside from Mercedes' recent voice control system, I haven't seen anything come close.

Also, Musk is right: no one else has even come close to matching the 2012 Model S. Tesla's lead is starting to look unassailable (in the medium term).

Not to mention their foothold in China, which can only get stronger with the introduction of a Chinese-designed model.

[1] https://cleantechnica.com/2019/01/09/tesla-has-the-highest-c...

Not true of all of Europe. Irish salaries go as high as twice that for similar seniority.

Cost of living isn't lower, especially in Dublin, our healthcare system is a slightly worse, college isn't totally free (3k/year or so), and pensions less generous.

On balance though, you'd still be better off working here.

Culturally, Germany seems to have a strong aversion to personal debt. In the UK and Ireland, consumer behavior is very much in line with the US.

Having tried it, my biggest gripe is the DNS query log stored in the app. This should be optional.

Fair enough. I haven't reviewed the UK legislation.