Never listened to a podcast on Spotify and on my Home screen i have to scroll quite a lot (its like 10 row, pretty much in the middle of Home screen in my case) to see one row "Episodes for You" and one row of "Shows to try". Don't see how it is "pushing podcasts".
This has to be a USA thing right? In the 15 years i have had debit/credit cards in the EU nobody has ever checked the name on it. In fact, since the rise of contactless all the card info is now on the backside and not on front as before. Not to mention the fact that quite a few people today pay by phone contactless.
I completely understand that there is a "big boys table" and everybody else, but the hard facts are that Russia occupied territories of a sovereign nation (Crimea/Donbass/Lugansk) and now is waging a full on war with that nation while stating random reasons (nazis/biolabs/Russian integrity/etc.). So i feel that anyone who tries to reason "Russia attacked because of X" is pretty much a Russian supporter.
And it hits close to home because potentially unless we are in NATO, we would be next.
Well, they mention Baltics as buffer states simply because Russia wants that. So that is exactly my point earlier - Russia still thinks they have the right to control these states. It is like your neighbour saying that you cannot install a camera on your property (because you have experienced theft from your neighbour) so when you do it, he comes and beats you up for it.
Oh yes, the mighty Baltic states who are able to somehow lock down Russian ties to Germany. By that logic the NS2 should have never happened or German reliance to Russian gas in general. This sounds like the same stuff Russians were claiming at some point - that the Baltics are the main players in West geopolitics or what not.
What that think tank is saying make no sense, as invading/controlling Ukraine is not making a buffer zone as you can't really call something a buffer zone when it is pretty much in Russias pocket. Something like Belarus today is not a buffer zone.
Just by peaking over the Quora article it is enough to say it is a Russian propaganda piece, things like some UA nazis (Russians also have some nazi admirers), the "referendums" and so on. Even if these referendums were legit, does it really trump a nations sovereignty (I am talking from my own experience as a lot of Russians were imported and locals deported in my country during the Soviet occupation and these people never integrated and probably even today there are regions where the population is mainly these Russian imports who would gladly be part of Russia). The main issue is that Russia has the view of "either you are with us or against us" so if you don't play ball we will going to "fuck you". Personally, i think that nobody understand Russia better than Eastern Europeans and the West is pretty much failing (at least the EU West who thought that playing ball with Russia will get them to back off) - https://www.businessinsider.com/countries-that-warned-about-...
The Baltics have pretty much lived all their freedom years under Russian propaganda, let it be claims that we are nazis, russophobes and any other type of oppressors of the Russian people or even a threat of Russia itself. So seeing how many in the West are falling for Russian bullshit is just sad.
> These tensions have been brewing between NATO (mostly America) and Russia for at least a decade. It's unfortunate that the situation escalated in Ukraine though, which AFAIK is the victim in the scheming and plotting of those two powers.
As a person from Eastern Europe this is literal Russian propaganda or in simple words - dogshit. You know why somebody like Baltic countries wanted to get in NATO? Because Russia was/is a genuine threat after these countries were deoccupied from the Soviet Union. Russia thinks that these former Soviet Union countries are still their own property, they can't imagine that these countries don't want to live "the Russian way".
Except proxying through Iran or North Korea literally puts a target on you locally. Not really the brightest idea.
As for other things - it is not black or white, depends where you are and from that you choose the best option for you. The "copyright" cartels are mostly American so it kinda does not even make sense to use US in order to avoid that, just makes it easier for them.
And i don't get how one would think that I, as a European, would want an overseas company to handle my data. If my ISP is breaching GDPR, all i have to do is to go to data protection agency (at least i have that option on the table), good luck doing that with an overseas company... I have zero indications that my ISP is selling data for marketing purposes (unlike some US ISPs which even inject ads).
This is just dumb. Would you prefer if executives were sent to prison? These fines are beneficial in the way that business might think twice before fucking over people.
Except the world does not operate in only black and white - not everybody goes to vote, not everybody becomes a politician, not everybody has the same political views etc. This can be seen in gender equality/feminist "success" countries where when people are more or less free to choose, the distribution is not 50/50 and some groups of people simply don't want to agree to the fact that men and women can be different and want different things in life.
So if women voters for the most part have thought that a man is the better candidate there is a problem? Maybe i am just misunderstanding and basing my opinion on how election system works in my country which i think is gender equal - anyone can make a party (obviously you have to be a citizen) as long as you get the minimum amount of party members, you can run in the election and the election itself is based on votes per party + votes for each candidate within that party (+/- system). So if a party gets 5 seats in the parliament, the top most "upvoted" candidates get those seats.
There is nothing preventing women from creating a party which would appease to the women voters and running for election. That is equality. But nowadays it is easier to blame sexism and whatnot if the result is something you don't like (women not voting for the women centric party).
You have a very broken idea (just like most equality supporters) about what gender equality is. It should be equal opportunity not equal outcome. The usual argument about having a parliament divided 50/50 is that the population is divided roughly 50/50. But everybody always somehow forgets that even women voters aren't voting for women...
That doesn't really explain the prices, a Specialized Turbo Kenevo SL Expert (9.6k EUR) full suspension e-mtb costs more than a Kawasaki or Yamaha 900cc naked motorcycle (~9k EUR). The top of the line S-works e-mtb is in a similar price point as the latest BMW S1000RR. It just doesn't make any sense other than greed.
The issue is naming - term e-bike is used for everything while most if not all consumer "e-bikes" are actually pedelecs (no throttle, limited to 25kph and 250W, assisting only when pedalling). Every other e-bike is classified as moped/motorcycle which might require licence plate, registration and insurance. At least it should be like that in EU.
Except Tesla puts wiper speed (a thing you actually use while driving) on Model 3 in the touchscreen. That is the dumbest thing ever. Touchscreens are fine, but the controls you use while driving should be buttons or via steering wheel controls + HUD.
You also should be chipped when we have the technology so that you don't get the wrong thoughts... What you are suggesting is absolutely insane. Most things in this world can be used for unlawful things. By your suggestion we should also lock down computers, remove vpn or encryption etc.
That is up to the manufacturer. Anyway, you don't need to register the drone in this kind of case, only you as a pilot and even that is questionable in the case of Tiny Whoop which would be flown mostly inside (i believe that the regulation doesn't cover indoors).
Imo under the new regulation (from 2021) this could actually be completely legal without any waivers depending on where was the pilot, if there was a spotter (very likely) and if the surfers can be considered involved persons (notified and consented etc.). Under my current local rules (not Portugal) this would require to be a certified pilot (theory + practical exam, although if you do this commercially it is a must anyway) and a risk assessment submitted to Civil Aviation Agency.
P.S. I believe the first shot of the video wouldn't fall under any regulation as it is not using airspace.
Ok, so FAA has exceptions, i am not from US so wasn't sure about that because when FPV got popular my local ancient regulation basically said that pilot must maintain visual contact (VLOS only) and even now the latest unified EU drone regulation is kinda shit because you must have a spotter. Realistically speaking - what kind of other random aircraft are going to be up to 120m/400ft or around trees/obstacles when flying a racing drone? I bet it is zero. I am not disputing the fact that there are situations when all the precaution is needed but the fact that you are breaking the law when you are flying your FPV racing drone alone between/above trees alone in a private forest is a bit unsettling (at least based on the latest unified EU drone regulation).
BVLOS is tricky in the age of FPV. Flying behind a large tree is illegal as it is BVLOS. Same with night time flying even on a huge field with no property or people in sight. Basically you are at the mercy of regulators because most of the stuff is illegal or available with some kind of permits.