Hyperreality

You say that like it’s incompetence.

They’re deliberately lining their pockets with exhorbitant executive pay-outs.

AI.

I use it for gmail and related google apps, nothing else.

Honestly works for me. Chrome for emails and stuff. No history, full privacy mode firefox for everything else. That includes youtube and links in emails.

Google thinks all I ever do is check my emails.

Honestly, when it comes to duolingo, you’re probably best off sticking to Spanish or stuff like that.

I tried out a course in my native language, and it really wasn’t great beyond the basics. Loads of mistakes.

And if you’re going to be paying for that, you might as well buy (or pirate) a proper Spanish course.

I’ve encountered them in Belgium, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, and France.

Not everywhere though, and restaurants often have free toilets for customers. Mostly in cities, busy places.

Germany has paying toilets near on the Autobahn, but last time I checked you get a rebate coupon to buy something in the shop or cafe.

Not necessarily opposed to them. Some people are animals and 50 cents keeps out the worst of them and helps keep things clean.

Yeah. In my case linux Mint just didn’t.

Older hardware, lack of (good) drivers, mini-pc so not feasible to install a new network card, I tried, I really did. But I eventually gave up.

Great if it works, but sometimes you’re just SOL.

I’ll be forced to switch to linux when 10 reaches end of life, but I’m genuinely not looking forward to it. I’ve tried it before and given up after hours of hair pulling. Not linux’s fault necessarily. Often driver issues.

That’s the thing a lot of fanboys forget. They often install linux on hardware they handpicked to be compatible on a pc they assembled themselves. Most casual users are upgrading an existing non-self assembled system, which may or may not be compatible, and contain parts that don’t have good driver support. Eg. a cheap realtek card that was never sold to consumers directly, meaning it would only be installed in windows systems.

Honestly, I may just not bother. Go on ebay, buy something newer. Shame though. System runs fine. Happily runs Cyberpunk and stuff like that. TBF because I’m a cheap bastard, I only have 500 euros invested in the thing. Bought it at aldi when it was discounted. Upgraded it with second hand ebay parts. LOL.

I assume the longterm support version of windows 10 costs money.

AFAIK the upgrade to 11 is free.

https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/bypass-windows-11-tpm-requirement

If you have a test lying around, or if they’re cheap where you are, try one after a few weeks or a month.

Apparently you can test positive even long after you’ve recovered.

You should host the internet.

English isn’t serving you well. You should learn Chinese.

Are you having a problem learning Chinese? You chose Cantonese? Wrong dialect. Should be learning Mandarin, that will solve your issue.

You should just learn Chinese.

You have a sufficient ability to learn Chinese, you learnt how to speak the language you’re currently using.

Learning takes time, but me suggesting you ‘just’ learn Chinese isn’t stupid or unreasonable, especially as your inability to speak Chinese is limiting your audience and career opportunities, and not serving you well.

More like moving to France. For me it wouldn’t be an issue. My french isn’t bad and I learn languages quickly.

I assume that’s not true of everyone, just like everyone isn’t great at PC stuff.

Buying a house costs so much money and time that most people … Suggesting FOSS to replace “whatever commercial software they use” is the polar opposite, in that it’s literally free

Suggesting people ‘just’ buy a house is unhelpful, because it assumes they have enough money to do so.

Suggesting people ‘just’ use FOSS is often unhelpful, because it assumes they have sufficient computer abilities and/or have the time to learn how.

Some kid who’s just started writing his thesis and enjoys fiddling with stuff? Sure, recommend LaTex.

Some overstretched parent of two, who gets home at 8 and just needs to edit a powerpoint for a presentation at the end of the week? No, suggesting they install a piece of software, something they’ve never done before, and learn to use this piece of software they’ve never used, to finish something that needs to be done by the end of the night, and that they’re almost certainly going to be using in an office (ie. windows/office) environment? Not helpful.

Danke.

Mann hat etwas Ähnliches mit Vlaams Blok gemacht. Man muss es richtig machen, sonst scheitert es. Ist gefährlich. Können sie sich als Opfer darstellen und den Rechtsstaat untergraben. “Wir vertreten das Volk. Die Richter gehören zur linken Elite, sie sind antidemokratisch, blablablabla.”

(Mein Deutsch is sehr schlecht. So to summarise: scary, dangerous, delicate shit, that needs to be handled carefully but ruthlessly. Luckily Germany has learnt from history, so you guys should be better able to combat it before it’s too late.)

Vlaams Belang hat ein anderes Parteiprogramm als Vlaams Blok. Sie tun so, als wären sie anders.

In den Niederlanden wurde Pim Fortuyn assisiniert. In 2006 verschwand Lijst Pim Fortuyn aus dem Parlament… In 2006 wurde Wilders’ Partei PVV gegründet. Wilders gilt als einer der ideologischen Erben der LPF. Und jetzt…

Hier in Belgien hatt man in 2004 die Partei Vlaams Blok verurteilt für Rassismus und verboten. Wenige Tagen später gab es ein neue partei: Vlaams Belang. Wahlkampfslogan: “Eine Frage der Meinungsfreiheit.” Es hat sie nur geholfen.

Orwell:

It is a pathetic, dog-like face, the face of a man suffering under intolerable wrongs. In a rather more manly way it reproduces the expression of innumerable pictures of Christ crucified, and there is little doubt that that is how Hitler sees himself. The initial, personal cause of his grievance against the universe can only be guessed at; but at any rate the grievance is here. He is the martyr, the victim, Prometheus chained to the rock, the self-sacrificing hero who fights single-handed against impossible odds. If he were killing a mouse he would know how to make it seem like a dragon. One feels, as with Napoleon, that he is fighting against destiny, that he can’t win, and yet that he somehow deserves to. The attraction of such a pose is of course enormous; half the films that one sees turn upon some such theme.

Ich sage nicht, dass sie nicht verboten werden sollten. Ich sage, Faschisten sind wie Bettwanzen. Schwer zu eliminieren. Es gibt keine einfachen Lösungen

Internet Explorer it is then!