UK/EU has had contactless payments via our bank cards for about 2 decades now. America caught up eventually some years later

When phones got the ability to act as our bank cards, it made sense for them to use something compatible with the same technology that was already deployed

Funnily enough, America (and I guess also Korea, given the companies) dragging their heels on standard contactless is one of the main reasons why Samsung/LG briefly put out a couple of generations of phones that had a magnetic stripe mimicking payment feature in addition to standard NFC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_secure_transmission)

Data centres notoriously don’t have heads, but I love the enthusiasm

We kinda have two choices:

Some flavour of socialism where people get what they need for free

Or

Turbo-rio-de-janiro style inequality where we all live in slums

Now the 2nd one is what the ultra rich want and they have a lot of power, so it’s kinda on the rest of us to make the first happen instead

I just grip the box closed after I’ve pulled what I need and yank it free

I think it’s usually the bottom side of the opening with the serration, so probably that side

People can (and do) still say what they like today, other people aren’t also obligated to smile and clap though. Very few people are gonna be particularly pleased about being insulted.

TBF, you’re probably more likely to get punched in the face for saying those things rather than following hearing them these days. I’d probably see that as the better situation of the two, kids should stand up for themselves.

If year on year we can get kids to be less shitty to each other, it’s hard to argue that isn’t good thing.

Johnstones Trade Smooth Metal Paint (Tinted) 0.8L - True Blonde

https://www.brewers.co.uk/product/AF12506690N/ppg12-12-true-blonde

https://www.lenire.com/

I’m probably gonna give this a go in a few years

Money and sales charts

Being top of a sales chart was a big deal a couple of decades ago as it usually meant a product got better placement on the shop shelves

So then marketing budgets could be focused on different areas at different times, meaning greater chance of getting higher in the charts

That and localisations generally taking time and studios not wanting to cannibalise sales of a local version with imports

Also regional pricing, they could sell more in poorer countries for lower prices, but they didn’t want to give up the greater amount they can ask for from richer countries

Edit: clarity

Most people seem to go for either codeberg or gitlab as alternatives

Barely used doesn’t mean useless

They’re not for regular people making regular transactions, it’s kinda intended for high value transactions

Wealthy people selling things (semi-)privately to each other is one obvious one, things like those £50k watches. Sometimes these wealthy people want to do their spending with utmost discretion, so cash is king.

Another is pawnbrokers, private currency exchanges and similar kinds of business that just have to deal with a lot more cash than is typical.

Don’t get me wrong, its usage will definitely be in decline, but I don’t see them taking it out of rotation any sooner than the fiver

Where do you live now?

What’s the food like where you are? Are there any regional specialties you love?

I visited Florence last year and couldn’t get enough of it, I’m actually heading to Milan later this year so looking forward to getting stuck in again

Well two wrongs clearly make a right when it comes to chicken wing dips

see people […] spent $25…$45…$30 on gas

I spend $7 ~ $13 […] three times a month

3 x 13 = $39

it’s not nearly as close as what I’ve seen other people spend.

?

Way to get out of it? Lawyers

Why are people afraid? Lawyers

Lawyers can get very expensive, and don’t have a guaranteed result. Also a company Vs an individual usually has disproportionate funds for legal fees

Just some additional context that not everyone has:

There was a propaganda campaign run by a chap named Matthew Elliott to make sure of the no outcome in the AV vote. Billboards with “baby needs a hospital not a voting system” and similar all over the country

That same chap was pretty instrumental in the Vote Leave campaign

I’d say something like Seinfeld or Friends is probably it, there’s still channels showing reruns of these all day long across the world.

You’ve got to consider stuff that was popular and universal enough to get translated to many different languages and then still get rerun in those countries too

Only if it’s intentional, it can easily be caused by ignorance/incompetence too

I was originally gonna say Sigur Ros but that’s already been covered

My shout out goes to Niteworks then, who sadly did their farewell tour last year. One of my favourites:

https://youtu.be/GY7q1DjmsiE

I don’t really smoke anymore, but the smoking ban in the UK (no smoking indoors from 2007) created the concept of the smoking area outside a pub/club and some of my best friendships in life ultimately started in that Petri dish

A smoking area outside anywhere in the northwest of the UK about 10-15 years ago was just peerless in calibre