I remember when I was in uni, living on-campus in a student dorm. Living conditions were not great, the rooms were small and they stuffed 3 or 4 guys in each room. We each had a bed, a chair, a tiny wardrobe, a shelf and half a desk. No fridge. Each fall, when we got back to school, there was an effervescent market for old used refrigerators. Everybody was buying and selling fridges for the first 1 or 2 weeks. One year we bought a 50 year old Zil fridge made in the USSR in the 60’s. We paid like €10 for it. It was heavy as hell and we had to carry it up the stairs to the 4th floor. The thing made a loud, continuous buzzing which helped drown out one of our colleague’s thunderous snoring. We loved it. I don’t remember what happened to it or who got to keep it after we disbanded, but I’m sure it still works.

The tech was headed in a different direction. Early Android was nothing like iPhoneOS, it had to play catch-up and adapt to the new form factor (boring rectangle with a touchscreen). Apple created a demand for their cool shiny toy in a way that Android couldn’t have done. Think about it, by the time the first iPhone was announced, we already had Windows, Symbian and Blackberry phones. Regular people were not buying them, they were a niche product. Android was just heading to join their ranks.

Facebook groups, echo chambers, leniency on hate speech, propaganda, Cambridge Analytica, people ushering in right wing extremism by their own volition, Brexit, Green Deal opposition, war in Ukraine, lunatic in the White House, there’s a lot of stuff that happened because the smartphone was used as a channel for manipulation. At least the pandemic would have happened anyway, but vaccination rates would have probably been higher without everyone having easy, unrestricted access to the internet.

I see your Mezzanine and I raise you Air’s Moon Safari.

Don’t search for “sqrt girls”, you’ll be gravely disappointed.

This is why I like KDE Plasma. Just shake the mouse and watch the cursor get bigger.

Off the top of my head, I can think of Sibiu, Sadu and Cibin. These are the main local artisanal lagers. They’re good, but nothing to write home about. Consumer-grade beer is pretty shit in Romania, but there are a few good ones like Silva Dark and Csíki Sör (this one is manufactured in Székely Land, hence the Hungarian name).

It’s a 2-3 hour drive from Bran Castle. And just to be the insufferable pedant that I am, I’ll have to inform you that while Bran Castle is the castle that Bram Stoker described in his novel “Dracula”, the real Vlad the Impaler never resided there. Vlad ruled over Wallachia, not Transylvania. He may have been imprisoned there for a short time, though.

Right. A vampire would have known that, which is to show that I am definitely not one.

Horses? In this economy?

This is just a stereotype and frankly, it’s hurtful. I’ve been living here for the last 200 years and not once have I seen a vampire.

But seriously now, AB+ is good but AB- is something everyone can enjoy!

I don’t think that getting rid of bot accounts would be a good choice. It feels like half of all reddit activity is from bot reposters and comments.

Not funny. A neurosurgeon did that to me and now I have to take pills for my kernel panic attacks.

It’s never too late. As long as you have bootstraps, you can use them to pull yourself up.

If you actually read Revelations you’ll be surprised that the word antichrist is nowhere to be found.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the Earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the Sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you…

Oh, not these values.

Right wing American politics has made a mockery out of Christianity.

Well of course! My camera is a 2010 model (and a cheap one at that!) and the place where I took the picture probably looks the same since the early '80s. Photos snapped with with 00’s tech look like they belong in that era. I can’t put my finger on it, but I think it’s the colour palette. Pics taken with high-end smartphones these days have this weird, plasticky, instagrammy, fake looking aesthetic to them. 10 years from now, you’ll be able to look at them and say “That somehow looks like the 2020’s”.

I haven’t listened to Porcupine Tree in a while, thanks. It feels a bit sacrilegious listening to them on YouTube, guess I’ll have to go find my old mp3 player haha.

The android/iOS duopoly is consolidating. No one will want to develop their apps for a third platform, especially if it’s an obscure one. Remember Windows 8/8.1/10 Mobile? If Microsoft couldn’t get people to develop apps for their platform, what chance does some tiny development team have? Especially when there’s little to no financial incentive.

I’m also sceptical of android compatibility solutions. You can bet that banking apps will eventually try to break compatibility “for security reasons”. We’re not winning any games of cat and mouse here.