BananaTrifleViolin

@BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft seemingly just revealed that OpenAI lost $11.5B last quarter⁩ ⁨⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  The key is getting out at the right time, and that is weighed massively against small investors. The big investors and institions control the market and can move quickly while small investors cannot.

  Tesla is not doing well - look at its falling sales. It’s a risky stock to hold. The AI companies are also highly risky stocks to hold.

  That doesn’t mean don’t hold them - all anyone is saying really is that these are high risk investments, and at some point they are going to probably crash because it’s a bubble.

  That doesn’t necessarily mean “don’t invest”. It does certainly mean be prepared to get out fast and also only use money you can afford to lose when investing with such high risk stocks.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Yo, fire fox what the fuck?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  I have a mini PC I use as a console, works great. I run Linux and don’t get this crap. This is unfortunately a windows “feature”, although it’s frustrating Firefox is making use of it. Presumably Firefox has an update and is “letting you know” about it’s features. Presumably this can be turned off within Firefox, but other apps may do the same from time to time. It’s crazy Windows allows this to be drawn over a full screen game.

  FYI as an alternative Linux on a mini PC can be set up like the Steam Deck interface to be truely controller only. Windows games run great (I’ve completed Cyberpunk 2077 on mine for example), but one limitation is anti cheat games may not work. If that affects games you’d want to play then either stick with windows or dual boot Linux and Windows and switch to windows if you ever want to play an anti-cheat game that doesn’t work in Linux. But Linux in gamescope mode is perfect for gaming, with none of this type of nonsense.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Help with home server plan⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  So in terms of hardware, I use a Raspberry Pi 5 to host my server stack, including Jellyfin with 4k content. I have a nvme module with a 500gb stick and an external HDD with 4tb of space via USB. The pi5 is headless and accessed directly via SSH or RDC.

  The Raspberry Pi 5 has H.265 hardware decoding and if you’re serving 1 video at a time to any 1 client you shouldn’t have any issues, including up to 4k. It will of course use resources to transcode if the client can’t support that content directly but the experience should be smooth for 1 user.

  For more clients it will depend on how much heavy lifting the clients do. I my case I have a mini PC plugged into my TV, I stream content from my pi5 to the mini PC and the mini PC is doing the heavy lifting in terms of decoding. The hardware on the pi5 is not; it just transfer the video and the client does the hard work. If all your clients are capable then such a set up would work with the pi5.

  An issue would come if you wanted to stream your content to multiple devices at the same time and the clients don’t directly support H.265 content. In that case, the pi5 would have to transcode the content to another format bit by but as it streams it to the client. It’d cope with 1 user for sure but I don’t know how many simultanous clients it could support at 1440p.

  The other consideration is what other tools are being use on the sever at the same time. Again for me I live alone so I’m generally the only user of my pi5 servers services. Many services are low powered but I do find things like importing a stack of PDFs into Paperless NGX is surprisingly CPU intense and in that case the device could struggle if also expected to transcode content.

  I think from what you describe the pi5 could work but you may also want to look at higher powered mini PC as your budget would allow that.

  For reference I use dietpi as the distro on my server, and I use a mix of dietpi packages (which are very well made for easy install and configuration) and docker. I am using quite a few docker stacks now due to the convenience of deploying.

  Obviously the other consideration in the pi5 is an ARM device and a mini PC would be X86_64. But so far I’ve not found any tools or software I’ve wanted that aren’t compiled and available for the Pi5 either via dietpi or docker; ARM devices are popular in this realm.

  If I were in your position and I had $200 I’d buy the maximum CPU and GPU capability I could in 1 device, so I’d actually lean to a mini PC. If you want to save money then the Pi5 is good value but you’d need to include a case and may want to consider a nvme or ssd companion board. Those costs add up and the value of the mini PC may compare better as an all in one; particularly if you can get a good one second hand. There are also other SBC that may offer even better value or more power than a pi5.

  Also bear in mind for me I have a mini PC and pi5; they do different things with the pi5 is the server but the mini PC is a versatile device and I play games on it for example. If you will only have 1 server device and pre exisiting smart tvs etc you’ll be more reliant on the servers capabilities so again may want to opt for the most powerful device you can afford at your price point.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  This is spam and should be deleted. It’s custom spam code running on perchance.org (a genuine coding and AI site). The site itself warns users about the custom code on reaching it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Huge internet outage live blog: Amazon, Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max and more experiencing issues⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Looks like it was an Amazon AWS outage. Just geos to how how vulnerable the Internet is as it becomes ever more concentrated into the hands of the tech giants.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Huge internet outage live blog: Amazon, Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max and more experiencing issues⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I think they were just pointing out that this is the problem with subscription services. You own nothing and you’re screwed when the service goes down.

  It really doesn’t take “ludicrous amounts of time and money” to build a private library. It’s interesting how the subscription giants have managed to change people’s perceptions - when you buy content to keep, you keep some of the value, but when you subscribe you’re just getting a time pass to use someone else’s library and won’t see that money again.

  They sold the proposition on convenience when everything was in one place, but not it’s all fragmented it’s a waste of money.

  And of course plenty of people are building media libraries for free by sailing the seas.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨EU Chat Control didnt pass - proving the media got to alot of you⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  What a bizarre take. The EU council is backing down - they do want chat control but each time they propose it they meet resistance and back down. Then they come back again and try again.

  To suggest the public reaction is overblown and media manipulation is bizarre. This is the 3rd or 4th time the EU has attempted to get this through. Just because they chickened out of a vote doesn’t mean the politicians don’t want this.

  In a democracy votes happen. In the EU they keep resurrecting this terrible idea hoping to get it through but then backing away if they don’t think they can win. They know if there was an actual vote it likely would put an end to his.

  Also the EU council is the antithesis of a democracy. It is not directly elected - instead it’s a club of the heads of states of all the countries in the EU. It just represents who happens to be in charge of each country, and gives equal weights to all those countries regardless of their population size. The EU has a Parliament but it’s a fig leaf of democracy as so much power is held in bodies like the Council and the Commission (which is 1 post per state and horse traded not elected).

  So please don’t make this out as a sign that EU democracy works. If EI democracy was wpwkrong properly they would have listened the first time, and they’d have moved to a directly elected system.For the executive Council and commission years ago.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨TV/MA 'High School' teen drama shows should be set in college and centered around young adults or adults.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve not seen Euphoria, but drugs, drinking and sex plus underage clubbing were all things that happened at my schools between 15-18.

  A drama like Euphoria is of course going to be way over the top regardless of setting.

  But I do agree casting 25year olds (zendaya is 29 years old) feels bizarre but what American TV has always done. Presumably it’s to do with experience given these are expensive shows that need to work to strict production schedules - it’s understandable they’d want a cast who have been proven to be reliable and also are not restricted in the hours they can work. Also age consistency matrers - once you have one 25 year old cast member all of them need to be the same age or it looks disturbing with a mixed age cast set in a high school.

  I suppose profile may matter too - Zendaya was already famous; the pool.of famous 18 year old actors is smaller than the pool of 25 year old actors.

  I agree they could just not set it in a high school but then the specific dynamics and stories they want to tell would not be available. High school is a strange time - especially in the US but also globally - where people are on the cusp of adulthood (16 in many places, 18 in the US), yet totally restricted by the law, family and school. It’s a perfect setting for conflict, which makes drama, and it is universally relatable as almost everyone went to school.

  Meanwhile if you set something 19-25, it is no longer universal. About 50-60% of people in rich countries go to university / college. And those institutions massively vary from community colleagues, poorer universities, up to elite places. Meanwhile 40-50% do other things.

  So yeah, I get that it feels bizarre that shows set in high schools are all 25 year old actors but I think it makes sense why, and setting things in high schools make sense too. These shows obviously make money and have a wide audience., even if it’s not really my personal taste.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨EA's new owners are making "a huge bet" on generative AI cost-cutting to help repay a $20 billion loan, claims report⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Absolutely. A $20bn loan which the company has to pay off is a classic example of predatory asset stripping.

  The only way this deal makes sense is if they intend to slash costs massively and sell off assets. Using generative AI is just another way of saying sacking people to save money. This is another example of what is good for the shareholders not being good for the company.

  I’m no fan of EA but they have 14500 employees plus countless more people dependent on them in companies that work with them. They are the ones who will pay the price as EA is dismantled and destroyed.

  Gamers will also suffer for a short while as they end up buying AI generated slop but that will decline rapidly as the companies reputation and brands tank.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Who the fuck needs an x axis anyway⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah Autism rates are going up in all groups because people are getting diagnoses. This is partly about better awareness but also partly about money - there is an incentive to expand the diagnosis, diagnose more people and treat more people, which somewhat muddies the water. Autistic Spectrum Disorder first appeared in the American DSM in 2012, unifying 5 existing conditions into one, and then it moved into the international ICD in 2018 (going live in 2022). It is no wonder awareness has gone up, and infrastructure for diagnosis has rolled out.

  We’re not seeing an increase in Autism, we’re seeing an increase in the diagnosis of autism. This graph just shows how stupid and dumbed down the CDC and the White House is under this cretinous president.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft is testing full-screen Microsoft 365 ads in Windows 11 for expired subscriptions⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  So I’d honestly recommend Mint if you’re new. It has a Windows like interface making the change easier. Or install KDE on Ubuntu - it also has a default Windows like GUI but is very flexible and can be anything you want.

  The Ubuntu interface sucks to be honest, and you don’t have to be stuck with it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If the UK government proposed to increase tax by 1% and make trains free would you be in favour?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  No, there are other priorities. I want to see reform.of teh railways for sure, including renationalisation and a proper long term plan. HS2 should have been completed but not it’s too far beyond the scrapping to resurrect. But there are still lines that need electrifying and Northern Power House Rail makes economic sense.

  I think renationalisation and increased subsidy for the railways is good but not free - people who use the railways should be paying to support it more than other tax payers, and international visitors also use the railways and should be contributing.

  If we had a 1% tax rise it’d quickly disappear as we have a national deficit including a large amount of interest going to pay for the national debt.

  Rather than income tax rises (which hit ypunger working people more than any other group) I want to see asset taxes that actually hit wealthy people, including the wealthier asset rich elderly who want to pass on their money to their children rather than pay for the expensive services they use (like the NHS). So I’d favour a property tax (that would also encourage people to downsize to houses they need instead of sitting in big family homes), and taxes on shares and other assets. It doesn’t have to be punitive, just fair.

  Instead younger working people are subsiding the elderly in this country - the elderly are the wealthiest group, who got all the benefits of free university, free Healthcare, cheap housing etc which the younger generation have it tough, paid for university, pay exorbitant prices for rent or home buying. The wealthy elderly hide behind the sympathy people show for the poorer elderly; people who won’t be hit by an asset tax as they are asset poor and deserve to be subsidised and supported.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why Shouldn't I Use A Small Gaming PC⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  There is nothing wrong with that PC but there is an opportunity cost to be aware of - upgrades.

  A PC like that is static - you pay £600 and you get the PC, but after a few years if you’ve out grown it then you need to get a whole other PC. It’s the same with laptops.

  However if you spend the £600 on a case, a motherboard, a cpu with a gpu, ram and storage you have a full starter PC. You can even save money by not paying for windows (built into the price of the mini PC) and get Linux for free. PCs are modular and any component can be upgraded and switched out at any time later.

  So in a couple of years you may decide the PC is slowing down, or you’re out growing it, and you can swap in some more RAM or upgrade the CPU. Or you decide you can afford a dedicated graphics card, you can just buy the card and slot it in, and every £ goes into getting a great graphics card instead of starting again from scratch

  Think of it like this: if you buy an all in one device you might spend £600 now and say another £600 in 3-5 years if you need to upgrade and fully replace it, and probably are still very limited in what you can get. A replacement will still have integrated graphics and still be behind cutting edge games, and just be a newer version of the same problem you have now. But with a full PC build you might spend £600 now for an OK PC and in 3-5years time you pay £600 just to add a great graphics card and have something way better than any mini PC. Or you spend £400 now and £200 in 2 years and £100 in 3 years and £500 in 4 years and gradually keep the PC how you want it without having to start from scratch. You end up with a decent PC now and gradually something powerful but without the upfront cost and without “wasting” money having to get a new device with a new motherboard, new cpu, new power supply, new RAM every time.You want an uplift .

  It’s a crude example but the point is a full size PC can be expanded and switched up continously, and you can adapt it, and likely get something far better for the same money long term, while a fixed spec all-in-one device can serve a purpose for now but then needs total replacement when you outgrow it.

  Building a full PC from scratch is easy - genuinely it’s plug and play, and only takes a bit of basic research to see what components are best to buy. There are loads of tutorials on how to put it together. Meanwhile your money goes much further over the longer term as you’re not having to buy a whole new PC everytime you need/want an upgrade - you can instead focus your money on the bits that need to change.

  Even if you get a prebuilt tower PC now (ATX or Mini ATX) your money will go further AND you have something that you can upgrade and adapt. Although I think building from scratch is the best option as prebuilt Pcs are a false economy - they save money with cheaper components and you pay for labour on the build, when you can build it yourself for free and put every £ into better components.

  Don’t be intimidated by building a PC - it’s nowhere near as difficult as it seems, and is an easy to obtain skill but worth learning as it’ll save you money, and allow you to fix and problem solve if you ever have problems in the future.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨DDR4 costs soar as manufacturers pull the plug — panic buying and stockpiling impact DDR4 spot pricing as supply dwindles⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  This version of the article misses important information from the original source Trend Force who issued a report on DDR4 prices which news sites have been quoting.

  In addition to the supply constraints mentioned, the original report also cited Trump’s tarrifs which alongside the manufacturing supply slump could cause panic buying in the US specifically. This is speculation but based on the possibility Trump could “issue new tariffs or restrictions related to production capacity against China. This, in turn, may trigger another round of panic buying,”

  The original report was posted to twitter with “Tarriff fears may trigger further panic buying”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why I Ditched Spotify, and How I Set Up My Own Music Stack⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  The absolute basics:

  1. Install qbittorrent
  2. Install a VPN and run it so that all your Internet traffic goes down it
  3. Open a Web browser and search for top torrent sites 2025. There are articles with lists of the big ones.
  4. Go to a torrent site and search for what you want.
  5. Download the .torrent file and open it in qbit torrent Or copy the magnet link and paste that into qbittorrent

  Always use the VPN when searching and downloading.

  There are lots of steps to make it more convenient - things like using a Virutal machine so the vpn and torrent do their thing while you do whatever else you want on your PC, or setting up a docker Servarr stack to make things more convenient, or setting up a Raspberry pi as a servarr stack. But for the basics all you need is a torrent client, a VPN and a Web browser.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft Store application updates can no longer be disabled⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Death by 1000 cuts. This may seem like a reasonable change but there are situations where people don’t want software updated - and those can be reasonable. There are also sitatuons where bad updates break software or companies like Microsoft replace software with a “new” but shit version, and not updating can be a way to opt out.

  There are many reasons to leave Windows, and this is another small one to add to the mountain.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Trump says Xi told him China will not invade Taiwan while he is US president⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Because that’s all that matters.

  Trump is such a pathetic weakling, and the US is a joke.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AI experts return from China stunned: The U.S. grid is so weak, the race may already be over⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  More AI shilling. The central problem of the US grid being a mess is a reasonable concern, but not because of the AI speculative bubble. The idea that the US grid needs to be reworked so that AI companies can easily get their data centres built is nonsense.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Personally I’d be pissed off to be honest. It’s none of his business and this is crossing boundaries.

  Being set up with random women you’ve never met and he himself likely barely knows is very unlikely to be successful. He’s also aggressive and rude about it. Why is he so angry you’re single?

  This isn’t about the random date, this is about the way your dad treats you. You’re 22, not a child, it’s none of his business. How you react to this determines how he behaves in the future - if you don’t want him doing this again you need to tell him where to go.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Nintendo sold almost 6 million Switch 2 units in less than a month⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’d take some of the claims with a pinch of salt. Selling faster now reflects better availability of the Switch 2 compared to the switch 1 at this point in its cycle. The switch 1 was also sold out this close to launch but Nintendo wasn’t able to manufacture as many to keep up.

  All this shows for now is that the Nintendo is meeting the initial demand better than it could with the first switch. It does not tell us it’s more popular or how well it’ll do overall. In other words all this stuff about it “out pacing” the swith 1 reflects better manufacturing availability rather than how popular the console itself is going to be long term.

  While the switch 2 has undoubtedly had a strong launch, it remains to be seen if the mass market are going to clamour to buy them for Christmas when they’re relatively expensive, with a limited selection of exclusive games. Adult gamers/early adopters being enthusiastic about getting the switch 2 is a good sign but doesn’t necessarily translate to parents buying the console for their families.

  The family and casual gamer market is the bigger one for Switch, and I honestly don’t yet see a compelling reason they’d rush out to buy one? 1080p.gaming, better performance and game chat certainly isn’t it. It needs some really compelling 1st party or excluaive games. Mario Kart World and Dokey Kong Bonanza plus a raft of old games really isn’t great.

  I’m not seeing a big new must have exclusive game to help drive sales for Christmas. No big new Zelda, Mario or Pokemon game? Maybe Nintendo intend christmas 2026 to be the mass market year for the switch 2, and this year be to keep on top of initial demand but it seems a bit of a risky strategy to me.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Age verification and the enshitification of streaming will help reduce the decline in computer literacy in under 18s⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah the Act shows the wilful stupidity of politicians who pass legislation without understanding the areas they’re legislating on. It’s a nonsense act that tries to look like it is “protecting children” and is performative nonsense for MPs to pass moral judgement on things they don’t agree with.

  But in practice it’s a security and privacy nightmare, it’s restricting and interfering in the freedom and rights of the majority of the population all to satisfy a stupid moral panic, and it makes the UK look like a backwards state.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why abc, xyz, etc.?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  A lot of it comes down to convention and convention is often set by those who did it first or whose work dominated a field. The whole mathematical notation system we use today is just a convention and is not the only one that exists, but is the one the world has decided to standardise to…

  Rene Descartes is usually regarded at he originator of the current system. He used abc for constants and xyz for unknown variables amongst other conventions.

  Sequential letter sets are easy to use as they are easily recognised, and convenient as a result, plus are generally accepted to have non specific or less specific meaning. For example:

  a^2^+b^2^=c^2^

  That formula is a much simpler concept to get round using sequential leffer than:

  V^2^ + G^2^ = z^2^

  When you don’t use sequential letters it also implies much more specific meaning to the individual letters, and that can introduce ambiguity and confusion.

  When writing a proof there can be many many statements made and you’d quickly run out of letters if you didn’t have a convention for accepting abc are variables and can be reused.

  We also do use symbols from other alphabet sets, and allha/beta/gamma is commonly used trio. But in mathematical notation there are a huge range of constants and symbols now that many have been ascribed specific uses. Pi for example. So you risk bringing in ambiguity of meaning by moving away from the accepted conventions of current maths by using other sets.

  Even e has specific meaning and can be ambiguous if you need to stretch to 5 variables. When working with e it’s not uncommon to use a different string of lwtters in the latin alphabet to avoid confusion if you need to use variables

  And we don’t stop at 3; abcd etc is used.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Reddit users in the UK must now upload selfies to access NSFW subreddits⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This is a combination of terrible legislation in the UK meets awful social media site.

  The Online Safety Act is an abomination, compromising the privacy and freedom of the vast majority of the UK in the name of “protecting children”.

  I’m of the view parents are responsible for protecting their children. I know it’s hard but the Online Safety Act is not a solution.

  All it will.do is compromise the privacy and security of law abiding adults while kids will still access porn and all the other really bad stuff on the Internet will actually be unaffected. The dark illegal shit on the Internet is not happening on Pornhub or Reddit.

  The UK is gradually sliding further and further into censorship, and authoritarianism and all the in the name of do gooders. It’s scary to watch.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Jell-OH MY GOD!⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Just cover it in some chocolate sauce. That’ll make it look better.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Scientists make game-changing breakthrough that could slash costs of solar panels: 'Has the potential to contribute to the energy transition'⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Maybe I’m misunderstanding but would diffuse light be what it’s going to be best at? While it’d be worse on a sunny day when there is an optimal direction for the light?

  It’s the opposite of a light house fresnel lens - instead of scattering the light source evenly out, it’ll capture diffuse even incoming better and concentrate it on the photovoltaic cell? However it would be at the cost of being able to capture direct sunlight as only some of the lens would ever be in the best position to capture the direct rays?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨PieFed.World is now open⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That link is for Piefed.world; run by the same team that run Lemmy.world

  There are other piefed servers which may have different email requirements. But the most likely reason Piefed.world requires real emails to prevent bots making fake accounts and also reduce the risk of bad actors making numerous accounts to avoid bans. As it’s hard to get multiple real emails it makes it hard to make multiple anonymous accounts which is unfortunately a tactic of trolls.

  You can of course create a dedicated “private” email account on an official service and use that to sign up if you’re worried about sharing your primary email account. A lot of people do this online to have a legitimate email but essentially in it’s own silo separate from other personal emails.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨You can still enable uBlock Origin in Chrome, here is how⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah all you have to do is circumvent the security settings in your browser and suppress warning messages to enable Manifest 2, all in 8 easy steps. For now. Until Google switches it off completely.

  Or, drop Chrome and Chromium based browsers (such as Edge, Vivaldi, Brave etc) in one easy step. Install a privacy respecting Firefox based browser like Firefox itself or Librewolf.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  And yet we’ve had numerous terrorist attacks in the UK involving explosives. That is both northern Ireland related terrorism and Islamic terrorism.

  We just had the 20th anniversary of the 7!7 bombings of the London underground where 3 separate suicide bombings detonated.

  Such events are thankfully rare and very difficult to pull off, but unfortunately it only needs to happen once to be a “success” for terrorists. While the police and intelligence services have to stop every single potential attack to be successful.

  Sadly I think OP is right. There will eventually be a successful terrorist attack involving drones. After which, attitudes to drones will harden.

  It’s very difficult to get explosives and it’s very difficult for terrorists to get a explosive to a target. Unfortunately drones make the both potentially easier.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Vernon Dursley, uncle of Harry Potter is just a normal bloke that loves his wife and gets roped into a paramilitary war for it.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah… Except he makes the “freak kid” live under the stairs and neglects him compared to his own son. Kinda hard to redeem the guy by him being otherwise average.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨jobaphobia⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  True. Bit of a tangent but one issue when you have free Healthcare the cost of smoking to individuals is lower. Genuinely it’s a problem - sometimes people don’t value their health as much as they should because of ease of access to Healthcare. I’m 1000% in favour of free Healthcare, it’s just an interesting paradox.

  Public health measures focusing on increasing the cost of smoking through tax work but we don’t have the pressure to stop smoking due to the cost of Healthcare itself which can make it harder to get people to understand the effects. Meanwhile public organisations understand the cost of smoking and invest in trying to reduce it as it puts huge pressure on Healthcare systems.

  Smoking is in decline across the west but we’ve known since the 1940s and 1950s definitely that smoking is bad yet smoking rates have been persistently high in Europe until more recently - last 20 years or so.

  Smoking rates in France for example - 23% still smoke but there has been a huge decline in the last 20 years. Yet smoking was banned on public transport in the 1970s. To be clear I’m not saying it’s because of free Healthcare - just that in countries with good Healthcare systems there is more going on. People have known for 80 years smoking is bad and there has been a gradual decline but big shifts have happened surprisingly recently.