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Quite happy with my fairphone running /e/OS. So far I've not needed to replace anything, except for the battery which was getting weak. So I bought another battery, and I'm keeping the other one as a spare battery.

If the EU liberates itself from US tech dependence through FOSS, we don't only liberate ourselves, we liberate the world.

If the EU invests massively in free and open source software, pretty soon all across the world countries will hop on the FOSS-train.

If FOSS catches on, it shows to the world the power of collaboration. A power we have mostly forgotten, thinking that competition is a better idea. But competition alone is shit. To give an example. Here in the Netherlands we're very proud of ASML, a company that makes the machines needed to produce microchips. They're famous because they're unique, in that no other company is able to produce these machines. It's a competitive success, but obviously it's holding us all back. If they'd share their knowledge companies across the world could try to improve on these machines, speeding up innovation. I'm supposed to think China's corporate espionage is a crime, but to be honest I feel like not sharing such crucial information with the world is the actual crime. The power of collaboration is easily underestimated, let's give it a try.

Kidnaps are and were never common. It's one of the most overrated risks that parents worry about. And also one of the most disastrous especially in the US, where people, riled up by media, seems to find it irresponisble to let your child roam around the world unwatched. Whereas experts have shown again and again that this is important for the childs development.

I suppose living in the Netherlands, a pretty crowded place, assures you that you're rarely ever alone in the middle of nowhere for very long. But yes that is handy and I can totally understand parents feeling comfortable with their kids being able to call for help if anything ever happens to them.

Ye, I think it's fine either way, nokia or no phone at all. I cycled 17km to school from age 12 to 17 and only got my first phone when I was 18 and moved out. Of course I did get a flat tire a couple of times, but then I'd just walk or sat at the back of the bicycke of a friend.

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I'd just like to mention that it was perfectly normal for kids to go on 12km without a phone not so long ago, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it now. Parents worry too much. I mean, it's a biological impulse that makes a lot of sense, but it's often over done.

I found duolingo usefull to start when your proficiency in a language is next to nothing, a good place to start. But it doesn't get you that far in my experience. I moved on to reading books in translation apps, so I have the original and the translation side by side. And I must say, Les Trois Mousquetaires is teaching me a lot of French, but it's also actually a really fun read, it has some hilarious dialogues. So at first I wanted to learn French, now I just want to read the novel. You don't need gamification when the actual content you're reading is good in itself. I've now combined it with the audiobook. Each reading session I start by listening to the parts I read last time. If you pick famous books, the audiobook can usually be found on yt or elsewhere.

I'm still hoping for a FOSS language learning platform to replace these type of services. DuoLingo seems rather limited, to what crowds of volunteers could create by working together.

I don't have a car

I don't care to respond

I don't mind sounding poor.

Wealth beyond what is good for you is no better than theft I'd say. Buying expensive watches while little children grow up in poverty is nothing to be proud of. If anyone should feel shame it should be that guy. Don't be humiliated by such shameless assholes. And don't try to counter attack, It won't work, they don't share your values, they feel no shame for the things that they do. Instead let's organize and fight them where it hurts. Taxes, taxes, taxes.

Sadly I do so every week when going to the cinema

Worldview: governments bad, companies good. Why?

Because goverments don't have skin in the game. Business people play with their own money, so don't want to waste anything. Besides, if they do a bad job they'll go bankrupt, whereas government agencies just get new funding no matter how bad a job they do.

I mean, there's some logic to this line of reasoning, no doubt. But you could plead the reverse and there's logic to that as well.

People working for government actually care about what they do, they have the public interest at heart, not just their own bankaccount. Government employees know that they're using taxpayer money, and that they'll be held accountable if they waste it. Business employees don't give a shit about about their companies, particulary the very big multinational conglomerates, that we have so many of these days. Any money made only goes to the boss anyway, and he's an asshole, or the shareholders, and so are they. Aslong as we get away with it, who gives a fuck what gets done with all the money.

But this worldview 'governments bad, companies good', is certainly dominant among DOGE folks and rarely questioned. The west had to have this worldview, or else the ideas of "communism can only ever fail no matter what exact shape or form it takes" and "capitalism is the only thing that works" crumble. Let's be real here, the inefficiencies of capitalism are never ever questioned. Surely ads and marketing are for the benefit of all right. Spending tons to get everyone to smoke and drink sugarwater and alcohol, not by free choice but by clever manipulation. That shit is not inefficient in any way is it? Big pharma spending more money on marketing than on research is not inefficient in any way is it? No, quite the reverse, scientist getting government funds to do fundamental research, with no business agenda in mind, surely that would be inefficient. Companies just need to be companies and everything will be fine. Don't think about it, just go with it. It's our religion.

Is it me or do remotes have to many buttons these days?