This post frames the slackware update news as new - but it's 4 years old...

Ah, well.

On a geological scale, the earth is still recovering from the last ice-age. The water temperature (which doesn't fluctuate as much as air temperature) of the oceans are still approx 2 degree C below the temperature usually reached 20.000 years or so after the maximum reach of an ice-age. In fact, it has been unusually stable for the last 1500 years. It is therefore reasonable it increase faster for a couple of hundred years once the earth leaves the temporary plateau.

That said, yes, human activity might indeed contribute in some way to both the current stability and a potential bigger-than-usual increase in temperature.

No 3 years warranty is mandatory by law. Any optional warranty such as "extended" warranty, the US 30 day warranty, "optional" warranty or any other warranty stated in ads, packaging and what not kicks in AFTER the first 3 years.

But on the contrary, the drifference is due to Europe adds 20-25% state VAT to the customer prices.

. Without the VAT, the prices in the US would actually be higher than those in Europe. But I guess, VAT is a small price to pay for having universal healthcare and not having a constant budget deficit.

Hmmm.. USB is mandatory on phone chargers. That was EU. Much to the dislike of apple. Now it's going to be mandatory with USB-C on all kind of devices.

If there's a will, there's a way.

Exactly! I shouldn't really need to care about the EULA, because consumer law protects my rights. Which it does, in the EU.

Well, in Europe, law makers care.

It's not legal for a manufacturer to brick anything that's sold to you, especially without compensation.

If they do within the 3 year mandatory warranty, they've got to give the money back or a replacement. Simple as that.

When I buy something, I expect it to work. I expect it to work today, tomorrow and at least 3 years from now, and if it breaks, I expect the retailer to fix it or reimburse me fully.

I shouldn't need to hire a lawyer to review the license agreement just because I want to buy a simple game console.

It's kind of basic consumer rights that's really easy to give to consumers for any company, regardless of size.

As EU citizen, it amazes me that USA still - in the 21st century - doesn't provide basic consumer rights such as 3 year warranty in addition to manufacturers voluntary warranty, or even basic rights such as right to be reimbursed.

From the European eula:

"NCL IS liable for damages arising as a foreseeable result of NCL's negligence or NCL's breach of this Agreement. We do NOT in any way exclude or limit our liability for: [...] fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; [...] description, satisfactory quality and fitness for purpose of products [...] ; and product liability."

That statement is in the US version replaced by "NINTENDO SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY GUARANTEE OR WARRANTY THAT THE NINTENDO ACCOUNT SERVICES OR ANY CONTENT YOU MAY STORE OR ACCESS THROUGH THE NINTENDO ACCOUNT SERVICES WILL NOT BE SUBJECT TO DISRUPTION, DAMAGE, CORRUPTION, LOSS, REMOVAL, OR DISCONTINUATION (A âoeSERVICE INTERRUPTION"). NINTENDO SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE SHOULD ANY SUCH SERVICE INTERRUPTION OCCUR, AND YOU AGREE THAT IN NO EVENT WILL YOU BE ENTITLED TO OR RECEIVE A REFUND, CREDIT OR ANY OTHER COMPENSATION FOR ANY CONTENT OR PORTION OF THE NINTENDO ACCOUNT SERVICES THAT YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO USE OR HAVE DIFFICULTY USING, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DUE TO ANY SERVICE INTERRUPTION."

https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Faccounts.nintendo.com%2F...

We can learn from the Russias invasion that countries such as Ukraine, Sweden and - with the exception of fighter jets - Finland are well prepared to defend against Russia. The dispersed operations 24/7, months and months and months without returning to a fixed base is not just "nice to have". It's what makes the difference between life and death. If it can't be fixed in the field by a handful of conscripts under the supervision of just one single trained guy, it's not worth operating.

Contrary to common belief, even the poorest countries are approaching 2 kids per woman, and much of the current population growth, is due to increased health; fewer infants die during the first year, and adults don't die young anymore causing the average life span to increase in the most countries but the USA.

Touch typing, and the QWERTY (or whatever in your locale) keyboard was specifically designed to prevent the types from getting stuck in each other when typing sentences fast. But programming is a completely different beast, adding an interpunction or non-letter between every word. The QWERTY and PC-based layout (especially for some non-EN layouts) are simply not suited for the prolonged use of the SHIFT-pinky and stretching the hand to the control characters on the numeric row, let alone the punctuation characters at the lower edge of the keyboard. However, everyone needs to learn how to type without looking down. But it's not going to be standard touch typing.

I don't think there's any AM station at all in Europe. I guess we've moved on.

I was not at all aware of that. I thought US used 3-phase 120V + neutral+protective earth as input just as Europe does 3-phase 220-240V + neutral+protective earth.

The article mixes 240 and 120 V freely, making me doubt the author (I refuse to call him journalist) knows what he's writing about. It's way too common these days. :-(

It is the same with writing; Who hasn't ever written a sentence that turns out to be equal to whatever someone else also wrote? Sometimes, we even find something extraordinary clever, and re-use it at some point in time. Even learning to write, is done the same as by training an LLM; by reading, reading and reading the works of others.