... and that's also because the EU abolished its own de minimis exemption for VAT... previously such a low value shipment would have "sailed through".

So my next car, when driving on the highway, will loudly and annoyingly "notify me" as I pass each exit that I exceed the speed limit for the exit... which does not apply to me since I continue on the highway? Darn, the future will suck. I rented a "modern" car this weekend during a short vacation, and boy did it get that wrong, each time. The limit on the road was 80 to 100 kph, but the exit ramps were limited to 40 kph; as I passed (and did not take) each exit, the car beeped at me that I exceeded 40 kph.

The deep difference is that while the development tools from the platform maker were products in their own right that cost money, there was no barrier, legal or technical, to using different tools by another vendor. E.g. Borland for a long time had competitive "SDKs" (they were not called like that yet) for Microsoft OS, and one could use these tools and not pay Microsoft anything (other than the OS licensing fee for using the OS, like any user).

Likewise, for the UNIXes, the GNU project developed competitive "SDKs" for a large swath of them, and again allowed developing for these UNIXes without paying anything extra.

Apple's fee is not likewise a fee for a product that one can choose to use or not. It is mandatory, or don't develop/distribute your apps for the platform.

At least some military jets have a "cartridge starter", basically an explosive charge. Wikipedia says it "drives a small turbine engine which is connected by gears to the compressor shaft. I'm not sure how common it is, but I would expect it is quite common so that the planes can start and take off with the minimal amount of ground support.

We have something very much like the Stockholm system in Luxembourg. The subscription is 2 EUR for a day, 5 EUR for three days or 18 EUR per year. The free period per rental is 30 min (smaller city...), which resets 3 min after you return the bike IIRC (you can get a new free 30 min rental 3 min after returning the previous one). The bikes started non-electric but are now electric, with negligible price change. Beyond the 30 min, it is 1 EUR/h with a maximum of 5 EUR up to 24h.

To avoid the Amsterdam white bicycle scenario, there is electronic accounting of who takes what bike when... if a bike is not returned within 24h, the cost is 150 EUR.

Counting only new planes built each year, one gets to a number in the thousands, and each of those has several engines. So annual sales of engines must be in the thousands. E.g. in 2015, Airbus delivered about 650 planes, Boeing 800 planes, other manufacturers delivered about 800 jets (not counting turboprops and piston-engined planes). See https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F... http://www.gama.aero/media-cen...

You must be mistaken: I turned JavaScript off and I could still browse StackOverflow without any trouble. Just could not vote a question or answer up or down.

I'd like gravity to start at the level it was at my starting point (the planet from which I embarked the spaceship) and gradually over time change to the level at my destination. In that manner, I can adapt to the gravity I'll find at my destination gradually.

You made the parent's point: You live in 100 sq ft (37 m^2).