JasSmith

First, immigration is currently calibrated FAR in excess of any demographic gaps. The population is growing rapidly. If the premise were to plug demographic holes, we wouldn’t need nearly this many people.

Second, if the premise were to alleviate demographic issues at the young end of the pyramid, then immigration policies would block any applications for those over 30, or at least heavily bias the young. They don’t.

There is exactly one reason immigration has been calibrated so high, and with such little care for the skills and qualities of the applicants: to suppress wages and working conditions. It’s the same playbook all over the West.

To be fair we’ve never had more choice, and music has almost never been more affordable. We used to buy singles for like $10+. Albums for $20+. Now there are several competing streaming services where we can listen to almost unlimited music each month for less than the cost of one album. Hell, YouTube Premium includes unlimited music steaming for free. Being an independent artist has never been easier, and you can find and pay for any music you like directly with millions of your favourite artists all over the world. The industry used to be entirely controlled by large labels. Honestly, I consider the industry far healthier than it used to be.

I pirate movies and shows because they refuse to create a Spotify-like service. Content is fragmented across a dozen services, they’re infested with ads, content quality keeps declining, the interfaces suck, and prices are outpacing inflation. I pay for Spotify because it’s still a good service for a reasonable price.

Kagi does this. There’s a context option.

Yes! I pay for an ad free experience on YouTube but support tells me that ads for their own products don’t count. Fuckers.

It’s a fair criticism but I find the drawbacks to be quite tolerable compared to the benefits. Each person must do their own calculus. As the user above alluded to, there are apps which make the experience almost seamless. My two favourite apps ever are Radarr and Sonarr.

Night.

People should realise they are at risk of exposure to higher levels of lead than recommended.

The results of their study, published in Environmental Research in November 2018, found that 94 percent of backyard chicken owners regularly ate eggs. And nearly all the eggs sampled—98 percent of them—contained detectable concentrations of lead. The lead appeared to primarily come from dirt in the chickens’ coops, which is a finding consistent with the few other studies of urban chickens in New York, Belgium, and Australia.

This is because lead in fuel was legal until just a few decades ago. This means that for 70+ years, any houses near roads will have lead contamination in the soil.

About 60 percent of the eggs sold in the United States come from processors who participate in USDA’s grading service, voluntarily paying to have their eggs graded so the eggs can display a “USDA Grade A” or “AA” shield on their cartons. The grade is based on qualities that can be observed in the shell, yolk, and egg white when the egg is inspected with lights and other specialized equipment. Specifics on egg-grading criteria can be found here.

Egg processors who participate are required to spray-wash their eggs with warm water and use a sanitizing rinse and air-drying techniques specified by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS).

https://tellus.ars.usda.gov/stories/articles/how-we-store-our-eggs-and-why

FYI multiple studies have found that there is no safety benefit to washing. It just looks nicer, and people think it's safer.

People who haven’t lived in China just do not understand their culture at all. It’s competitive to a degree we do not comprehend. Places in just sought after primary schools can have literally million to one odds. Universities are even more competitive. Ditto for jobs. The entire culture is built around protecting the individual and family at any cost. Students are expected to cheat if they can get away with it. It’s expected in business too. If you don’t cheat, you’re considered a fool who rejected a chance to elevate yourself. Cheating is a normal way of life in China. They don’t understand why we don’t like it in games.

I think many of us anticipated Apple’s malicious compliance. Now we see if the EU really will hold them to account. I’m tentatively optimistic but I admit I’ll be very disappointed if Apple wins this. It will cement their position of power globally as untouchable, and that’s a terrible outcome for the whole world. I am very disappointed that the EU permitted Apple to declare iOS as distinct from all other mobile operating systems. They even permitted them to exclude iPadOS as a Core Platform Service. Just that decision alone now excludes all Apple TVs, iPads, the Vision, and Watch. I hope that decision is also revisited.

Anon forgot to mention that many local servers are infested with Chinese cheaters.

I suspect you have that sleep mutation which allows you to feel rested after only 4-6 hours. That’s not enough sleep to be well rested even without alcohol.