Well, Im the opposite. I cant stand desktops broke down into multiple windows at a time, because I only interact with one at a time. Often most of my dozens of windows are fullscreen (on both monitors - a 24" FHD and a 27" 4K, and I switch between them using either alt+tab or the mouse. It is not uncommon to have between 3 and 5 IDE windows open while working on a project, just for dev stuff. All are fullscreen, because I only use them one at a time.

While I do agree with most of your points, I don't agree on the notion that RDBMS are a poor fit for most applications. The problem is, you shouldn't model databases after application structures, but the other way around. Picking on the configuration example, if you are using a RDBMS you don't design your product configuration logic and then see how to fit on a DB, you design the DB schema first, and then implement your product configuration logic. Why? Because the bottleneck is usually the DB, but the degree of implementation freedom is narrower. In other words, the DB schema will be the most important part of it performance-wise, but given the lack of possible implementation approaches, you will find a reasonable implementation faster.

Even when not using traditional relational databases, SQL capabilities are usually a huge value. Have a look at Athena, Hive or ClickHouse as examples.

Every system has its limitations, and DB's are just a variation of that. Computers themselves aren't very fond of eg. fractional numbers, but we still implement robust systems regardless of those limitations. Heck, some CPUs can't even perform a division operation, but they aren't a terrible fit as a programmable device. The problem is, modern programmers tend to see "limitations" as something negative, and often forget that everything has limitations. In the "old days", limitations were just an opportunity to show true craftsmanship, instead of just doing the monkey stuff anyone can do.

In Europe, it is quite common to have 3-phase equipment, and sometimes even a 3 phase outlet on the garage or so to plug stuff. Usually the 3 phase equipment is not plug into an outlet, but directly to a derivation box, making them unmovable (common in stoves, ovens, water pumps, etc, less so in washing machines - but they do exist). I even had a 3-phase "monster" coffee machine. Many construction machines also require 3-phase power, as they rely on electrical motors.

Words are merely the placeholders, the packaged-up and transferable version, of ideas

What you're calling "harmful" are *ideas*, thoughts that you find offensive.

You advocate for thought-control. Sorry, but that's Dystopian as fuck and bound to end in violence, death, chaos, and mass suffering.

Strat

If Republicans were actually as murderous as the Marxist Left say, you and your friends would already be dead.

All the murders in the riots and in the so-called 'autonomous zones' were committed by murderous Leftists the same as every other time Leftists have tried to grab power in other places.

Communism and Socialism have killed vastly more people in their own countries than have died in all the wars of the 20th century combined and far, far more than this 'plandemic' has or will ever cause.

Strat

It depends. If it is a physical product, generally yes, you will pay VAT in the UK, billed by UK customs (there is a "free tier", but not sure the amount). If it is a service, it depends how you are set up. You could use a subsidiary somewhere in the EU and use "inversion of tax" - you don't collect VAT, and it is up to the buyer to know and pay appropriate local taxes. In practice, a end-user of your service will never pay local VAT.

It seems you're not familiarized with goods taxation in Europe.

Lets say you build an online company that sells leather jackets in Ohio, USA. All your operation is there. You sell me a jacket (I'm in Portugal). At the arrival of the package, I will pay VAT (at the portuguese rate, to the portuguese government) at the customs (besides any other applicable import fees). There are international agreements that avoid me paying VAT twice for articles originating from some countries, so lets assume USA is one of them. You sold me the product, your company pays corporate taxes in USA, and the portuguese government received their VAT.

Now, lets say its a social media company. I'm buying ads. Who is paying VAT, and where? See the problem?

Most "global" companies tend to invoice from a single country within the EU, and ex. in the case of Google (at least some years ago) they used a loophole on the VAT taxation system, where you payed the ads as a service done in Ireland, but you are responsible to ensure any local taxes are met. The practical result is that local taxes are never paid in these cases, and controlling this is a nightmare. Additionally, since I'm billed without VAT, a competing local ad company will be more expensive, hence unfair competition.

There is some consensus that services must be billed according to the market they are rendered, as opposed to the market they are invoiced on (there are some low-level limits for exemption). What was an exception 20 years ago, now funnels billions of Euros. you see, billing on the local market requires a local company, or at least a local tax ID, and local tax forms. It is easier and a lot cheaper to use dubious subterfuges because the laws were done before online services were a thing, specially if you have entire teams dedicated to exploring these loopholes. Because even if you abuse them, how will they bring you to justice? That's why the EU legislation is getting tougher on these companies.

If you're benefiting from a market remotely, you are competing with both existing and potential local companies, without adding any value (no corporate tax, no employees, contributing to the negative capital flow, etc). And if you are big enough, you can set up your business in a way that you can compete unfairly in services, because applicable laws don't contemplate instant services - yet. That's what this is all about.

As an outsider (and no stake on either part - hi from Europe), I'd suggest your position on this subject may be the problem:

Fact is, Trump often lies. Sometimes is a politician's lie, like every other politician (left or right), sometimes are blatant lies, sometimes are hilarious lies. And when I say "lies", I'm not referring to opinion-based statements that may be more or less true, depending on the looking angle - I'm referring to spreading obviously false facts. And he doesn't do it as "personal opinion" - he does it as POTUS. So its not "Trump lies", is "the american government lies".

The left is playing the game of extremes, that is the game Trump has played from the beginning. Much of that anger and dissent is warranted. Personally, I do believe it is the wrong approach, as you can't play the idiot game as well as an idiot - it will beat you in experience.

That sounds like biased propaganda. Who is the left? And is Trump representative of the right? Doubt, there is Trump resentment within the republican ranks. When you state something as a binary choice, "them vs us", you are already biased. You are part of the problem. Because you can't discern that there is no "them vs us", that is campaign bullshit. "Them" are your neighbors, your co-workers, your family. "Them" are people like you, that also have an opinion and a vision that may not fit yours. Extremes only exist if neither side compromises. Yet, it seems for you, the problem lies with "them".

I'd suggest you do the same. Call a spade a spade, he is not a devil. He is clearly an idiot. Does that make it a bad president? Maybe. Idiocy not a desirable trait on a president.

In this point, I disagree. You may see little difference because the president has somewhat limited powers, regardless of what Trump says. So, the actual work done is often done via negotiation in the senate and in lower government instances. But internationally, the president is the image of the country, the "leader of the free world". It is desirable to have a seasoned politician, with an image of confidence, respect and integrity (regardless if in the end is smoke or real). Someone that has a coherent line of speech regarding friends and foes. That is not the current case, and may take more than a decade to revert some of the external policy disasters.

Every drug is unsafe, in the sense they all have side-effects. Massive usage of a specific drug used for specific diseases is usually discouraged, because it may trigger unintended side-effects. Those may be worthwhile if your condition is life-threatening, and it seems the recent studies conclude that there is no advantage in this scenario, as coronavirus treatment. citing:

From https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... (the first hit on google, so not even trying to find very specific info)

First hit in google: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... Second hit in google: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...
I'm sure if you're interested you'll have no problem finding the information you're asking. And I'd assume if you're a physician, you probably have some of that info already accessible on one of those journals gathering dust somewhere. I have no interest in it, and took me 2 seconds.

Why hasn't the MSM grilled Trump publicly about knowledge, involvement, approval, etc. of Q?

Probably for the same reason they haven't questioned him about his ties to Bigfoot and orthe rumors about his romantic involvement with the Loch Ness Monster.

Hey now, there could be some plausibility to those ties!

After all, it's obvious that Nessy is a Paleo-Con.

Strat

No, he means the actual Plague, the Black Death...you know, the one the Monty Python "Bring Out Your Dead!" skit was based on. The sanitation problems from the enormous numbers of homeless has caused the rat population to skyrocket and rats are the vector for the Plague. California has actually at least partially succeeded in regressing back to the medieval Middle Ages. Serfs living in ramshackle tents and improvised shelters while the rich & powerful live in luxury off of the backs of the common man while seeking ever more power and control while the Black Plague and fuck knows what else metastasizes and spreads in the decaying filth of the cities.

The covid-19 virus panic and overreaction is just icing on this cake of massive corruption and virulent, toxic partisan Leftism that's been slowly baking for many decades. Shit, just add some metallic-appearing clothing, some weird hairdo's, and some sci-fi visual/lighting effects, and L.A./San Fran are damned film sets for a Dystopian sci-fi movie. At this point I don't see how California could possibly remain viable as a place for large scale auto manufacturing.

It would not surprise me in the least if Musk follows through on relocating. He'd be a fool not to in my opinion, before the corrupt politicians have time to come up with some way to try to force Tesla to stay somehow.

Strat

Yes, but we quarantined the sick and at-risk not healthy people.

Big fucking difference.

Strat

But that doesn't advance the dystopian authoritarian agenda to remove civil rights and personal liberty. Comments like that are likely to harm your social credit score, Comrade.

Strat

They tried that already back in the former Wiemar Republic and it resulted in hyperinflation, the rise of Hitler and the Nationalist Socialist Party, world war 2, and the Holocaust.

Wasn't a once-through enough for those horrors? I'm fascinated by history but I have no desire to repeat those parts.

Strat