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Comment Preference for either is cultural (Score 1) 116

I've noticed that dubbing is preferred in bigger nations where there are many original works available in their native language, thus creating a preference for it, and there are many voice over actors available for dubbing foreign films. Conversely, smaller nations produce much fewer films themselves, there are fewer actors for voice over work, and the majority of films shown are foreign, non-dubbed. There are approximately a million or so speakers of my native language, so it figures that there aren't enough voice actors to dub everything worth dubbing. Therefore, dubbing has never been a thing here, with the exception of children's films and cartoons, and perhaps documentaries with voice-overs. It's subtitles all the way down, in cinemas sometimes in two languages at the same time, and I can bet my arse that if you were to ask anybody here, they would prefer to read subtitles the original sound and voices (with all the nuances that the actors put in). I recently began watching a Spanish language TV series, and even though I know next to nothing of Spanish, and English dubbing was available, I watched it in the original language with English subtitles. Actually I cannot even recall the language of the subtitles. It's just an ingrained thing, something you get accustomed to as a child.

Comment Re:Also their "Iron Dome" missile defense system (Score 1) 156

Blatant lies, all of them. And TL;DR: it's definitely Russia bad – Ukraine good. No two ways about it. Russia most emphatically has no rights or claims in any other countries than Russia and is engaging in illegal and imperialist warfare brought about by the rise of the state religion of rampant fascism (and hardcore Russian chauvinism) over the past 20 years.

Ukraine never wanted nukes, it actually gave them all away way back when. Ukraine wanting nukes is a Russian propaganda invention. They started wanting into NATO for the same reasons Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Czechia, and the Baltic states wanted into NATO – because Russia is a major threat and has been threatening them with military intervention since the 90s, all under the moniker of 'protecting the compatriots'. While not so well known in the West, it's well documented in Eastern Europe. In the case of Ukraine, the threat actually materialised in Crimea (illegally occupied and annexed by Russia) and Donbass (Russian clandestine and false flag operations, inciting local conflict, arming, aiding and abetting local wannabe warlords, taking part in conflicts in the region, de facto participating in the occupation of the area, thus creating a zone of conflict ready to be used when need be). On the other hand, nobody has threatened to invade Russia, *no country* at all, none, zip. Look around, it's only Russia all the time doing the invading. Look at the damn map – even if it were 19th century and wars were en vogue, there's just no way. So there goes another one of your lies. Get a grip and watch less Russian central television. There are no 'enemies' out there wanting to 'invade' Russia. Who taught you that?

Oh, and Norway on the other hand is *already* a member of NATO, they don't 'suddenly want to be part' of it.

Comment Re:Apple should take note (Score 1) 204

FYI, macOS does not auto-upgrade. You actually have to get in there and explicitly press the Upgrade Now button to do it, and not once, and you have to provide your password, too, if memory serves correctly. They do it right, unlike some other OS I've encountered. Now, I've no idea as to how your acquaintance's mailbox fubared. I am not saying it cannot happen, even though I upgraded my Hackintosh to Big Sur with zero glitches. Just – no idea how that could come to pass. I've upgraded from 10.4 on and no such thing ever occurred.

Comment Re: No win situation (no pun intended) (Score 1) 208

Whatever is 'there' now will be moved around someplace else with the next point release or sooner. Honestly, they refactor the Settings stuff so often that it's hard to keep track. I don't use Windows every month these days, and whenever someone asks for help, I either need to find the settings in a new place or go to the Control Panel. Or increasingly make do with command line, which at least remains more or less constant.

Comment Re:Lol fitness (Score 1) 290

I use the Apple Watch for running, which I do three to four times a week and have for years. It serves as a display for the training software installed on my phone. Works well, too. Just to counter the other kind of anecdotal evidence shown here. I know that many people who use the same software also use the Apple Watch app – they write about it on FB – and those on newer iterations of the watch (I have a Series 1 device) with GPS often use it as a standalone device, no phone necessary.

Comment Misleading (Score 1) 143

The original article is somewhat misleading and so is the summary, and by extension, also the discussion.

Yes, the Central Party wanted to push free overall *local* public transport, the kind that does not cross county borders. That did not come to pass. Instead, they instated a programme that encourages local transport operators to set up such free lines, only that it is not mandatory. Those operators that decide to enrol in the programme will get subsidies, those that don't, well, won't. But there will be some operators that won't, because there'll be various strings attached.

There never was a plan to extend the free local public transport initiative to country-wide public transport, so city to city bus lines were never meant to be free for all. Rail transport was never included in the plan.

This initiative is basically an opportunity for transport companies to get state subsidies in return for operating free local lines, if they choose to participate. This is no 24/7 free public transport zone, with unicorns. I love it how our PR people can spin stuff, but this is too much.

The country's population is most emphatically not overwhelmingly concentrated around the capital city Tallinn. The city's population is ~400,000, the surrounding county (size ~4300 sq km) adds about 200,000, which means that out of the 1.3 million inhabitants, most live elsewhere.

Comment Re:"...which begs the question..." (Score 1) 341

Actually, I don't think you can, unless you want to seriously limit your vocabulary. English managed to shed a large proportion of its original vocabulary post-William, so it's mostly French and Latin now. Germanic vocabulary amounts to ~26 per cent, while both Latin and French words amount to 29% each. Have a blast: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

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