What makes these headlines so frustrating is that becoming independent would be trivial if deciders had some basic knowledge about computers and digital networks, what exactly those do and how they work. We're taking 5th grade level of knowledge here.

Because that isn't the case, we have huge portions of society and politicians who think this computer thing only works if you spend astronomical amounts of taxpayer money on completely superfluous licenses for trashy software.

If it weren't for the utter lack of a basic digital culture becoming independent of large vendors, US or otherwise, migrating away from propriety vendors would be little more than a formality and would free up hundreds of billions of euros in annual budgets.

... replace the E-Mail protocols already? Preferably with something not originating in the Jurassic Era of computing? And replace DNS right along with it. That would be great.

It is a _very_ plausible hypothesis that helps prevent us from letting a genie out of a bottle we can't put him back into.

Next question.

I'm pretty sure electricians and plumbers have more billable work hours that lawyers.

AFAICT 50 dollers worth of stuff from the hardware store makes a pretty useful gun aswell. Much quicker and way more effective than any 3D printed piece of semi-plastic ever could. Are they going to regulate who can buy pipes? Sounds kinda dumb this attempt at a law.

A little over a year ago I was about to fall into level 2 unemployment support (this is Gemany) while desperately looking for a job as a seasoned senior webdev. That means bare minimum support and you have to let your pants down finance wise and the bureau of labor is all over you like a cheap suit requiring you to take any job that comes along. Fair enough. I talked to my local scooter dealer and was ready to go into vehicle mechanics, a job I never would've dreamed of doing my entire life. I got a new dev-gig just in time, with 20k less but I haven't forgotten my resolve to do blue collar work if all else should fail and AI takes away my coding job.

Repairing motorscooters and small motorbikes is likely shitty pay compared to what I'm used to but I'd rather do that than garbage disposal. I'd be learning something new and improve my ability to repair, maintain and refurbish my own scooter. Not half-bad.

I use Googles swipe keyboard on Android. AFACT it still is slower than a good mobile KB from Blackberry or something similar. That's why these KB phones have a niche. I've been thinking about replacing my phlablet with one of those.

... 50 000 years of waste management and can be set up within months with minimal regulations, a crew of 20 men, a crane and a modern windmill making inroads while the fission and Fusion pipe-dreams are still swallowing bazillions of tax money still are trying to prove their long-term efficiency. ... Other than for Germans that is, who are actually capable of basic math and engineering and thus have abandoned their world-leading fission programs a while ago.

Who would've thunk?

Yes, that's Elon Musk telling Donald Trump that the biggest issue with carbon emissions is that people get headaches if you get to a thousand ppm of CO2.

Well, that is a pretty daunting problem if the atmospheres natural CO2 levels are objectively toxic for humans. We'd likely die out within a decade or two. I don't know how you can be more clear about us reaching 1000ppm of CO2.

As for man-made CO2: Musk has been consistent with his warnings. He says it's not doomsday yet, but there will be serious problems when we reach or exceed 600ppm. That would be up from 440ppm today or 220ppm of the pre-industrial era. It is perfectly clear, even as Musk lays it out, that we are running out of time. You just need to be able to listen to him and be capable of basic math.

The last Windows I used for anything important was Windows 2000. The last Windows I ran into was at my current job with a few beginning weeks with a standard issue laptop for regular non-IT employees. It was basically unusable.

Windows is an anachronism. Anyone using desktop Linux for a few hours will notice this and likely will want to switch.

Dominoes tried to gain inroads here in Germany 10-15 years back. Their way overpriced Pizza tastes like shit. They took a beating and now there are only a handful of joints left, if they haven't retreated again entirely. Germany is awash in local Pizza and Doener Kebab joints that deliver - at notably cheaper prices - way better quality and taste than any American joint I've ever been to, with the exception perhaps of Pizza Hut, which was OK but still was a tad pricier and not quite on par quality wise before they went belly up. And if deliveries is too below you, you still find good to excellent original Italian restaurants in every quarter in.

Maybe Americans are catching on when it comes to their usual pizza? ... Don't know, just a theory.

... costs less than a meal for two and fits in a cigarette box and screens are getting smaller and lighter to the point of just being flat slabs with glowing pixels on them, you're going to have a hard time finding features to differentiate "premium" from "regular" TVs. I wouldn't even buy a TV, I've been using monitors for decades now and sourcing my own input signals using computers and the internet. Preferably with adblock proxies and other tricks to give me a more premium experience than any ready-made TV ever could.

EOM

But it will definitely keep you from getting laid!

Not really, no. I've been balding since age 21 and was half bald by age 27. I still have some somewhat embarrasing pictures of that era. I started shaving my hair down to 5mm and less at age 29. My string of epic sex and affairs started almost a decade later at age 38 when I was basically bald and already had been for more than 10 years. It carries on until today.

If you're in shape, dress well, keep clean and your home stylish, wear some fitting and fashionable beard, got your attachment wounds healed and your hetero-male red pill swallowed, get good at game/pick-up/seduction/whatever-you-want-to-call-it and some latin american close-embrace social dance (Merengue, Bachata, Kizomba, Forro, Argentine Tango, etc.) ladies couldn't care less wether you have full hair or not. They'll be all over you like a cheap suit and you'll have your pick of the litter.

One personal point in case of dozens: My current gorgeous sweetheart is horny like a sack of rats with me (as am I with her). Right now I'm literally getting ribbed and feel my tummy muscles building up from all the shagging we've been doing in recent months and I can barely keep up. We're a few days apart just now so we actually get some work done instead of being all over each other 3x a day. And it certainly isn't that she can't get enough of me because of my epic hair-do. She did however get hooked on my embrace when we danced the first time and immediately responded, no verbally. Barely 4 weeks in we were a couple. That's how this works. Hair on your head has nothing to do with it.

Likewise if you're a fat slob or a dork you can have He-Man hair and women will still avoid you like the plague.

... of most of not all written human formal interaction. This is what's happening right now.

Prepare for incoming.