I tend to count Sweden and Denmark to Western Europe, and in any case, there's no discussion about the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Ireland being part of Western Europe and they are all 5 in the lowest 10 according to your link. The other five indeed being former communist countries, so you're not wrong about that.

I went to the UK in August, and got the ETA, on the web form the app use is promoted, but there's a link to continue without the app, which I did for me and my family. So unless they changed it in the last month, you didn't look well enough.

You're right to ignore the haters. Your dad is doing a service by not optimising profit/ROI but offering a place at a good price whereas others would increase the rent. And generally taking care of his fellow man. Though some (many?) lack the insight to realise that, for me it's clear that more people like that make the world more livable.

I loved how Jeremy Clarkson presented that, by first starting that "the tyres on the Bugatti Veyron are rated for 15 minutes at maximum speed, but don't worry, because the petrol tank will be empty in 11..."

Well done, you managed to get the balancing act all the way up to enjoying dim sum with your wife!

First off, no, you shouldn't push things, that isn't what I meant. But being half Asian half European, if there's manners that are from one side which we're not really on, the assumption shouldn't be that everyone subscribes to them, and your fil behaviour of feeling insulted isn't justified, respect goes both ways. And in my eyes, I found it problematic if people think they have the better manners and others don't, if those others just don't know any better. I've been in Chinese restaurants with European and Chinese people in European cities, and uninformed Europeans may well place their chopsticks vertically into their bowl of rice. Once. Then you explain it to them and they know better. Then they shouldn't do it again too avoid the offense.

That said, if your fil could have reasonably expected his daughter to have cleared you up, then it's perhaps more on her than anyone else.

They couldn't leave their culture at home when in your country? Maybe your ex should have explained to her parents what the proper behaviour is in the country they're in...?

But hey, you did say she's your ex....

s/clapping/claiming/ (though auto spelling check didn't really deteriorate the message)

s/And are that point/And at that point/

I wasn't sure for quite some time, but when Putin invaded Ukraine, the same people around me who were questioning everything COVID-19 countermeasure related intensively (though usually not very opinionated nor very outspoken on many things) were clapping that "the Ukraine is part of the Russian empire anyways"... And are that point I realised they had been following the news via Russia Today, one of the most influential sites in Germany....

... Well, in many cases they actually deserve the long, wide end, and repeatedly all the way in, if you ask me. Per false AI invented quote.

They probably enjoy seeing you squint your eyes and moving closer to the screen, and figure that your eyeballs are worth more if they stick in an advert just then...

So in fact they meant customers, not users. Well, now at least it makes sense from their point of view. Yay, the enshittification is coming to your own desktop today!

I hear you. I donate blood. It's just volunteers that check me before I go in. It's always too high. Often I would have cycled up, so I blamed it on that. But then weather was bad twice in a row so I took public transport and walked over, then had to wait, still high (150+ over 105, BPM below 60). They'll pass me on but then the doctor has to check me later before taking blood, it has to be below 100 on the lower one (always forget, systolic or diastolic). I finally realised it's the machine and people checking. I got a good one at home, and by lying still and breathing deeply, I can get down to 125 over 90. Not ideal, but good enough to avoid needing medication. BTW older males can easily have 135 over 90 without issue. I recommend you to check if you really need meds.

Thanks for your open and honest discussion. I think at least one major difference is that I experienced things in Europe, with many separate governments doing their things, and many different specialists, politicians, etcetera, explaining things. The vaccines were shown to be safe and effective, preventing infection (but indeed not 100%, which wasn't openly stated but I got the right expectation, though many others didn't and commented that the claims they heard from specialists were as you said, though here they weren't), reducing the need to isolate and lock down, and no, I didn't see that claim about being better than natural immunity around here anywhere. I clearly recall lots of wishful thinking, mostly by politicians and the media coverage, which lots of what you have said falls into. So I get your point. I've just experienced things differently. In your shoes, I would probably be very hesitant about any specialist and politician's message too, though never to the point of applauding anything RFK though, there are limits...

What was most important to me, was the percentage of ICUs available, and in all of the countries I kept track of, this was managed, though in many cases very much just. Italy had a short moment in various regions where they sadly had to do triage, though luckily only very briefly.

One thing I found out later, is that many who were critical about loads of countermeasures were also in 2022 of the opinion that Ukraine belongs to Russia and Putin. So then it became clear they got their news off of Russia Today, Telegram and similar sources, which explains why many of those who would normally not think as much about many things suddenly got so verbal about things they don't have much understanding about ...

Again I agree on some things and totally disagree on others. I think the misleading happened by media and politicians, not specialists. None of those claimed full sterilisation, because such a thing doesn't exist. However, the vaccinations did allow to open up so they worked as advertised the way I understood the medical specialists explain things. Politicians and media trying to oversell the idea however, did claim many things, either too eager to push the message to people who seriously wanted to get past the lockdowns or just to have a joyful message.

Again, where is (the hurt from) all that risk that shouldn't have been taken? Nowhere in (western) Europe do I see that. In locations with low vaccinations rates, the lives lost are a matter of public record. So looking back, the choices made were okay by me considering the alternatives. Yes, that includes the lockdowns, the masking, the vaccinations with certificates, and people without them being forced away from good citizens. There's only minor details that should have been handled differently because they actually knew better, and some that are now known to have been handled sub optimally, but at the time that wasn't so clear.

Lastly, regarding my appeal to authority, at some point, you have to, because you can't be a specialist at everything. You in your case insist that the specialists and other authorities don't have your well being at heart, and I applaud your reactions to that. But at the same time, you are guided by an amateur...