Cookie popus appeared on EU websites only 7-ish years ago, not 20+-ish.

I should know, I live there. And I was around since a lot longer than 2002 or 2018.

Apparently in our discussion "violation" is an unfortunate word, as you seem to associate that with something bad, undesirable. (As your word "excuse" hints at.)

A "violation" is not nexessarily bad;
but feel free to use "limitation" insteadin your head, if it's easier for you...

Anyway, to the point: it doesn't matter whether something "excuses" something else or not, as this isn't about "violation" being something bad. It's entirely about the concept od 'llimiting" the amount of power that an individual in a poaition of relative advantage can exert over another individual.

We already have those kind of limitations in place elsewhere in contract related laws, and everyone agrees that they're good (e.g. when signing a contract under duress, or when requiring that a contact not be one-sided only).

OTOH everyone also agrees that there should be no limitation when the contract is balanced and there's no power gradient, e.g. when buying a benign pack of candy in a candy store.

What we have here is something in between: nobody is "under duress" strictly speaking, but the situation is anything but balanced. Somebody is (ab)using their position of relative power.

So now the discussion can't be about the principle of it - we've already established that, either way, the principles are sound and within the realm of something we already do.

Instead it's about where to draw the line.

As such, your comment from earlier does nothing to clarify or sustain a point.

"Freedom of contract" isn't holy you know. It is already "violated" by a lot of other provisions deaigned tomprotect those who are at a systematic disadvantage.

This has nothing to do with public ownership of the means of production a.k.a. socialism.

If the courts grow a pair and say "it's obvious the lighter isn't your main product, the ticket is" - because it is/i indeed obvious - then this won't fly.

I can pretty much guarantee you that a gun is next to useless. Id I'm going tontake you I'm putting a bag on your head while two other people grab your arms and lead you into a van.

You won't even have time scream and draw attention to yourself, let alone draw a gun.

If your gun is in your hand, by your side, with safety on, I'll still grab you before you fire it.

If they can read Slashdot, the sandwich is too old regardless of when the parser was born.

Soap itself does a good enough job of killing not just bacteria, but any kind of germs really. No need even for alcohol.

And she chose to spend the money, as another put it, on Someone Else's BMW a.k.a. a charity/church.

Don't vote her in. She's the same as the one you have now, only she makes up in stupidity for what she lacks in malice.

How about you wake up now?

Justice or not, China is pretty much doing its homework and then some, on renewable energy and CO2 reduction.

Right? :-) I had to double check I didn't accidentally land on Reddit...

Driving my car to someone else's to-do list also doesn't equal free time. Whether they'll offer latte or not is up to them. Reimbursement of vehicle expenses wpuld actually be nice & fittig, but I actually aleays imagined it would be part of the travel compensation. (Per-km or per hour... it's all this same as long as it comes out to cover what needs to b covered.)

And between you and me? It's not about the typing of numbers or the spreadsheet; a trained monkey can type numbers - in a spreadsheet too, if it's well trained.

It's about which numbers to type.

I sure as hell ain't cooking, sleeping, bringing my kids to soccer training, doing laundry, enjoying my hobbies or whatever "spare time" activities I'm into.

Ikea furniture was cheap when they hit the market. Today it's expensive, amd doesn't have any wood except for 2" x2" piece where the screws go in. I'm actually building my own kitchen right now, out of aluminum and full wood, cheaper than Ikea sells their cardboard ones.

Car quality, in.particular on ICEs, peaked 25 years ago. Except for US cars, they stayed crappy all along. Yet prices, compared to income, are now double that.

Planes have a lot more seats, less space now. Like A LOT.

It used to be that Siemens/Bosh appliance hold 10 years, Miele 20, nonames 5-10. Now Miele is down to about 10, and I haven't had a Bosch/Siemens dishwasher that survived 5 years in more than a decade (yes, I've had 3).

And don't het me started on food. I've actually started growing my own, or buying home.grown and maming my own pickles.

TFA is about EVs, and the discussion thread about (lack of) merit of European EVs opposed to Chinese ones.

Just a few points: Dacia Spring is a security nightmare, too.

And cars today are actually simpler to.build, in particular EVs. Technology is more complex, but it doesn't need to b more.complicated. It's just made that way by the manufacturer's attempt to monetize on the driver, not just the car sale.

Also hybrids are the worst of both worlds. They're terribly complex beasts, and if you agree that car manufacturers fucked their clients with ever crappier and defect prone cars the past 20 years, then you know why you absolutely want to avoid hybrids after the warranty time is over.