I do not know what the fuss is about. I was assuming that the majority of those who use NextCloud would be allergic to anything from Google Play Store. I install very few apps from there and they all go into isolated profiles on GrapheneOS. Everything else is FOSS, via Obtanium/F-Droid/etc.

I think it should be attributed to general impoverishment of the population, especially in the developed countries, where people used to gather and eat/drink often. It is simply getting too expensive. People spend nearly everything they make on housing, the rest on food, utilities and family needs. Not to mention the largest spending item - the taxes. There is simply no money left for the booze.

Yes, "cheap" electricity that we subsidize with the insane taxes. So, define "cheap". Also, it is extremely unreliable lately. I live just across the river from Montreal, in Brossard, and we have all sorts of power outages every 1-3 weeks. Ranging from minutes to hours. If I show you the actual graph from the UPSses I had to buy to protect at least some of home equipment, you will be shocked. Power supply in the Soviet Union 30 years ago was more reliable ;)

This is exactly the philosophy that pushed QC in the hole where it is for many years. Over-regulation and the policies against the business. Well, this is a good blog in QC's dents. As for the proposal, it is similar to what our wise PM Francois Legault proposed in response - block quebecers from traveling to the U.S. ;) He simply does not have that power and it is not his damn business.

There is no way to prevent Amazon from selling to QC, although, while I live in QC, I think we deserve this kind of punishment for electing the silly politicians. But Amazon will just outsource the sorting and delivery to Intelcom and Intelcom will continue paying 30% to its employees comparing to what Amazon paid without any unions. Business-wise, Amazon will probably even do better after that. Consumers, as always in QC, have lost.

Actually, you do not. I look at it from the sidelines. My government ;) is a bunch of clowns capable only of painting the crosswalks in rainbow colors and wasting billions of taxpayer's money on that.

You, unfortunately, demonstrate that you do not understand much about what happens today :( And who and why started it.

What is next? Today it is *.ru, tomorrow *.il? Race-based Open Source? This will never end well for OSS world.

Not sure what "list" provided by the Russian government are you talking about. The "initiative" was initiated by another side, as far as I understand. As well as similar initiatives in the previous years. But we are discussing this specific issue, not the history of Cold War ;)

I am Russian. Does not matter where I live and what do I think, I was born Russian and that is impossible to change. Even considering that today's "views" allow "changing" anything, from the birthplace to skin color.

I always considered OSS to be border-free and free from the politics. Russians, North Koreans, Cubans, Americans, Ukranians are all the same in OSS world as long as they do not bring their "real world" sh...t associations with them. They are judged by their contribution to the code, not by their location or nationality and citizenship(s). And I always believed, that Linux was the best example of that philosophy.

Linus, you have changed my view. You demonstrated that the state propaganda (which exists on BOTH sides) is more powerful than the people's brains. But, I think, many observed how you changed from over time. Congrats, the gap between you and the leaders of what-Linux-was-against is narrowing down.

These contributors you have "cancelled" by a simple patch should remove their work from the kernel and declare it illegal to use without their permissions, as you have broken the promise. This will be sad, but fair.

Really? So what - counting the road accident victims infected with "covid" at the time of death as "covid" victims is better? Of course, if you have financial interests in the crisis, then sure...How come the common flu never received the same level of attention while killing (mainly indirectly) so many people every year?

The only way to get the humans out of the mental crisis we are in right now is get back to the objective and scientific way of measuring the crisis. But, of course, if we ever get there, there will be so many silly questions...

Yes. And it will surely find its customers. Not me. It does match my preferences in terms of comfort, functionality, capabilities etc. It is missing one fundamental part that is critical for me. The gas engine. I.e. at least partial independence from the need to connect to the power grid for a long period of time to charge. In my opinion, they should have built a version with onboard generator, which would increase the range to infinity. So far my ideal electric car from my _engineering_ point of view is Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. It is electric, it is plug-in, and it has a small engine to charge itself when needed. And also, which is a bonus, this engine can power the front wheels at highway speeds where the electric motors...well...they do not suck but they are not ideal either.

When Ford adds something like this to their electric truck, I will be in line. Even considering that I have some very serious concerns about the battery-powered cars 5 years after they are made. To my knowledge, today the cost of replacement of the battery in mid-range electric car after ~5 years exceeds the market value of that car. Of course, we can argue that the efficiency of the gas engines also increases dramatically these days and getting a new vehicle every 5 years may be good. But someone has to deal with that old battery or with that 5-year-old car...

I am not against the EVs. And I drive F-150. Give me a vehicle that is from consumer's perspective similar to what I want, and I will buy it. I will not need any "free money" from trudeau to buy a decent product. I need the quality, capacity and the ability to "recharge" within minutes in the middle of nowhere (not in the downtown of a major city) and continue my trip. EVs are not there yet and nobody really knows if they ever will be, at least with their current design. I also know what Canadian winter can be and I have the backup generator for my home because in the battle between the nature and the power infrastructure held together by duct tape, the nature often wins.

I can buy Tesla. I just do not like it. I find it ugly, I find it less comfortable than 30-year-old Mercedes E and a mediocre driving machine in below-average road conditions. No offence to the fans. And, of course, it costs more than that Mercedes E new.

And our own mayor bought herselv a small EV just to show off while having a Tahoe parked on her driveway next to it. And another mayor who wants everyone to just ride the bikes and smile all year round recently had her SUV stolen.

Hypocrisy at its summit.

This is just a recent one. Yes, of course, it is all "possible"...or "as convenient" I should say? What is about over 946,000 (hint - this is close to a million!) of _reported_ vaccine-related injuries and deaths in U.S. only via VAERS? Or it is all fake and irrelevant because it inconveniently shows the side we do not want to think about? I personally do not need much proof - while waiting for 15 minutes after getting my (dangerous and useless shot) two people were taken away on stretchers. So, enjoy your rose glasses until, God forbid, it hits you or someone you know after the 5th mandatory shot.

If mocking of those who make their own health decision facing a relatively mild virus (statistically speaking) is socially acceptable, then how is about blaming the vaccine "champions" for the deaths caused by the same vaccines? Should be perfrectly acceptable too. I am sure the parents of that poor 13-year-old girl in Brazil would agree. There are plenty of people in the world who died even after taking this useless experimental drug - can they be mocked too? What a silly topic we are discussing...

I totally agree with those who say that the traditional alarm systems are primarily for the insurance companies. Lower quotes and simpler claims.

I have a good alarm system. Of course installed by an alarm company and, of course, hugely overpriced, even while I believe I had a decent deal on it. And it is certified etc. And it is a wireless one (100% cellular). And I did put enough stickers and labels to make sure the potential intruders understand that. The primary purpose of the alarm system is to scare off the regular bulgars, the amateurs who hope to steal something - whatever they can find. I do not poses any real valuables so I doubt it would be interesting for more professional thieves to visit me. For others - I want them to know that there will be noise when they break in and there is no line to cut so the police will be alerted. Yes, the noise will probably stop once they destroy the siren, but it takes only few seconds for the alarm system to send the signal over cellular network and it is impossible to find it that quickly to disable. Again, for an ordinary bulgar, not someone who is targeting that home specifically. And once the signal is sent there is a chance that if the police crew is eating doughnuts nearby they actually may be there in few minutes.

Now about the DIY system. I am playing with home automation, Insteon etc. It is one of my pet projects to create a "smarter home" that would also go further in terms of protecting itself. By no means I am planning to replace the "certified" system - because of the insurance. I would like to put more motion sensors and cameras outside to have a kind of "early detection". I want to make sure that whoever approaches the house is aware that he has been detected, watched, filmed and someone may be alerted about his presence. This may discourage many people. Same for the "away from home" mode. I have enough smart light switches at home to set up a scene that will turn the lights on and off in such a pattern that one might think there is someone at home while we may be away - at least unless they spend enough time on surveillance.

I think the ideal system is the one that would alert me over my mobile phone ASAP, even before someone breaks into the house. So I can look at the external and/or internal cameras and see what is going on around the house. After that it is up to me to act. I can call the police. I can call my neighbour to look outside and call the police. I can remotely turn on the lights and even trigger the real alarm if needed.

I think there is something missing in this story. Personally, if I was wearing something that does not offend the people and I was asked by some McDonalds employee (not using any adjectives here :) ) to explain what I am wearing - I would just leave the place immediately. There are so many restaurants in Paris (!!!). Side note: going to McDonalds in Paris is very American ;)
Unless the question was out of curiosity - otherwise it is not your business. If an employee is asking this question - he/she does not respect me as your customer. And I am not eating at the place where I am not shown at least minimum level of respect. Period.

It looks like bashing the "rich" is a common trend these days. Some people just have problems with the definition of "rich" :)

No, rich people are not less moral. I saw many poor people who have no moral at all. I see little correlation between the amount of wealth and the moral. It depends on one's background, education, parents, personal issues etc - that defines how moral the person would be. It is just that the rich people are sometimes more visible and it is easier for them to express themselves publicly if they with to do so.

I have no problem if the guy next to me makes 100 times more than I do and I do not think he owes me anything at all. Well, unless he is making the money by stealing the goods from my home ;) In most of the cases the people who make much more money than I do deserve that because they have more guts, skills, energy etc. I believe it is totally wrong to say that the rich people "own" anything to the society - in addition to the normal contributions every person has to do, typically in form of taxes.

However, if someone who is richer than me believes (and proves with his/her behavior) that he or she has more rights, or is free from certain obligations - then it is a different story. But this is why we need the laws that set the rules for everyone, that are strictly enforced for every single person and that are simple enough so they cannot be bended in favor of a particular individual if he is more wealthy.