Ohh, handy! Thanks for that link.

Ha, the slang and colloquialisms are actually the easy part, really!

We are subjected to an awful lot of US culture in general. We watch Hollywood movies and we get most US shows, which are shown with subtitles here. We also follow US news and events, we enjoy US music, we use a lot of the same services, etc. Basically, if I moved to the US, I’d fit right in.

We tend to enjoy US culture quite a bit. We might disagree on topics like politics, healthcare, gun issues or the metric system, but by and large we’re like… Canadians.

Thank you, we take pride in our language education.

We learn English, French and German in school, which really helps when dealing with the rest of Europe. Whenever you meet someone from another European country, chances are you can find at least one language you both speak. Makes trade and travel a lot easier.

I do occasionally slip up when talking to Americans. We’re generally taught UK and US English here simultaneously. Which means I sometimes have the UK spelling in my head, which can differ slightly. For example, flavour vs flavor. Online, I usually try to keep it ‘US English’.

Yeah, I can absolutely see that ‘District of Columbia’ argument in my head :D You’d assume people at least know that one considering how much important stuff happens there. I’d understand if someone not from the US didn’t know. But Americans really should.

Well I’d certainly hope the people in the military get properly trained. You’d hate to confuse Austria and Australia or Georgia (state) and Georgia (country) if you ever needed to bomb or invade either one of them :D

I always knew Americans in general were bad with global geography… but to not even know their own states? That sounds insane.

Heck, in our Dutch schools, we actually learn all the states in the United States. I definitely know New Mexico is a state. Same as Alaska and Hawaii (but not Puerto Rico, which is a territory but not a state)

How am I better at this than actual Americans? That should not be a thing.

Non negotiable sounds fine with me. Because we don’t negotiate with terrorists.

I’d like to give a heartfelt thank you to Microsoft management though, for furthering the cause of Linux adoption. We couldn’t have done it without you. 🙏

I’m definitely not going to be forced to Windows 11. I’ll probably install Linux on my now three year old PC until it falls apart and I need a new one. Or I might just go back to Mac, which I used exclusively for 7 years in the 2010’s.

If Microsoft thinks they can intimidate or push me to 11, they’re sorely mistaken.

They’re not. I got one last week, the one about ‘buy a new computer with Windows 11’. And I’m in the Netherlands.

Back in the ‘90’s, they had every port you could imagine, and some STILL felt the need to use a docking station. You really can’t please everyone. I actually like the streamlined setup more these days. Because I’d rather have ports I actually use and that are fairly standardised, as opposed to a bunch of others that are of no use.

I never used most of the ports on my 90’s laptops. Never used a parallel port, PS2, never used the PCMCIA card slot, etc.

All I really need is a full sized HDMI, a few USB-C’s and one or two A’s for convenience.

Got one yesterday. I’ve already made up my mind that I’m likely to switch to Linux Mint on my current PC and run that till it drops dead. Because I’m sure as shit not messing with or upgrading my three year old PC over something asinine like a TPM module. I don’t even want a new Windows. I like my PC just fine the way it is.

If Microsoft thinks they can force me to Windows 11, I fucking dare them. I switched to Mac before and I’m not afraid to switch to any other OS either.

Apart from Flight Simulator 2020 and DCS, I absolutely love games like Euro Truk Simulator 2 and Snowrunner. I put ungodly amounts of hours into those. Especially ETS 2 is incredibly relaxing. No pressure, just a lovely drive. It’s definitely not for everyone though.

These days I just assume nothing’s playable offline. It’s not like my PS5 is ever offline anyway, so it’s not really a point of concern for me.

The actual reason I like physical games is because they’re generally cheaper when they just release and get discounted far sooner than digital games.

For example: Armored Core VI costs 69,99 euros on PS Store.

An online game store here sells it for 19,99 brand new. That means I can buy a copy for myself, I can gift you copy, buy a third one to light on fire as a sacrifice to the gaming gods… and still have money left over for two frozen pizza’s.

That’s why I like physical.

It’s not the price point. Most of the people who’d be in the market for one wouldn’t buy it because it doesn’t take discs. When I bought my PS5, I specifically bought the disc version. So I’m not going to ‘upgrade’ to a machine that doesn’t have one and only really offers ‘improved performance’ as its main selling point. It just doesn’t make sense.

If you’re new to the platform and are used to buying only digital, it might be more palatable. But as someone who’s been with Sony since the very first PlayStation: I’m gonna pass.

I actually do have WPE… it was in a bundle one time, so I got it for free. Tried it once, but I’m conceptually not a fan of running extra software on my gaming PC to run fancy wallpapers.

Supposedly it’s not TOO power hungry and can turn itself off when gaming. How’s your experience been with that?

I still have PTSD from the era of the ‘polyphonic ringtone’ hype. Those were the ‘fancier’ ringtones that weren’t just your usual beep or bell.

Usually you’d buy them by sending a text message to some expensive number and it would be sent to your phone. If you were dumb, you could get basically scammed into a ‘subscription’ so you’d get sent these expensive ringtones frequently. Many a teen got yelled at for that mistake in the late 90’s.

If you were a tech savvy lad, you could hook your phone up to your Windows PC and upload shitty ringtones yourself as well as wallpapers and such.

These days, who gives a shit? My iPhone ringtone is still the default ring. I honestly don’t care what it is, as it’s usually just annoying anyway.

Paying for ANY wallpaper is just silly, much less a subscription model.

The only time you should pay for one if it’s an artist you want to actively support and/or thank for that specific work.

Geez, you’d think Gemini would be better than it is if they spent that much on it…

This is definitely one of the most interesting attacks that’s ever happened. It certainly doesn’t look like an accident. If it was indeed Mossad: take a bow, you’ve earned it. That was a pretty slick move. That was probably a difficult op to pull off. Gotta respect the craft, even if you disagree on the method.

Fun fact about that scene: Gary Oldman wasn’t really supposed to shout it that loud, he improvised it as a joke. Which is also why you can see the other actor in the scene jump back a bit.

https://youtu.be/MZfqez5qmuA?feature=shared

Pretty much. Men speed more for example and drive under the influence more often. High mortality risk on those.

Women however tend to be a bit more distracted when driving; they use their phones more often behind the wheel for example. There’s also particular situations that simply happen more to women. I.e. they go grocery shopping and are distracted by the kids in the back seat and hit another car or object in the busy parking lot.

That’s also why innovations like backup cameras and parking sensors are great at reducing those sorts of accidents. But still: tell the wife to put the phones away if she’s driving. For everyone else’s safety too.