So PM Fico needs to go before Ukraine will be allowed join NATO?

Your terms are acceptable.

I find it unlikely that they couldn’t track and disable units if they are used outside of a permitted region.

This absolutely exists as a technological feature, though there may be a bit of lag of hours/days/weeks. In the USA their are two residential subscription levels. One subscription tier “Home” (minimum of 12 months) will allow you to operation the equipment in a fixed location (within a few miles of a point) for faster speeds and lower price. The other subscription tier “RV” (minimum of one month) will allow you to pa move your equipment anywhere (in the USA?) and get service, however the cost per month is higher, the data transfer and priority are lower.

In the early days of USA Starlink, users buying the “Home” service and moving the equipment outside of the registered geography were shut out of service. This proves that its possible to know where the equipment is supposed to be geographically, and shut it down if its not in compliance. Some users noted being able to run for a short time before being shut out, while others were shut out immediately.

Unilever doing the right thing finally and leaving Russia. Awesome! Unilever started paying Musk to advertise on Twitter again. Screw Unilever.

I love me some Covert Cabal (and Highmarsed) russian vehicle counting videos!

Time travel this photo back to 1986 and those seeing it will assume the only reason to see US weapons mounted on a Soviet jet fighter would be an alien invasion. The irony is, their conclusion would be right.

Man, if “Microsoft is actively trying to take control of my hardware and prevent me from deciding how it is used” and “Linux has a learning curve and lacks market dominance to get hardware manufacturers to play with them sometimes” seem like equivalent circumstances to you,

And here I thought we weren’t going to Strawman each other.

there is no number of iterations to this back and forth that are going to arrive at any common ground between you and I. I can only say good day to you.

Here, we are in perfect agreement. I’m not looking to be converted to the cause. I may be a friend to it and support it, but I’m not dying on that hill.

Keep fighting the good fight, though.

what’s the correct number of years between buying new cars

Whatever number you give, there will be someone on the internet to tell you you’re wrong. Its almost like there isn’t a simple boiled-down answer to this and the each of us has different situations, circumstances, and resources so that there isn’t a single “one size fits all” answer, and even if there was, when a large enough population starts following that one answer, resources dry up and the “right” answer is now wrong.

I’m not trying to strawman you here, so lets revisit these to make sure we understand what each other is saying.

Your statement suggest that if Windows is “trying to work against you” then Linux is “trying to work for you”.

That’s literally not what I said, nor what I implied. If you want to interpret it that way it’s your choice, but I’m not going to defend a statement I didn’t make and didn’t try to make.

I don’t understand why you’d bring up “trying to work against you” if you weren’t implying that Linux was the opposite. I suggested you were implying it was the opposite, and you’re communicating now that is not what you mean. I don’t think you’re suggesting that Linux “is trying to work against you”. So if its not a positive, and not a negative, you’re suggesting what…neutral? As in, “Linux is neither trying to work against you nor is trying to help you”. I suppose I can agree with that, but I’m not sure how that supports your argument.

What am I missing you are trying to communicate with your statement?

You don’t escape that problem entirely in Linux, it just takes different forms. Proprietary vendor Linux hardware drivers would be a perfect example.

I feel like you aren’t distinguishing between “problem exists” and “problem exists because the makers of my OS want it to exist.”

You’re right, I’m not distinguishing between them because as an end user the reason is irrelevant. I’m left with the same result, with the same choices about how to solve it for myself. I’m not trying to save the world. I’m trying to get my computing done.

So why hack Windows to make it do what you want? I literally said this was NOT the question.

My apologies for the paraprhasing of your position of my position.

Lets look at your exact question:

“why keep supporting a company that requires you to undo so much of the product just to maintain control and privacy with your own hardware, and which actively seeks to sabotage attempts to do so.”

My answer: Because I’m not trying to save the world. I’m trying to get my computing done. If a hack to the existing product can do that faster than changing the world, then the hack is the better choice FOR ME. If its a social/religious movement for you, feel free to spread the “good word”. I won’t stop you, but I’m not interested in joining your evangelistic endeavor.

It’s because Linux isn’t actually trying to work against you, even if it may feel that way to a noobie at first.

Your statement suggest that if Windows is “trying to work against you” then Linux is “trying to work for you”. I don’t believe that is the case either. Linux works for itself, and if what you want can be done with Linux, great! If you have the skills to alter Linux to do what you want, also great! If you have neither of those, then you’ll be left without a specific solution. Linux is great, but trying to pitch it as purely altruistic and supportive isn’t accurate and could lead those trying it to abandon it early because their own experience doesn’t meet this implicit expectation.

The question isn’t “why take the time to hack windows” it’s “why keep supporting a company that requires you to undo so much of the product just to maintain control and privacy with your own hardware, and which actively seeks to sabotage attempts to do so.”

You don’t escape that problem entirely in Linux, it just takes different forms. Proprietary vendor Linux hardware drivers would be a perfect example.

So why hack Windows to make it do what you want? Because that was one of the basic tenets underlying Linux. There is no perfect operating system, just different tradeoffs. If one OS meets most of your needs for a specific task, and you have a way to hack it to fix the rest, thats the better solution rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. Departing from this idea moves the definition of computing from a tool to a religion/social movement. That’s fine for some, but not my calling.

Kia EV6s have intrigued me as an eventual Model 3 replacement.

I like the tech for the EV6, I’m a bit concerned with Hyundai/Kia paint, and the company’s response in washing their hands of it for people that have bought their cars in the past and its is coming off in sheets.

I’m not grateful for it, but I do recognize the societal privileges that come with it.

It grates on me seeing inequality for silly reasons like race, sex, religion, or sexual orientation etc. My state isn’t so red I’m seeing Confederate flags all the time, but its the subtle ‘wink wink’ justification of mistreatment that I see. When I call people on it doing this, I get met with immediate confusion, and then anger as they realize I’m “one of those”.

I know you’re mixing in joking with your response, but can I point out the irony that a Linux advocate is telling me essentially “don’t try to hack a solution, just give it up entirely and adopt a completely different product”. That is the opposite of the Linux mindset I’m familiar with.

What I’m taking from your posts is that you don’t like that people are liking and buying what you like, which is driving up the price. Additionally, a part of the people that are buying what you like, you don’t like the reasons they’re buying them.

I can’t figure out what you want done though.

What is different from in my post from what you’re trying to communicate?

Dokoupil just made himself look clueless.

Dokoupil made himself look worse than clueless. He made himself look like a racist.

I just watched the interview, and you can too at this link right here.

Dokoupil was a major asshole as an interviewer. Dokoupil was inserting language as though they were Mr. Coates arguments. Dokoupil was engaging in classic strawman attacks on national TV.

I’ve watched CBS news on and off for years and Dokoupil has been on many of those pieces. Prior to this I thought him competent. I now have zero respect for Dokoupil as a journalist. He allowed his personal feelings and biases to overrule his journalist integrity. He should be ashamed of himself.

Editing to add: If you want to see a good journalist interview the same guest talking about the same book do so here with Jon Stewart and Mr Coates.

I think that scarcity of art is a rather bourgeois thing,

Scarcity isn’t a bourgeois construct. There are a finite amount of originals in both famous Renaissance paintings and original releases of video games. Its a macroeconomic function. When there are fewer of an item that is in higher demand, the price rises.

that the more available art is to everyone the better.

I own zero Monet originals, but I have lithographs of them I quite enjoy. The fact that the original painting hangs at the Art Institute in Chicago doesn’t prevent me from enjoying the copy of it on my wall. Video games are even better as copies are perfect copies, always, and every time. The only thing you don’t get to have (without parting with the money) is the original ROM IC etched in 1996 or the original disc pressed in 1997.

Video games were always art the moment someone figured out how to make two pixels move across a screen.

Your view was not universally held with others in the early days of video games.

We don’t need to prove that to anyone.

Its not an effort one undertakes, its a measurable metric of acceptance in society. You can choose to ignore its significance, but not its consequence. Originals will be more expensive, especially the groundbreaking titles from decade ago.

Yeah. Buying a 10 year old civic will always be more environmentally responsible than buying a brand new EV. For some reason all these people that super care about the environment aren’t doing that tho…

I can’t fuel the 10 year old civic from the solar panels on my roof.

Although by now I guess that’s really “10 year old Prius”

I sold my 13 year old Prius to get the EV. If I hadn’t sold the Prius then that would be one less person would could follow your advice to buy an old Prius.

I feel like Trump would have to get rid of her, sort of like his prior wife… considering his love for the Russian leadership she should look out for stairs and windows.

I’m sure she has a “dead-mans switch” set to release all Trump’s dirt should she meet an untimely end.

Having the 10-key on the wrong side was bothering me. I fixed it:

What happens if you copy explorer.exe from a prior release of Windows and replace the recall-infested version?