He is certainly not the best pick, was considered very conservative 30 years ago, but I don’t think he is an open pro US lobbyist. From what you hear in the news, he seems to cooperate quite well with France and the like.

What even are crystal dommes? Like leather dommes, but kitted out for an 80s party at the disco?

Sir, I have an itemized bill for “hookers and blow with the customer”!

Oh come on, that is a pretty flawed argument. “Tell me, how me doing this particular, isolated thing, is directly causing this complicated big thing, otherwise you are wrong”.

But we are not arguing that: We are arguing about, what if I had a magical button that would magically give everyone in the world access to the “decent living standards” and nothing more? Would it be ethical, would you push this button? Even if you are, right now, way above the line?

And to that I say, yes, if it was possible to do this, I believe it would be the right thing to do. And I believe that anyone arguing we should not press the button, because pushing this button is hurting their lifestyle, is arguing that billions of people deserve to live a much worse life for being in the wrong place so that we can have our lifestyle.

Of course I do not have such a button. That is not the point.

Main tip, have patience. It takes weeks to get rid of them. Maybe you need to sacrifice a plant. But it is doable.

What did it finally was a combination of sand in the pots, the bare minimum of watering, glue traps everywhere and some Neem tree oil directly in the water/soil. Also, quarantining plants with a lot of flies.

I am amazed by all the people that, when faced with having to give up some of the first-world luxury they are used to, flip completely in their head. It is the opposite of not-in-my-backyard: Don’t take from my backyard, pls.

Yes, I would rather have the current distribution continue, where hundreds of millions are literally starving, where there are people who would kill to live like this, where people are walking through the desert and taking dinghies over oceans for shit like this, just so I can have my amenities.

Absolutely wild. We’re so doomed.

I understood that, and I disagree with that statement either.

A plastic card has no wifi, mobile radio, gps, cameras or microphone. The only data it can give away is “john smith paid here for porn and liquor at 4:20”. A phone has all of the above, and uses them to collect data about you, which is then used against you. Graphene, by not running all the vendor-specific, preinstalled garbage in the background, is a lot better in that regard than any smartphone you can buy at the store.

So, in my opinion, it is worth to give up the small convenience of tap-to-pay with a phone and use tap-to-pay with a card. Yes, cash would be even better, but better is the enemy of good. Paying with Monero in a dark alley while wearing a ski mask is even better than that, right?

No, his argument is that the average human needs this standard. also, it is a model, it is by definition simplified.

Besides, what is the alternative? First world countries living like they own the place, third world countries starving, and we’re all getting killed in the climate war of 2040?

They live in a world where 700 million people are currently starving. Do you think you care about the washing machines if your children have nothing to eat?

Their idea of decent is a dream for a good chunk of the world population. We’re the privileged ones. People kill to live like us.

:( 👍

How can you spend time thinking about phones, when there are children starving to death in Africa! See, I am can do that too.

Besides, I do carry cash for everyday expenses, and I do prefer cash. I don’t know where you got that idea from.

But the question was to replace tap-to-pay. Sadly, tapping people with a fiver makes them irritated at best.

Risc-V is not going to be any better. Technically, the ISA of Arm is very well documented. Sure, it is created and licensed out by a single company. But that doesn’t matter when the device is either locked or has so many non-documented quirks and peripherals.

I have this little offline only single purpose device that handles tap to pay for me. It is actually waterproof, survives falls, is light enough to not be noticed, and hasn’t run out of battery in a few years.

Jokes aside, what is wrong with good old plastic cards? If you don’t want an extra wallet (which I need anyway to carry ids, drivers license, cash, emergency ear plugs, a handy sticker or two…), just get a phone case with card/cash slot thingies.

Same. Why should bootloader unlock stop OTAs? Sure, i dont doubt that some manufacturer somewhere does this, but I would not expect it to be the norm.