It’s not gay as long as the kiss is only 1/4" of tongue or less.

We stop the horrors by placing stipulations on the aid we supply the Israelis. We stop turning a blind eye to how their extreme right wing factions like Netanyahu’s Likud party use our money and military resources. The United States, Europe and most of Asia are against settlements within Palestinian territories but each year right wing politicians allow or even encourage taking over more and more land. Plenty of Israeli citizens are against the settlements and against the Netanyahu regime so let’s work with them to make decisions that aren’t so obviously provocative to both their neighbors as well as the minority Israeli citizens who also live there. Let’s not pretend Netanyahu’s do whatever he pleases policies aren’t a big part of the anger and aggression we are seeing year after year. Our aid and financial support should be 100% conditional.

Brewsters Millions

Skip to 30 seconds in to get the list of rules

My aim is to replace Biden with someone who can actually win. Bidens team is on the offensive trying to claim he’s got the best shot but that’s a load of hot garbage. I think you’d be surprised at how many people voted for anything not trump last time around. This time around his cognitive decline has become so blatantly obvious that by even defending it you destroy the democratic party’s credibility and as a result become Trumps real enabler. The election will be decided by a few swing states and a small number of undecided voters living in those states. Telling them they are wrong about what the see and hear from Biden is gaslighting plain and simple. If democrats want to differentiate themselves as the morally superior party then lying out of fear isn’t a good look. The situation is what it is. The best chance they have is to replace Biden as soon as possible. Every day that passes decreases the nominees chances. Also, I really hope they hold a primary vote because just telling voters they get Vice President Harris makes this feel less like a democracy and will definitely alienate enough voters to throw the whole election.

Final thought, as long as we have a two party system nothing will really get better. The best we can hope for is not worse. It’s very telling that so many democratic congress people are afraid to challenge the party. If an elected representative is afraid to act on their conscience then it’s obvious we don’t have a real democracy.

This we can agree on.

See the OP’s ending sentence for reference.

No one is shitting on other people’s choices. They are criticizing a major corporations choices to skimp on specs while charging a premium price. Specs that can’t be upgraded and will absolutely lead to a shorter usable life. I find it odd that people get upset about criticism that isn’t aimed at them at all. The only thing I can think is maybe they realize they were ripped off after putting so much money into Apple products and they need to defend their financial decisions. Even then I don’t fully understand. I’ve purchased overpriced junk many times and don’t feel the need to defend the offending company. Maybe it’s because Apple has managed to make their customers feel like they’re in an exclusive club even though everyone uses Apple products these days. A publicly traded company is around to make money and nothing more. They should never be held in reverence.

If you choose to be a weak little quiet corporate Stan then that’s up to you. Apple is well aware that third party apps exist and they’re well aware that machines with less ram will need replaced far sooner than machines with more. RAM is cheap and Apples intigrated memory is no different in the regard. The only reason to use less is planned obsolescence. If you don’t believe that then you’re either Tim Cook or you’re an idiot.

I’m fairly certain this is an old Quake map.

Madison, I’m not really sure what you’re argument is here. Let’s look at your seat belt argument. Torx (or star bits as they’re now called since Torx is a brand name) has become a ubiquitous standard in the automotive world and absolutely irrelevant to the poor point you’re trying to make. Auto makers use star bits because they enable a rounded dome shape that is smaller and requires no space around the bolt head to accommodate a thick socket. You may have assumed it was to prevent removal but no auto maker has ever declared that as a reason. Considering that even basic starter tool kits come with star bits these days I’d say that makes them a poor choice as a lawsuit prevention method. There are too many other “dangerous products” out there that don’t have silly screws and yet somehow are able to avoid frivolous lawsuits. I’m not sure why defending this practice is the hill your want to die on but making repairs difficult to avoid a lawsuit is something only a sucker would believe.

The tamper proof screw is NOT there to protect you, It’s there to discourage repairs plain and simple. A warning label is more than adequate on other blenders, why not this one? In fact, there are plenty of dangerous devices I can think of that don’t need to be locked down to prevent lawsuits. A lawsuit would require negligence on the part of the manufacture and while you’re trying to say by not locking it down it could be considered negligence you’d be wrong. Otherwise I could quit my job and just file lawsuits all day. Let’s not try to defend these companies that engineer planned obsolescence into their products. All they want is to be the sole repair option (big profit margins) or have you buy a new over priced high markup item. Nevermind the waste generated by hrowing away perfectly good products that a simple easy repair would fix.

Is this because of me?

Haha! Team 4% FTW

I’m split on this concept. Assuming we can’t get away from tracking I would prefer a company like Google over a company like Meta. Google doesn’t sell your data, they just serve ads based on what data they have. Meta and other data brokers will sell your data to whoever ponies up the cash. I’m not happy about being tracked either way. I just recognize one system is considerably worse than the other. Also, if (and this is a big if) Google honors your request to delete your data then I believe it would be even less of a concern. Right now I have my Google data set to auto delete after three months. Ideally that would be enough data to help with traffic suggestions etc while serving up relevant ads but not enough to build an invasive profile. Realisticly we need more laws outlining how our data can be used and ensuring that it’s not retained in ANY form after a set period of time or when it’s deletion is requested.

I was going to suggest epoxy resin.

My argument to that would be if we are only a niche segment then where is the serious economic harm they are referring to? It sounds to me like API calls are happening either way but they don’t want to lose out on the ad and customer tracking revenue. Also, I as other have pointed out there is no reason it needs a remote cloud to change the thermostat.

Do not buy BS internet connected devices period. There was a time when internet connected devices did exactly they were supposed to do and nothing more. There is literally no reason why most of these devices can’t act as their own server and keep your data local and private. Corporations have become far too greedy to trust their cloud won’t sell you out in every way it can. The ONLY two reasons a manufacturer adds internet connectivity are:

1. To monitor and collect as much data as possible and/or:

2. To implement a subscription service for something that normally wouldn’t require monthly payments.

Corporate closed clouds have proven time and time again that they can’t be trusted.

Me as well

All companies care about is profit margin. This is why automotive companies are so focused on trucks and SUVs. These vehicles cost a bit more to produce but can be sold at multiple times the additional investment. When electric vehicles took off they were a status symbol and sold primarily to luxury car buyers. US manufacturers beholden to share holder value will never focus on affordable transportation. This is why China will eventually eclipse the US in electric vehicles.

I’ve had prime since almost day one. Lately I’ve been trying to reduce my dependency on Amazon which isn’t easy when you’re already paying them in advance for shipping just to keep prime video and a few free games and ebooks. This was the push I needed to finally sever that tie and release myself from their trap. This could be the start of a good thing for a lot of people. Prime has been an effective competition blocking lock-in scheme for too long. It’s end result is it’s ability to keep prices high because they are the sole gatekeeper. Good riddance Amazon.