You know you’re gonna have to go elbow deep to hand them that flashlight. . ?

Yeah I’ve heard that about the US. Seems crazy to me, a bad flu bug could really screw your workforce, and sick people are going to be much less effective workers. Not to mention public-facing positions - as a customer I do not want some nasty virus free with my product! Also, people tend to work harder and have more loyalty towards an employer that they feel respects and looks after them.

That’s fucked up. Here in the UK, I work a low level job and my wages aren’t great, but I get 4 weeks paid leave and am encouraged to take it. I also get up to 6 months paid sick leave, though I need a note from my doctor after a week. I think after 6 months I still get paid half wage. The sick leave thing isn’t government mandated, but it’s not uncommon, and I’m strongly encouraged to use it if I’m not well. Makes sense, you don’t want sick employees bringing germs into work and making everyone else ill.

I don’t have kids, but I’m pretty sure paid maternity /paternity leave is pretty decent too.

Thanks for that, I’ve saved your post for when I switch. My laptop runs windows 11 but I’m not enjoying the experience. Used linux a bit in the 90s but I’ve forgotten everything and will have to start from scratch. Yep, when I get some time I’m going to make the jump.

Mate I think you misread it again.

Fuckin loads.

Not American but can’t imagine they see fewer.

We only see each other two or three times a year and have mutually agreed not to discuss politics since the unfortunate Christmas dinner of 2016, just after the brexit referendum, when I’d had a few drinks and rose to the bait. And they always liked to bait me, knowing I was involved with direct action and am pretty hard left. They got more blowback than they anticipated. I love them, I can even understand their positions, but they’re not going to change and neither am I, so we just don’t discuss it anymore.

Great news! Congrats mate, and thanks for updating me.

Thanks for the heads up. Yeah it’s hard to know what’s going to be a pile of shit. I had a good experience with a moto previously - but that was maybe ten years ago, a lot could have changed since then.

I’m looking for something mid range I guess, £500 max. I’ve always had cheaper phones and I’m tired of being frustrated with a device I use so much so I’m gonna spend a bit more on the next one.

Would you mind letting me know if it works out? Was thinking of getting a Moto G, I’m using an elderly Samsung and no way will I replace it with another Samsung.

“And now the athletes are at the starting line for the hundred meter ketamine stagger. . . They’re waiting for the starters’ gun. . . Some of them have got confused and wandered off. . .”

Shit, I play in easy mode. And I sometimes look up hints online. But yeah, I only play single player stuff so I don’t feel like I’m cheating anyone.

I’ll switch away from Android when there’s a good alternative, but I’m not very technical and need something with a nice GUI and an easy installation process. Hopefully Linux will offer something like that someday, but I don’t think it’s there yet.

Great, I enjoyed it, hope you do too. Not quite as good as his sprawl series imo but definitely worth reading.

Edit - and if you’ve not read the sprawl series you and you like cyberpunk - wow, you are in for a treat!

William Gibson writes about this in his book idoru

Pete Hegseth blows goats. He’s banned from every petting zoo in the state.

Yeah I’m the same. People have said they’re better for subtle movements like aiming but I find I tend to either move too little with them or spin out of control. Fat thumbs I guess.

They provide an easy platform for me to buy games so I use them. The steam deck too. Just because they have a competent product, i don’t think that justifies any arse kissing. Like you say, they’re a company and they’re in business to make money.

Yeah, I can see why developers would be unhappy about the 30%. Maybe there’s an argument to be made that the platform gives these games a greater potential market but I don’t know enough about the business to try making that argument.

Most demanding thing I’ve tried on it was beam ng drive, it ran but struggled a bit. I’ve never yet been unable to play something I wanted to on it.

Yeah, that’s just odd. ‘A’ isn’t something you’d find before a surname as part of the name, unlike ‘d’ or ‘o’ etc.