I think it’s disingenuous to imply that there isn’t an inequality issue because the basic standard of living has advanced since the Middle Ages. Even if we compare the standard of living for say, Mississippi lower third and Uganda lower third, it’s obvious that you’re better off in Mississippi. However, the fact that the wealth and means to uplift the poor actually exists in the US but is not exercised is itself an issue - Uganda does not have that possibility.
I don’t think it’s video games though, they tend to be intensive experiences that are only sustainable for a few hours at most - I don’t think most young adults are whiling away their lives playing GTA (although some certainly do). I think the constant dopamine microdosing from social media that’s the much larger issue - it makes everything ever so paler in comparison, especially over time. Porn is a similar kind of dopamine hit (maybe akin to a vodka shot while social media is a dripfeed of wine), so I do agree with you there.
It’s hard to see from a US perspective, but for us in Africa it _is_ an improvement. China is actively growing client economies in a continent that has seen little but exploitation for the longest time. Despite all the fear mongering, they are yet to take adverse possession of a state utility or force the sale of a national asset when loans have defaulted. You know who does do things like that? The world bank and the IMF.
I’m not a big fan of China or their politics, but they have certainly been much more beneficial for Africa than the West has in recent memory.
A bit of digging, and it turns out there's a Coca-cola bottler in Aberdeen, the same area as Dees Bees Apiary. I'm willing to bet that purple honey coincides with grape Fanta spills or dumps
any soft drink plants in the area? A bottler near where I used to stay got caught dumping out expired flavourant packs when honey in the area started turning red.
Is it not commonplace for US banks to send a text notification for card transactions? In my country, this is considered table stakes when choosing a bank card or credit card.
In the grand scheme of all social issues the UK is beset with, this is small potatoes. It's not hugely important, it's just hugely important to you because it's an emotional issue.
Academia has been in trouble for a while, what with the exploitation of PhDs and postdocs and low wages - they can't attract or retain the necessary talent. This will just accelerate the decline.
Cookie banners are not mandated by law, disclosure of and consent to tracking and capturing private user data and its sharing to third parties is. Cookie banners are just the easiest UX pattern to slap on to an existing website, and lends itself to dark patterns so users blindly click "accept all". There's multiple browser extensions that exist that will automatically opt you out and you never have to see those cookie banners again.
As a warning to US citizens: this is similar to how state energy production and regulation was captured in my country, leading to massive corruption. A crisis was whipped up, and emergency powers were given to key individuals in the energy supply chain. These emergency powers were used to enrich certain companies and politicians, and exacerbate the energy shortage to perpetuate the need for emergency powers. We are still recovering from this, near a decade after the scandal was uncovered. Watch how this declaration of emergency will be used to enrich certain parties in the US, and possibly abroad (despite the emphasis on domestic energy).
Using env vars for secrets has become semi-normalised because of container-based development and deployment. It's okay-ish in the limited context and scope of a container, but it's not good at all in a host OS or VM context. Some dev practices have leaked through, possibly because it's an approach that works in all environments even if it's not best practice
Afaik, there does exist a decree in most teams at MS to not use null if it can be avoided, and any attempt to do so is likely going to be flagged in code review - or so I'm told.
This is an internet forum. Structuring your replies like an email is entirely too formal and comes across as stilted. Please feel free to treat it like a text message thread.
I've organised security for tourists wanting to film in sketchy neighborhoods, and this app would have been much easier. Gig work makes up a surprising amount of all jobs for VIP protection firms, so this seems like a natural progression.
They (VIP protection outfits) tend to recruit former law enforcement into their ranks so they can maintain connections that allow them to skirt the law
No - underperformance is relative to a benchmark, be it based on a median plus a set percentage or a set percentile. Only one person can take the top spot in a rank stack, which makes it a poor model for performance measurement. Overperformance is nice, but not sustainable for the majority of employees.