mrjay42

I'm French, I've been in hotels and AirBnBs all around the country and in many countries in Europe (Finland, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and France obviously).

About your question, in French hotels: 100% no. Obviously NOT, you don't have to come to the hotel with your own bed linen and whatnot. Hotels in France work exactly like anywhere else in Europe: you book it, you check in, you use the room, you check out, "ciao | bye bye | merci bonne journée" :3

In French AirBnBs (or "home rentals"), and in AirBnBs in Europe: it's a whole different story and it's so completely random. Owners make up rules and regulations, costs and additional costs.

I'm not talking about local 'tourist tax', but literally in some AirBnBs, you see a note when you arrive there: "if you touch that pile of towels, we charge 20€.", "If you leave any dishes to wash we charge 50€", etc. It's crazy in many ways: those costs are NOT announced beforehand (or never accurately), and the rules are completely wacky.

This is what the article is partly about, it has become a cash grabbing, tasteless experience, where greedy people with side hustles are not only destroying local housing prices, but also destroying the actual "(Air)BnB experience".

The conclusion could be "let's all go back to hotels", but this would be massively simplistic :(

I am one of the lucky ones from situation n.2.

For info: I am a PhD in scientific computing, I am not an antivaxxer in any ways; also non native English speaker, so my writing might be a little 'meh'.

I am just writing my story here, I have no particular intention else than illustrate the topic.

I did 3 shots of COVID vaccine: 1st June 2021 Moderna, 2nd July 2021 Moderna, 3rd January 2022 Pfizer.

Before that: * I have smoked cigarettes for a few years (less than 10 years), in 2021 I was a non smoker for already 5 years. * I have depression, which had been treated with antidepressants and also with psychologists * Lower back pain -> nerd problem * I was overweight, for a 40yo I am 180cm high for 93kg * I don't do drugs, I don't drink, I don't eat fast food (or extremely rarely) Nothing else, no treatment, no long term disease, no specific pain, no family history of anything out of the ordinary.

1st Step:

In July and August 2021, it started with waking up all of a sudden in the middle of the night, with my heart racing. And my heart would be pounding for minutes after waking up, impossible to calm down. I did not think it was a consequence of the vaccine at that point.

2nd Step:

In September 2021, first back and forth to the ER. My blood pressure exploded up to 210-160 or 220-160. At that point, I'm starting to make the connection with the vaccine. Every blood tests, EKG, etc. comes back 'negative' -> nobody knows what's happening.

3rd Step:

From October 2021 to December 2021: * Hardcore migraines appear -> never had that in my whole life * Chest pain, intense after minimal effort, for instance walking 100 to 500m could put me to bed for 3 to 4 days * Constant pain in joints particularly in the shoulder * Weird 'nerve-like pain' in the body * Blood pressure issues still here

At that point, believe it or not, because we found nothing in my analysis, I 'gaslit' myself, and told myself: "maybe this is all psychosomatic" so I decided to take a new job.

4th Step

January 2022 I found a job in Germany, to go there I still need to do the 3rd shot of vaccine, which I did!

February 2022 - July 2022 I arrive in Germany, start my job But now the symptoms I have described earlier are EXPONENTIALLY and explosively multiplied in intensity. * I am in constant pain * Sensation of burning from the inside: I used to describe the sensation as "it's as if I'm wearing a croptop of pain" * Sensation of dying -> my heart skip beats, if that happens, chest pain follows * I go to the hospital in Germany, fortunately specialized in heart problems: we scan my heart under every aspects, blood tests, EKG, stress test -> nothing reveals any problem * I go to the general practitioner, who's telling me that I'm not his only patient having that kind of issues, we try cortisone, and even probiotics (lol) -> nothing works

5th Step

From August 2022 to January 2023 I lose my job in Germany and come back to France

I live in constant pain

It DOES NOT go away

Every day is the same, it's survival.

I notice 'funny' stuff happening, like if something like a random stress or negative emotions arises -> it increases the pain I feel, which is CRAZY. I can literally, physically FEEL negative emotions, or even small stress.

Anyway, I go back and forth between by home and the ER a few times, I consult with my GP and other general practioners I try meditation, yoga, hypnosis, keto diet, all the bullshit -> nothing works.

6th Step

In January 2023

I am at the ER again, with my blood pressure EXPLODING

A GP there, tells me: "ok nothing is wrong on the analysis, but let's try one thing, let's try anti-inflammatory medicine, intensively for one week"

So I go back home with a prescription of ketoprofene in a big big dose, for a week. I start to do that AND...for the first time in a year and a half -> the pain GOES AWAY. Of course, I stop the anti-inflammatory medicine after a week -> the pain comes back...but at a lower level than before; it's still a nightmare to live with, but it's better than before.

So, I decided (because I am too exhausted of going to the ER or consulting GPs) to take ketoprofene, one week per month at the same dosage the GP from the ER prescribed -> and every time I do this, the pain disappears COMPLETELY while I take the ketoprofene and it comes back but always in a decreased amount when I stop.

Another GP prescribed probiotics again -> honestly it does nothing, except that you go the toilets more easily :')

7th Step

Fast forward to now (2025)

I am left with: * Pain in the upper body, particularly shoulder joints -> completely bearable * Chest pain when I breathe -> nothing extreme, completely bearable, I can still exercise and all * Blood pressure is under control -> but I have to take a medicine for the rest of my life * I still get chest pain after some physical efforts (it's non systematic) -> I tried A LOT of things prescribed by GPs -> nothing works. * I still 'feel' negative emotions in my body (radiating pain in joints | and chest pain) -> but it's MUCH MUCH lower than it used to be

Conclusion I am a lucky one, because I can function again Depression still hits hard Pain still hits hard BUT I can do sport, I can think and I'm planning to go back to work soon

Personal bullshit scientific conclusion: The long term side effects of the vaccine, according to the science I've read are diverse, complex, and unsolved so far. You can get lucky and get your life back Some people did not

The antivaxxers completely polluted the mediatic and scientific space -> addressing side effects of COVID vaccine must be really difficult for scientists and rightfully so -> so many random stuff has been claimed by people who knew nothing. It's very hard not to hate on those "worried moms on Facebook and their groups". Some links on the matter https://www.science.org/content/article/rare-cases-coronavir... https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...

Those sources are already old, there's probably more stuff now, but I don't have the courage to look it up tbh.

Appendix:

### * I have consulted 7 different GPs -> and I consulted most of them MULTIPLE TIMES * I have to three hospitals in two different countries * I have been to the ER 6 or 7 times (I lost count) * I have done 15 blood tests, EKG, etc. Thankfully I live in Europe, this cost me very little money.

### I skipped over some stuff that I tried. For instance in August 2022, a friend of mine, told me about this US company IncellDX, which offers treatment for a bunch of stuff: lyme disease, long covid, side effects of covid vaccine, etc.

I started to do the tests, I had to go to Spain for that, because it's not legal in France -> the whole thing cost me around 600€ (with travel cost included, etc.)

But anyway, I stopped that process -> this company's work and their treatments got debunked scientifically. They clearly sell false hope and bullshit 'one solution solve it all' for an EXTREME amount of money.

### I did declare my symptoms and analysis results to authorities in France (déclaration de pharmacovigilance) -> but it led to nothing.

I don't check publications super often now, but as far as I know: * Long COVID and long term side effects of the vaccine are comparable * There's a lot of studies on the matter -> the symptoms are so complex and diverse and the solutions are non existent for now.

### I'm writing this because this is the Internet: in case you're tempted to invalidate what I wrote: I want to see your peer-reviewed publications on the matter.

### In case you're tempted to advise me one of those 'whatever newage bullshit': reki, osteopathy, spiruline, etc -> please refrain to do so. I tried it all already, or I should say I tried enough You probably do not realize how much TIME, ENERGY, HOPE and MONEY this cost.

Just coming back here for a little report. This tool "audiblez" works fine and out of the box.

Pros:

* works out of the box

* text to speech available in many languages!!

* Audio output in .wav -> easily convertible into something else

* automatically creates chapters based on the book

The limitations are: * the voices are very "AI"-style, so they sound emotionless, we're far from anything resembling any kind of acting;

* the conversion of a book into an audiobook might just crash if the script encounters a character that it doesn't know how to convert.

Aaaand checking this one out too. Thanks :3

Thanks, I'm gonna check it out right now.

Coming back here to say that this project is not free (as in, you need to pay). It requires an API key that is only available if you pay :(

Thanks, I'm testing it out right now <3.

My search for "EPUB to Audio book" is still going on though :3

Yeah I came here to say this. I just clicked on other pages...and they seem to just work fine.

I think you have an encoding problem <3

If you search for "UPC high performance computing evaluation", you'll see paper with buggy characters in the authors name (second results with that search).

Partially unrelated: "Me good LLM" is the Post-GPT "Ok boomer" :3

Oh yeah! Train Sim would be above 9K€ (source: https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/bsyd5i/tot...)

Now that I think of it...DCS, the flight simulator -> buying the whole thing, would cost a little above 3K€ (source: https://steamcommunity.com/app/223750/discussions/5/38759693...)

Also, Star Citizen, the biggest pledges (you don't technically NEED to pay with real money, you could try to farm the content ingame) -> anyway, it's probably around 10K€ or 20K€ total. But that's going to be contested by some who will claim that you're not buying content, you're pledging money to the game. Fact is: you pay for a ship, you get the ship -> pledge or not, that looks like buying to me. (Source: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge ; https://robertsspaceindustries.com/store/pledge/browse/game-... )

Half serious/Half Joke

- The Sims 4

Total cost is around 1200$ (with ALL DLCs, packs, etc.)

https://www.thegamer.com/the-sims-4-base-game-all-dlc-cost/

For french speakers, and they have some of their content in English, and automated translation is always possible: https://www.mediapart.fr/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediapart

Medipart is one of the only medias in France (there is only 1 other I can think of) that is NOT owned by private interests, a network, a billionaire, or many billionaires or millionaires. It is funded by its subscribers And above all else, it does investigative journalism which actually led MANY times ministers and other powerful people to justice.

Never ever Mediapart has been wrong so far when building a case against a corrupted official. Every time French justice system followed the same conclusion as Medipart.

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Otherwise as other mentioned: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events Which exists also in your own language!

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And... https://theintercept.com/

Very well known for having revealed the documents sent by Reality Winner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_Winner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_Winner#Role_of_The_Int...

Feels like it indeed

It's weird because:

Recognizing a prime number is an easy task

Recognizing a prime number is an easy task for a computer

Providing erroneous factors is an easy thing to check

I am NOT "showcasing", to the contrary I am showing that this tool is weirdly inaccurate on typical things that any computer would normally compute easily.

I acknowledge that I used the word "weirdly" instead of "surprisingly".

If you ask chat GPT whether 2147462299 is prime, it'll output a wrong result.

And after discussing with the AI I got this response: "I apologize for any confusion my previous response may have caused. You are correct that 2147462299 is not divisible by 137, 73, or 41. In fact, 2147462299 is a prime number.

To determine if a number is prime, you can use a variety of methods, including trial division and the sieve of Eratosthenes. These methods involve dividing the number in question by a series of smaller numbers, typically starting with 2 and ending with the square root of the number being tested. If the number being tested is not divisible by any of these smaller numbers, it is likely to be prime.

It is also possible to use specialized software or online tools to determine if a number is prime. Some of these tools use more advanced methods, such as the AKS (Agrawal–Kayal–Saxena) primality test, which can determine with high accuracy whether a number is prime or composite.

I apologize for any mistake I made in my previous response. Please let me know if you have any further questions."

Going through massive heart pain and left arm pain Failed to get diagnostics from doctors, hospital Going through life in pain So playing video game and playing guitar Talking to Friends on Discord.

Maybe free speech/creation spaces are moving away from massively capitalistic oriented spaces.

Because in the end, the search for maximization of profits may not be the best way to achieve creativity.

For a time, and I still think that somehow it's the case right now, a lot of creativity can be found on: TikTok, some Discord servers, etc. etc.

But clearly, Youtube feels like TV in a way: a bunch of "professional" people rehashing the same concepts over and over: over-produced fiction, gaming stuff, react-stuff, beauty stuff, etc.

The only thing that I currently value Youtube for is the access to science stuff: 3 blue 1 brown, Veritasium, etc. etc.

Oh also Youtube has become the home for the cancer of tutorial: the video tutorials. Why cancer? Because reading is faster, searchable, indexable, etc.

Well their comment was actually interesting, had you read it.

It's one of the only ones so far, mentioning the fact of discussing with the 18 yo son, trying to find the cause(s) of his behavior.

Most of the other answers are as stupid a "blablabla when I was 18 I had a fulltime job", good for you Jake, it made you into the pretentious adult applying one solution to everyone else problems and even worse giving those advice randomly to people on in the internet.

This is another good example of a "small" game -> in Overcooked there's no lore, no adventure, no story to connect to. There's no universe either. It's just one gameplay of people coordinating to cook and serve food :) It's really nice and fun, but it remains in the category of "very small games" for me.

This one is nice, but lacks a bit ...lore? story? something to connect to.

But surely as an element of gameplay the symmetric disarming of a bomb is super fun :)

Existing games BUT allowing to host your OWN SERVERS!! and modding.

I would put in that list:

Sea of Thieves -> to play only with friends (no PvP)

Battlefield <X> -> to mod and fool around with my friends

Overwatch -> to train, mod, etc.

Star Citizen -> aside from the usual "when the game will be released" let us run our little servers!!

I am sure I am forgetting obvious ones in this list...

Please make games "hostable" and "moddable"! <3

Oh I know! A crossplay version of For The King for: PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, etc.

So a Sea of Thieves with actual story, persistence? I mean from a graphics point of view the game is super nice. The water in particular is amazing.

...and maybe a possibility to host your own server for it, to play only with your friends/people you choose.

Arma 3 is one possible implementation of this. BUT, it requires to download and install mods, find (a lot) of people to play with.

The way it's made requires a lot of dedication -> gathering everyone, organisation to communicate can be tricky particularly if you want realistic kind of comms: teamspeak is still required (I don't think there's a realistic mod for Arma 3 compatible with Discord).

Nevertheless, Arma 3 has everything you need:

Big maps (open world)

An actual map (I am talking about the paper/GPS thing) -> with actual elevation information on it, etc.

Complex strategies and tactics possibilities

Communications

Vehicles: helicopters, tanks, cars, trucks, planes, boats, etc. etc.

A very WIDE set of weapons of all kinds: turrets, firearms, launchers, mortars, etc. etc.

All this adds up to the need of coordination, planning, preparing strategies, primary objectives, secondary objectives, backup plans, backup plans for your backup plans, etc.

YES! One possible implementation of empathy in a game is cooperation ->

It can be deep, complex, simple, fun, easy to play hard to master, whichever kind of cooperation -> leading to more synergy, dare I say symbiosis between the players!

Ok, random idea that just popped in my brain: You could have a cooperative game where the goal is to handle nutrients, etc. in order to cooperatively build a baby inside's a female womb. Basically, it would be about achieving "life" by cooperating: repelling microbes, driving whatever fluids/vitamins/hormones are needed to the right places, etc. etc.

I have a full asymmetric ideal game in mind, but the actual gameplays in it are still very blurry.

Basically I would love a game where players HAVE TO cooperate. The cooperation happens by having players playing different gameplays.

For instance, but, keep in mind that this is just ONE example: there's a war to fight, some players are drivers, some are fighters, some are medics...But also some players are in offices doing strategy stuff or logistics stuff, etc.

Of course, one could say: "you can have that in Arma 3 or Foxhole" and that's kinda true...but I don't know, there's something missing: A lore, a story, a universe to feel part of...

Plus, the game I am imagining, does NOT have to be a simulation or "complex gaming" at all! It could be kinda-casual without being too simple either: like For The King.

So in my ideal version of the game I am thinking about players play actually VERY DIFFERENT gameplays but cooperate in order to achieve common goals. Some of the players have to interact, some of the players don't. But in any case, everyone's actions will impact everybody else.

To sum it up: I would love a game with: Persistent universe + very asymmetric gameplay + cooperation as a key factor of success

But the game would be without: Grinding, farming, loot boxes, meaningless quests, basically a game where you don't have to redo the same things on and on to grind 128points of experience or reputation or obtain one piece of loot that does not fit your equipment set.

If you think this game already exists: do not hesitate to tell me :)

Any kind of computational science? We need applied maths people to explain the maths to us <3 ^^

Any kind of data science/machine learning?

Yep, sadly, I totally agree with you.

Some/Many employers are really attached to controlling their employees -> so they want to see them on time, at their job etc.

Nobody will rebel, when told to come back at work and stop remote working.

A lot of people are already so dependent on the system that they will fight to protect the idea: "Oh but it's important for social life to actually go to work". As if, it is literally impossible to meet people in other places than work.

Oooh that's so nice! Thanks! I was trying to select stuff using span[data-item*="foobar"] Or something of the sort...but it wasn't working, so I just ended up writing a is() selector ^^