pawelk

I think it's the opposite of corporatization and consolidation. Computerization? Yes, of course, but it gave everyone the possibility to make music at a very affordable cost. A $100 MIDI controller comes with a license for a full blown music production software and literally anyone can record, mix, master and release an album. I know several people who are not professional musicians, not even formally trained - just happen to like making sounds - who have their albums on Spotify and/or Soundcloud.

Thanks. I should have fact-checked the number before doing the math :)

Isn't it break even point, considering >60% of the gasoline energy is dissipated as heat, and <40% to make the wheels spin?

The reason to ban LPG cars from underground garages is that propane is heavier than air, and in case of a leak the gas has nowhere to go (other than drainage, which sort of highlights the problem).

Interesting. Lidl and Aldi in Poland (at least the ones nearby) have doorless fridges.

> ever use a power drill? 7 different battery types non compatible with each other.

Battery is the proprietary part. The engine (battery + motor) makes it spin, but for the purpose of making a hole or driving a screw one can use a wide array of standardized bits from various manufacturers. You may need an SDS adapter (one way or the other) and that's it. Same bits will even work with a hand cranked drill press built 100 years ago.

There's a purely visual Polish comedy artist Ireneusz Krosny, see e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYwuvil6cp0 Not sure if the gags could be considered stand-up in a strict sense, but he can capture and entertain the audience using just body language and very little, if any, props.

Same here. I selected my real age and the algorithm thinks I'm 7 years younger than that (well, thanks I guess, but it is not me who's not telling the truth).

My oven has touch controls on the front that are rendered useless as soon as I open it and heat/vapor is released onto the front panel. Luckily the touch interface is only for secondary features like setting timers, the important ones - temperature and mode selection - are physical knobs that can be pushed in flush with the front.

From my limited experience with touch operated stoves - these would be just as reliably operated by randomly throwing darts at a board.

From the Wikipedia page on PEX (Cross-linked polyethylene)

> It is also used for natural gas and _offshore oil applications_, chemical transportation, and transportation of sewage and slurries.

So yeah, a bacteria capable of dissolving that shouldn't be released anywhere near an offshore oil pipeline.

> They had also traditionally been a different plastic which sometimes was an issue.

In Poland we set the caps aside then dump into dedicated containers, set up by charity organizations. This specific plastic is supposedly valuable enough to warrant separate recycling logistics.

We used to have company sponsored drinks or other fun activities with co-workers every few weeks. And we still do, on our dime once or twice a year, despite the fact the company has not existed for five years now and everyone has moved on. Once we even manged to rent company's old office, vacant at that time, for a Friday night party. So I'd say it was genuine enough to create social bonds that survived the test of time.

Agreed. From my observations of Polish Twitter and FB, tweet screenshots shared on Facebook generate more engagement than the original tweets.

> coffees at Starbucks

I hate this argument. All the small fees priced in "Starbucks coffees" add up quickly and all of a sudden running a personal website to share one's hobby dries up the monthly coffee budget and then some. Then there's the fact that a significant part of the world lives on a single US Starbucks coffee per day.

Or just put on the invoice:

  domain transfer: $49.00

  totally unrelated consulting services: $49,951.00

I opened this URL in my browser, and I was offered a `didomi_token` cookie that assigned me a user_id of 17d72dbe-d667-610e-ba58-323f0a33f7b1. When viewed in a browser as opposed to cURL it's actually a HTML page containing, among other things, the actual gif image hosted at https://i.giphy.com/media/bKgCINrtZWQ39wZCxU/giphy-downsized... (this one comes without cookies).

GIF is just a concept here, but if you upload an animated .gif to just about any large image sharing platform, they will convert it to a video format and serve in a <video> element to save on bandwidth. I'm not sure who was the first to do this, perhaps imgur with their invention of ".gifv" url suffix? [1] However right-click -> save image as... on "gifs" ceased to be an option long ago.

[1] https://blog.imgur.com/2014/10/09/introducing-gifv/

> I've never given polarization any thought and never had any problems, so I don't buy this being an actually a problem in practice.

In my experience polarization has only became relevant once: when mounting a dedicated socket for a gas furnace. For some reason these don't like the live and neutral being reversed and go into an error mode when that happens.

Other than that, most wall sockets in my house are dual, which means polarization in the top socket is reverse of that at the bottom and it has never caused any issues.

I did this many times, usually on the verge of a burnout. Almost every time, except for the final one, it helped me identify the pain points as well as the highlights, find ways to fix the underlying issues then get back to speed and regain satisfaction from work. I think it's a great way to gather more insight about yourself and your workplace. Try drafting one now especially if you do not intend to leave :)

I have three Soviet lenses (Helios 58/2, Mir 37/2.8, Jupiter 135/3.5). My father got them in early 1980s with a Zenit camera. I then used them with an analog Canon EOS, then Canon DSLR and now on a mirrorless EOS-M. I went trough dozens dedicated AF lenses (Canon and 3rd party) but these three have always been with me and I'm not going to give them up. As you said, lots of fun.

Where in Europe? Cash and carry stores operated by Metro AG are not exactly the same, but quite similar. It may depend on the country, but it's not required to be a business customer everywhere, and where it is it shouldn't be too hard to find someone who runs a company and is a member, borrow their card / join them for a trip.

I'm well aware that Paul Sellers uses machine milled / planed / dimensioned lumber. I am quite comfortable starting with rough sawn boards straight off the mill (I'm not crazy enough to re-saw logs by hand). Yes, it requires effort and depending on the size of the project I will either use S4S wood or rip, flatten and true boards by hand.

However if I were to have machines in my shop I'd get a bandsaw first, then a jointer/planer. I'm mostly limited by physical space, not self-imposed constraints, although it is very fulfilling to build something without electricity.

I started when we bought our first house and there wasn't much money left for kitchen furniture. But we needed a kitchen, so I decided to get some big box store pine, hinges, drawer slides etc to build some temporary cabinets. I didn't know much and I made many mistakes, but the kitchen I built lasted us... 7 years, and is gone now mainly because we're renovating the whole house.

All the tools I had back then were a cordless drill, two hand saws, some chisels and a sander. You don't need much and you should only buy new equipment if the project requires it. Also I did not "design" anything, just did some sketches on paper then improvised on the spot.

Woodworking instantly became my hobby and after watching some Youtube videos - including ALL of Paul Sellers videos - I made a decision to go the unplugged route.

If I were to start over I'd read a book about the basic principles of woodworking and joinery, especially how the wood behaves and how to apprloach it. I sort of got all of this by intuition, however an introductory book would be a better start. Also I should have mastered sharpening way earlier in my journey.

This is very similar to my experience. I moved from an apartment complex in a city, where everyone was - and wanted to be - anonymous to a village, where people are way more open and genuinely interested in each other. Quality over quantity. Stopping by for a chat, coffee or beer, joining for a walk or bicycle ride, helping out or asking for help etc is something natural here, while in the city would have to be arranged days in advance.

Aside from the bar being set at completely different levels ("making the world a better place" vs building fancy web apps) I guess graduating from X means being spun off as an Alphabet subsidiary, while successful Area 120 projects may see closer integration with Google's core products.

There are many possible reasons. For example lower cost of living, retiring in a place that has both lower costs and perfect weather or moving for business reasons only etc etc.

It happens even on a very micro scale when people move from cities to villages or the other way around. I quit a city life and moved to a village (~1200 inhabitants) but I also changed as many habits as I could to enjoy this life style. I met a lot of people early on and got to know them, developed some friendships, helped out and got some help. They are (edit: I would dare to say: we are, I feel part f the community now) very open, honest and inviting if you are as well. However there are people who move purely because property is way cheaper, but they want to maintain their city lifestyle and then try to contest the aspects of rural living that interfere with their idyllic vision of peaceful and silent sanctuary away from all civilization. There are noises and smells, tractors and cattle. Infrastructure is not up to par. Shops close early. And, worst of all, some treat the locals as uneducated dirty mass that is below their middle-class level. They tend to isolate and only seek company of other "expats". And in consequence are treated as suspicious, or even unwanted, element by the locals. It builds tensions and happens on the scale of ~50km between a village and the nearest city. On international or intercontinental scale it is probably amplified by orders of magnitude.

I don't think it was silly, but it was probably too rushed. As I said when it was announced, there is a valid, IMO, line of reasoning: as a digital library you can lend one digital copy per one physical book you have in your inventory. Before the lock down people could choose if they want to go get a physical copy or a digital one, but now they don't have a choice: their local library is closed and there are only so many options to borrow digital. This is where IA steps in and says: we will act as a proxy between you, and the physical copy of the book that is locked in the library you lost access to. When I say it was rushed I mean they could have implemented a system where any closed library would be able to submit their physical book inventory asking IA to act as a proxy, extending the number of digital copies backed 1:1 by physical ones. But instead of that Interned Archive decided that the locked down supply is effectively limitless, so let's just lend as many as people demand.

It is, but at the same time music was never* the subject of interest of those in power and the crew enjoyed complete freedom in music selection. Some of the staff have weathered every change of power (and by extension the station and media executives) since the communist times up until the current govt. It takes a lot of bad will to force someone out of their job after they've dedicated 30 - 50 years building the place they and their listeners cherished.

* the previous known case of censorship is dated to 1984, on the same list with the same man behind the microphone. The band Maanam has been banned from public media so he played the drum intro of one of their songs ("To tylko tango") looped for the entire length of their hits on the list.

Ah yes, this is funny, because shipment from a warehouse in Poland to a customer in Germany, placing an order on amazon.de is considered "local", while shipment from this same warehouse to a customer in Poland is "international".

Before COVID there were rumors that Amazon may officially enter Polish market this year with state-owned Polish Post as the local shipping partner.

We can order from amazon.de, it even offers localized UI and (poorly auto-translated) product descriptions.

But yes, I think it's likely that an order from amazon.de goes trough Frankfurt am Oder, as it probably originated from one of many Amazon warehouses in Poland.