RCS falls back to SMS/MMS, so it's not another app, it's a replacement for texting (and iMessage).
iMessage is, basically, just a proprietary way of doing what RCS is designed to do, so Apple can use peer pressure to get teens (and adults) to exclusivity buy iPhones so their messages are the "right" colour.
The whole thing was interesting, and I enjoyed reading it, but agreed. I'm going to put on my teacher hat for a sec, and take a crack at writing some feedback for the author.
The text lacked structure, drifting between topics without any clear framing to help readers contextualize newly introduced sub-arguments in terms of the main thesis of the text.
For example, the history from 2010-2016 was poorly framed for readers, lacking context to the point being made until the very end. The author should have led with gerrymandering, given context for its significance in recent elections, then explained how it was enabled by having seats in census years, then gone into explain the "weak Dems" argument, then finally contrasted that to the current situation to contextualize the importance of "strong Dems" today.
Reorganizing arguments in this way throughout the text, repeatedly drawing readers back to the main argument that this win today is an important signal for the 2024 election, would make this a stronger, more coherent, and effective text.
Yeah, fair. I backup my videos by syncing to my old Pixel 3a. It's low res, but I don't really care about video quality on old videos. If I'm recording something to upload or share, then I'll work with the original file.
This is an American-specific article, but I actually think this might be uniquely American. As from the article, people in the US with 20+ year mortgages locked in at low rates will not want to sell to buy a new home. So, that leaves new buyers who have no choice but to accept higher rates and older buyers who are unaffected by rates since they're paying with cash.
In Canada, the maximum term on mortgages is 5 years, so there's a rolling incentive to sell as people need to renegotiate their mortgages at higher rates. I expect a lot more turnover is happening in Canada due to rate increases that wouldn't be happening with the longer fixed-rate mortgages available in the US.
Unlimited full-resolution photo storage is the main reason I subscribe to Prime.
Prime Video I could easily do without, Prime Music I haven't even tried, Twitch Prime throws my friend a couple bucks a month, free shipping doesn't matter since I could just wait to hit the minimum spend for free shipping. All nice to have, I guess, but I wouldn't pay for.
But the unlimited full-resolution photo storage alone is worth the full subscription price. I don't even know how many 100s of GB of photos my wife and I have taken over the last decade, especially since having kids. Maybe another 5GB/mo?
The big difference I noticed with the extra memory is that my browser tabs don't get cached, and programs I haven't used in a long time are still responsive instantly (i.e. they also weren't cached.)
Even then, 8GB isn't really enough. Get a few browser tabs going (with full apps integrated) in a Zoom meeting and you'll run out of memory right quick.
Hell, I regularly use all of my 32GB of memory. Granted, with my job and ADHD, I often have 20+ tabs open in each of several browser windows at the same time with multiple documents and spreadsheets and other apps all running.
But, still. 16GB+ is non-negotiable for me in an entry-level laptop today. And there are decent options available for under $500 CAD rn.
Seriously. I thought the BBC was better than this. They spent thousands of dollars to fly "journalists" (more like paparazzi, in this case) to his home to harass him, and shout incredibly biased and judgmental questions at him through his closed front door. "Why won't you protect children?" (or something similar; I wasn't taking notes.)
Such a great articulation of the importance of a distinct Canadian Identity. I should read his book.
I might build this article into my teaching. This might be a way to explain these concepts to students. It's a bit long, but maybe for grade 12s. There's also a section with a barrage of political examples from around the world that will go right over their heads... I'll need to think about this.
It feels like solving the housing crisis is as simple as universally allowing 4-plexes in existing single-family zoning (and, ideally, relaxing zoning height limits to allow these to actually be built on smaller lots), and funding the development of cooperatives.
How many single-family homes do we need? I get that it's nice to not worry about making noise for neighbours, but it's more important that people aren't forced into homelessness.
Maybe I'm just naive and it's more complicated than this, but at least this would be a start.
Love it. Trust is also why I'm using Logseq for note taking and "Building a Second Brain". I'm putting lots of sensitive personal and work information into it, so having plain text files stored locally in a standardized format is critical. My data is completely safe and future-proof.
Ironically, the lack of vendor lock-in is likely going to lead to me sticking with Logseq for a very long time.
I also pay/donate $5/mo to get access to their fully-encrypted cloud sync (and to support the project). I really like the idea of nobody having access to the content of my notes, as would be the case if I used Google Drive or OneDrive to sync plaintext files.
As the article says, in cases where trust is important, open source has a significant advantage.
Great article. I just shared it with a friend and said this to him:
I just read a great long-form essay on the interconnected technology stacks and phone support models in US Retail Banking.
TL;DR: Banks are fucking complicated and expensive to run and cruft built up in systems over years lead to lots of "interesting" edge cases at the boundaries of systems.
This reminds me of some science fiction I read must be decades ago now, about some sort of "fixer" who had to resolve the problems in the systems that ran society.
"We are going all out for this bird. I don't just want the pūteketeke to win, I want it to win in the biggest landslide in the history of this magnificent competition. After all, this is what democracy is all about - America interfering in foreign elections."
Also, he's not a dick for doing this:
The vote-rigging was not unexpected, as the team behind Oliver's show had been in touch earlier this year.
"They were keen to be involved and we said, 'Go for it!'"
Yeah, I don't think anyone is confused that it's a comedy interview, are they? I can't imagine they can do it all in one take without anyone cracking up.
She's a reasonably famous comedian since The IT Crowd, too.
Sleep and SADS research supports this, too. We should be on permanent standard time. Morning sunlight is super important, especially in the winter. Moving to permanent daylight time would cause more problems.
I don't really know where to go to read about LitRPGs and progression fantasy any more. I don't do Facebook or Reddit.
Maybe the /r/LitRPG Discord, but I don't really want a chat window full of irrelevant inane chatter, I just want to hear what people think about books, then hear other people's responses if they agree or disagree. And I miss hearing from authors promoting their books.
RCS falls back to SMS/MMS, so it's not another app, it's a replacement for texting (and iMessage).
iMessage is, basically, just a proprietary way of doing what RCS is designed to do, so Apple can use peer pressure to get teens (and adults) to exclusivity buy iPhones so their messages are the "right" colour.