Ah, simple as that.

Ah, you’re right - I didn’t even know electric earplugs were a thing that existed. Oops.

Thanks for reminding me this exists! I have a few days in Paris coming up, will give it a shot. :)

Roblox is a global platform where people come together in real time to connect, create, and express themselves through immersive, interactive shared experiences.

Lol. That’s not how my niece introduced it to me.

I’m not sure a European Citizens’ initiative is really necessary here.

In the EU, the Commission has a monopoly on proposing legislation. So what often happens is simply that the Commission doesn’t propose something, which means that the Council and Parliament won’t get to vote on it. The European Citizens’ initiative serves as an alternative starting point, where European citizens can nudge the Commission into proposing legislation. It will not automatically lead to a proposal, but the Commission will have to explore it.

In this case, the Commission is already pretty busy trying to build a European defence, as they announced on Mastodon along with the worst graphical design possible. So the road block here is not going to be getting the attention of the Commission, but possibly the Council or Parliament.

I’m still angry that the tax the rich initiative failed to gather enough signatures. Grumble grumble.

I’m using a pair of Fairbuds from (Dutch company) Fairphone. I don’t really know how they compare to anything else as they’re the first noise cancelling in-ear headphones I have, but I’m pretty happy.

They received a 10/10 score on iFixIt and received 4/5 stars in the Guardian, who found the sound to lag slightly when watching videos. I only use them for music and podcasts, so I wouldn’t really know about that.

I guess one of the big things about them is that batteries can be easily replaced in both the case and the ear pieces, so they have no real reason to become e-waste at any point in the near future.

I also loved it!

The Wikipedia article section on the proposed sequels is a wild ride, but it ends on a hopeful note:

In June 2024, Serkis stated that Jackson was working on the sequel¹⁴⁰

I never see anything but good vibes coming from lemmy.ca. It’s like the positive stereotype of Canada embodied in a Fediverse server. Two thumbs up.

I haven’t heard of it before - thanks for the recommendation!

I’ve been without any streaming service since last autumn when I finally deemed Spotify completely unacceptable. Excited to try this. :)

Edit: Signup through their website is broken, but the app works. :)

They have a free trial, so it’s easy to find out. :)

I think using anotger service for podcasts is important Podcasts are free, but Spotify has been trying to hijack the scene and ruin it for everyone.

Personally I like AntennaPod.

Oh wow!! First time I’ve seen him perform outside of acting since Letterman quit. Hopefully it could be a sign he’s back in the studio.

Amazing recording. Thanks for sharing!

Information here is public.

That said, there has been problems of people scraping random fediverse servers and causing a lot of traffic, in turn sending a huge bill to the owner of the instance.

We don’t have money, so ransom attacks are unlikely.

If it’s state actors and cyber warfare, which I think is fair to suspect, we’re probably way under the radar. We’re not quite critical infrastructure just yet. :)

For the lols attacks could happen anywhere, but this is not that.

Quick info: Before today it was budgedet to 35bn NOK, or 2.98bn Euro. Today that was increased with 50bn NOK, or 4.26bn Euro, making the total planned aid this year 7.24bn Euro.

It was announced in a joint press conference with all political parties of the parliament. All parties are in favour of this, with some wanting to give more. We have elections coming up in September, so that could prove important.

Also, the current minister of finance is Jens Stoltenberg. He is notorious for two things:

1. Until recently and during most of the war he has been general secretary of NATO
2. As PM of Norway, and as an economist, he was responsible for the implementation of the budgetary rule which limits the portion of the sovreign wealth fund can be used every year.

There is talk about breaking the budgetary rule to allow for a lot more money to be sent into Ukraine. Due to his NATO position, it is fair to assume Stoktenburg knows the stakes more than most. But due to his history with the budgetary rule, he is also familiar with the risks involved in breaking it, and he might be more protective of it than most. He has not, however, ruled it out. The rule has been broken once before, during Covid.

I think it’s the first time in my life I routinely check in on the stock value of a company, and it’s pure Schadenfreude.

While most news media keeps on endlessly reporting on what politicians say, tech and law commentators by definition focus on what is being done. In a world where what is being said is not only irrelevant, but flat-out weaponized, this is the only kind of reporting that matters.

Never gave this much thought. I’ve been considering subscribing for Kagi again, but basically they are paying for a Google API subscription, meaning that Google directly monetizes my Kagi searches?

To be completely honest, I’m less worried about privacy and more worried about what kind of world I’m contributing to with my internet usage. I Mullvad sends money to Google for every search, it’s probably not for me.

Switched to Qwant now - rather Microsoft than Google, and at least they are working on their own engine.

Lately I’ve started using fediverse presence as an early indicator to decide whether I trust an organization or company. Proton leaving because they couldn’t stand the heat after coming out as terrible kinda proved my point. Mozilla shutting down their instance was a good red flag.

Anyway, here they are: @lichess@mastodon.online

Chess.com links Tiktok, X, Youtube, Twitch, Instagram, and Discord. Lichess links Mastodon, GitHub, Discord, Bluesky, Youtube and Twitch.

In some dark corners, this killer is being hailed as a hero.

By which he means all over the fucking country, which is unfortunately so covered in darkness there are no bright corners left.