LOL

But I still think it's better to have the unwashed masses move to Linux just to give Microsoft the middle finger of realisation that they're, well, making horrible decisions.

Maybe we can compromise by keeping all the n00bs shepherded into the Ubuntu pen?

Wow, definitely one of the most unfounded opinions I've seen in HN in a long time. The video driver situation is stellar if you're on a recent kernel and not using hybrid Nvidia, but even that story is decent now. Bluetooth has worked reliably for me for years, and I appreciate being able to use SBC-XQ for my nice headphones, which is noticeably better than LDAC or AptX and not an option outside Linux. Not waking from sleep is usually a hardware problem these days.

Windows is a well documented hellscape of advertising, tracking, poor performance, and disregarding user will. Some people may pay to upgrade to a guilded cage from Apple, but trying Linux on the hardware you already have doesn't cost a dime. I've given Linux to multiple mostly tech illeterate friends now, and they are all happier and asking for less help on those systems. Amusingly, the help they've asked for wasn't even Linux specific and they would've asked the same things on Windows.

Gave a relative of mine my old ThinkPad and installed Kubuntu on it which works great most of the time but I had a typical "Linux moment" a few weeks ago where I had to install Zoom but the official DEB has a linking problem (crashes at start) and the one from the repo (Snap I think) is buggy and can not join calls from a link. Thankfully the website worked but you have to manipulate the URL because some Zoom links don't show the "Join from the web" link. There was somehow no admin password set and the user was not a superuser (this was a stock Kubuntu install!) and there was no root password set so I had to first start the rescue system and do some shenanigangs there to re-add the user as superuser.

Then I had to plug in the LAN cable and the whole system just... froze and needed a hard reboot. I don't know Linux systems deteriorated so much because everything "just worked" ~10 years ago and it got way worse since that.

Last install of Linux (Mint) everything worked fine except the wakeup from sleep ^^ Hahaha, some things never change, I had the same problem years ago with my last Linux test phase. Getting Mint to correctly wake up took a long search and some command line skills. Nothing for the masses.

I forgot I had this installed, thanks for the reminder!

I'm planning for retirement. One rule of thumb is that you can spend 4% of your investable net worth a year, there are people that say that is too high and 3% would be a safer number.

Now you want to take 1% a year in wealth taxes on top of the capital gains taxes and income taxes I would pay. So either I now have to spend 25% or 33% less a year in retirement, or I work another half decade.

I vote no. If the US state I live in did that, I would move to another state.

Bracketing would solve all of that. Im pretty sure the spirit of this is not to tax working class people into relying on a pension.

Im sure everyone agrees Jeff Bezos shouldnt be taxed the same as someone who needs retirement planning

Perhaps, but the Norway tax mentioned in the article kicks in at $174k net worth. That's a paid off house and a nearly drained 401k for even the poorest of Americans. Yes there is an exemption for part of the house, but even if it were 100% exempt, I think you're going to have a rough time getting support for taxing 1% of a retirement account worth less than the code section it's named for.

Replying to myself since it's too late to edit, but according to these numbers[1], it looks like this tax would hit about 52% of American households, so my "even the poorest of Americans" is a bit overwrought. And if we take the US median home price (~410k as of this year[2]) and exclude 75% of that (~307k), then this tax would hit ~30% of American households (~$481k net worth). Even at that, it's still quite a hurdle to clear to convince the top 1/3 of households support a 1% tax on their accumulated wealth.

[1]: https://dqydj.com/net-worth-percentiles/ [2]: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPUS

You would vote no even if you got free healthcare in exchange?

"Free" health care paid for by whom?

"Free" health care paid for by people richer than me? There aren't enough of them to pay for all us slackers. "Free" health care pair for by people poorer than me? That's actually probably what is going to happen if I retire early.

I vote no.

If a majority votes yes, does that absolve me of guilt that poor people are paying for my early retirement?

I vote yes!

What a hell you have there, public goods like healthcare or transport are impossible unless paid by the poor?

That wasn't the only time Lou Reed did performance art for the Australian press, the other one is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx-mH9ZjnuM.

"Are you happier as a brunette?"

"Uh...are you happier as a schmuck?"

...

"You like doing things you don't like?"

"Yeah. That's a paradox isn't it?"

I believe I listened to Charli XCX music once, my girlfriend has grandchildren. Not really my thing, but it's great that people are still being influenced by those interviews.

I still listen to the Velvet Underground all the time, but if I listen to Lou Reed's solo stuff, it's either Walk On the Wild Side or those interviews.

Maybe "The Kids" from Berlin once in a while.

And "Sweet Jane" depending on whether you consider Loaded as a VU album.

Transformer and the early live stuff are all so so good. Metal machine music was my first real noise record.. :)

When I worked in fast food, they gave you a meal allowance, but it didn't really matter because I would grab a hamburger patty right off the grill and chow down. God damn, now I'm getting hungry.

Supposedly you would get fired for doing it, but when the managers accused me of doing it I would just deny it with my mouth closed while still chewing, and the managers would do it too.

They probably have cameras now or something. Those were the days.

You are eating in the same place were the cooking happens, without going outside replacing your gloves, putting of your hairnet, apron and mask, and without washing your hands? That sounds like a fast way to get your store closed by the food regulation authority for insterile handling and contamination of food.

>> You are eating in the same place were the cooking happens, without going outside replacing your gloves, putting of your hairnet, apron and mask, and without washing your hands?

I'm not now, that was decades ago. We didn't wear gloves, hairnets, or masks. The guy working the grill would wear an apron.

I mean there was a bucket of dish rags under the sink there once that had maggots in it. I worked in two restaurants and as far as I know the "food regulation authority" never showed up at either of them.

I don't have any illusions that things are different now. Sometimes it's just better not to know.

Two weeks to flatten the curve.

Institutions can only lose their credibility once. That was one of the worst things that Covid did.

>> they mispronounced a lot of words that they had only ever seen in books but never heard out loud

I did that as a kid. Still do. I read more than I talk. Nothing wrong with that.

The flip side would be people who misspell words or get phrases wrong because they've never seen them in books, they've only heard them out loud. They talk more than they read. Nothing wrong with that.

Although both of those might be a clue as to what type of vocations would make someone happy.

I do that too. What am I supposed to do? Nobody said the word "ephemeral" to me as a child. I have since learnt the OED includes pronunciation so I look words up if I remember, but sometimes I don't.

Automatic transmissions for cars. I'll be sticking with manual.

New-fangled music formats like 8-tracks, cassettes and compact discs. Vinyl records work just fine.

Any payment technology that didn't exist by the year 1000.

>> I have never in my life heard or read anyone, of any social standing, political affiliation, education or station of life discuss the abolition of police entirely

"Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police"

-- New York Times opinion headline, June 12, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/opinion/sunday/floyd-abol...

I can remember things that happened 5 years ago.

I don’t read the NYT and likely I don’t live in the same country as you.

Then maybe stop commenting about contentious topics in US politics?

Why bring this pointless hostility to HN? Just disagree, rather than the petty internet-style sneering/gatekeeping.

testing22321 was positing theirself as an expert on US liberal protests, but then admitted they aren't regularly exposed to the same.

Seems relevant.

I did no such thing.

I just said I’ve never heard anyone say they want to abolish the police, which sounds absurd to me.

> I just said I’ve never heard anyone say they want to abolish the police, which sounds absurd to me.

Well, now you've heard it. And you're right, it sounds absurd. I wish it were satire, but there are people in positions of power here in the U.S. who think this is good policy.

>> Having 500k in stocks is different than 500k in your primary residence. Same net worth but if you need to tap into 500k of stock, you can do that tomorrow. Liquidating your primary residence takes a few weeks (or months) and you’re then homeless.

I have a HELOC. I've never used it. Hopefully I won't need to, but it was free to apply for and a good thing to have in case you do need it. I can tap into about 50% of my house's value any time I want instantly by writing a check or transferring money to one of my other accounts.