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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 9th, 2023

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  • That’s how I got a free netbook. The netbook had 32GB flash with windows and office occupying 27+GB. Then windows wanted to do an update - with an 8+GB file. Spot the problem. And windows can get quite annoying with updates. As the netbook could not be expanded, and attempts to redirect the update to a USB stick did not work, a newer netbook was bought, and I got the old one. Linux plus libreoffice plus a bunch of extras happily sat in 4GB…





  • A friend of ours was approaching her 40th birthday. But she only admitted to having a “round” birthday, and even forbade her kids to talk about mommys age, even though we made a big production to learn her age with trick questions and all. And then we told her that if she keeps mum about her age, we’ll just guesstimate it.

    That’s how she got sent loads of cards for her 50th birthday. She was a bit pissed when we arrived for the party. And then we handed her the real cards for her 40th.













  • I can see the UK rejoining the EU in the future. It just makes sense for both sides. And 15-20 years might be a sensible time scale to get over Brexit, too. BUT: I’m not sure if the UK can afford to stay out of the EU for that long.

    The problem is pride and British exceptionalism, like Polish people in the UK are “immigrants”, while English people in France are “expats”. Those expats form close-knitted communities, buy in their own shops, don’t like to converse in the native language of the country, don’t integrate well with the natives - exactly what the leavers said about e.g. the Polish people in the UK. Pride and exceptionalism made the “Project Leave” work. It was a “blue passport”, “our fish”, “souvereignity”, “we can trade on our own”, “they need us more than we need them” that powered the “independence” movement.

    So the UK citizens need to overcome that and realize that one state fighting alone in a world of ever-growing Blocks is bound to fail. Any rational person knew this all along - but they were called out as “fear-mongers”. And any rational analysis of Brexit must state that leaving was a monumental failure. But admitting that one has f-ed up on a big scale is probably one of the hardest things one can do. Especially as there are nearly as many people who voted “remain” and will tell the leavers “told you so”.

    I expect that the UK needs the time to realize how bad things can get outside the EU, and whatever makes the UK realize this must be harder than the hurt pride of admitting failure. And the UK will have to deal with some points that will hurt - not because the EU is out to hurt, but because things have changed since the UK joined the first time. And quite a lot of those things were actually started by the UK when they were still members.

    I wish you guys all the best, and I want you back in the EU. And in the tiny little corner of the universe where I can help I’ll surely do that.