I heard a podcast with the author of this book and the conclusion was similar. He recommends no smartphone before 16. Dumb phones for simple communication can be whenever.

I haven’t read the book yet, but the podcast discussion was fairly informative. I think it was Hidden Brain’s Escaping the Matrix episode.

Yeah I usually just follow the “try another instance” links until one works.

I’ve noticed Invidious instances having trouble recently as well. I’m sure they’re not dead though, just need to get the next mouse for the endless cat and mouse game.

Bicycles can’t or vehicles can’t? There’s a vast difference in weight and I imagine most wouldn’t even notice.

Sounds to me like more of a reason why we should.

On what grounds? Surely no one with a regular job would sign a contract prohibiting them from discussing the details of their employment.

Why would we be sued? It’s definitely not illegal here in Canada to discuss your employment details.

That’s their point, they don’t get a corresponding discount for using cash.

Yeah and it’s not clear where Perplexity pulled that part from.

Intriguing question, I was curious if there were actually options, so asked Perplexity (ai search that provides sources, see link at bottom). Unfortunately, nothing terribly definitive other than Italy, possibly.

While truly anonymous genetic testing is challenging, there are some options outside the US that aim to provide more privacy-focused services:

• In Canada, the Genetic Non-Discrimination Act prohibits anyone from collecting, using, or disclosing genetic test results without written consent. This gives Canadians more control over their genetic information
• Some European companies offer more privacy-oriented testing options. For example, DANTE Labs in Italy emphasizes data protection and allows customers to delete their data at any time
• In the UK, Genomics England runs the 100,000 Genomes Project with strict privacy controls. While not a consumer service, it demonstrates stronger privacy practices.
• Australian company myDNA focuses on pharmacogenomics testing with an emphasis on data privacy and security.
• Swiss company Gene By Gene offers DNA testing with data storage in Switzerland, known for strong privacy laws. However, it’s important to note that no genetic test can be truly anonymous, as DNA is inherently identifiable. To maximize privacy:
• Use a pseudonym and temporary email when ordering
• Pay with a prepaid card
• Avoid linking results to other accounts or sharing on social media
• Carefully read privacy policies and opt out of research/data sharing where possible

Ultimately, genetic privacy requires careful consideration of the risks and benefits, regardless of the testing company’s location.

Source

Seems to be the latter.

A mall that’s only random clothes, shoes, and jewellery stores surrounded by an ocean of parking lot is very unattractive.

As you say, a mall with actually useful stores, like grocery, pharmacy, perhaps a restaurant or two (not chain fast food), etc, with residential units on top or very close to constitutes more of a community than a mall and is very likely to be sustainable versus the former.

It starts early in the design process. But at that stage, it would be best to pause installation, have a mechanical engineer do the mechanical design (including equipment selection) based on an energy model and install the recommended equipment.

I work in building science. It’s obscene how little actual design and quality control goes into residential homes.

The typical design is just one step above being illegal, and people are often scared off of doing anything more than that by the threat of increased cost. However, they don’t realize that they pay for it either way; either on their mortgage, or on utilities. Only one of those you can actually own in the end.

“Our Computer”

How about we just settle this over a game of battlebots and no one else needs to get hurt.

I’ve got two Ubiquiti APs and the standard Dream Machine and am quite happy with them too. Sure, they’re not the cheapest option, but they’re quite feature rich and expansion within the ecosystem is very easy.

I’m not terribly familiar with the Fairphones, but are you able to upgrade the ram yourself? I feel like that should be a key part of the modularity concept.

I’d recommended PC part picker to determine compatibility with all your upgrades. You can tinker with different setups fairly easily and have the costs easily accessible. I believe there are also tools to determine likely bottlenecks, but I haven’t searched for many lately.

GPU will definitely be the biggest cost, but also likely the most noticeable improvement. RAM is fairly cheap, so you can bump up to 32 Gb without much expense. Not too familiar with Intel CPUs but it’s possible you might create a bottleneck with a GPU upgrade. Not the end of the world if you’re fine with upgrading that later too.

It’s a very noticeable improvement in realism in games that do this. Quantic Dream games have also done this, even in Heavy Rain from 2010, and it really goes a long way in making a game into a story.