Is that really true? I see free frames advertised all the time, but we all know how "free" those kinds of deals actually are. But if I think about it, the frame is just a piece of plastic/metal and can be mass produced. The lenses themselves need to be specifically ground and fitted for that exact person, often with a difference for each eye. From what I understand this is still partly manual work, even though the machine does the grinding, an operator needs to set it all up and check the result. With often a couple of passes needed to get it just right. And those special coatings they apply aren't cheap either. So I wonder where the actual cost is.
Because making any decision about an unborn child should be based purely on the medical needs of the child and if applicable the mother. Selecting based on traits is eugenics and I hope I don't need to explain why that is bad. But as I understand the reason Musk is having all these babies is because he totally believes in eugenics, which is terrible.
Edit: just checked, in most of Europe this is very illegal. Gender selection is only allowed if there are strong medical reasons to do so. For example a hereditary disease in the family which only affects one sex and can't be screened for in another way.
You are right in how wasteful it is, especially since it turned out a lot of those satellites don't even make it to 4 years.
However there is zero risk of space trash with Starlink. They orbit so low, it's basically within the atmosphere still. They need to constantly boost themselves, otherwise they fall down and burn up. So these satellites are coming down within years all on their own, even without any controlled disposal.
It's insanely wasteful, but it keeps SpaceX in business launching every week, which is kind of the point. But at least there isn't a Kessler syndrome waiting to happen.
Thanks for the suggestion. It's my laptop from work, I have zero say in what software it runs, I don't even have admin rights on it. None of my personal stuff runs Windows. But it might help other people on their own machines.
Not true actually, there are many hotels with excellent food. There is a hotel not far from me where a lot of people go to their restaurant even if they aren't staying at the hotel, it's just a really good restaurant in it's own right.
I've also been on holiday where we had excellent breakfast options in the hotel, even the ones included were very good. You just need to check for those when selecting a hotel. I've definitely had worse meal in some restaurants than I've had in some hotels, there's plenty of overlap there.
Please let them also remove all the XBox nonsense. The other day my laptop from work that runs Windows 11 Pro gave a big ass prompt if I didn't want to try XBox Game Pass with the new Doom game. It's basically an ad for games on a Pro machine, ridiculous.
I remember when I was 15 living at my father at the time and my girlfriend was visiting for the weekend. I had to work on Saturday, but she wanted to stay over the entire weekend and would find something to do whilst I was gone. I told her to be free to use my computer.
We also had a couple of cats and one of them would always hang out in my room. Now this wasn't your regular cat, this was a big boy. Not fat, just a huge bundle of muscles, big claws and huge teeth. We're talking dog sized cat here. He was very sweet, but could be a bit playful and use his claws and teeth whilst playing. He was very careful with humans and tried to be gentle, but it could be intimidating for people who didn't know him.
When I got home I found the cat sleeping on my desk and my girlfriend on my bed reading a book. I asked her how her day went, she pointed to the cat and said: "I wanted to use the computer, but that asshole over there didn't let me." Apparently what happened was the cat lay down in front of the keyboard, easily blocking the whole thing. And every time she wanted to type he would try to grab her hand and play with her. Being so large, she got scared of him and just didn't use the computer. The cat declared victory and slept in front of the keyboard to celebrate, thus blocking the computer all day.
After she got to know him better, they got along just fine. He was such a sweet boy and never hurt anyone on purpose. You did need to be careful giving hem treats tho, T-Rex chomping off a hand comes to mind with that one.
Ah you are from the US? No then it probably won't be available. The US is very slow to make changes in retail. You only recently got those digital price tags that update constantly, we've had those for 10 years or so. In Europe the hand scanner or app self scan thing is very common.
I think where I live it's a company that offers the whole thing white label to supermarket and other shops. The systems are very similar across a bunch of different stores, but the branding is specific to the store. So their logo, their colors. Not just on all the UIs (both the scanner and the checkout), but also the physical hardware colors.
The hand scanners all run Android, the other day I got one that said Google Play Services had crashed. The scanner itself is probably made by Zebra and then customized by the company providing the scan and checkout solution.
It has become super common around here, to the point where I'm annoyed when it isn't an option and I have to use the self-checkout where you need to scan at the checkout.
No, the hand scanners aren't connected to the kiosks. They are at the entrance, you pick them up, scan all you want to buy. Then at checkout you place the scanner into a kiosk, it knows what you bought and you can checkout as usual. Every once in a while a store employee takes the scanners and puts them into the holders in the entrance. Depending on the size of the store there can be up to a hundred of these scanners available.
Other stores do the same, except your phone is the scanner with an app you can download. It works basically the same way. Most stores that offer the app also offer the hand scanners, which I prefer.
For me personally, the self checkout is just a way better solution to the problem. It's for me much faster and more efficient. It's also easier for the store itself. The best kind of self checkout for me is where you can scan everything with a hand scanner or app whilst shopping. Then just pay at the self checkout and walk out. That way I just put the stuff in my bag directly, instead of from the shelf into the basket or cart. Then from the cart to the checkout and then from the checkout into my bag. It also spreads out the action of scanning the products, which means avoiding a slow and repetitive task scanning it all in 1 go. I'm also not blocking a checkout whilst scanning. I hate it when stores that offer the hand scanner have people scanning a whole cart full of stuff at the checkout. And then bagging it of course, which blocks a checkout for ages. Just go to the regular checkout if you want to do that, the cashier is faster than you are and you can focus on bagging exclusively.
However the lack of human contact is an issue. I've seen a lot of stores that offer self checkout recently make one or two lines available for chatting. It's just the regular oldskool cashier, but they are relaxed about it and chat with the customer. This means people in a hurry or that don't need contact right then can go fast through the self checkout. And people who like to chat can use the chatty checkout with a good old human being.
This for me is the best way to apply new tech, all of the benefits for all parties involved and hopefully none of the downsides.
Is that really true? I see free frames advertised all the time, but we all know how "free" those kinds of deals actually are. But if I think about it, the frame is just a piece of plastic/metal and can be mass produced. The lenses themselves need to be specifically ground and fitted for that exact person, often with a difference for each eye. From what I understand this is still partly manual work, even though the machine does the grinding, an operator needs to set it all up and check the result. With often a couple of passes needed to get it just right. And those special coatings they apply aren't cheap either. So I wonder where the actual cost is.