MandieD

That's Slovenia's TLD... hey, wait a minute.

I'll take it with the whole shaker, because Texas has over 30 million residents to Sweden's 10, which means at least one of the above numbers is completely wrong.

... and shows why you still need to know things in order to safely use LLMs. If I hadn't known the approximate populations of both Texas and Sweden, I would have been more likely to believe the parent comment without question.

That's what national laws and the city government do in Germany, and I presume a lot of the rest of the world. I live in a neighborhood where the average lot size is something around 250 square meters (2800 sq ft) for the single-family houses, and we're fine.

Someone is making racket after 10pm or before 7am, or at all on Sunday? If they won't quiet down after being asked nicely, or you can't reach them, call the city - that's against national law. Someone decides to park something too wide for the street or over a certain size and weight? Call the non-emergency number, and a very eager tow-truck driver will show up with a quickness you wish ADAC (German AAA) would. Something has been parked on the street and not moved within a certain period (that I don't know off the top of my head) - tell the city that there's an abandoned vehicle and they'll put a sticker on it alerting the owner that they have 48 hours to move it. If parking is really tight in a neighborhood, the city will create a parking permit zone if you and your neighbors campaign for it. Someone doesn't mow their yard by July (before that, it's for the sake of wildlife) or won't get their tree that is growing over your fence trimmed? The city will make them if social pressure doesn't do it first.

It was Azerbaijan: https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/ex-bnd-chef-hanning-s...

Cattle love solar panels - I’ve seen fields of them in southern Germany, almost all hanging out in the shade while munching grass.

Custom top-level domain? About $200k to even apply, plus about $50k/year, if I recall correctly.

I looked up the motor oil for my car; it's still about the price I would expect (high compared to US normal, not exorbitant) and allegedly available at the nearest branch of a large German retail car parts chain, as is the transmission oil.

... think I'll pick some up if they do indeed have it.

Our gasoline is well into the 2.20+ EUR/liter range, and diesel is even more.

... quite the reverse.

Certainly not Germany - I renewed mine at the city's immigration office, which was even helpful enough at one renewal to point out that I was likely eligible for a permanent residence permit and supplied the list of documents to bring back to apply for that.

German: 10^6 is "Million," 10^9 is "Millarde," and 10^12 is "Billion"

To anyone who sees the parent comment as a non-sequitur, note one of the names in the partnership discussed at the beginning of the article.

Congratulations on your Einbürgerung! That was an uplifting read.

My experiences with German bureaucracy have been similarly positive. The rules are the rules… but the rules are the rules, and can be contemplated at home in one’s own time, on one’s own private computer.

Acres upon acres of parking lots.

That'd be fine if there were any payphones still around...

Instead, we’re shoving out people who had already chosen America, and scaring a bunch of others off.

I think you meant “jus soli” (“law of soil”) - “jus sanguinis” means “law of blood.”

All of my interactions with German immigration have not only happened in Germany, but at an office in the town I was living in at the time: the initial residence permit application, the first renewal, and the renewal where the Beamterin (government employee) helpfully pointed out that as the spouse of a German citizen, I had been resident long enough to go ahead and apply for a Niederlassungserlaubnis (permanent residence; aka, German equivalent of a Green Card).

Six weeks and 255 Euro later, it was in my hand. I have to “renew” it every ten years, but that’s only because the card needs to match my US passport number (and means I don’t have to carry that book around); there’s no interview or document gathering.

"Children's Commissioner for England"... that's not the EU. Really not the EU - they had a whole election and years-long process to leave the EU.

30 under 30 doing 10 to 20 candidates right there.

A niche called Mennonites in general and in particular, Amish in communities that are ok with motors, but not with fancy, fragile electronics.

I've seen this on the Autobahns: what were just parking spots with unattended bathrooms are becoming little charging stations. Since I don't have an EV yet, I've not stopped at one to see how high-speed the chargers are, but at the very least, I assume that 10-15 minutes would be enough to get you somewhere more efficient/pleasant to wait for a full charge.

I've run into this, too, and found it hilarious because I remember when some sites wouldn't allow you to sign up with hotmail, gmail or other free email provider (over 20 years ago).

Right now, they're about 300 EUR at OBI (major home improvement chain in Germany and Austria) if you don't care at all about avoiding ties to specific apps, and about 1000 from solar specialists if you want to go with the more flexible Hoymiles + OpenDTU inverter setup, 4 panels and a 2kWh (or so) battery, and is one of the few things that has gotten cheaper recently.

done

It's not (mostly) to salve their consciences; it's fundamental to their avoidance of the Resource Curse/"Dutch Disease". Norway, unlike just about everywhere else "blessed" (and I use those scare-quotes intentionally) with oil and gas, anticipated the value of not getting high on one's own supply: they have some of the most heavily taxed vehicle fuel in Europe, as well as strict limits on how much oil/gas tax revenue can be spent each year with the rest going into an enormous investment fund.

Radio did plenty of harm in 1930s Germany - Hitler was a master of the new medium.

If you are getting 60k EUR as a senior developer in Germany, you are getting ripped off. Look for a place with an IG Metall contract, friends - if you would like to be making significantly more than $75k USD full time as a senior developer, anyway.

That's good to know - I'll tell him to check that with his current doctors' offices, and make sure that he makes it clear for any new practices he visits that he only does phone calls and postal mail.

My hobby involves some of the oldest technology we've been able to find evidence of.

It started as spinning with a hand spindle using prepared (combed/carded) wool, and has evolved into looking for interesting fleeces directly from the shepherds (plenty given away or sold cheaply around here), figuring out how best to wash and process (hand comb? drum carder? spin directly from the slightly-opened locks?), working on which settings on my spinnng wheel will produce the twist I'm looking for, and most recently, dyeing using Easter egg dye and vinegar, which is surprisingly effective.

Oh, and of course, knitting and crocheting with the results.

I still use hand spindles to spin while walking, watching my kid on the playground, or on transit.