I think this is something most people rarely talk about but it strikes home to many of us. As a parent, I have a responsibility to defend my children against this persistent cognitive manipulation and experimentation. Just as I would not want a random stranger at the corner have exclusive attention of my kid and sell them insurance or grammarly or mesothelioma, I would also never want them to have that unfiltered access to my kids online. One can then say AdBlocks are a parental obligation.

Choice sounds like something people should not be fighting over :)

May I have the honor of introducing you to African Rhumba: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O3BexfHBTIg

That is a favorite one. The album is by two of the greatest in African music: Franco Luambo (of TPOK Jazz) and Tabu Ley (of Afrisa International). They did this album to cool down rumours that they were fighting and don’t see eye to eye. They called it Lisanga ya Banganga (Congress of the Wizards).

This specific song I share is solemn, as they are mourning the death of their mentor, Kabaselle.

Check their respective Wikipedia entries. It is a whole new world you are peeking into.

Luddites were not as opposed to new technology as you say it here. They were mainly concerned about what technology would do to whom.

A helpful history right here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/brian-merchant/blood-in-the-machine/9780316487740/?lens=little-brown

Avafind.

Searching for almost anything was so much easy. Such a powerful tool that disappeared. Its performance 20 years ago was better than Finder is today. At least from my experience.

Used to be the first thing we installed on phones and PCs. Opera was blazing fast on basic phones as far back as 2008sh.

Sadly, yes. One would hope the more core sectors use it, the more the general population would use such tools. But alas!

Cold plain metrics can easily hide social complexity.

Assume 10 investigative journalists use modded privacy-friendly Firefox for year long investigation. Then their report is read by 10 million average news reader on stock browsers like Chrome. Network logics tell us that Firefox browser has asymmetrical value in the ecosystem than plain usage metrics can ever reveal.

The obsession with numbers (the more the better) is a major blinding effect in societies driven by hierarchical cultures.

My kind of hopes.

The article itself focuses on a Palestinian who has gon ethrough the whole wringer for decades. It is not a distraction, at least that is not the intention. It is a deeper look into history to locate what today feels like new stuff for the world yet this is how “Gaza breathes”, away from Hamas and ISIS and Israel.

Your use case matters here. Perhaps there are other specialized tools for what you want to achieve.

Why is LibreOffice “meh”? I have used it for the last 10 years and would like to know what it is you find off with it.

I find the diaspora conflicts irritating. Most of them fan killings back in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Sudan then create such a bitter environment in the communities hosting them (like Calgary or Sweden or Germany). Tell these people to go and fight in the Ethiopian fronts and they coil back. But they want the kids of poor farmers to go and die for their abstract ideas (sometimes genuine, but mostly misdirected at the wrong people).

The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.

–James D. Nicoll

You may like this essay on why English has weird spellings. Think technological timings.

https://aeon.co/essays/why-is-the-english-spelling-system-so-weird-and-inconsistent

Ka-no. Why waste so many letters. :)

There is that too. Same with Obama. Let’s just say most politicians are not worthy candidates for the shared meaning of peace and global admiration of those who work towards peace.

Regarding revocation, no, the Committee does not revoke awards as they claim these awards reflect the moment they are given.

I know millions of Ethiopians who would question the Nobel high grounds. They awarded a Nobel Peace Prize to a politician (former intelligence officer) who has gone ahead to oversee military assault on civilians in many parts of the country especially Amhara, Oromo, and Tigray regions.

This is not to discount your point but to bring more data on the conversation on why the idea of “Nobel Prize” doesn’t necessarily ring positive things in different parts of the world.

Check this: https://www.npr.org/2023/08/29/1196282658/how-did-ethiopia-go-from-its-leader-winning-the-nobel-peace-prize-to-war-in-a-ye

And Nobel committee issuing a statement on the controversy: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2019/statement/

What became of the tradition? We always start stocking tissue-paper …

Seems there might be more strains if farm produce is lower than expected. Onions too are under 40% export tax in an attempt to increase domestic supplies.

The present price rise has two aspects to it: first is the shortage in stored produce; the second has to do with lower-than-expected acreage of the bulb itself. Unlike other vegetables such as okra or beans, onions are not grown around the year.

Yes, same with last year’s festive season. So it is part of a wider plan around domestic supplies, price controls, and limiting basmati fakes.

Last month, the government banned exports of non-basmati white rice to boost domestic supply and keep retail prices under check during the upcoming festive season.