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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: November 12th, 2023

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  • My choices are generally not popular with an American audience. There’s a lot of propaganda in the world, everyone does it, but the US is the best at it so it can be very difficult to see things outside those borders.

    I live all over the world, still do. But I spent over 20 years in the US primarily. I lived in low crime, affluent areas. But the low crime is still absurdly high crime, but is normalized. I won’t share all my story but being victimized for my possessions was annoying, but not the end of the world. That’s what insurance is for. My breaking point was the second time I was almost murdered by the police for being the wrong colour in my own neighbourhood. I’m talking guns pointed at me for no reason and lots more I don’t discuss.

    My primary residence is now in the Middle East. Almost immediately, most people make a confused face and the first questions are usually “why” followed by “aren’t you worried about…” and then a laundry list of manufactured issues that don’t actually exist, or exist equally where they live.

    The bottom line is that my front door is unlocked and stays unlocked. When I go the park, beach, mall, restaurant, wherever I can reserve a spot by dropping my wallet or cell phone and walking away without worry. I have all the modern conveniences of the USA and more. I use an app on my phone and a fuel truck comes to me to fill up my car. Leave your keys on the windshield like everyone else and they will fill you up as you’re elsewhere. Use the app and get laundry services washed, dried, and folded with pickup from your house and drop off with tip for the cost of a cup of coffee. No tipping culture of 50%, a dollar or two is plenty. I can buy a meal in a restaurant that feeds 4 people for about $5 with apps, entrees, dessert, and tip. I can also buy a stupid gold steak for $2000. The choice is mine.

    Public transport works. Food from every part of the world is minutes away. A woman can walk by themselves at 3am with no fear.

    I’m currently on a holiday to a different country a few hours away. My door is still unlocked.

    When I talk to Americans that have made the move they almost all say the same thing. It takes a few weeks for the constant fear and guard to start to drop. It takes about 2 years before you start to live without that burden.

    Every time I am in the US it is just worse and worse. Crime, political discourse, and just general everyday anger between people in every interaction. Walking down a sidewalk or road rage or unfriendly staff, just general anger. When you’re around it constantly, you never really notice it. You only notice the extreme outbursts. But when you go somewhere that’s finally peaceful, you then become aware of the constant noise and the huge outbursts.

    Only other thing I’ll mention as this is way too long already, is that the excuse of “I can’t just pack up and move” is just an easy excuse. You absolutely can. It isn’t easy. It can be isolating if you’re going by yourself. But you can. One of my grandparents fled from war with nothing but a single suitcase for 3 children and the 2 adults. Lost everything they had to get a better life and start fresh. Another grandparent immigrated with a whole ship worth of crap. My parents immigrated yet again with moving trucks. I immigrated by air and a couple suitcases filled with everything in the world I hold important.

    It takes more money and privilege to immigrate with your possessions. But that’s a luxury upgrade. It isn’t a requirement.


  • In uncivilized countries like the USA I’ve had many things stolen from my porch, from my car, even an entire car.

    I now choose to spend most of my time where I can leave my valuables unwatched in public and my house door unlocked. Living in fear and around crime, adds so much stress, anxiety, and general angst to your everyday life. Life is too short to live in a terrible place


  • Dude, Dubai is more progressive than most of the USA or UK. Don’t believe the media.

    I live all over the world, but also have residency there as a registered atheist. Nicest people you’ll ever meet.

    It’s 90% expats. And a huge Indian population. If you want to live like in India, you can. If you want to live like in the UK, you can. You have freedom of choice far superior to any other country in the world.


  • These are not really Indian issues but poor people issues. Social mobility is a tough thing. If you’re born poor, you stay poor in most places. If your born rich you can stay rich or become poor. If you’re middle class you’ll probably end up poor unless you are relatively lucky with the way inflation and capitalism works.

    If you want to “escape India” for better chances, just get to Dubai and start over. You’ll earn more and can start planning for later.





  • The GPU on my laptop is also upgradeable. And when I want to upgrade it, it’ll be time for a new CPU too.

    As it is now, very few GPUs in a laptop that can pull almost 200W and have 16GB of RAM. Mine is slower than the newest generations for speed but its quicker for long processing and large memory. When a 24GB GPU based on the 5x architecture comes out, I’ll be ready with a new CPU too.


  • When you get to baggage claim, if you then stand directly at the carousel blocking everyone’s view for more than 10 seconds, trap door opens and a system of pneumatic tubes forcibly jettisons you to the furthest point away in the airport for you to walk back.

    Stand back, wait for your luggage to appear, then approach and get your bag and step back to the perimeter.

    To get my VC funding in 2024, id also pitch that it “has AI” which is just facial recognition and if you get jettisoned twice in the same year, the third time goes into a shark pit or scorpion pit.


  • Yes I know. My point is that’s the ONLY benefit over a big brand that is socketed and upgradeable already. And having bought hardware capable of that for 20 years+, I’ve NEVER done it. Anytime I’m ready to upgrade the CPU or GPU, I generally upgrade both and the motherboard minimally. And for a laptop that is everything. The drives are standardized and socketed. The only thing you keep is the enclosure, screen, and battery. Battery dies with age. Screens die with age. All 3 are cheap and I don’t think worth keeping at the expense of just buying a new one when the upgrade comes.

    And I love upgrading my desktops and laptops. Just in the real world of doing it, usually components are replaced generationally at the same time.


  • I love the idea of Framework and I buy laptops that do what they do. But from MegaVendors™

    For example my Dell has socketed RAM, now with 128GB in it. It has a socketed CPU and GPU “card” with a mobile Xeon and Quadro rtx 5000. 5 M2 drives inside and a 2.5in area. Battery is pluggable and changeable. The trackpad and keyboard are held in place by a few screws and ribbon cables like everything else. With a small Phillips screwdriver I can replace anything. WiFi card is socketed. Antennas are SMA connectors. I’ve replaced the shell even after a security inspection dropped and damaged the metal enclosure…

    I buy it because I can upgrade it within limits as long as the upgraded parts play nice with the main board. A framework promises to do the same except allow a mainboard upgrade. But at that point you’re probably buying everything. How many times, going back to desktop days, have you upgraded the entire system’s motherboard and not the CPU, GPU, RAM, etc…

    And at that point you’re really only reusing the shell and screen and battery. The stuff you interact with everyday that will deteriorate or get dirty. And battery has a finite lifespan. Makes sense to upgrade the package when those need upgrading.

    I view the framework as a great solution for a picky system user. It’s not for upgrading. It’s for customizing while you have that system. Allowing the maker of 2 or 3 SKUs to sell 1000 different laptops. Versus a Dell that sells 1000 different SKUs doing that internally and some of them allow you to do it externally like mine.

    I wish them the best and I may buy one next time I need a beefy laptop. But their current specs don’t come close to matching what I can do. And their parts don’t work for my use like physical 3 button trackpad for example. When they do, awesome. But then, why not just go with the Dell? Who will send a guy to me anywhere in the world for free to fix or swap hardware… ANYWHERE. And no it’s not a corporate purchase, I own it personally and the warranty is standard.

    I may buy one to support them once their margins go up and the demand cools. But until then, unfortunately it doesn’t seem to solve an actual consumer problem. It solves a corporate SKU problem that fixes itself as you become a big company.




  • You know what sucks? Getting your VPS shut off or account suspended. All your data gone in an instant, not recoverable. You don’t have access to the metal, and the metal no longer has access to you.

    Hetzner is known for randomly boinking accounts. You update billing info? Whoops maybe shutoff. You login via a VPN, account disabled. Just randomly for no reason, account locked and VPS down.

    You have basically zero recourse. Their support staff suck and the immediate reaction is suspend and delete. NEVER use them for anything you don’t consider temporary.