What a fever dream of a house. The architect must have been indulging in a lot of acid or cocaine or mushrooms or all of the above and more

Hideous and soulless. A little bit of Dubai in Edmonton!

NO. Not a fan of the current or former CCP or the former Soviet Union

What is varishangout…net? Initially read it as yarishangout.net and wondered why a space for Toyota Yaris owners got defedded. Also wondering how stereophonic.space got defedded?

Oh please, its been terrible for years now and we all know it. Not in every sub, but the top level ones absolutely are

Dictator chic on a budget

Its not the theme or the going with it, it how badly they went with it. That ceiling decoration in the lounge is so … wrong. And you can buy repro ornate ceiling mouldings that would actually look OK if applied correctly too

First time I landed in Australia on the Gold Coast I followeed a bin chicken for 20 minutes with a camera trying to get the perfect picture like it was some rare exotic bird. I’m sure the locals were sremoveding or openly laughing behind my back, I dont blame them

We dont have much in the way of animals but we have birds. The Tui is common in suburban gardens here, but they are beautiful and even as a local I still like seeing them. Pukekos are everywhere but for those from the UK/ Europe/ USA they’re prett exotic. Down South, Wekas are absolutely everywhere outside the cities and will walk right into people’s homes - I once experienced coitus interruptus when a Weka jumped up on the bed I was in with a guy.

When I was in South Africa I was super excited to see baboons, locally considered something of a nuisance. And in Queensland, Australia, the first time I saw an Australian white ibis, locally known as a bin chicken, the locals must have been very amused to see me chasing it with a camera getting photos

This SO much. I was involved some years ago with a non profit, run by a guy with significant personal wealth. He burnt through nearly a million bucks, and did manage to get some change to happen , but it was incredibly difficult and incredibly slow, even with the backing and support of a number of other wealthy and connected individuals plus mass public support as well.

I will still look for a jack on my next phone, current Samsung has one, will likely buy another so I will probably buy top of their entry range

Glycine

Thanks for this tip, I dont have trouble sleeping generally but my partner does, will look into this for him

An AI that can turn YouTube videos into written articles? Take My Money! I have been wanting this for a long time, I far far prefer stuff in writing to videos, I dont take information from audio/video anything like as well

This thing of people running out of sick days just enrages me when there is an easy solution at hand - let those who have more sick leave then they can possibly use give it to those in need. I have currently got 46 days stored up, out of a maximum of 50, and in a few months I will be given my annual allocation of ten days, most of which will just spill over the top of the pot cos I cant have more than 50. I would love to be able to just give someone in OP’s situation 10-20 days, its not like I can ever see myself using them

Some companies here do have a provision for this, I recall reading about an insurance company that lets employees like me donate some of their sick leave into a pool into which those in need can draw on when they run out. Great way to do it, everybody wins

Not in my experience there. It the only place I have ever been where you can be in a gas station/ convenience store late on a Saturday night in a less than flash area, and see a guy rock up dressed like Liberace and do his shopping and flounce off without anyone even batting an eyelid let alone commenting. You wouldnt try that here. Yes, there is a degree of conformity enforced there around behaviour by social pressure, but in other places it is by violence

It depends on who you work for and what industry you’re in, but it is not as bad as it used to be. Have friends that worked in Japan

I’m from New Zealand, and although it does have much to recommend it, it does have some issues with crime, gangs, meth etc. similar to other Western countries. Nowhere near as bad as South Africa or a number of US cities, but not great either. There are more peaceful places believe it or not

This Stihl Vacuum shredder/blower. Like a leafblower, but instead of just blowing the leaves pointlessly around it sucks them up, shreds them a bit and dumps them in a big bag - and its electric. Terrific piece of kit, quiet and effective and oh so satisfying to use, I go over the driveway and garden with it every day or two (we have a lot of trees surrounding our place which constantly drop masses of leaves)

I treat all the tech I own as tools or appliances, their aesthetics are of little interest to me, they are not status symbols, just a means to an end. So I look for the thing that will do the best job reliably at a reasonable cost, and keep doing so for years. I have a laptop that must be getting on for 8 years old, a phone in its fourth year. I use them until they wear out or become too difficult to use - my phone has several cracks on the screen, a few trim bits have fallen off my laptop, making it even lighter, and one of the USB ports has died. The TV in the lounge os over ten years old, the stereo dates from the late 90’s.

I dont change anything until I have to - once I have something that just works I work it to death. I dont care about the whole Linux vs Windows thing, nor the IoS vs Android thing, its all about function and value for money. When it comes time to replace something I never buy the best, or the cheapest either, but something somewhere in the middle, good enough to do work fast but not the flagship product either.

TLDR Its just a tool, treat it as one

Japan has to be a strong contender, if you are looking for peacefulness in your day to day life