smeg

required = yes

Easy to flag. Then Lennart Poettering's startup van deploy the ID tech to comply with age verification laws.

My Alma Mater. The writing was on the wall when they started shrinking and consolidating all of the pure academic departments in favor of the vocational departments, sorry I mean "business college"

Most people prefer what they're already familiar with, especially when they've never experienced anything different.

Not much of a revelation.

I made the move to the Netherlands with my family last year. Definitely worth it.

We downsized from a 1400 sq ft house to a 75 m² apartment. We've made it work and we're pretty happy about it, with some caveats about what we want our next place to have.

Getting a visa will be your hardest problem. Countries don't just let people in for funsies, you have to have a visa path.

We're academic oriented American parents, so our instinct is to encourage academic success.

Honestly, the Dutch schools just feel less bureaucratic? I think that plays a big role, too. In American schools, kids feel like a car on an assembly line. Any exceptions or personalization along the way are treated with lota of paperwork and suspicion. The Dutch schools seem to treat kids like... kids? Human beings with individual character. It's refreshing.

Most delivery trucks around here are electric. Most power generation is renewable, importing some nuclear. Some fossil fuels still in the mix, but if the government was smart they would phase it out.

In Europe, the price is mostly paid by the consumer. In America, the government subsidizes the industry to the tune of billions per year, both at the federal and state levels. It makes gullible people think American fuel prices are lower, when in fact it socializes the cost of fuel onto all of society.

Counterpoint: I live in Europe and pay €0 for gas. I walk, bike, and take transit. That's literally impossible in much of the US.

My trains, trams, and buses are rarely crowded. Maybe at peak rush hour.

High frequency makes them not crowded. You're complaining about a poorly designed public transit system, which is probably all you've ever encountered.

I moved to the Netherlands with my family last year. In the US, he would have entered middle school this year. He was becoming angsty, screen focused (no matter the limits and supervision), and resentful. Not a lot, but hints of it.

Now, it feels like he received a longer runway on childhood. The angst has diminished (mostly), he has physical freedom to bike wherever he wants (and he does so!). Part of it might be an adversity thing - he realizes the things he used to complain about seem childish compared to the challenges he has now as an immigrant. I'm not sure. The schools seem a lot more chill - they make a point not to tell when standardized tests are occurring "to not give stress to the children". Kids are expected to be more independent, and most rise to the occasion to take advantage of that freedom. The school insisted that by my son's age, the students should be bringing themselves to school alone after the first couple weeks, for example. The helicopter parenting behavior that is normal and encouraged in the US simply doesn't exist here. The school connects families to after school activities, and pays for them if the family cannot, to ensure all children get the same advantages in life. Swimming certification is mandatory (which makes sense with all of the water everywhere), which gives parents the confidence to know their kid is safe when out on their own.

I credit a lot of it to physical safety - streets in residential and non-highway areas prioritize slow cars, intentional design elements around liveability, and discourages cars for short trips which means that everyone in society is a pedestrian or cyclist sometimes, and so treat their fellow human as a human and not an obstacle in their GTA race.

Also, the school culture tends to lend itself to an attitude of, "why go for an A when a C is passing?" Be efficient. Don't put in more effort than necessary. Enjoy your life. Kids still learn, they still achieve, but it's not treated like a competition or an arms race, and parents who do are treated like psychopaths.

Yes, it's a thing, but not centralized with the Linux development team or anything.

For example: Linux for ROG developed all of the drivers and software to take full advantage of the Asus ROG gamer laptop series

Many MVNOs are owned by the major carrier. It's their budget brand, basically.

Nothing of value was lost.