Yes, try the Sonoff ZBMINIL2 device, which does exactly what you want. Wire it in the box with your existing switch, then you can control the light with either the switch, or via HA. If you have a neutral wire in the electrical box, there’s also the ZBMINIR2, which has a relay-disconnect feature. In that mode, it provides continuous power to the the bulb, and sends switch-toggle events to HA to trigger an automation to turn the smart bulb on and off.

There’s 7digital, which has a music store offering DRM-free MP3 downloads, as well as FLAC for many selections.

þese sounds are already represented wiþ þe þorn

Agreed, English orthography doesn’t match pronunciation very well, but what’s the point of changing th to þ if it doesn’t improve that situation? In this phrase, the thorn represents two different phonemes: While terminal th may be pronounced as þ (voiceless) or ð (voiced) depending on the English dialect, for example, ðe would be a different word than þe. Adding a new letter to the alphabet just to replace a perfectly-serviceable digraph would just add another letter to the alphabet.

If we’re gonna bother, I’d say sort out the c / k / ch situation instead.

R is rhinoceros (serpentine variant)

I mean, the private sector was by needs involved, because a space program requires industrial supply chains, and those were mostly private. They never would have achieved it without collective, government action. (Even SpaceX only exists because of NASA.) Saying that “capitalism did it,” when it manifestly did not, because of oversimplifications like “capitalist US” is misleading. At best, capitalist in that use is synecdoche. At worst, it’s political woo woo, since the US is far from pure capitalism.

Linux requires tinkering and Windows doesn’t? Is that some alternate-universe version of Windows? In my experience, the difference is social/psychological. When Windows fucks up, “everybody uses it,” so the blame falls on the masses, not the user, who was just going along with what’s normal and expected. People sort of mentally elide memory of the Windows fuck ups, because that’s just how Windows is.

Linux is different and weird, and you have to stray from the herd to use it. Straying from the masses is scary, because when Linux fucks up, it’s your fault for being contrary. That threat to one’s place in the social order is quite memorable. Hence the reluctance of Windows users, who hate it, to even consider trying another OS that they know nothing about.

I never switched from Windows. I never used Windows as my main OS. I had an Amiga, then learned Unix on SunOS, so I was used to being weird. Once I got a PC, I used FreeBSD. It did require a lot of fiddling back in those days, and when I got tired of that, I switched to Ubuntu, which was amazing in that it Just Worked™. (Aside from manual installation of the Windows driver for the PCMCIA WiFi card with NDISWrapper.)

(I still do tinker with it, and sometimes break it, but the base OS has been rock solid. I noticed the other day that my main PC was installed with Ubuntu 18.04, and upgraded to 24.04.)

Laboratory instruments controlled by shitty software that’s somehow tied to a particular version of Windows, and won’t work with 11. And, of course, the manufacturer won’t update it, because they’d much rather you drop a quarter million on the new model.

I’m not a gamer, so I had to look up the definition of a third-person shooter. It seems like very poor terminology; it’s actually a second-person shooter. There’s the player (1st) giving commands to an on-screen avatar (2nd). Where’s the 3rd person?

I’m thinking a true third-person shooter would consist of an NPC shooting at your unarmed avatar?

LPT: Statements that include the word “problematic” can be safely ignored. If the speaker could articulate the problem, they would.

There’s a reason New Yorkers hate going to Times Square :]

They’re privacy-conscious and don’t want to appear in stock footage?

Crikey, very well-written and well-reasoned! I would just add:

(4)(b) Human have perfect information about the world.

In order to make rational choices, producers and consumers need perfect information. This also ignores so much of reality. Again, there are so many examples, but even in a simplified model transaction of buying a loaf of bread includes so many variables that it would be impossible to know them all: All of the bakeries offering bread, the prices they ask for their loaves, the sensory quality of the bread, the nutritional quality, the bakeries’ food safety standards, and so on. Imagine trying to investigate the food safety record for the producer of each item in your typical grocery cart—an impossibility.

No, but I met a gar named Vincent once.

Well, that’s the thing, isn’t it? It doesn’t matter what people say, the truth will reveal itself no matter one’s feelings about MAGA or liberals. Whatever people have said about other politicians, I’ve been watching the President’s mental state deteriorate in a manner congruent with the progression of dementia since the early signs in his first term. And, for the record, no, that doesn’t mean he’s going to be gone soon. The life expectancy after diagnosis is years; he might die before the end of his term, or (with the best care in the world) he might not. We’ll see about Schumer, too. I haven’t seen any dementia symptoms in him, but I haven’t paid any attention to him, either.

But Trump was showing early signs of dementia during his first term. He’s showing signs of rapidly-advancing dementia now. Non-dementia health claims about other politicians without evidence in no way discredit the claim that he’s visibly declining with dementia symptoms. The difference here is evidence. (And is it really an improbable that an elderly President would suffer dementia in his second term, and that his staff would try to cover it up?)

That’s weird, even by hyperbole standards. Which politicians, exactly? I’d only heard it about Biden, because Repiblicans project enough for an IMAX multiplex.

Hardly. Bill Gates came from a wealthy family, attended a private school, and through it had thousands of hours of computer programming time several years before even the Altair 8800 came out. He had a personal connection to IBM through his mother, which is how Microsoft got the DOS deal. His circumstances were unique, and his success the result of a hefty dose of luck.

No, that explanation fails on the face of it. If that were the case, then why the furious opposition whenever such infrastructure is proposed?

Just pour water on the magnets. ➡️ No more magnets. Checkmate, atheists.

In general, the “what’s your favorite [x]?” questions, where [x] is movie, album, game, or the like. Few people share anything about the title, or why it’s meaningful to them, and very little discussion ensues, because, what’s to talk about? It just tends to result in a list of media (most of which I’ve heard of) connected to screen names of people I don’t know. Not usually worth reading.

I’m forced by the government to give up a bunch of money so that people can feel important rolling around in their $50,000 toys with heated seats and entertainment systems, while simultaneously destroying the planet.