Yep. Not into the oul’ school board meetings myself but a waiver like that is definitely going to push me across the line into rabbid activism, complete with pitchfork.

You can check now. I get pricing in euros so assume it’s available and someone else in the thread said they got a “not available”.

I have yet to figure out what good motion controls are in game with any controller.

Same. I think this puts me off using the deck more undocked. Not sure if I just need to eat the pain of getting used to them but the gap versus a mouse is just so huge.

Magnificent hole tbh.

Definitely the coolest AMA on here yet. Glad you and yours are ok!

Oh! Another one popped into my head…I bought either 500 or 200 Ibuprofen in a Walgreens in the states. I think it cost around 30 dollars. You have to be there unfortunately (maybe you can buy online these days but customs are cranky here) but they lasted forever and saved an absolute fortune.

Edit: these are the ones I got. 500 coated tablets. They’re 25 USD. Savage value.

Great idea.

I’m going to offer you a piece of advice here though because I’m a “never look for a pair of socks” man and I also love good socks.

Years and years ago someone bought me a pair of Nike dri-fit socks. Put them on. Like having your feet caressed by an angel.

This is great says me. Then every time my wife or kids asked me what I wanted for my birthday or Christmas… You guessed it … Black Nike dri-fit socks. This went on until they complained that they wanted to get me something other than socks hahaha.

Now I open the sock drawer and pick any two and instant pair. Magic. No pairing required because honestly who has time for that.

So yeah great idea. I’d just suggest being careful and getting some up front so you know they’re not sweaty or whatever. The elastic around your arch is the good stuff.

Edit: I did think of something else the other day and meant to reply then when I went to I’d forgotten but it’ll come to me.

One thing I did buy 10 of before was HDMI cables but I was in a market in China at the time and before COVID. Think I paid about 2 euro each because myself and my mate got ten each and they did a deal.

I’m sure they’re cheap in bulk online now though. No regrets there but my requirements might not be the same as yours.

Hahaha. I guess it was a stretch to expect in fairness.

Haha. How was the pint? The rule is that Guinness usually doesn’t travel well. I don’t go to the pub very often but always drink Guinness when I do but I find it grand abroad tbh.

One of my best memories of CM was a BBQ place that was incredible. Nom nom nom nom nom.

Superb city. Absolutely loved it there. Was not a fan of Bangkok tbh but CM was great.

This little event (edit: it wasn’t little actually, bad description, there were throngs there) was really in the arse end of nowhere. Absolutely fantastic experience. I threw a few words of Thai at one guy when trying to find the toilet and we instantly became besties.

Love the Thais generally. They’re so kind and patient.

Because I didn’t make any LLM errors. I didn’t use an LLM and every post I’ve made in this thread fits my posting style exactly.

Rural Thailand. About an hour out of Chiang Mai. Bunch of the lads in the Muay Thai gym I trained out of were having fights at this event. Great experience. All going very smoothly and culturally very different (I’d say our small group were the only non-Thais there and we were with a bunch of Thais) which was great.

Now the Thais are very fond of betting on these fights and sometimes the bets are big. Spices things up. Anyway later on in the evening one lad kicks another up and down the ring but the judges call it for the other side.

The crowd went absolutely wild thinking it was a fix (honestly I think it was, it wasn’t even close). The judges were starting to get bustled away for their safety and I see some very very irate lad coming with a hammer ready to do some damage.

Funnily enough one of the other Irish lads I was with who spent a long time over there training and fighting was fully chill. I was not haha.

It was a long time ago so I can’t remember with certainty if that was the end of the night but I think it was.

Ah…I didn’t say that something bad happens. I said see what happens. It’s an important difference…

I wouldn’t be comfortable using PGP encrypted messages sent through WeChat if I were there and communicating with a local (and I have been, many times). I would be very, very concerned about getting them in trouble. End to end encryption is not tolerated in China and using PGP would essentially bring that so I would consider it a significant risk. It’s speculative, I’ll admit that no problem but as I say I wouldn’t do it.

That’s my threat model. The fact that end to end doesn’t exist in China should tell you everything you need to know about deep rooted state level surveillance there. It does to me but if you think that in general all messaging providers should be able to see your text messages for some reason and think that combined with that, all those blocked phrases are not because the state wants control and oversight then your threat model and view of government surveillance (not just in China) is… different.

I’m glad I live somewhere that I feel free to text my wife on signal and I’m confident it’s not being read by anyone. If the day ever comes that stops being the case I’ll fight for it because privacy is important to me. Everyone can fuck off out of private conversations between me and my loved ones. They’re boring as shite but they’re mine and mine alone.

Yeah I’m not aware of the Vance thing but I’ll have a search. If you have a link handy I’d appreciate it as it might be hard to find without more context. (Edit: yeah I’m not finding it.)

That block list makes for interesting reading. Worth a look.

WeChat uses transport encryption but not end to end. This is well known. If you’re unwilling to search here’s an article.

However WeChat doesn’t use end-to-end encryption (E2EE).

Here’s another.

WeChat encrypts data, but it’s not E2EE, which means WeChat can access the content of your messages

And another (this one’s from citizen lab and a reasonably technical dive).

On a technical level, WeChat’s encryption protocol protects the communication between user devices and WeChat’s servers. It is not an end-to-end encryption system, which would encrypt data sent between two user devices.

There’s no end to them tbh.

If you can find me anything that says WeChat uses E2E anywhere I’ll read it but they don’t even claim that themselves so I think you’ll be hard pressed.

Here’s a list of blocked phrases on WeChat.

I honestly have no idea what you’re banging on about with the Vance thing. I’m not from the USA which I assumed was your assertion.

Wrong, but you keep on keeping on.

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I hate to break it to you but if the government want to see that titty pic if it’s on either of your phones or any other device they can and likely have.

If we work off the assumption that signal is secure then not without a court order where I live.

Not quite the same in China.

Edit: Awwww. The mods are removing my posts now. Bless their fragile hearts.

Since that’s happening I’m out now. It’s been an interesting discussion though I fundamentally disagree that surveillance there is the same as everywhere else. I’ve made my points. Catch you again o/

LLM? No, continuously was a deliberate choice. I don’t see what’s wrong with it.

I’m using the example of end to end encryption to show how online surveillance there is measurably worse.

Your assertion was that online surveillance there is the same as elsewhere. That’s ridiculous. That’s the starting point and it’s what I’m sticking to. Lack of E2E is just such an obvious example of how it’s worse.

You’re making assumptions about back doors in all Western tech. China has them.

I can use any E2E encrypted platform I choose. You can’t use any. That’s worse.