- trivia -

As if you needed another reason to stick with Android phones .....

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Apple was fined $27 million in France for slowing older iPhones. In any other country, they would have gotten away with it.

France became the first country to make planned obsolescence a criminal offense. Any manufacturer that deliberately shortens a product's lifespan faces up to two years in prison, a €300,000 fine, or up to 5% of annual revenue. The nonprofit HOP, founded by activist Laetitia Vasseur, pushed for years to make it happen.

In 2020, Apple was fined $27 million for intentionally slowing older iPhones and forced to post a public admission on its website for a month. France also introduced a mandatory Repairability Index: every smartphone, laptop, and appliance now carries a score from 1 to 10 showing how easy it is to fix. A national Repair Fund subsidizes repairs to make fixing cheaper than replacing.

No other country has gone this far, and the EU is now working on similar legislation.
 
Ever wonder why "permanent" magnets fade, grow weaker over years?
Me either.

Here's why they do:

01 March 2024|Marketing

How do magnets work?​

Magnets work because of tiny particles called electrons. These electrons spin and create small magnetic fields. In most things, these fields cancel out. However, in certain materials, like iron, the tiny magnetic fields align in the same direction.
When we rub a magnet on these materials or expose them to a magnetic field, it makes the magnetic fields line up. This alignment makes a magnetic force, creating a north and south pole. Like poles repel, and opposite poles attract. This simple alignment turns the material into a magnet, and it can attract or repel other magnets or magnetic materials. ...

Factors which cause magnets to demagnetise​

  • Heat: Exposure to high temperatures can cause the atoms within a magnet to vibrate more vigorously, disrupting the alignment of magnetic domains. The Curie temperature is the temperature at which a material loses its magnetic properties, and exceeding this temperature can lead to demagnetisation.
  • Physical damage: Strong impacts or dropping of a magnet can cause its internal structure to change, leading to a loss of magnetic strength. Physical damage can also cause the magnetic domains to become misaligned.
  • Electromagnetic fields: Strong external magnetic fields can interfere with the alignment of magnetic domains in a magnet, causing it to lose its magnetism. This is particularly true for magnets made of materials with lower coercivity (ability to resist demagnetisation).
  • Time: Even without external factors, magnets can naturally lose their strength over time due to a phenomenon known as ageing. The magnetic domains within a material can slowly become disordered, leading to a gradual decrease in magnetic strength.
It’s important to note that the rate at which a magnet loses its strength depends on the specific type of magnet, its composition, and the conditions to which it is exposed.

Magnets made of different materials may have varying levels of resistance to demagnetisation. For instance, neodymium magnets are the strongest type of permanent magnets commercially available. While they are very powerful, they are more susceptible to demagnetisation compared to some other types. On the other hand, samarium cobalt magnets have excellent resistance to demagnetisation and can maintain their magnetic strength at high temperatures.

https://e-magnetsuk.com/how-does-ma..._T666yiktRI8ik6pMGtpc9w_Jl5YgJDD8c8q2RdAe5fWm

If at all interested in magnets or quantum physics, check the link.

polar eyes ? 🐻‍❄️
 
Shiftless2 said:
"£45 / year in 1759" #106
Click to expand...
I haven't found a quick way to convert that into the equivalent in $2026 $U.S.
But without much else for comparison I suspect £45 / year was approximately the appropriate standard of £1759 yearly rent.

If the landlord is the government, then the government has a tiger by a very, very long tale, hundreds of human generations.
If the landlord is a private owner or investor?

In the U.S., under similar circumstance, Guinness would remain liable for the yearly rent.
The landlord would remain liable for the yearly tax.
And it would seem, a long time ago the property tax would have exceeded the revenue the property generates.

Is there an £inflation clause in the rent contract?
Otherwise the landlord has to make up the £difference out of pocket?

In the $US a commercial brewery that can produce 10 million glasses of porter per day would have a property tax most U.S. families could not $afford.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Guinness makes a dandy porter. BUT !
It's not the only brewery on Earth to do so. ...
On your travels, enjoy what the locality has to offer ...
 
Hardly trivial but don't want to start another thread

www.facebook.com

South Carolina’s anti-abortion lawmakers have wasted no time in 2026! They’ve already proposed several bills that would: ban abortion “after conception,” classify medication abortion as a Schedule IV substance, make possessing medication abortion a f

South Carolina’s anti-abortion lawmakers have wasted no time in 2026! They’ve already proposed several bills that would: ban abortion “after conception,” classify medication abortion as a Schedule IV...
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com
 
Shiftless2 said:
"Hardly trivial but don't want to start another thread" S2

www.facebook.com

South Carolina’s anti-abortion lawmakers have wasted no time in 2026! They’ve already proposed several bills that would: ban abortion “after conception,” classify medication abortion as a Schedule IV substance, make possessing medication abortion a f

South Carolina’s anti-abortion lawmakers have wasted no time in 2026! They’ve already proposed several bills that would: ban abortion “after conception,” classify medication abortion as a Schedule IV...
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com
#108
Click to expand...
Would you like to open a Beyond the Beltway thread ... ? - OR -

Perhaps an Anti-Choice Authoritarianism thread ?
 
Shiftless2 said:
"when i asked my pediatric oncologist what the hardest thing abt his job was, i expected the most obvious horror: watching babies die. he said it was having to tell parents how much it would cost to keep their baby alive a little bit longer, watching single moms do the math." #110 vgs
Click to expand...
As I try to formulate a reaction to this in the last 10 minutes, the emotional impact upon me seems to have evaporated.
So vgs & ped. onc, this is a distribution of $wealth issue?
 
Not so much a distribution of wealth issue as the simple impossibility of anyone (let alone a single mother being able to pay for the necessary treatment (and note this isn't about a cure, just extending the baby's life a little longer).

Even with good insurance you're likely to blow thru the annual or lifetime limit on a private policy. Universal healthcare eliminates that problem.
 
Shiftless2 said:
"Not so much a distribution of wealth issue as the simple impossibility of anyone (let alone a single mother being able to pay for the necessary treatment (and note this isn't about a cure, just extending the baby's life a little longer).
Even with good insurance you're likely to blow thru the annual or lifetime limit on a private policy. Universal healthcare eliminates that problem." S2 #112
Click to expand...
Some constructive citizens that net benefit our neighborhoods out of sincere conscience oppose pregnancy abortion for themselves,
even if they're libertarian enough to confine their personal reservations to their own bloodline.

Let's not ignore reality.
Humans perform some abortions.
God performs all the others. In modern medical practice we call them "spontaneous" abortions.

I've never seen a one-sided coin. God not only performs abortions, s/he invented them.
A third party observer can agonize over such "loss". BUT what we do not know, the path not traveled.
How much worse would it have been if the pregnancy had gone full term? God only knows.

Sensible citizens may not rejoice at the #112 scenario.
But mature citizens should understand, attrition is not merely a component of human existence, it is an indispensable component of evolution.

When through artificial means we prevent a death that would otherwise have occurred, it's called "playing god".
We already have the artificial means to continue this practice.
How many more generations before we acquire the wisdom to apply this extra-divine circumvention of attrition with divine equity?
 
sear said:
Humans perform some abortions.
God performs all the others. In modern medical practice we call them "spontaneous" abortions.

I've never seen a one-sided coin. God not only performs abortions, s/he invented them.
Click to expand...
A very significant percentage of human pregnancies end in miscarriages (spontaneous abortions) often before the woman even knows she is pregnant. It can be argued that God is the most prolific abortionist on the planet.
 
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