kovboydan's recent activity

  1. Comment on What is your top, unknown, non fiction recommendation ? in ~books

    kovboydan
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    Farming the cutover: a social history of Northern Wisconsin, 1900-1940

    Farming the cutover: a social history of Northern Wisconsin, 1900-1940

    After northern Wisconsin was cleared by commercial loggers early in the twentieth century, enthusiastic promoters and optimistic settlers envisioned transforming this "cutover" into a land of yeoman farmers. Here thousands of families—mostly immigrants or second-generation Americans—sought to recreate old worlds and build new farms on land that would come to be considered agriculturally worthless. In the end, they succumbed not to drought or soil depletion but to social and political pressures from those who looked askance at their way of life.

  2. Comment on What I dislike the most about the US in ~society

    kovboydan
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    This isn’t the focus of your post, but since it was written I want to address it (without taking a position on it). America is a representative democracy and the government’s actions do represent...

    This isn’t the focus of your post, but since it was written I want to address it (without taking a position on it).

    America is a representative democracy and the government’s actions do represent the will of the people. Setting aside everything we could say about gerrymandering, Citizens United, ballot access, etc: a majority of American neighbors - in the broadest sense - voted for this or couldn’t be bothered to vote against it.

    Alternatively, it’s not a representative democracy.

    3 votes
  3. Comment on Apple announces Macbook Neo, a new budget Mac in ~tech

    kovboydan
    Link Parent
    Still not great at €577 ($670) - pretending VAT doesn’t exist - which is about the most anyone would pay inclusive of sales tax in the US. But I don’t think it’s that much different than iPhones...

    Einschließlich MwSt. und ges. Gebühren i. H. v. ca. 123,00 €.

    Still not great at €577 ($670) - pretending VAT doesn’t exist - which is about the most anyone would pay inclusive of sales tax in the US.

    But I don’t think it’s that much different than iPhones would be to purchase in Germany vs the US; somewhere around ~25% more expensive to purchase if you’re comparing with a state’s sales tax included?

    2 votes
  4. Comment on What are you no longer a fan of? in ~talk

    kovboydan
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    I had friends that liked it but never managed to get into it myself. Other than Fullmetal Alchemist, the only two shows I can remember watching and thinking they were decent are Gurren Lagann and...

    I had friends that liked it but never managed to get into it myself. Other than Fullmetal Alchemist, the only two shows I can remember watching and thinking they were decent are Gurren Lagann and Gun x Sword. But I can’t recall the plots and have no idea how they’d hold up now.

    Shoutout to DB / DBZ for the lolz watch.

    2 votes
  5. Comment on What are you no longer a fan of? in ~talk

    kovboydan
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Do you play guitar lefty, know how to do 5x or 7x rubiks cubes, and have bad allergies that cause nasal congestion all the time? Edit: Asking because your story sounds so familiar.

    Do you play guitar lefty, know how to do 5x or 7x rubiks cubes, and have bad allergies that cause nasal congestion all the time?

    Edit: Asking because your story sounds so familiar.

    2 votes
  6. Comment on Gas prices soar as QatarEnergy halts LNG production after Iran attacks in ~finance

    kovboydan
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    It certainly is fortuitous that those coal plants in the US were ordered to continue operating.

    It certainly is fortuitous that those coal plants in the US were ordered to continue operating.

  7. Comment on Device that can extract 1,000 liters of clean water a day from desert air revealed by 2025 Nobel Prize winner in ~enviro

    kovboydan
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    Science improving things we’ve done, or known how to do but not as well, in one form or another for generations is fun to read about. Assuming it works and is commercially viable, I wonder if it...

    Science improving things we’ve done, or known how to do but not as well, in one form or another for generations is fun to read about.

    Assuming it works and is commercially viable, I wonder if it could be used in a desperate effort to keep farming in places we probably shouldn’t have been. And then I imagine all sorts of neat externalities like a rain shadow but instead of being caused by a mountain it’s caused by Sietch Tabr’s wind trap.

    13 votes
  8. Comment on A rant about how devices handle users with language backgrounds other than English in ~tech

    kovboydan
    Link Parent
    English, Turkish, Spanish, and German are supported so I’d never paid attention to what languages aren’t supported. If you need support for Hungarian or Finnish you would be out of luck and need...

    English, Turkish, Spanish, and German are supported so I’d never paid attention to what languages aren’t supported. If you need support for Hungarian or Finnish you would be out of luck and need to manually swap it seems.

    2 votes
  9. Comment on A rant about how devices handle users with language backgrounds other than English in ~tech

    kovboydan
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    For 2 languages you haven’t needed to switch keyboards on iOS for a while, you just set up a bilingual dyad in the keyboard settings and it’ll make suggestions and autocorrect both without...

    For 2 languages you haven’t needed to switch keyboards on iOS for a while, you just set up a bilingual dyad in the keyboard settings and it’ll make suggestions and autocorrect both without changing the layout.

    For 3+, you do need to switch but because they’re bilingual keyboards you can have English-Second pairs and always be typing on an English QWERTY or whatever.

    Trying to switch languages within a sentence or paragraph isn’t as smooth as it could be but it’s not as bad as it was in the old days when you did need to change the layout manually.

    Edit: Settings -> Keyboards -> Keyboards tap a keyboard. Then add another language and set the default layout.

    1 vote
  10. Comment on In a blind test, audiophiles couldn't tell the difference between audio signals sent through copper wire, a banana, or wet mud in ~tech

    kovboydan
    Link Parent
    Thanks for making me feel better about using the cheapest wire and bananas I could find on Amazon.

    Thanks for making me feel better about using the cheapest wire and bananas I could find on Amazon.

  11. Comment on Prepaid SIMs in Germany / Prepaid Jahrestarif in ~tech

    kovboydan
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    The simplest and fastest option ended up being walking into Telekom and asking for a prepaid sim (with my passport). The year prepaid is 15€ more than than 85€ my partner will pay for O2 but also...

    The simplest and fastest option ended up being walking into Telekom and asking for a prepaid sim (with my passport). The year prepaid is 15€ more than than 85€ my partner will pay for O2 but also didn’t involve receiving a SIM card by post and needing to deal with remote ID verification process, etc.

    It’s also 13GB/month which is excessive in my opinion but #yolo I’ll never worry about hitting a data cap.

    1 vote
  12. Comment on Prepaid SIMs in Germany / Prepaid Jahrestarif in ~tech

    kovboydan
    Link Parent
    I understand the PayPal usage but also don’t understand the PayPal usage. Like being able to pay for the first aid course I need for my driver license transfer by PayPal was unexpected. I’ve never...

    I understand the PayPal usage but also don’t understand the PayPal usage. Like being able to pay for the first aid course I need for my driver license transfer by PayPal was unexpected.

    I’ve never had PayPal and suspect this country might be the end of that, but we’ll see.

  13. Comment on Pluribus full season discussion in ~tv

    kovboydan
    Link Parent
    I’ve never used TikTok and am old enough to have a child in their teens if I’d been less lucky as a teen. Pluribus is too slow. It’s not bad, it’s just too slow.

    I’ve never used TikTok and am old enough to have a child in their teens if I’d been less lucky as a teen.

    Pluribus is too slow. It’s not bad, it’s just too slow.

    1 vote
  14. Comment on Pluribus full season discussion in ~tv

    kovboydan
    Link Parent
    The pacing is really, really too slow. I finally got around to watching Utopia (UK), between episodes of Pluribus, and trying to come back from that relative masterpiece of pacing to Pluribus was...

    The pacing is really, really too slow. I finally got around to watching Utopia (UK), between episodes of Pluribus, and trying to come back from that relative masterpiece of pacing to Pluribus was brutal.

    1 vote
  15. Comment on Moving back to the US (after 7+ years living in Germany) in ~life

    kovboydan
    Link Parent
    Do PS4’s not use a generic C7 power cable? My Xbox was one of the few electronics to make the list for the move because all I needed to do was grab a cable. I think I need to prioritize a third,...

    Do PS4’s not use a generic C7 power cable? My Xbox was one of the few electronics to make the list for the move because all I needed to do was grab a cable.

    I think I need to prioritize a third, and possibly fourth, pair of pants before an e-scooter…

    2 votes
  16. Comment on Moving back to the US (after 7+ years living in Germany) in ~life

    kovboydan
    Link Parent
    If you’re considering selling it instead of moving it, I’m in the market for a PC (minus a graphics card and ram depending on the CPU)…

    If you’re considering selling it instead of moving it, I’m in the market for a PC (minus a graphics card and ram depending on the CPU)…

    2 votes
  17. Comment on Cotts & Ravine 12 deck mix back 2 back (electro hard dance hardstyle drumstep hardcore) (2013) in ~music

    kovboydan
    Link
    A proper throwback; Cotts and Ravine were putting out multiple part sets back when YouTube had the 10 minute limit. In 2026, it feels quite quaint to watch two dudes seem so happy spinning an hour...

    A proper throwback; Cotts and Ravine were putting out multiple part sets back when YouTube had the 10 minute limit.

    In 2026, it feels quite quaint to watch two dudes seem so happy spinning an hour long set on thousands of dollars of equipment in their living room.

    I don’t know them but their sets brought a lot of joy to my life over the past 20 years, so I hope they’re doing well and I hope their sets can bring some joy to random tildes folks too.

    2 votes
  18. Comment on Prepaid SIMs in Germany / Prepaid Jahrestarif in ~tech

    kovboydan
    Link Parent
    Using AirAlo for data at the moment, but if you managed to get a UK and French Apple ID with a US number I’ll try to rip it with the US number and see what happens for a German Apple ID.

    Using AirAlo for data at the moment, but if you managed to get a UK and French Apple ID with a US number I’ll try to rip it with the US number and see what happens for a German Apple ID.

    1 vote
  19. Prepaid SIMs in Germany / Prepaid Jahrestarif

    I need a German phone number, so I need a German SIM. My preference would be a prepaid year because it’s a bit cheaper. Also, I have a physical sim slot and would rather use a physical sim than an...

    I need a German phone number, so I need a German SIM.

    My preference would be a prepaid year because it’s a bit cheaper. Also, I have a physical sim slot and would rather use a physical sim than an eSIM.

    Many apps (Mein O2, MeinMagenta for cell services and most of the local transit apps) are region locked. I can’t currently change my Apple ID to Germany and can’t make a new Apple ID for Germany without a German phone number.

    Any hot takes on Telekom, Vodafone, O2, etc. or recommendations on getting a physical SIM card?

    Note: The Aldi closest to me only had eSIM today or thought they only had eSIM.

    Edit: I actually need a phone number for things, e.g. kita being able to call me if one of my kids get sick at daycare.

    7 votes