As an avid Dune books reader (all of them), I think Villeneuve did the best adaptation possible. As a character, Chani is much more fleshed out in the films and Rebecca Ferguson CRUSHED it as Jessica. Oscar Isaac also was a very good Leto.

My big gripe is with Stilgar and Paul. Stilgar in the second movie was almost relegated to comic relief. Yes, he is also portrayed as a believer in the books, but it felt like a caricature in Dune Part 2.

As for Paul, I had hoped for more focus on why he actually went to drink the water of life. In the books he wanted to avoid it. But events he couldn’t foresee and put people he loved in danger pushed him over the edge. In the film I didn’t get any of that.

Still, loved both parts. Definitely worth a watch.

With normal news websites, A/B testing could be a thing. We had a rudimentary implementation of that back in 2011 already. But this is Reuters, a news agency. They are B2B and don’t care about clicks, their business model is selling first hand reporting to other media outlets (e.g. CNN, USA Today etc). As stories develop, so does the title. Especially when ongoing conflicts are concerned.

Ugh, might be a EU region lock thing. I hate that type of restriction, especially for a global sports Event. The organizers or media have been going after every shred of shared media from the ceremony. It’s ridiculous, do you want to promote you event or not?

Sorry for the rant, but these antiquated copyright behaviors make me angry.

Clearly thou ART not like the French.

That wasn’t just cool, it was badass! You can rewatch it here: https://youtu.be/cJowjYixfEs

I’ve been using Backblaze long before it showed up in YouTube ads. It’s a great product.

Sorry I don’t. I only have the HDMI card.

Does the Index really need full DP or does it work via USB-C? Because in the end all those expansion cards are just USB-C accessories. I’m asking because we own a Quest2 and use it with USB-C and my desktop PC. Haven’t tried it with my Laptop.

I have the 13" AMD one. Only reason I still have Windows on it is because I can’t get Davinci Resolve to run under Ubuntu. Otherwise very happy with my purchase.

Had this exact thing happen to me. Luckily my Framework laptop’s BIOS allows me to pick the EFI boot order and I set it back to the Linux Boot loader.

Nope, Austria. I can imagine they have the same problem in Amsterdam as we have here in Vienna.

No, no and no. In our country, there’s a loophole in traffic regulation allowing for anything under 25kph on bike paths if it’s electric powered. This resulted in a super dangerous situation for normal cyclists. I commute by normal bike and believe my it’s terrible:

• food delivery guys switched to electric scooters (think Vespa) and clog bike paths. These things are way too heavy in case of a collision with a pedestrian or cyclist.
• the 25kph speed limit is not observed! Either the manufacturers don’t care or the drivers tweak their rides.
• the acceleration is way too sudden. Even a regular E-Bike needs to ramp up to speed. And you see when the driver engages his drivetrain by way of them moving their legs. With a throttle you just have a lump of mass that suddenly jumps forward. Super unpredictable.

So now we basically have way too big, way too heavy and way too quick objects on bike paths endangering everyone else.

There needs to be strict mass limits for vehicles allowed on bicycle paths. There need to be acceleration limits. There need to be mandatory checks for pedal-less ebikes. If a bike from a manufacturer is found that can exceed the speed limit, there need to be existentially threatening fines. Because their products are threatening lives!

This. When I got my CPR training, the consensus was: if you hear or feal something crack, don’t stop. Messing up is better than doing nothing.

If you like grounded sci-fi that elicits a “it could happen in a few years” vibe firmly rooted on Earth, check out William Gibson. Most of his stuff is excellent, but “The Peripheral” and its followup “Agency” are recent highlights. From his older stuff I very much enjoyed “Virtual Light” the most. More than his acclaimed “Neuromancer” (he invented the word cyberspace in 1982 and popularized it in this 1984 novel) even.

Neal Stephenson - “Seveneves” One of my all time favorite sci-fi books. It is set mostly in space, but very realistic and never leaves the Earth’s influence. Time setting is basically now or a few years from now.

Also by Stevenson: “Anathem” Marvellous alternate universe story with a few twists. It’s on Earth, just … different.

If you wanna go for the classics (1960 roughly), look into Stanislaw Lem. “Solaris”, “Eden” and “Transfer” all left a lasting impression on me.

Yeah. And adaptive cruise control is something you have to pay 900 Euro extra via the in car shop on some models. Models you already paid 50k Euro and more for.

Andy Weir’s second best book after “The Martian” in my opinion. But not by far, it was a great read and I enjoyed every page of it. Rocky for intergalactic president!

What the heck are you on about? When we went into full work from home at my former company, productivity went UP.

There’s studies showing that companies forcing their workers back into the office suffer huge brain drains and cannot hire as fast as more flexible employers.

https://fortune.com/2023/08/01/research-damaging-results-mandated-return-to-office-worse-than-we-thought-rto-remote-work-careers-leadership-gleb-tsipursky/

The people have spoken.

I admit it: I’m a lurker 99% of the time. I do partake in the up- and downvoting though.