FWIW, you can still press Shift-F10 to open a command prompt, then run oobe\bypassnro. The computer will reboot / restart the setup process and this time there’ll be a small link “I don’t have internet” that’ll allow you to set up a local account.
Just make very sure not to connect it to the internet (cable or Wi-Fi) before this point.

There have been rumours of newer versions of Windows 11 not allowing the bypass anymore, but I haven’t personally seen any evidence of this so far.

Still a shit show though - trickery like this shouldn’t be necessary.

I feel so guilty because I’m honestly spiraling but everyone keeps telling me I’m not. I can’t, because it makes them look worse.

I don’t even know where to begin.

Going through difficult times is not a weapon in a dick-measuring contest to determine who’s owed the most pity. Downplaying somebody else’s problems in order to make one’s own problems seem more important is not something a friend* does, period.
But then again, those people may just be unable to imagine you holding yourself together so well if you really had all those problems you describe. That’s still no excuse though, a real friend should listen to you and believe you.

I think what (some of) your ‘friends’ are doing is reminiscent of crab mentality. That’s the mechanism that makes sure you’re being gifted a never-ending supply of chocolate and junk food as soon as people notice you’ve successfully lost weight, or alcoholics insisting that their dry friend has just one small beer with them for old times’ sake.
One of the foundations of crab mentality is the assumption that life is a zero-sum game and/or desired resources are scarce, i.e. if you get more sympathy/attention then somebody else will get less.

I’m not saying you should do this - that would require some hefty assumptions about you and your life - but one of the best things I’ve ever done is ranking all my friends and family by the degree to which they’ve made my life better or dragged me down over the years, balanced scorecard-style. It sounds heartless but with some people was a real eye-opener for me.

Either way, surround yourself with people that give something back. If that means losing some ‘friends’, then so be it. A handful of real friends will get you much further than hordes of false ones.

( * I’m including family members here, though they can generally get away with much more BS than a friend just because they’re family.)

Well, I can confirm from personal experience (me and family) that tourists wanting to enter the US aren’t treated that much differently from criminals.

But then you’ve created dozens (or hundreds) of opportunities a day for someone to get your passcode by shoulder-surfing, which you probably wouldn’t even notice in many situations. I’d argue that unless someone forcibly borrowing your face or fingers to unlock your phone is a strong possibility, entering a passcode each time is less secure than using biometrics.
Especially since the passcode also protects various security settings.

What’s your favourite position then?

Postal 2. The game mechanics and open-world flexibility have aged amazingly well, it’s still very funny, and I love the way the game’s level of violence firmly depends on the player’s actions.
Plus the Postal Dude’s petition to make whiney congressmen play violent video games is needed more than ever.

On Android I miss Spaghetti & Marshmallows, where you had to build towers out of said materials. That was a wonderful game with great physics but sadly only runs on very old phones.

Thanks though, it’ll be “fun” having my niece and nephew tell me how I’m old

They’ve only started doing that now? Lucky you!

Seriously though, the 40’s aren’t a bad age. I hope you’ve had a great party and enjoyed it. And remember, getting older means you’ve survived this far!

Happy birthday, whenever it is! You know what they say - once you’ve turned 40, when you wake up and nothing hurts, you know you’re dead. So far can mostly confirm. But on the other hand, you’re officially entitled to ask kids to get off your lawn now. It all sort of evens out.

Ack. Bedbugs are the worst. Fingers crossed you’ve gotten rid of the little fuckers.
In case you didn’t know yet, there are dogs that can sniff out bedbugs. A friend of a friend trains such dogs and she says demand is high. If you haven’t tried that already, maybe it’s worth a shot?

Around here I can’t say there are many dull moments.

Barring a surprise blizzard in April, spring appears to have arrived in full force. We all enjoy the days getting longer and warmer and stuff getting greener. Our cherry(?) tree is already in full bloom.
Last week the gardener was here to discuss some work around the house - we’re looking to get a new fence, turn an uneven gravel/weed field into additional parking spots and replace some hedges. The cost estimates should arrive tomorrow so we can start picking the things we can afford.

Once the garden gets a do-over, I can also design the new mood lighting and install new underground cabling. The current garden lanterns’ brightness levels are very individual and heavily depend on how wet or dry the soil around the cables is. It’s also impossible to get at the cables without ripping all of them apart.

Somebody who had to leave the company under less-than-ideal circumstances a few years ago, died a couple of weeks ago, presumably of natural causes greatly helped along by excessive smoking and a suspected drinking habit. SO who was the one to let her go back then feels bad about it, though objectively there’s nothing she or anybody else could have done.
To help her get this (and other things) off her mind, I took her to a four-day road trip to Como, Monaco and Nice, which sounds much fancier than it was. But it was a good idea and helped us both to get some lovely mediterranean sun and untangle some stuff in our lives.

This also was the first long trip with my electric car. Travelling in it was an absolute pleasure both for me as the driver and for SO as the passenger. Charging it was rather easy and straightforward all through Switzerland and Italy, though prices are a labyrinth. It definitely pays to check whether a particular charge point is cheaper with Plugsurfing, SwissCharge, Chargepoint or direct payment.
France was a bit of a disappointment in that aspect, at least the Alpes-Maritimes. There were precious few fast chargers in the first place, Nice was full of chargers that only residents can use, and on many rest areas we either couldn’t charge at all because of a thoroughly unhelpful error massage, or we needed to download an app just for this one charge point. There’s definitely some room for improvement.

Speaking of work, the accountant and I have devised a solution for a long-standing problem / conflict concerning people working for us with different types of salaries. It’s not as elegant as I had been hoping for, but the rules are simple and the process can be automated to a high degree. Now I need to develop the new workflow and extend our payroll software accordingly, which is going to cause a headache or two. Especially until the other person doing salaries has been convinced to use all of the tools as intended.

At home I’ve finally found some time to de-junk the room that’s supposed to be(come) my workshop. It looks so much better now and I’m so happy that I walk through there several times a day just to enjoy the free floor space.
Sadly the previously very tidy shelter (a separate room) is now full of boxes from the workshop. Plus I also still need to install a missing air exhaust valve in the shelter. I’ve finally obtained the valve, but the existing bolts have apparently been installed by a kindergartener - not a single one is in the correct position, so I need to saw them all off and install new ones. The fun part is that they’re very difficult to obtain, as only a handful are certified for use in shelters in the first place, and they’re normally only sold to businesses. Argh. There are just way too many regulations for such a simple thing!
But…! The fiber network I’ve installed in the shelter works like a dream and I’m very happy. No more copper cables blocking the place where the valve should be.

Maybe I should also install a TV and a small fridge in the shelter. It’s the only place in the house where I’d be guaranteed to not even hear it if anyone’s looking for me. And as far as I can tell, the kids aren’t even consciously aware of its existence. Hmmm…

I’ve also used the workshop to finally finish a small pet project of mine - a doggy stick library to set up at the place where we normally go for walks and to meet other dogs. It’s not much to brag about in terms of woodworking skills or looks, but I’m very happy that it’s survived the first couple of rainstorms and looks like it’s already been used by other dog persons. Sadly the image upload facility currently appears to be broken, not sure if the issue is with Beehaw or Jerboa. So no picture today.

I’ve also tried to subscribe the entire family to a fire safety course, so next time somebody sets the kitchen on fire (twice so far within a year) they know what to do. Sadly it’s difficult for everybody to be available at any of the current course dates. Maybe I can teach a mini-course myself with one of the fire blankets and extinguisher sprays we have around the house, but the fun part of the real course is that huge steel contraction where you can simulate all kinds of fire and small explosions to fight.

SO will also fly to Argentina in April to visit some family members and enjoy the distance from people who cause her stress or work at home (i.e. kids and workmates).
We’re aware of the country’s political and economic situation, and we know how not to draw attention to the fact that we’re rich gringos who probably don’t understand the language and local tricks to fleece tourists very well (we do know most tricks and how to protect against them). But still I worry about her - a lot has changed since our last family trip in 2019, and people’s desperation is ever increasing. I hope her sister the police officer will join her in Buenos Aires.

Ugh. Probably all of them.
As long as they don’t conclude that obnoxious behaviour is acceptable in your place, that is.

Maybe loud military-style exercise music at 0600 sharp would help?

I can’t offer much good advice or help, only some friendly words. Ziggy sounds like she’s had a good life with a loving family. The way you describe her situation there’s probably not much more that could be done for her even if money were no issue, but I would argue that you’re already doing the most important thing: being there for her and showing her that she’s loved and not alone.
Spending a pet’s last days or hours together is the hardest part of having a pet. Some pets are family members, which is something pet-less people for the most part can’t understand. You caring (and being strong) for Ziggy despite feeling helpless yourself is probably the most precious gift you can give her. Never forget that. Whatever happens in life that you have no control over - and cancer is a super-extra shitty example - the most important thing is to have somebody who cares about you. And for Ziggy that’s you.

So far I’ve found most of what I’ve been looking for on www.exlibris.ch, though www.orellfuessli.ch seems quite nice as well. Normally it says in the details whether or not a particular book comes with DRM.

The DRM-free books are still digitally marked - Ex Libris will include your e-mail address in one of the first pages, and there are probably subtle differences in the text itself. I don’t mind that, though I blame the technology for the occasional annoying ‘typo’ in the book.

The chart below shows the ARS/USD exchange rate over the last five years.
The peso has been in steady decline for years, with the last big drop in December, about a week before the presidential election.

The exchange rate doesn’t tell the whole story of course, but neither does attacking Milei for dismantling Argentina’s social programs. The reason for Argentina’s ongoing problems is that the state has literally dozens (if not hundreds) of social programs that it simply cannot afford, along with regulations strangling otherwise healthy businesses. The Peronists have always ‘solved’ this problem by a) borrowing whatever they can (and then defaulting on the debt) and b) printing more money. This has unsurprisingly led to ever-increasing inflation and rampant poverty.\

The Peronist/Kirchnerist presidential candidate (Massa) planned to counter the threatening hyperinflation by printing more money for more subsidies to counter the effects of the inflation. Let that sink in for a moment.

The point is, Argentina’s current system of subsidies and handouts is not sustainable, and hasn’t been for decades. That’s not a political opinion but simple math: you cannot spend more than you earn forever.

How that problem can and should be solved is of course debatable. Milei is certainly far from an ideal president, but when you bash him, keep in mind what the alternative to him would have looked like… and maybe give him a chance to prove his critics wrong if he gets Argentina’s economy back on track, which would be something the faux-left Peronistas/Kirchnerites have failed to do for the better part of eight decades now.

(Source: xe.com)

I ue Epubor Ultimate because I never got Calibre’s de-DRM working on my machine. It’s drag&drop for Adobe Digital Editions and also works very well in the very rare cases that I want a book that’s only available on Amazon (though buying one of those still leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth).
A DRM-free copy of the original is still preferred though. There’s one online shop in Switzerland that has started selling more of these lately. Maybe that’s a good sign.

I should probably care about this way more than I do, but this is a fight I’ve largely given up. The ‘right’ thing to do would be to boycott all DRM-encumbered content, but that’s a fight that very few people outside of a comparatively small circle of tech idealists would even about, much less care… and boycotts have never worked for CDs, DVDs or even VHS tapes. The sad truth is that DRM does work as designed for the overwhelming majority of less tech-savvy consumers who either aren’t aware of or can’t be bothered to try alternatives.

The good news is that it’s relatively easy to remove the DRM from ebooks, especially compared to other types of media. As long as this remains possible with just a few additional mouse clicks, the status quo “works for me”. I’m all for paying the artist/author, I just don’t want the thing I’ve bought taken away from me as soon as the publisher decides to pull the plug on their DRM server.

And what I’ve noticed here in Switzerland, even though it’s non-representative and anecdotal evidence, is that more and more ebooks are sold DRM-free.

It’s as if iPhones were only able to make calls to other iPhones

Don’t give them ideas!

Yeah. I’m hardly a fan of everything he says or does, but it’s a bit like appointing a new captain an hour after the Titanic hit the iceberg, then blaming him for not stopping the ship from sinking. Argentina was well on its way to hyperinflation long before the presidential elections.

I suspect that’s a lie. From a technical point of view there are way easier and cheaper ways to detect potential customers. A simple LDR would probably do a better and more reliable job and cost hundreds of times less.

The spokesdroid also stated that the machines do not take pictures. Duh. It’s a camera, what else would it do. May they meant it doesn’t store images, but the statements made so far don’t exactly instill trust.

I say sue them into oblivion. Make an example out of them.

I’m sorry for the kids that are punished for having stupid parents, but maybe a few public incidents of children dying from entirely preventable diseases is what it takes for other parents to finally stop mindlessly parroting every piece of anti-vax BS they read on Telegram and vaccinate their kids after all.

Though at this point it’s evident that we as a species have well and truly failed either way.

There’s actually an option to turn GMS off entirely if that’s a concern (Settings–>About–>Advanced). It comes at the cost of slightly increased battery usage. Sadly Google does have a bit of a monopoly on mainstream Android there.
Having said that, the messages themselves should never pass Google’s servers, just a packet saying “check your Threema server, there’s new stuff waiting for you.”