tal

If the UK gets its way, operating systems like iOS and Android would “prevent any nudity being displayed on screen unless the user has verified they are an adult through methods such as biometric checks or official ID. Child sex offenders would be required to keep such blockers enabled.” The Home Office “has initially focused on mobile devices,” but the push could be expanded to desktops, the FT said. Government officials point out that Microsoft can already scan for “inappropriate content” in Microsoft Teams, the report said.

"The Home Office, which didn't care much about verifying that its schemes were enforceable if they promised the potential of being able to announce a programme with the potential of winning social conservative votes, plunged ahead. It seemed like this new scheme would work marvelously and herald in a new era of Victorianism in the UK. That is, until a small boy by the name of Edward Woolsey in Liverpool discovered that he could magically manufacture a pornography-viewing device by taking any inexpensive, used Android device and tethering it to his phone. Word spread quickly among the youth."

This isn't a huge increase. It's not on the order of what just happened with RAM.

According to a report from Digitimes Asia (quoting Nikkei), HDD contract prices jumped roughly 4% quarter over quarter in Q4 2025.

I mean, you can sue for whatever. Doesn't mean that you'll win or that the court won't throw it out.

smart TVs

Instead of getting some proprietary media device glued to a display, you could just put Kodi or similar on an HTPC. Use whatever display device you want. That way, you decide what the device does.

And besides Brussels (EU government) and Brussels (national government), both prone to internal disagreements, there's also the prone-to-disagreement Brussels (provincial government).

https://www.brusselstimes.com/1862716/542-days-brussels-breaks-belgian-record-for-longest-period-without-a-government

'Tumbling into the abyss' – Brussels breaks record for longest period without government

Monday, 1 December 2025

As of today (Tuesday), the Brussels-Capital Region has been without an elected government for 542 days – breaking the world record of 541 days, held by Belgium's Federal Government led by Elio Di Rupo (PS) in 2011.

EDIT: Here we have Brussels (provincial government) being threatened by Brussels (national government) over Brussels (provincial government) going to Brussels (EU government) for funds:

https://www.courthousenews.com/a-city-without-government-how-brussels-keeps-running-despite-its-leaders/

Most damning: Brussels’ auditors have been unable to certify annual accounts since 2017, with the federal Court of Auditors in recent years going from “refusing to certify” to outright “abstaining.” It’s a sign the data is no longer reliable enough to evaluate.

The crisis turned public in Schuman Square, at the geographic heart of EU power flanked by the EU Council and the European Commission headquarters. Unable to cover a 12-million-euro cost overrun on renovations, the Mobility Minister wrote to five European institutions begging for financial help — and was publicly rebuked by Prime Minister Bart De Wever.

“It is truly a disgrace, a total humiliation, the Brussels Region begging for money to build a square,” the N-VA leader said. De Wever, the first Flemish nationalist politician to hold the office of prime minister of Belgium, has escalated pressure with unprecedented threats.

In May, he declared bluntly: “If Brussels comes asking the federal government for money, I will put it under guardianship.” He promised to “impose strict austerity conditions to put a stop to the ‘malgoverno’ in Brussels.”

I use Google's Noto Sans as my default browser sans-serif font. It does a better job having a different capital-I and lower-case-l than does Calibri:

http://www.identifont.com/differences?first=Noto+Sans&second=Calibri

I once wrote code for an elderly researcher who would only review code as a hard copy. I'd bring him stacks of paper and he'd get going with his pen and highlighter. And I'll grant that the resolution is normally higher on paper than on most displays. I'm viewing this on a laptop screen that's about 200 ppi. A laser printer is probably printing at a minimum of 300 dpi, maybe 600 or 1200 dpi.

I still think that the few people reading things in print are the exception that proves the rule, though.

Times New Roman was designed for the print era, and Calibri for onscreen viewing. Onscreen viewing is a lot more common today. Based on that technical characteristic, I'd be kind of inclined to favor Calibri or at least some screen-oriented font.

That being said, screens are also higher-resolution than they were in the past, so the rationale might be less-significant than it once was.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calibri

Calibri (/kəˈliːbri/) is a digital sans-serif typeface family in the humanist or modern style. It was designed by Lucas de Groot in 2002–2004 and released to the general public in 2006, with Windows Vista.[3] In Microsoft Office 2007, it replaced Times New Roman as the default font in Word and replaced Arial as the default font in PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook. In Windows 7, it replaced Arial as the default font in WordPad. De Groot described its subtly rounded design as having "a warm and soft character".[3] In January 2024, the font was replaced by Microsoft's new bespoke font, Aptos, as the new default Microsoft Office font, after 17 years.[4][5]

I suspect that the Office shift is probably a large factor in moving to Calibri.

That being said, there are many Times New Roman implementations, but it sounds like Calibri is owned by Microsoft, so I'd be kind of inclined to favor something open.

Brussels had just about had it with Brussels.

goes looking

Of the the last few presidents to die:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4244/ronald-reagan

Ronald Reagan is buried at his presidential library.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4311/george_h_w-bush

George H.W. Bush is buried at his presidential library.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6734/jimmy-carter

Jimmy Carter is buried at his national historical park:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4243/gerald_rudolph-ford

Gerald R. Ford is buried at his museum:

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5275798-trump-says-children-could-have-two-dolls-instead-of-30-with-his-tariff-plan/

Trump says children could have ‘2 dolls instead of 30’ with his tariff plan

He added, “You know, someone said, ‘Oh, the shelves, they’re going to be open.’ Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.

I don't really think that talking about Average Joe's standard of living is really Trump's strong point.

I'm not that concerned. There's a famous Reagan joke that he did during a sound test:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kifJ_mQdpZA