<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Hacker News: melesian</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=melesian</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2026 01:42:58 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=melesian" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "France dumps Zoom and Teams as Europe seeks digital autonomy from the US"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Patronizing rubbish. The EU builds plenty of EVs, rockets and fighter jets and has far more subway systems and public transport than the US.<p>Europe is already great. It's why hundreds of thousands of Americans moved here in 2025.<p>As for being a vassal: Trump was warned of the consequences of invading Greenland and he backed down immediately. Some vassal.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 03 Feb 2026 18:18:05 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46874848</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46874848</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46874848</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "France dumps Zoom and Teams as Europe seeks digital autonomy from the US"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>You can be very sure that millions of Europeans and large numbers of businesses are finding alternatives.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 03 Feb 2026 18:09:23 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46874709</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46874709</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46874709</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "France dumps Zoom and Teams as Europe seeks digital autonomy from the US"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The absence of war in Europe is more down to the EU than the US. Polls do not consistently show anything of the sort.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 03 Feb 2026 18:07:04 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46874667</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46874667</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46874667</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "How Debt Bankrupted the British Empire, and Why America Is Walking the Same Path"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The UK itself lost one third of its land area in 1921, following yet another insurrection in Ireland (always a coerced part of the UK subject to genocidal rule and expropriation).<p>The last straw for the Irish was summary executions of the insurrectionists and the ravages of the Black and Tans -- like ICE but with arsonists and criminals, but without masks. The US will be fortunate if the parallels remain only financial.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 24 Jan 2026 11:17:49 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46742648</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46742648</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46742648</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "Ireland is making basic income for artists program permanent"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Oh look, an ignorant begrudger. I don't know many banana republics with a well-educated workforce let lone the best educated workforce in the world.<p>Perhaps you'd like to compare Ireland's position in the Human Development Index with that of its neighbours?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 15 Oct 2025 13:18:39 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45592027</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45592027</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45592027</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "Ireland is making basic income for artists program permanent"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Ireland started by not leving tax on income from writing on writers for specific cultural reasons -- to support and encourage writers.<p>It's a cultural norm. Extending it to other generally penniless artists is too.<p>When universities in other countries start running courses on Irish food service workers we can reasonably expect them to be included.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 15 Oct 2025 13:11:08 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45591913</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45591913</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45591913</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "AirPods live translation blocked for EU users with EU Apple accounts"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>On the contrary, the EU is the solution.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2025 18:03:47 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45224807</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45224807</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45224807</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "What services or apps did you see abroad and wonder: why don't we have them?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Blinkered nonsense.<p>Yes, of course Europe doesn't have any US laws but to suggest that it doesn't have legislation about accessibility is simply wrong. Guess what... the legislation generally applies to buildings and construction post-dating the legislation. Applicability to earlier structures will vary depending on feasability and justification (cost, traffic).</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 19 Aug 2025 21:31:38 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44956456</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44956456</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44956456</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "Italy drags Meta, X, LinkedIn into €1B+ VAT showdown: free sign‑ups now taxable?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>If American companies don't want to pay taxes in Europe they can easily avoid doing so by staying home. If they prefer to earn profits in Europe they can comply with the law. As it is they do everything they can to avoid paying taxes, full stop, not just in Europe.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 23 Jul 2025 09:07:44 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44657136</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44657136</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44657136</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I want a Linux phone based on open source hardware. I gave up an iPhone for Android then switched to Pixels. My current Pixel 7 will be my last Google phone. I want out of the surveillance economy. I want AI assistance as badly I want a hole in the head.<p>I carry an 8 inch tablet (fits in a jacket pocket) and do most of my mobile web, email, podcast listening etc. on that, using my phone as a hotspot. Can't buy a new 8 inch tablet with a fingerprint reader. Got a couple of 2nd hand ones on eBay and will soon look at putting LineageOS on them (they have out of date versions of Android).</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 17 Jul 2025 17:35:39 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44595887</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44595887</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44595887</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "From: Steve Jobs. "Great idea, thank you.""]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> The fact that most research participants and their families are unaware that they are part of a vaccine trial, leaves no room for justice or compensation.<p>What an absolute load of tripe.<p>Straight from disease surveillance being a bad thing (it isn't) to this drivel /eyeroll.<p>Disease surveillance helps stop potential pandemics before the cost of addressing them and the damage the can cause, including loss of life, reaches colossal proportions. Recommended reading: The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett.<p>I note how the conspiratorial assertion of Africans being used, in effect, as guinea pigs is entirely unsupported by any evidence whatever. Vaccine trials happen everywhere, not just in Africa, and no national healthcare system in Africa blindly accepts vaccines as if people were experimental animals.<p>Did you give informed consent yourself for the childhood vaccinations you received?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 09 May 2025 08:43:16 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43934916</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43934916</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43934916</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "What made the Irish famine so deadly"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>National economic statistics -- GDP, GNI etc. only tell you so much. Measures of human wellbeing I'd argue tell you more.<p>Ireland is ahead of the UK on every metric, from child mortality to longevity and everything in between -- and the gap is widening.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 11 Mar 2025 23:34:03 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43338293</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43338293</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43338293</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "What made the Irish famine so deadly"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>French and Germans were not depicted in English publications as apes.<p>The Irish were coerced into the UK and were officially British citizens, that is ostensibly, co-nationals. They weren't treated as such because those in power regarded them as subhuman. If that isn't racism the word is devoid of meaning.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 11 Mar 2025 23:05:49 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43338077</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43338077</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43338077</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "UK considering making USB-C the common charging standard, following the EU"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Dumping things that aren't up to standard for sale in the EU is routine since the UK left the EU single market. The EU implemented full customs controls and goods inspections on day 1 after the UK left. To date the British still don't have either the infrastructure or the staff to do the same. As result it has become a magnet for substandard goods, both originating in the EU and passing through it (e.g. from Rotterdam).<p>The estimated cost for the UK to implement full controls amounts to more than the entire sum of the UK's near 50 year contributions to the EU budget. And that's only one of dozens of areas where the EU saves money by agreeing common standards.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 16 Oct 2024 10:56:23 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41857669</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41857669</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41857669</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "UK considering making USB-C the common charging standard, following the EU"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>If you visit any store in the EU selling new phones or tablets you will find only USB-C devices for sale. No enforcement required.<p>What the Chinese do with cheap products sold on AliExpress isn't important. Obliging big manufacturers to adopt common standards reduces environmental waste and helps cut down on gratuitous exploitation of consumers.<p>You can find plenty of 2nd hand devices for sale with non-USB-C connectors and no, the police, aren't arresting people for selling them, nor is their sale illegal.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 16 Oct 2024 10:50:51 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41857635</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41857635</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41857635</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "UK considering making USB-C the common charging standard, following the EU"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p><a href="https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/books/232/" rel="nofollow">https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/books/232/</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 16 Oct 2024 10:42:27 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41857588</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41857588</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41857588</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "UK considering making USB-C the common charging standard, following the EU"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>You don't appear well informed about the EU or about the consequences of Brexit for British manufacturers. If you're implying some kind of EU civil servant driven influence over decisions in the UK I suggest you acquaint yourself with happened with the UK's UKCA mark<i>.<p>Very simply, maintaining two production lines or trying to engage in pointless differentiation from the standards of your largest export market is costly and potentially futile.<p>No need for any EU-bashing conspiracy theory nonsense. It's an association of democracies with a democratically elected parliament that approves EU legislation.<p></i>I'll help (there's plenty more if you care to look): <a href="https://www.trethowans.com/insights/is-this-the-end-of-the-ukca-marking/" rel="nofollow">https://www.trethowans.com/insights/is-this-the-end-of-the-u...</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 16 Oct 2024 10:36:51 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41857554</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41857554</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41857554</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "Apple found in breach of EU competition rules"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Perhaps you should inform yourself by reading the DMA. You won't find in it anything about Apple or anyone else hindering developers from selling elsewhere.<p>What the EU is regulating is fair competition for very large platforms, defined as having 45m or more users. These benefit from network effects and may be operated in ways that inhibit competition.<p>Do you also believe that John D. Rockefeller never did anything anti-competitive? lol<p>If Apple wants to sell in the EU it will have to abide by EU rules decided by democratically elected politicians. The US has proven incapable and or unwilling to regulate big tech. The EU has been slow and won't always get it right first time but it's trying. This is why EU citizens have e.f., privacy rights Americans don't, why broadband costs way less in the EU than the US etc.<p>If parasitism is what interests you I suggest directing your attention to rentier capitalism and the never ending upward flow of wealth to the 1% and the extent to which US politicians are owned by billionaires.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 24 Jun 2024 22:02:54 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40781425</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40781425</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40781425</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "Europe Regulates Its Way to Last Place"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Typical BS from a house journal of those who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 31 Jan 2024 10:07:22 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39201991</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39201991</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39201991</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by melesian in "Google Chrome will limit ad blockers starting June 2024"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>It's not simply about what you SEE. It's about tracking what sites you visit, where you are, what information can be collated to profile you in any and every way: your political preferences and likely interests can be gathered with some degree of probability from such things as your taste in music. Google buys your purchase history. Facebook has over 4,000 data points on you even if you don't use Facebook (use WhatsApp? people you know do? you're in their phone's address book?). Microsoft, Amazon and others likewise.<p>The data are for sale.<p>This is how Trump got elected and the UK got Brexit. Microtargeted political messages to persuade a proportion of the population to vote the way the very rich wanted them to vote.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 22 Nov 2023 11:29:09 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38377836</link><dc:creator>melesian</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38377836</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38377836</guid></item></channel></rss>