This is only the case if said squashing just bundles commits without context or consistent logic. If merges to a mainline branch consist of feature branches whose pull request was already approved after a couple of iterations then the end result is a cleaner commit with it's history thoroughly audited. In practice it's equivalent to a fast-forward merge of a single-commit feature branch that just happened to be nearly lined up with mainline.

Not really, it's actually the other way around. Whataboutism aside, crypto proponents somehow try to maintain a cognitive dissonance of how crypto is designed to be unregulated and out of government's reach and at the same time show a kneejerk reaction to any comment on how crypto is used to perform transactions not allowed by regulation controlled by governments such as securities fraud and money laundering.

You only have anything to worry about if you're gunning for at least the fifth largest ever recorded in your part of the country.

Please don't play dumb. You accused, and I quote, "it's disingenuous to dismiss historical facts about what white people have done in Africa on the basis that it hurts white people in Africa's feelings."

> People who are white have done horrible things in Africa.

Please don't play dumb. You know very well your racist comment was a blanked accusation targeted at entire ethnical groups.

If you are honestly interested in learning about the crimes against humanity committed within the scope of imperialist agendas, you'll learn very well that the root cause is very specific. If on the other hand you're just invested in mindlessly spewing racist comments then you should really take a look at what you are doing.

That sounds like a convoluted and impractical solution looking for a problem. Mobile service companies and hardware vendors managed to implement services that support activation and bricking without getting any crypto-related buzzword in the way.

What? That means nothing at all.

If your goal was honestly to just buy art, why would "gas fees" matter? They only matter in a scenario involving wash trades and high rates of transactions involving small deltas in price.

To me that assertion, albeit convenient to paint a rosy picture, doesn't make any sense. No one needs a convoluted technical scheme to support artists as donating cash is easy and effortless. Buying the rights to a work from an artist also does not require a convoluted technical scheme, and considering that NFTs haven't been used to enforce any right then that hypothesis is also highly dubious.

What NFTs offer is the ability to perform transactions, and ones which don't have any artist or provenance in consideration.

I already did. You made an unsubstantiated claim, and I pointed out your personal assertion was wrong and baseless, and provided a time history of gas prices as evidence, including the fact that not so long ago they were over 3 times higher than the current market price.

If you have a problem with the facts feel free to point out what exactly leads you to believe that justifies the discrepancy between your personal beliefs and the facts.

I'm not sure if the link between NFTs and money laundering can be downplayed as conspiracy theory. Even yesterday Reuters published a newspiece on NFTs being auctioned by the likes of Sotheby's, and where crypto-rich buyers pay NFT auctions with crypto, where a cryptocurrency lawyer was quoted as pointing out money laundering via cryptocurrencies was a "known fact."

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/new-masters-how-auc...

Using NFT transactions to launder money isn't exactly a novel idea as the art world is dominated and driven by money laundering schemes. In fact, in Mexico the art market tanked 70% once the Mexican government passed legislation requiring more info from buyers, because it's believed Mexican cartel rings were behind these transactions.

https://www.artandobject.com/news/how-money-laundering-works...

I suspect that stimulus checks may have also played a role. Those who fall below the poverty line finally found themselves with a little disposable income to spend on basic everyday things, thus driving up demand. Stimulus check detractors prefer to spin this as inflation but you only get that with a generalized increase in demand for basic consumer goods and services.

My personal theory is that this effect is driven mainly by poor people finally getting a break. Those who were already well-off tend to either not change their consumer patterns with small changes in disposable income, or tend to spend it with one-off expenses such as luxury goods and services, or even dump it in risky investments like crypto as we've been seeing in the ongoing bull run.

I'm not sure if you're just expressing your personal concerns over what you believe can hypothetically happen, or whether you're grossly misinformed.

Meanwhile, even though gas prices are breaking records all over the world, in the US they are still below the prices from 2010, back in the days no one in the US was concerned about gas prices because they were 3 times higher a couple years back during Bush2's presidency.

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/hist/rngwhhdm.htm

Why do you believe that? I mean, is no one working in the hospitality or constructions industry, and is no one benefiting from public spending?

> Foreign buyers have driven the housing market well above the purchasing power of locals, who still have one of the lowest salaries in Europe specially when adjusted to cost of living.

If there is foreign investment in real estate increasing supply and in the process creating jobs and tax revenue, and if there is an increase in demand for this specific market segment, isn't there a net benefit to society? And why do you assume that low-wage workers would be in the market for high-end housing in tourism centers if not for these foreign investors?

> For perspective, Portuguese minimum wage is 600 euros with a mode at around 1k per month (pre-tax).

A quick Google search points out that Portugal offers golden visas to real estate investors who spend more than €500k on a home[1]. That's hardly the same market segment being serving the demand of most citizens of western Europe. Why is this being spun as a "they're taking our jobs"-kind of propaganda?

[1] https://www.ft.com/content/36e18c72-512b-4c87-a41f-8ba2a9157...

Why is this bad? If foreigners don't move to Portugal then they contribute zero in taxes and to the economy. If the Portuguese government convinces people to move to Portugal with tax benefits, they will pay taxes and spend their income in the local economy.

I'm not sure that's true. Remote work does not require workers to be at commute distance from anywhere, and it only requires them to have a reliable internet connection. Everyone I know who switched to remote work moved out of city centers and into places where both rent was lower and quality of life was higher.

What exactly leads you to believe that fleeing tech hubs and urban centers leads to higher rents?

Yes, it does speak volumes on the problem the US is facing with its authoritarian, anti-intellectual, proto-fascist political movements. The science community should be free from persecution just because extremists have a hard time dealing with inconvenient info.

> What makes you feel safe?

Personally I feel safe when I don't have terrorists threatening me and my family with violence and murder just because I pointed the fact that vaccines work. It seems academia shares this opinion with me.

Taken from:

https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19/questions-answers/que....

"Most children do not develop symptoms when infected with the virus, or they develop a very mild form of the disease. However, research has shown that children can become infected, and can spread the virus to other children and adults while they are infectious."

COVID-19 is not the big deal it was a few months ago because back then vaccine rollout barely started. Right now, those who still haven't got the jab either can't take it yet or are outright refusing to take it.

Meanwhile, children can't be vaccinated but enjoy a low risk of developing serious illness.

Given the scenario, it was necessary to evaluate the risk of deciding whether to impose a lockdown onto the school population, which would be largely incoherent and disproportionate to the risk, or returning to school while enforcing basic and low-effort health and safety measures, such as wearing masks and respect social distancing. Most of the world, if not all, chose to resume the school year with students returning to school.

You need to get your story straight. Things are quite simple as easy to understand once you take an honest look at the issue. For instance:

* The current generation of COVID-19 vaccines trains the immune system to have a fighting chance against COVID-19 and are effective at practically eliminating the risk of serious illness, but they do not prevent infection or spread.

* Some people cannot take the vaccine, such as the case of pregnant women until recently. Others do continue to be at risk even after taking the vaccine such as those plagued with comorbidities. See Colin Powell.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/18/colin-powell-suffered-from-a...

* The risk of spawning a new strain that is not handled by the vaccine is proportional to the number of infections, thus contributing to it's spread endangers us all. See how the Delta variant was spawned in India.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/rising-covid-19-breakthrough-ca...

This is widely known by anyone who honestly cares about the subject and did a cursory search on the topic. In my case, the local vaccination drive distributed a leaflet explaining everything. Is any of this info new to you?

Before you go on attacking others for being cowards, what would you do if you started receiving death threats because you chose to speak publiy about an issue which an extremist political movement frowns upon?

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02757-3