It is not ”to the point”.

I live in Sweden, and almost every year I discover someone I work with or have friends in common with, who has a friend or relative in Italy, or Greece who farms oranges/olives/cheese or what have you. And this friend in Sweden is selling their produce by word of mouth.

So once a year at harvest, the relative has someone drives a truck full of olive oil 2000 kilometers north, and dozens of Swedes turn up at an appointed time on a Tuesday afternoon in a parking lot to pick up their order of six bottles of oil. The prices are no better than in the supermarket, but ostensibly you’d get a high quality product.

It’s a funny way to do business in 2025, completely without Internet infrastructure. Somehow, I don’t think it would work as a web shop.

I know it does for a small Dutch setup :) https://www.kalamatakarma.com/ Marketing is still completely word of mouth afaik, but the webshop makes it easier for total strangers to tag along.

There is a lot of “paperwork” to do it as a web shop, if you know what I mean.

I’m sure taxes are part of it, but keep in mind it’s a toll free union after all. They could easily do this above board and just declare the Italian VAT as they do selling to locals.

I think for food products there are more considerations, like labeling and traceability.

If the Greek farmer is selling in Greece then all that is already done.

Exactly, you'll have to declare VAT

Presumably the wife would at least be able to watch TV on that big screen.

Doesn’t sound like a very fun hobby, TBH.

no the op, but I find great joy in looking though who sends me spam (based on the unique email used to sign up for each service)

I think it scratches a similar itch to putting up a game camera to see what sort of vermin are running around in your back yard.

You inevitably catch LexisNexis shitting in your herb garden and leaving squirrel carcasses lying about…

Where is this ”economy of software” which is not part of the ”tech industry”?

Do you mean they need income, or do you actually mean profit?

In a nonprofit, you don’t need layoffs unless you’re losing money (negative profit), normally.

Yeah you're right, I said profit in the original post because it was a nice polyptoton, but I did indeed mean revenue. That's on me!

It’d be pretty reasonable to take the whole API down in this scenario, and put it back up once it’s patched. They’d lose tons of cash but avoid being liable for extreme amounts of damages.

As the article states, US pedestrian deaths are UP 80% since 2010, while EU deaths are DOWN.

You can’t probably blame 100% of that difference on the design standards of US vehicles. But probably a high proportion of them!

Such vehicles have been very common in the us long before 2008. You’re making the opposite point you think you ate.

A 2025 GMC Sierra 2500 is a way bigger vehicle than a 1995 Ford Bronco. 7,417 lbs vs. 4,616 lbs. and hood height of 6.6 feet vs. about 3.7 feet. And the "light trucks" category has risen to 65% of the market from 36% of the market back then. There are a lot more of them, and they're a lot bigger.

A GMC Sierra doesn’t have a 6.6 ft hood height, unless this guy is 8 feet tall: https://share.google/iuCAMEsNEgN0rBGFK

What an odd comparison. Heavy duty trucks with dual rear axles absolutely existed in the 90s. Not sure why you chose a random mid size SUV.

Why not compare with the GMC sierra 2500 of whatever year?

Because "pavement princess" massive trucks driving around cities become much more common recently.

Which has resulted in trucks become more useless as actual trucks, since they've evolved into SUVs with a tiny bed you can't fit a sheet of plywood into.

I would say that since ~2008 there have was a large increase in distractions for both drivers and pedestrians in the form of screens with a further additions in vehicles later aa well.

Add in the absolutely stupid design of larger passenger vehicles and you get the current trend.

Do Europeans not have smartphones?

So what? You can already go on mobile.de and buy all of these US vehicles today from specialist importers.

Approximately nobody wants these cars in Europe! Everyone who wants one and can afford one already owns one, there’s no lack of supply.

But it would only lapse after 28, assuming the author is still interested in pursuing it. 28 years is plenty, IMO.

For a novel of middling success, like Game of Thrones ca 2004, as is the argument here? Why would anyone write and publish that sequel? Nobody would buy it if it was not from the original author.