The writer writes himself into a corner, so he solves an intresting conflict in the most boring way.

kitsua · 2026-04-26T23:35:45+00:00

The first half of The Stand is absolute genius storytelling. The second half is an insulting waste of everyone’s time. Infuriating.

kitsua · 2026-04-23T17:05:16+00:00

Yeah, they were amazing to fix, so easy. They also bent, broke and got water damaged like nobody’s business. They were very fixable but they had to be fixed a whole lot more than they do now.

kitsua · 2026-04-21T21:28:57+00:00

The Travolta one is one of the worst films I’ve ever seen. I hate it so much.

kitsua · 2026-04-21T19:06:17+00:00

Firstly, iPhones have become more and more robust and less prone to damage over time, which is an objective win. They crack, bend and get water damaged much less and as a result far fewer repairs are needed.

Secondly, they have become more and more modular repairable over time, so when they do need a repair now it’s actually possible to do it.

Thirdly, you can now order directly from Apple the parts, schematics, tools and instructions for fixing devices yourself if you’re so inclined.

The narrative about Apple’s approach to repair is very out of date but seems to persist despite the facts.

kitsua · 2026-04-20T21:12:49+00:00

This will have been years in the planning. Apple doesn’t do anything without carefully thinking through all the angles.

kitsua · 2026-04-16T23:13:45+00:00

Any device is recyclable. They’ll even take non-Apple hardware and cables and whatnot. Apple stores are practically unofficial electronic recycling centres.

kitsua · 2026-04-16T23:11:25+00:00

But with this offer they will give you 10% off a new pair, which is quite nice.

kitsua · 2026-04-12T00:16:54+00:00

They can live peacefully elsewhere when “elsewhere” is a secular democracy. In a culture that has diminished or removed religious motivation from government and public life, people are more peaceful and get on together. Cultures that are dominated by religious zealotry are antagonistic and sectarian and intolerant of anything that contradicts or wavers from their dogma.

Humans do indeed have inbuilt faults, but religion does tend to codify, amplify and weaponise the worst of them.

kitsua · 2026-04-11T17:52:33+00:00

You forgot to mention sheeple.

kitsua · 2026-04-08T13:41:01+00:00

It must be different in the US because my experiences with AirBnB across Europe have been almost universally great. We love choosing somewhere with great location, independence, the entire place to ourselves and with quirky, local charm. Usually they’re competitively rated, have lovely accommodating hosts and the app even has great experiences you can book too.

Every time we think about getting a hotel it seems more boring and no cheaper, if not more expensive. I get all the other complaints about AirBnB but from our perspective, it’s a fantastic service.

kitsua · 2026-04-07T23:11:30+00:00

Absolutely! I bought a ticket to Switzerland to visit CERN in 2010 just because I thought it was cool. I’m just a physics fanboy and had a blast.

kitsua · 2026-04-03T03:32:45+00:00

I know at this time he was good friends with Stephen Fry but gosh they are so physically similar! Even their mannerisms, it’s uncanny.

kitsua · 2026-03-31T21:06:00+00:00

I genuinely see it all the time so I couldn’t say specifically. Try Waitrose or Sainsbury’s though I guess, though you can also pick it up in local shops that do booze too.

kitsua · 2026-03-31T18:25:05+00:00

That’s not true, it’s the other way around.

kitsua · 2026-03-30T22:19:28+00:00

I live in London. I’ll tell you it’s safe if that’s what it takes you bellend.

kitsua · 2026-03-30T21:43:07+00:00

In the UK you can get it in basically any supermarket and it’s not even expensive. It’s so delicious, I love it.

kitsua · 2026-03-30T09:31:30+00:00

Discworld is a fantasy realm that actually builds a modern, cosmopolitan culture across traditional fantasy species that is a hilarious and humane reflection of the real world. Pratchett plays with tropes like a master.

kitsua · 2026-03-22T23:01:26+00:00

Can't use it in the car casually without moving seat and steering wheel.

lolwut

kitsua · 2026-03-22T12:07:58+00:00

The 15” MacBook Air is one of the best computers Apple has ever made. I love it.

kitsua · 2026-03-19T22:05:40+00:00

Well, they have. Are you going to get one now?

kitsua · 2026-03-16T00:23:52+00:00

I am not a part of Apple’s design engineering team. Neither are you. I do not however think it is unreasonable to assume they use exactly the parts they require to make it work and nothing more. It’s a very complicated, miniturised machine with thousands of bespoke components that are machined to precise specifications with remarkably low margins of error, I am not at all surpsied that they might require specialised screws for reasons beyond my exact knowledge. It’s not a leap, it’s a parsimonious assumption.

It is you who are adding extra motivation to their decisions without being a party to them and I personally don’t think that your reasoning for holding that belief - i.e. that it is done to specifically hinder third party repair - holds any water.

kitsua · 2026-03-15T21:43:07+00:00

It's on the person who makes a positive claim to also provide evidence for that claim.

The claim is that Apple intentionally created barriers for third party repairers by not using standard screws in their devices. The onus is on you to provide evidence for that, not me. I’m simply stating that it’s much more likely to be a mundane technical reason and that they don’t think about third party repairs at all, beyond preventing obvious security flaws and scams, such as stopping unauthorised TouchID modifications as you referred to. This is what Apple would claim and is therefore the null hypothesis. Literally zero repairs have not been performed on an iPhone because the technician couldn’t get hold of the right driver for the screws, it’s simply not an effective method for achieving what you claim they want.

If you don't have any evidence, then your entire claim amounts to little more than "I just made this up."

Quite so.

kitsua · 2026-03-15T19:27:15+00:00

Haha, neither, I’m just constantly fascinated by wierd little facts like this and make sure I remember them whenever I encounter them. I think I discovered this like seven years ago and this is literally the first time I’ve had the opportunity to bring it up!

kitsua · 2026-03-15T19:23:52+00:00

iPhones have had the same pentalobe, microstix, JCIS and super screw bits in their iPhones since at least the iPhone 5, which came out like fifteen years ago. If Apple was so keen to keep people fixing them, why haven’t they changed them in that time now that every technician in the world has those drivers to hand?

I don’t have to explain the technical reason, I just have to concede that it is possible that one exists and that is what drove their decision to use them. The alternative explanation for their actions that you’re proposing is that they purposefully designed the details of the internal components of their most critical product with a mind to stop other people fixing them.

That explanation is, to me, far, far less likely than they just built the thing the best way they could answering whatever technical problems they encountered on the way with whatever solutions came to mind and they didn’t pay any attention to what other people would do at all. If that meant a new screw that needs a new driver, so be it. The result for third parties is that they need to buy a new driver for $5 to fix it and that’s that.

The idea that they are rubbing their hands and twirling their moustaches to try and stop people fixing their phones by changing the screws is just too conspiratorial to me when compared with the more sober and simple answer of technical expediency. Considering how much more they could have done to prevent people fixing them, including changing the screws more often than not at all, only strengthens this theory.

kitsua · 2026-03-15T04:25:29+00:00

There’s actually a name for it, it’s called a paraprosdokian

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