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Is it possible that maybe Mississippi.... isn't terrible? I've never been there but is it just a given that it's a horrible place to live? I understand their schools have improved a good bit, at least. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Miracle

Like most of the South, where I proudly live, it's a place where the poor and rich live very different lives. It has pretty bad places (just like the UK), but it has areas with great quality of life and is far from "horrible".

I've lived in Mississippi Hill Country, the Delta, and the Mississippi coast. The Delta is awful. Mechanization in farming and fleeing industry left the population behind to wither. North MS and the coast both have great things going for them and are relatively nice places to live, especially when cost of living is taken into account.

educating 10 years of children isn't going to erase generations of doing nothing.

> Is it possible that maybe Mississippi.... isn't terrible

Pretty much. Mississippi does have significant issues (it's HDI [0] is significantly lower than anywhere else in the UK or US), but is comparable to peers in Metropolitan France [1] such as Normandy, Lorraine, and Picardy, as well as several regions of Italy [2]. Basically, not great but also not some third world despair of darkness.

Most likely, if a deeper subnational analysis was done of Mississippi, there would be a stark difference in HDIs between the unindustrialized Delta and industrialized North and Gulf Coast.

That said, at least it's been decades since Mississippi has seen a race riot where rioters were purposely burning black people's houses like what we saw in Belfast last night [3].

Plenty of Brits need to do some soul searching. There's a reason why even despite Trump, everyone who is eligible for an O1 tries to come to the US over London. Comparing the UK with Mississippi based on GDP per Capita is facetious, but the UK is similar to Mississippi in many other ways.

[0] - https://globaldatalab.org/shdi/table/shdi/USA+GBR/?levels=1+...

[1] - https://globaldatalab.org/shdi/table/shdi/FRA/?levels=1+4&ye...

[2] - https://globaldatalab.org/shdi/table/shdi/ITA/?levels=1+4&ye...

[3] - https://time.com/article/2026/06/10/belfast-protests-erupt-k...


I was curious about comparisons like the ones you're making between US states and EU countries and made this little app, maybe you'll find it useful!

https://evmar.github.io/states/


It's a good tool! That said, I also recommend looking at European (and other) nations from a subnational lens as well.

The North-South divide in Italy, the FRG/GDR divide in Germany, Northeast and Southern versus Central France, and various other representations of spatial inequality exist within Europe as well.

The reality is a Parisian, Londonian, and New Yorker have much more overlap with each other than they do with their own compatriots, yet it is this class that is overrepresented in any discourse on social and traditional media.


Thanks, I'd love to add them! Do you have a good source for this data? I did a quick look at the site you linked above and I'm not sure whether it has numbers for GDP or landmass for these regions.

This group at IMR Radboud [0] has been working on subnational inequality for over a decade

The reality is landmass and stuff doesn't matter as much as HDI which acts as a lossy indicator of development.

[0] - https://globaldatalab.org/


Life expectancy is complex and there's more to it than healthcare. Certainly habits, exercise, diet, etc. are a big part of it as well.

Like allowing to spray lead from airplane exhaust over the populated areas, right? Oh wait...


"including FAANG"

What would make them less vulnerable to this?


I'd say they have people who have been doing software for as long as 30 years, and also all the human resources and billions of dollars to fix this problem if it was something that could be fixed with human resources and money.

And still ... there's a lot of this.


That sounds similar to the lamentations of American buyers who want Japanese kei trucks.

It’s protectionism all the way down I guess.

Though I see tons of US pickup trucks in the Netherlands, and have seen even lifted ones in Germany too for that matter.


In Germany it's mostly US service members and their families who drive US pickup trucks. They can ship personal vehicles to Germany without having to make them fully compliant with German regulations, and generally seem to like them

Away from US bases, pickup trucks are very rare in Germany. The closest thing you will see are 3-ton flatbed trucks as work vehicles, or something like a VW Transporter. But generally tradespeople prefer vans, and commuters prefer hatchbacks or SUVs (which are bad enough)


Despite failing to meet EU safety rules, they can be imported under Individual Vehicle Approval - """ The use of IVA for so-called ‘off-road’ vehicles (N1G) has more than doubled since 2019, rising from 2,900 new registrations in that year to 6,800 in 2022, with Dodge Ram pick-up trucks accounting for approx 60% of IVAs in this category over these four years, 2019 to 2022 """

https://etsc.eu/concerns-over-loopholes-allowing-american-pi...

Anyway, my point was that you can buy American trucks in Europe right now, so op may be able to get this $30k Ford.

For what it's worth, I have a big soft spot for trucks with long beds and normal-height hoods! Something like a Chevy S10 or 90's Tacoma is really useful! I just don't like biking with my kids by drivers who can't seem them.


> That sounds similar to the lamentations of American buyers

Is there a good international metric for how much a given country’s car buyers pay extra due to tariffs, duties, protectionist regulation, et cetera?


Lamenting the difficulty of registering kei trucks is kind of rich coming from the patron saint of "the roads are horribly dangerous and we need to do everything to safen them up and drivers can bear whatever that costs"

Protectionism when I don't like it, public safety when I do I guess.

In any case, they're pretty easy to register if you don't lick the boot. Whatever state you're in typically isn't gonna come after you for tax evasion for an object they aren't in the business of taxing if you catch my drift.


> if you catch my drift

Not OP but I don't. What do you mean? How do you make the kei truck an object they aren't in the business of taxing when they are, in fact, in that very business? Or maybe I have some deeper confusion about the issue here.


> What do you mean?

I think they mean it’s easier than many of us suspect to register an imported car as something close enough and get away with it. The most challenging bit would probably be maintenance.


That depends a lot on the state. I hear in Utah it's very easy to register a kei truck/van as street-legal. Here in Nevada it's quite the opposite, at least according to those I've talked to who've attempted it.

I live outside of Austin TX and have seen one regularly parked outside a house in my neighborhood for 5 years now. Has a license plate. If I had to bet, I’d say it’s registered (taxes paid, has required insurance) because police around here have camera systems in their cars that scan plates looking for unregistered vehicles (found out the hard way one time when I forgot to renew).

My understanding is they generally need to be 25+ years old, but this may vary (or I am out of date?) https://www.kei-trucks.com/blogs/kei-trucks/state-restrictio...

I think OP’s point is nobody is going to verify if it’s 10 or 25 years old.

I meant just register it in one of the slightly less than half of states that let you do that.

Even if some Karen narcs on you to the tax man unless it's an especially slow day the tax man will say something along the lines of "It's a what? We don't register those"

The registration/tax people aren't in the business of giving a shit about the nuances of the vehicle code. They're in the business of collecting money. It's not like you're dodging meaningful fees on an entire truck fleet. You're dodging what would be a zero to them since they'd never let you register it. What are they gonna do send you one of those "we believe you owe us X, pay up or we'll use the full force of the state to fucking stomp you and ruin your life" letters with X= $0. I'm sure they'll get right on that.


If you title and register your kei car in washington (where you can register it, usually) and keep it and drive it in California (where you can't register it), there's a chance some officer who hates kei cars is going to find it and raise a stink. And then you've got to pay fines, and maybe your car gets towed and you have to flatbed it out of state. Plus fines, I'm sure.

If it's cheap enough or fun enough, it might be worth the risk; but I don't know that I would risk it.

I know someone who got pulled over, and then a ticket for driving in California with washington plates and changing 3 lanes at once. "Anybody who drives like that must live here"

Not sure what a kei car would be doing on a freeway 3 lanes over though.


    > American buyers who want Japanese kei trucks.
It is crazy when I hear people say they want to drive a kei truck on American roads. American SUVs and trucks are enormous in both height and weight. The kei truck does not offer the necessary crash protection.

But... I'm allowed to walk, bike, or ride a motorcycle on American streets...

It is crazy when I hear people say they want to walk, bike, or ride a motorcycle on American roads. American SUVs and trucks are enormous in both height and weight. Walking, biking, or riding a motorcycle does not offer the necessary crash protection.

People already ride motorcycles so why not let them drive in much safer kei trucks?

> American SUVs and trucks are enormous in both height and weight.

That has nothing to do with actual consumer preference and everything to do with regulatory capture.


> The kei truck does not offer the necessary crash protection

Eh, if you aren’t doing a lot of highway driving, I think this could be fine? Especially in a city where collisions should be low speed.

Put another way—and this is a genuine question—is the person who wants a Kei truck better off spending tens of thousands of dollars more for safety rather than investing that in their health, happiness or education?


You raise some interesting points. A different way to look at safety: Why do car companies bother at all? Why isn't it a race to the bottom for car crash safety? "Oh, it's expensive to have cars with crash safety. Let's reduce our materials cost."

> Why do car companies bother at all? Why isn't it a race to the bottom for car crash safety?

More safety, always, is usually a feel-good measure. If people aren’t trading in their old cars for the newer, safer ones, because the latter are too expensive, it’s not actually helping people. Same if the cheapest car someone can get for their commute is bankrupting them.


I did more research on this matter and found a this PDF: https://dor.georgia.gov/document/document/policy-bulletin-mv...

    > Kei Vehicles are not compliant with U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS). Therefore, they are not “street legal.” Kei Vehicles are barred from titling and registration.
I found other sources on Google saying you can cheat this rule by finding a state that does not strictly enforce FMVSS rules for titling and registration. Then, you can (illegally) drive the kei truck in another state. To be clear: This is illegal, but you need to be caught. Also, it looks like there are auto body shops that will modify a kei truck/car to make it street legal. I have a seen a bunch of YouTubers driving kei trucks/cars with California license plates. Thus, I assume the work was done to make them street legal.

Thus, we can conclude that FMVSS prevents a race-to-the-bottom in vehicular safety for cars in the US. Honestly, I expect all highly developed nations to have similar rules. Why? For the safety of children, more than anything. Even if a parent wants to drive an unsafe car, most societies will prioritise the safety of child passengers over the "liberty" of the parent/owner/driver.


Sorry, but this is a crock.

1. Seat belts - pretty sound investment. 2. Air Bags - excellent investment. 3. Crumple zones - outstanding investment. 4. ABS - outstanding investment. 5. Backup cameras - not worth the money if you don't value the lives of small kids. 6. Lane sensors - pretty handy, especially as your reflexes start to slow with age.

Why aren't performance improvements scrutinized the same way? How often are huge trucks given a pass despite never having anything in their truckbeds?


(Not) sorry (in the slightest), but this is a crook.

Stop getting your technical info from ideologues in the reddit comments. Each of those investments is an order of magnitude less valuable than the first.

Wear your seatbelt. That's 90% of the battle.

Crumple zones in particular punch below their weight class and are grossly misunderstood on the internet. Their primary purpose is to let the front of the car hit something before the cabin starts decelerating to buy time for airbag deployment. Force absorption is a secondary nice to have. They only make a meaningful difference to the forces in the cabin at a narrow range of speed.

Side curtain airbags punch above their weight class though because there's not much else to help you in that direction of movement.

ABS is pretty meh. It only really beats the operator by enough to matter in specific situations.

If your reflexes are so bad that the lane keeping is what's keeping you in the lane there's other problems.

I'm not gonna pick apart every one of these improvements and they do add value. But they do not add the amount of value you are acting like they do.

>Why aren't performance improvements scrutinized the same way? How often are huge trucks given a pass

Because you're simping vehicular safety theater. So where the dollars and cents actually matter, commercial trucks bought by commercial interests who can push back, what gets adopted is actually based on what's real vs emotion driven screeching. Like for example semi trailers got ABS real early. It's extra valuable in applications where weight changes a lot.

>despite never having anything in their truckbeds?

Because the 2nd row of your car gets so much ass?


They did before consumer safety regulations went into affect

I know it's anecdata, but the number of high-speed crashes in my college-town are amazing. You have a 45mph zone, people routinely speed 5-10 over that and boom, dramatic crashes.

For driving around town to do stuff, I'd say they are fine and would love to have one. I doubt they would be able to safely drive on our freeways here though.

I was surprised after moving to Ireland to discover that you can break the law and nothing will happen. I went through hell with planners (idiots who don’t believe in climate change and hate eaves) while people around me put three mobile homes on their land as well as building two permanent homes with no permission (and ripping out ancient hedgerows) and successfully got retention. Why even bother?

2 months ago there was a story about a huge family mansion in Meath being demolished after a court found they did not have the proper planning permissions, and the council was unwilling to grant the permissions after the fact. Also just last week a judge ordered the demolition/removal of 26 mobile homes from a site in Dublin set up without permissions.

Friends of mine recently got planning permission for a house they've been living in for about 3 years already.

So you can def roll the dice on such things, maybe you get away with it for decades, maybe your house gets flattened.

My (also an immigrant like you) take on Ireland is that many of these systems are run and controlled by humans, and you can get pretty far by trying to make that human connection with the people controlling your fate. My wife was initially refused maternity benefit, because she did not have enough social security contributions. She works part-time, and she was missing 1 contribution (about €120) out of something like 38 for the year. After friends (the same from above) suggested we phone them and talk to the people, the maternity benefit application was approved. I find that there is a lot less "sorry can't help you, computer says no" here.


True, and we did find that we could at least talk to our TD pretty easily, which was good for a sympathetic ear but didn't change much.

Might be worth noting that the house you mention was built 20 years ago. https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/housing-planning/2026/05/...

And indeed, rules against mobile homes are actually enforced in Dublin, but outside the pale we definitely had a different experience.


> I find that there is a lot less "sorry can't help you, computer says no" here.

Unless of course you need assistance with a privacy issue concerning US big tech. Then suddenly you'll be met with nothing but silence in Ireland, as the stream of incoming billions from being a compliance haven for criminal US companies must continue flowing.


In common parlance, that's called corruption.

Interesting that you think this is corruption or favours are being offered up. I wonder how you'll react when confronted by some real corruption.

Corruption like Orbán stealing my taxes to fund a palace for himself? This is the most smug, privileged thing I've read in a while. If you're fine with corruption, say it loud and proud.

Definitely is an embodiment of class/accent/skin colour privilege.

It's funny you say this because, at least from what I've seen, groups that are historically discriminated against seem to be receiving more latitude in skirting the law.

What did I miss in the GP comment that points to the decisions being made on class, accent, or skin color?

My suspicion is that leaving things like e.g. qualification for social benefits to the judgment of whoever happens to be talking to the claimant introduces the possibility of bias entering the decision.

It can, but I don't think we should assume it did. Innocent until proven guilty and all, and unfortunately most if not all laws come down to judgement calls by those in charge.

Eh, algorithmic / procedural bias is also a thing, and it can line up with the kinds of protected characteristics the rules are ostensibly there to prevent discrimination on the basis of. See, for example, redlining in the USA. I suspect the benefits of allowing discretion generally outweigh the risks it creates, provided that the aggregate feedback of that discretion is taken into account when redesigning the procedures, so that discretion doesn't become load-bearing as the real world moves on and the procedures stay in the same place.

No, it's just good old corruption and/or nepotism.

I jokingly refer to this as the Catholic principle: "sin first - confess and repent later" as it's a common theme in countries that are/were traditionally Catholic, including my own.

It's really just places culturally untouched by Calvinism, Puritanism and the like, all of which put emphasis on order.

The last thing to attempt bringing order to them were various forms of authoritarianism and they didn't last. I think we can agree this is not the right approach.


It's not just a Catholic thing, in Book II of Plato's Republic (written ~2,400 years ago) Adeimantus mentions that some people say there's no point in acting justly because you can just act unjustly and sacrifice to the gods later to make it up.

It's the saying, "It's easier to ask forgiveness than get permission."

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/06/19/forgive/


Maybe I'm a Calvinist. I'm definitely happier in the Netherlands. My general experience was that Irish laws existed mostly for show and if you followed them you were a chump. Unless you wanted to smoke a joint now and then, of course.

Ireland supposedly cares about nature too, but you can still buy truckloads of turf off the side of the road in Offaly. Good luck getting those rules enforced.

When we still lived in Dublin I got pretty tired of having to push my baby in her pram in the street because the pavements (sidewalks) were completely covered in cars, even in the city centre trying to get to the YMCA creche.

Our experience wasn't limited to "victimless" crimes though. I think when you're threatening your neighbours and letting dangerous dogs loose on other people's land where there's kids or sheep then authoritarianism is called for.

It really is a place where crime is legal.


You may have a point but you're discrediting yourself by using extreme hyperbole.

Authoritarianism would be you and your family getting picked up and interrogated sometime at night for this critical comment you just made.

And saying "crime is legal" when referring to cars parked on the sidewalk or you having had a bad experience with a neighbours dog? I think if you reflect a little you'd realise that these are the kind of "crimes" you probably have committed yourself countless times.


Thats some mighty hyperbole, not everybody is breaking some minor (or not so minor) laws 50x a day. Or a year.

Societies where there is high amount of respect towards each other and rules tend to perform much better over long time, ie Switzerland. Its a pleasure to live in such society especially when coming from more messy ones, triple that with small kids.


> Thats some mighty hyperbole, not everybody is breaking some minor (or not so minor) laws 50x a day. Or a year.

How do you know? Do you know of all of the protected species of bug in your country for instance?

In my town there are laws about using profanity in public. I'm sure they would be deemed illegal if charges were brought but the law is still on the books.


I’ve never let dogs with a history of killing livestock on to my neighbours’ land where kids are playing.

But regardless, I’m much happier since leaving.


I don't want to discount your experience or judge that particular event. I just disagree with calling for authoritarianism in response to that.

Happy that you are happier :) I'm German, so in general I find it refreshing when people manage to live peacefully with each other without having a rule for every single thing. Obviously a dog endangering children is not such a case.


The dog thing specifically was very heavily policed in the part of Spain I used to live in. It being unenforced would be unheard of.

Last year I was in a Samsung shop when one couple remarked to me that it was the second time they came to buy the same phone for the wife in a month. Then naturally I asked for the reason why, I thought they like it so much to buy a second one.

Apparently the couple just recently come back from a trip in Ireland and lost the new Samsung phone there. Someone has stolen the wife's baggage from the bus when it's doing the routine transit stop by the bus stop while opening the bus baggage conpartment. By the time they realised the thief already going away from the bus with the baggage with the new Samsung phone inside it. They reported to the police but nothing happened. In UAE, Singapore or Japan this type of crime is just not worth it since the petty thief will be punished severely. A lady can incidently left her Louis Vuitton bag inside a restaurant in Dubai, left it at her seat, then after a few hours come back to fetch the bag without losing anything inside.


what happens if you criticise the government in these safe countries?

what happens if you criticize the government with regard to certain topics in the UK on social media?

https://nypost.com/2025/08/19/world-news/uk-free-speech-stru...


Which topics?

Racist ones? I only skimmed the article.

it appears you've misunderstood what criticizing the government is, nice try though

there was a recent case of a kid who was literally stabbed by a sihk guy and got arrested because the sihk guy said the guy said something racist.

Now before you say that I need to check my white privilege, I am brown. everytime one of these people commit these crimes and the police look the other way in the name of political correctness, it gives legitimacy to the racists who want to cast all of us in a bad light. Law and order needs to be a applied equally and its very strange to me how people are getting arrested for speech when they are a direct consequence of government policies. don't make teh speech illegal, correct the issues the=is speech is surfacing.


Yes, that wasn’t criticising the government either.

you don't think criticizing asymmetry in policing isn't criticizing government?

If it doesn't support GP's position, it doesn't count.

What happens if you criticize the government of Japan?

Nothing.

Generally nothing. In Singapore, there are some risks.

> As of March 2023, Emirati authorities continued to incarcerate with no legal basis at least 51 Emirati prisoners who completed their sentences between 1 month and nearly 4 years ago. The prisoners are all part of the grossly unfair “UAE94” mass trial of 69 government critics, whose convictions violated their rights to free expression, assembly, and association. UAE authorities used baseless counterterrorism justifications to continue holding them past their completed sentences. Some prisoners completed their sentences as early as July 2019.

https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2024/country-chapters/unite...

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/10/uae-reporters-un-cl...


Nothing in UAE? I call bullshit.

> I think when you're threatening your neighbours and letting dangerous dogs loose on other people's land where there's kids or sheep then authoritarianism is called for.

It doesn't have to require authoritarianism to keep the peace. It also doesn't seem like it could only be solved by an authority. If there's a dangerous dog on your property, shoot it if you can't get it to leave and fear for the safety of your kids or sheep.


That's great until the retaliation.

Sure, every action has reactions. I'm not saying the first response should be to shoot the dog in such a scenario, it should be the last resort least of all because it wasn't the dog creating the situation.

It and to be handled though. Yes, there may be retaliation for shooting the dog but there may be retaliation for calling the cops as well. All you can do is deal with the situation at hand, there is no magic bullet authority or otherwise.


> I think when you're threatening your neighbours and letting dangerous dogs loose on other people's land

I know too little about this specific situation, but did the neighbour not stop despite being asked to?

I haven't been to Ireland or the Netherlands (aside from driving through of course), but from what I've heard I would not like it in the latter. Nature appears to be scarce there, as for some reason the Dutch insist on being an agricultural superpower despite the population density.


The reason is roughly that there were devastating food shortages in the world wars, and avoiding that happening again has been an important force in Dutch politics since.

Oooh shit, now it all makes perfect sense. Thank you!

The neighbour screamed at me never to talk to her or her kids.

> I think when you're threatening your neighbours and letting dangerous dogs loose on other people's land where there's kids or sheep then authoritarianism is called for.

You jumped straight to authoritarianism? How about trying self-defense?

Boy you really are a Calvinist


The guy who carries a pistol and shoots the neighbor's dogs in self defense, I would expect that guy to face some social consequences and he'd be lucky if it was just the police.

Hobbes. we create the Leviathan so we don't have to constantly act in self defense. The alternative was cold, brutish, and short.


Europeans largely do not believe in the right to self defense

> authoritarianism is called for

Maybe it's a language thing, but authoritarianism is never called for.

Rule of law that is just and enforced fairly is what is called for.


You joke, but it's not remotely Catholic in principle. A confession is by definition invalid if premeditated.

A presupposition of confession is that you have contrition and the resolve not to sin and wish to receive absolution (which doesn't remove the need for temporal justice btw). Premeditation and without remorse turns that confession into an empty act, and indeed, another sin.

Calvinists also believe in confession. Indeed, it doesn't even require the uncomfortable encounter with a priest. You can just do it privately in their view.

This touches on the purpose of sacraments in the Catholic Church. They are meant to be visible signs that give assurance and certainty that something has taken place. If a human being were to show perfect contrition (very rare), then there is no need for the confessional (and ultimately, God is not bound by the sacraments). But for the penitent, the confessional gives assurance of absolution, provided there is some measure of requisite contrition. You don't have to wonder about your eternal fate after leaving the confessional.

The idea that Catholic societies are corrupt or and Calvinist societies are tidy and ordered is a stereotype, and it is silly and ahistorical to claim that you need authoritarianism to bring order to Catholic countries. Catholic societies have a greater tolerance for the messiness of human life. It views itself like a field hospital ready to provide people with means to get back up and to heal. Calvinists, on the other hand, are strangled by their constant anxiety about whether they are part of the elect or not. That can translate into rigidity, rigorism, scrupulosity, and OCD. These, in turn, can resort in a backlash of moral laxity.

(Another stereotype is the Protestant work ethic. Apparently, no one ever heard of the Benedictines and their influence on Europe. There is also a healthy attitude toward work and an unhealthy one.)


OMG the planning system is definitely an issue in this country. I did try to wing it but had to demolish a small structure, retention was not approved. Their letters are insanely threatening, like you can go to jail or pay a fine in millions. But then another time I just did the planning permission in my own name, drawings and all and it was approved fairly quickly despite me not being an eng or arch. It depends on the town/city you are in and the planning department. I used to deal with planning in other European countries and Ireland just lacks technical supervision step, hence the dependence on neighbours notifying the council and on the front loading of the initial application process.

There also are a lot of things that could help a lot with reducing heat gain in the summer that planners are strongly opposed to, like eaves (which let in the sun in winter but not in the midday in summer), and I can't fathom why.

We’ve had a warmer than average year worldwide every year since 1976. I suppose it’s just coincidence that exactly what climate scientists said would happen keeps happening and keeps getting worse.

There is a lot of truth to this but things are changing e.g. those houses without planning permission getting torn down. That simply would not have happened two decades ago.

Sure, but you have to move to Ireland. That's a deal-breaker for most folks.

Yeah, we ended up leaving in part because of how lawless our area was (the midlands)

I'd love to hear more about this if you have the time. What specific things happened?

Family next door had 17 kids (yes, from one mother), 5 dangerous dogs, and absolutely despised us (somehow we thought having a few acres of land would make worrying about neighbours less necessary). There was an ongoing decades-old land feud with the farmer behind both of our homes. The aforementioned dangerous dogs killed several of the farmer's sheep, so the farmer finally shot and killed one of the dogs during an attack on said sheep, which escalated tensions. We had 2 and 4 year old kids who, it's worth noting, were roughly the size of sheep and about as tempting for the dogs to kill, so we were basically terrified to let our kids outside. Neighbours routinely insulted us, yelled at us, and threw garbage (including old chemical containers, sharp metal, etc.) on to our land.

They also routinely trespassed and shot fireworks over our thatch roof (the roof was part thatch, part modern) - very concerning when your roof is more flammable than kindling. Finally they left a dead crow in a bag by our door which felt like a threat, so we sold the place at a €100k loss and moved to the Netherlands.

Gardai were absolutely lazy, uncaring, and useless, and did absolutely nothing.

Now I encourage everyone I can to stay as far away from rural Ireland as possible.


How has the experience in the Netherlands been? Did you move to a rural area in the Netherlands?

No, we moved to Houten (about 5km from central Utrecht). It's been great! Friendly neighbours, good school that my kids walk to (they can walk and bike all over the place actually), pretty efficient bureaucracy, great public transit.. Though you know, even some places in the Netherlands (Hilversum comes to mind) won't stop people parking on pavements for some reason, which is annoying. Overall I really like it though.

What an absolute nightmare! Did this teach you anything valuable? Apart from staying away from rural Ireland.

Mostly to be careful. The house was an absolute dream on paper. It was even something you could commute to Dublin from on the train in a pinch.

I eventually gained some biases that the former-me who lived in the lefty "Dublin 2 and https://irishtechcommunity.com/" bubble wouldn't have been particularly quick to espouse. Now that it's been a few years I think I'm a little better at seeing different sides of things politically, at least.


It's always worth understanding the consequences of non compliance before you'd decide to comply (and vice versa.)

Saving fruits and veg has been around for a long time. Here's a low-tech technique that has existed for ages. https://archive.org/details/rootcellaringsim0000bube

Those economists probably didn't think we'd make building a home default-illegal.

So long as we have a scarcity of necessities (housing comes to mind) peer competition will ensure that all increases in productivity accrue to the owners of capital, because you need to outcompete your peers for said necessity.

Years ago I outbid some other people for a house in rural Ireland. (This is a longer way of saying "I bought a house"). It was a very cheap house. Those other people have their career choices* (like making pottery for a living vs being a remote software developer) constrained because they were outbid, in the same way that my own choices (like working 4 days a week vs 5) are constrained by e.g. people who are willing to work 5+ days a week 12 hours a day.

* To be clear, I know very well that most people don't even have such a choice in the first place.


Wow, as cool as this is, it's kind of a shame that we need to say "use coords to show where the mouse should click" instead of designing interfaces that keep pointing-device-free users in mind.

With Windows in particular, you absolutely can navigate Windows + Office keyboard only. I do it every day.

Now, third party software, is always going to be all over the place. Stuff that was largely built on Win32 components works fine, but "modern" stylized applications rarely have strong support.


You’re right that lots of Windows apps were designed with Keyboard only workflows in mind. It’s a shame that MacOS has so many points where if you don’t have a mouse you’re out of luck.

There is one major improvement you can do on Mac, at least for menus:

https://varun.ch/posts/macos-keyboard/


Like the linked article says, every time I set up a new Mac, I’m annoyed that this isn’t the default.

I’m annoyed that this isn’t the default.

I really feel like this used to be the default. That's how I always did it in macOS going back to the early 2000's.

Only in the last two versions or so did I notice it was no longer the default. I'm glad to see here that I can now re-enable it.

Edit: I see that I do have it enabled. But for some reason there are a lot of programs where it doesn't seem to work anymore, no matter what the settings. Off the top of my head: Half the Adobe programs I use for work.


I get that this might annoy you, but there is a direct trace all the way back to the original Mac in 1984 that required a mouse. As time went on and the two other OSes we still have gained mouse support (Windows, Linux) from their keyboard roots, they brought forward their ethos of keyboard navigation. Mac OS resolutely stayed attached to its mouse only roots.

It was a significant downside of MacOS from the beginning, and it still is.

That seems incredibly subjective. For people with carpal tunnel like myself, having to do everything on the keyboard can be very painful. The mouse alleviates that and gives visual feedback.

That's a good reason to support the mouse as a backup peripheral, but not a good reason to gimp keyboards in your interface.

Seeing as both can be accommodated, I would argue it's an objective limitation of macOS.


Fair point

Annoying heritage is still annoying.

“When we work on making our devices accessible by the blind, I don’t consider the bloody ROI.”

Well Tim, I suppose the blind do outnumber the handless.


Can confirm.

Obviously depends on your workflow but I think I use mouse only on websites on macos (with aerospace)

If you're interested in keyboard navigation of websites, consider a browser or extension with link hinting support! It worked really well in my experience a few years ago, although I've since became much more of a mouse guy and stopped using it.

Qutebrowser was my favorite browser for keyboard navigation but firefox, chrome, etc. have extensions for this as well.


Vimium extension does that. Works well too. Works on Chrome and Firefox.

try out surfingkeys if vimmium isnt ur cup of tea

I am currently trying something called ShortCat, this is not just for the browser but works in other Mac applications too!

Look Ma, No mouse !


Link hinting - love it

Most things in Linux too - all DEs I have tried have lots of keyboard shortcuts and so do a lot of applications.

The problem is that they are less discoverable and you need to make and effort to get used to using them instead of point and click.


They used to be discoverable with mnemonics (underlined letters) but those have been dead nearly thirty years…

these still exist on windows though? you just hold alt

Only works for like 20% of the menus though. I remember alt shortcuts reliably being on every single menu in early Windows (95? ME? XP?)

They died when people stopped using native toolkits and started making everything an electron app.

Economics be damned, if you're going to make a native app, use the OS provided toolkits.


Hah, I was thinking 3.1…

Yeah I only used it a little bit so couldn't remember if it had the "hold alt to see shortcuts" thing

GTK (and QT I do believe) also support this on GNU/Linux.

I remember using TweakUI to enable "always show underline for shortcut key" because that genuinely felt like it should be a default for better usability.

I wouldn't say they're dead, just more hidden (e.g. GTK4 only shows them when you hold Alt). AFAIK most toolkits still support them, but app developers also have to actually define them.

On macOS with "Full Keyboard Control" you can navigate the system and most any official app from the keyboard. It's not an efficient experience though.

I just wish the shortcuts between the OS and Office were consistent. Most are, but some of the more commonly used ones aren't.

> you absolutely can navigate Windows + Office keyboard only

Unfortunately in Excel many operations can be done only with the function keys (e.g. F2, Shift-F8). I'd argue that leaving the center of the keyboard to press the function keys is not easier or quicker than reaching for the mouse.


I think it's ok that hardware and software are designed with the 99% in mind. After that you probably run into competing interests/trade-offs anyway (a system built for ergonomics probably looks different from a system built for speed).

I think it's ok that hardware and software are designed with the 99% in mind.

That's called mob rule. We don't act like cavemen anymore. We build entire civilizations to prevent that sort of thing. You may have read in a history book once "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

The word "all" is important.


> designing interfaces that keep pointing-device-free users in mind.

Agreed. Using keyboard keys to emulate a mouse cursor seems like it ought to be a last resort for graphical applications that lack proper accessibility affordances.

Contrast that with command palettes, accessibility controls, syntax tree navigation, and other approaches that rely on the names, content, and document structure that users already know rather than a special mode that displays two letter codes that must be read each time or memorized. Many of these other approaches also allow users to activate buttons, menu items, and links that are outside the current viewport or hidden in menus which reduces the overall number of "clicks" required to perform those actions. The downside is that they can take longer to type than a two-letter code. Still, my guess is that for most people it would be overall more efficient to optimize for cognitive load than pure speed.

(Though in the long run, I suspect that improvements in eye-tracking will lead to hybrid systems that are both lower cognitive load and faster than any of these.)


I think the controller interfaces for FFXIV is worth a study in this. They designed an interface that is workable for an MMORPG with both mouse and controller (in this case, the controller can act as a proxy for our keyboard).

But that's the point for me. Unlike e.g. Vimium, this thing is not limited to clicking clicky things, but allows to imitate nearly arbitrary mouse movements, very quickly. There are cases when it's important.

A tiled window manager with Qutebrowser and it's vimium style shortcuts is the closest I have come to this.

I just hit tab 1 to N times and hope for the best. I wonder if VIM style search on elements with a new HTML tag attribute would work (at least for browsers).

Wait until you hear about tab+shift.

It would be great if they built Vim style shortcuts into the spec and browser like you suggested but in the time being we have the Vimium extensions for other browsers. Personally I am not a fan of extensions unless I write them myself.


I'm curious if there's a program that uses a simple detection model for UX components to locate clickable areas. This would allow for global navigation similar to VimiumC

https://www.homerow.com/

Been using this for years.


Wow, how I have I never heard of this, this seems like a way better model than mouseless

Sorry, I forgot to add "on Linux" at the end. Still, that's a nice one!

if anything, I'd want LESS keyboard controls

more GUI, more visibility!


> interfaces that keep pointing-device-free users

There's plenty of TUIs for the dozens of you to use.


True - for what it's worth, I find having my own library on Jellyfin much nicer than Netflix (or god help us, youtube). Just downloading the videos you like from youtube and setting them up as Jellyfin "channels" is a much calmer experience than using YT.

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