Plastic straws come because the replacements tend to be bad (even if I assume they have gotten better over time).

The way to make their replacements even better over time is to discourage use of plastic. So this seems like a pretty good policy, even if there is a tiny bit of (the world’s most minor amount of) pain during the transition. We should ban more single-use plastic.

"We should ban more single-use plastic."

We should ban more single-use non biodegradable plastic.

I like the single use biodegradable plastic bag for example, where I can have the organic compost inside, so less mess everywhere.

Those should be standard. But currently they are way more expensive. Standard plastic from oil is cheap.

Wait, a _standard plastic bag_ for compost?

Why not, you know, paper?

Because paper leaks?

And this type of plastic does not. After some months it will, but that is the idea.

In order to not go soggy so quickly many paper straws are pfas coated. Then this ends up in the environment.

I just buy a bunch of these biodegradable PLA straws instead. They work well https://amzn.eu/d/dKIyKxE.

Not missed the old plastic straws apart from when at a burger joint that gives you the useless paper ones. The bagasse and PLA straws do not disintegrate as quickly and work as well as the old ones.

Whether they are actually more environmentally friendly is another discussion.

The sales pitch Microsoft has with Office (including Teams and SharePoint), EntraID (formerly Azure AD) and Azure is pretty strong for companies.

Europe was happily buying more and more gas from Russia and wanted to increase trading until the directional change from Putin.

It is the worlds most powerful economy and not military that has its benefits. The US can dictate global rules because the cost of being shut out of the US economy is too large and not because the US would invade Switzerland if they don't play ball.

I support them in their fight against how you guys pronounce certain things compared to how it is spelled. I'm not from the US though but Worcestershire sauce....come on.

That's fine, but that means I reserve the right to go to Detroit and insist it's pronounced "de-twa" and tell the locals they say it wrong because it has a french origin :)

That is the US only though

Yeah, and it can be still be profitable right now but have continuously falling margins that they don't see that they can reverse.

As you age and require more and more services from the state of those countries do you think that country should provide you with an interpreter? You might encounter government employees, healthcare professionals or elderly care that does not speak English.

They only take responsibility for the profit margins. Over hiring affects those but often not significant enough and can be corrected with layoffs.

No, they only take responsibility for short-term market cap. Margins and profit don't matter. That's why they chase whatever fad hits the investor class.

I agree but it is also worth how/if the majority reacts to those kind of fringe ideas.

That's a good point.

I think perhaps the importance of that depends on how... unified the group is, you know?

If there are 3 people at a dinner table and one of them is acting badly, definitely hold the other 2 accountable.

If there are 1,000,000 people in a political party and 1% of them are acting badly, I think the 99% and the leaders are somewhat responsible.

If there's a vague concept like "cultural appropriation" or "cringeworthiness" that isn't owned by anybody, I don't know how practical it is for people using the term to really have responsibility for people that misuse it.

At some point there's just a practical limit I think.

Or you could just not go on twitter.

The idea there is a mass movement of people saying other people tan too much is beyond delusional.