AV1 is already almost like that though.

HEVC is so good at compression though!

It sucks about all the patent bullshit though, same thing blocking HDMI 2.1 adoption too.

Most of them are cheap though. Like Spotify at ~$10 is nothing, you can barely get a beer for that in the city these days. That’s far cheaper than you used to pay for CDs!

Netflix really took the piss though - with the charging for no ads, HD and multiple screens. Then it gets to like $30 a month which just isn’t worth it with the diminishing library, so I cancelled that and use Amazon Prime Video for now as it’s still cheap in my country (and has no ads for now).

Yeah, had a drug dealer burgle our apartment (just an opportunistic thing, spare keys had been left outside by a friend who was moving). Fortunately no-one was in, but it sucked to have to deal with all the damage and security.

We eventually tracked them down when they sold some stuff though and they were actually arrested and we got a few things back.

It was awesome the police actually raided them. Unfortunately the new government released them as prisoners with “non-violent” offences.

BeeHaw went full Reddit powermod level of power-tripping.

I learnt Spanish like this. Mainly finishing Duolingo and downloading some textbooks and doing a few MOOC courses and listening to slow podcasts, and then watching basic movies.

Once I got to the point I could watch movies and TV, I would watch a movie almost every single day.

It’s a lot of work, but to get to the point of speaking and listening it is necessary.

It took about 2 years in total - and then I started a job working in Spanish.

The coffee and the ice cream are the best things in the country.

Like a mix between the UK and Germany.

The housing situation is also quite bad, it’s near impossible to rent if you move here for work (unless your company acts as a guarantor).

The rent-controlled housing queue system is extremely corrupt and long - at least 8-year queues (unless you’re related to the local administration). Taxes are also insanely high on workers - 56+% income tax, 25% VAT.

The currency has collapsed since COVID so wages are far worse relative to Europe than before (and let’s not even mention the USA).

It’s far from everywhere (you’re not going on holiday to Russia these days), with few direct flights, and long delivery times for imports.

But still the transport is quite good, there are a fair number of new apartments if you can buy a leasehold (it has its own issues with high fees and interest rates though), and a lot of online services.

I’d give it a 6/10.

Tariffs make us all poorer in the long run. Did we learn nothing in the 20th century?

I’m sure rewarding Islamic terrorism will have no dire consequences…