If we say that the SSN database internally only stores numbers today, but could also store hexadecimal values without significant redesigns, I would assume that SSNs are stored as text already. So no matter if you put numbers, hex or text, 9 places will always use 9 bytes (assuming it’s ASCII only and doesn’t support UTF-8 etc.).

Furthermore, the post implied that the current technical limit is 999,999,999. That very much sounds like a character data type to me. Otherwise, the limit is usually something like 2^x.

If SSNs are stored as numbers today, then hex and text would lead to quite some change. If you go for a re-design, you can as well just increase the length of the field.

Why stop at hex? You could use the entire alphabet. Even if you take only uppercase letters and numbers, we are at 36^9 possible numbers. If we include lowercase and special characters from ASCII, we can go much further.

Is there an info on how many tests he gave away? As it’s said to be for personal use, I would expect it to be a two digit number. Let’s assume 50. What difference do 50 tests make for the survival of the nation? How many lives would have been saved if there would have been 50 additional tests? Hard to quantify. Could be none at all but also thousands. If you’re very lucky you might test just the right person at the right point in time. And by putting that one person into quarantaine, you avoid a huge superspreader event. Or all 50 tests are negative. Maybe you even have some false negatives that cause a super spreader event.

Of course, the more tests a nation has and performs during a pandemic, the better. Fully agree. But it’s hard to quantify the effect of such a small amount.

Similarly, it’s very hard to quantify the effect of diplomacy. Maybe (most likely!) the gift had no effect at all. Maybe Putin didn’t even use them in fear of contact poison on the swabs. But maybe, they also had some effect. Maybe the gesture subconciously influenced Putin to not do something stupid, do it a little later, or slightly less stupid. We’ll never know. Not even Putin himself knows.

Independent of the diplomacy part, let’s try to deconstruct the scandal into two parts.

1. Completely ignore the “Putin” part of this scandal. Let’s assume Trump had a stash with Covid tests for his personal use. Let’s assume someone finds out now that Trump hoarded 50 tests in his drawer all the time that he never used. The effect on the US pandemic would have been the same as giving the same number of tests away. Maybe even worse: If Putin used the tests and broke some infection chain, that might have saved people in Russia from catching Covid that might have travelled to the US later.

2. Now ignore the “Covid tests” part. If we assume a value of $5 per test, that leads to a total value of $250. So Trump gifted Putin a rare cigar or a nice pen whatever. This is completely normal diplomacy and global leaders exchange such things all the time. Also with nations that aren’t your allies. So from my perspective, the Putin part of the scandal is not relevant and can be ignored.

What stays is “Trump reduced the number of available Covid tests in the US by 50”. You can call that whataboutism but is this a scandal that deserves our attention in comparison to all the traitorous, imorral and illegal things he did?

You don’t have to convince me that Trump is a jerk. There are many scandals around Trump that deserve our attention but this one from my perspective is really not a big deal.

If Harris gifts Putin a nice pencil next week and there’s a 0.001% chance for a positive impact, why not try it? Putin is a narcisstic dictator with tons of money. I doubt you can bribe him with money. A small gesture that’s well thought out on the other hand, might reach him possibly if it comes at the right point in time.

Also during the pandemic, Putin was the leader of a relatively important country. If giving a few cheap tests to a global leader improves the relationship with the country by just 0.0001%, then I still think it’s worth it. Even though these tests were rare at times, they were never really expensive. If you can bribe Putin a little bit with a tiny amount of money, I’d say go for it.

I’m sure a decent amount of people would still vote for him despite him being in jail. If there’s box for him on the ballot, they’d probably even vote him after he died.

I have no clue if there’s indeed any proof for such a claim, but the theory that I read elsewhere is that it’s a way to obfuscate money flows.

If a foreign nation (Russia, China, North Korea, whoever) would like to engage in the election, they can’t just donate to the campaign officially. But instead, they could buy a couple thousands of these coins in smaller transactions.

TBH I’m rather with you. I think the majority of these coins is just bought by some MAGAs. For foreign nations there’d be probably more efficient ways to transfer money like shares etc.

I like this definition the best. If someone is making a super complex sandwich with many ingredients and passion, then I’m fine to call that cooking. Same with a cold soup, a cous-cous salad or a fancy appetizer. Many dishes in top notch cuisine are served cold. In molecular kitchen, there’s even stuff served below freezing. Still all cooking to me.

If someone just warms up a can of Ravioli, microwaves convinience food, etc. I’d consider that rather food prep. If using the microwave is just one step of multiple in a recipe, than that’s fine again.

For me cooking requires a minimum level of effort rather than a minimum level of heat.

But it would take a long time to open each packet and spray it on the fire.

1. Lay the Capri Suns in the ground next to the fire
2. Get another semi truck
3. Drive over the packets to squish out the liquid onto the fire
4. If the additional semi truck catches fire as well, repeat from step 1

*cat jumps on the table and pisses on the lipstick instead

Moien Letzebuerg!

I am far away from being a pro and own several Bosch Blue tools that were all rather cheap. You can buy them in every hardware store. Fein, Hilti etc. are usually far more expensive. As I don’t own them, I can’t compare the quality but I’d say Bosch Blue is mostly a consumer brand.

Sorry but quotes from two random people are not a serious source to prove that non-voters are leaving the US or vice versa. That’s what you call anecdotal evidence.

Do you have a source that those people leaving are the ones that didn’t vote? I would guess that people who consider a measure as drastic as leaving your home country, would vote above average.

Furthermore, I would expect that mainly well-educated people are leaving the US, simply because it’s much easier to get a work permit elsewhere. And high education typically also correlates with higher participation in elections.

I didn’t have much time right now to a deeper research on these stand points. So if I’m wrong, I’d highly appreciate any sources.

As a European, I never heard of this guy and it’s probably not a perfect candidate either. But just based on what’s written in the article it might indeed be a valid option to consider although personally I’d wish for a more progressive US leader.

Reading comments regarding the presidential election on social media, the thing you literally read the most is that people want someone younger that is neither Trump nor Biden. This guy is still old but apparantly around a decade younger. He’s not Biden and not Trump and still somewhat popular across different generations. Might work out.

The sea in New Mexico is all dried up because of of all the wildfires caused by fireworks from rich guys’ yachts.

What in OPs post implies that he/she is doing racist shit during his/her whole life? It’s a valid questions IMO and no reason to get personally insulting.

In case you haven’t done that already, also check out YouTube. I’m often suprised how much copyrighted documentaries are available there.

Amazing video which must have caused a huge amount of preparation work. Thanks for sharing!