For the limits on side-loading in particular, there are a few southeast asian nations (I can't recall, Vietnam? Thailand?) where almost all internet access is via Android, including banking. And social engineering fraud, where they call someone up, pretend to be the bank, and get them to side-load malware, has become a major financial, and political problem.

AIUI, they have told Google to find a fix, or else.

> pretend to be the bank, and get them to side-load malware, has become a major financial, and political problem.

I been living in SE Asia for few years each in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and really didn't notice that this is supposed to be like major political problem.

'Fraud' is the same smoke screen and excuse as 'protect the children from social media or pedophiles'.

I can't find it now, but the article I read seemed to say that the gov was specifically upset about the banking issue, and might tell the banks they can't allow apps anymore.

I would count direct dictation (eg someone writes down what you say, and that is the final text), as writing, in the context of producing a document (book, etc) that you intend others to read.

It's not the same thing as talking to someone (or a group) about something.

In theory, something like a technical job that requires extensive training. I always see reports about a lack of training for high tech trade / manufacturing jobs, as they require up to 2 years of training, but training slots are limited. You might get companies to pay the training if they could be assured the person would not run to a competitor. But even that should be agreed up front, with a limited term (eg we will train your two years, then pay you $X, and you will be subject to a noncompete for four years)

A lot of training isn't accredited or transferrable and just a scam.

I was thinking of specialized welding, CNC operator, etc. Like, 12-18 months of hands-on training. I guess it could still be a scam, but I don't think transferability is an issue.

Some CNC machine manufacturers have on campus training workshops that would teach something transferable. If it's at a machine shop some will be and a lot won't be. Letting them sell it as training that needs to be paid back would be an absolute scam.

Some community colleges offer technical training, usually in partnership with a certificating body. But in this case the valuation is determined by a mostly independent body.

The place I work has[1] a thing where they'll pay for (some?) college classes, and it comes with a clawback if you leave too quickly after.

[1] well, as of when I last looked a few years ago

Oof, talk about making compliance difficult and expensive if a company has 50 different sets of regulations to comply with to do business in the US.

Do you believe that states are the laboratories of democracy, and have rights, or do you believe that reducing the cost of regulatory compliance is a more important goal?

I take no position on this currently, but it's an important question that deserves a serious answer. Trading off the costs of "state experimentation" and "enforced regulatory conformity" is non-trivial to do.

It depends on whom you are optimizing for. Someone who knows the language, but not this system/codebase, or someone who works in this area often?

I find it much harder to remember / use each time then awk

A nation that borrows in its own currency can’t be forced to default.

Technically true, and completely meaningless. Can't default just means the government can print worthless paper instead. Weimar Germany, Zimbabwe, and Argentina all borrowed in their own currencies...

All three of them had major factors going on other than increasing the money supply.

And it's the circulating money supply vs the size of the economy that matters, not money creation. For example, you can create a lot of money with no inflation, if you also remove a lot of money, eg via taxation.

You can tell the IOC does not care about fairness in competition: they focus on this, instead of the rampant cheating (eg doping) which they do nothing about.

I'm pretty sure there are folks involved in doing drug testing for many sports so saying are doing nothing seems hyperbolic. Are there specific things you think the bodies in charge of drug testing should be doing but aren't? Genuinely curious.

Doping is a problem which offers offenders unfair advantages -the IOC combats that and looks like they are looking at other unfair advantages as well. It's a cat-and-mouse game. As of yet there is no perfect doping detector (it can have false positives) but just because it's imperfect doesn't mean they should ignore the advantage it offers these offenders.

Organizations are large and not everyone works on the same things.

And china:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doping_in_China

I don't believe either of them have really stopped.

Well, not the original role. That was to bring some americanized version of European/Italian coffee culture to the US. Serving espresso based drinks in a comfortable public cafe style setting. It was very popular for a long time. Busy cafes full of people, selling lots of drinks, opening new shops, etc.