cross-posted from: https://retrofed.com/c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world/p/2204687/what-is-the-political-landscape-across-europe-right-now

There’s been a lot of news regarding Andy Burnham becoming the new PM (is he actually changing anything or is it all talk?), the silly election between Farage and Count Binface, the three sort of maybe pro-independence (or pro-unification in the case of Northern Ireland) of the countries within the UK meeting, Burnham possibly looking to reverse Brexit (big if true), etc. Are referendums on the future of the countries of the UK likely, is the reversal of Brexit likely, what policies has Burnham made to improve standard of living?

Is the rise of AfD in Germany a concern, what has the other parties done to slow it down? What has the other parties / incumbent governments across Europe done to respond to the rise of the far-right?

In France, there’s news of student protests that have gotten violent (by both sides), what’s up with that? I’ve heard news of the rise of both LFI (left wing populist, their leader from my understanding is pro-Putin and tankieish, is this true?) and the National Rally (the far-right), what’s happening around that?

What has the new leader of Hungary (Peter Magyar) done to reform? What about other Eurosceptic (or formerly Eurosceptic?) nations like Slovakia? I’ve seen some news regarding recent elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina (where nationalist leaders have been elected), how significant are those?

There’s been lots of drone attacks, tampering of infrastructure, etc. by the Russians on various neighbouring countries (Poland, the Baltics, Moldova, etc.), have those affected the policies of those states in any way? And of course, how is Ukraine doing against the invasion by Russia (has support changed, have there been any significant advances or retreats, etc.)?

And what about Spain, the Nordics, Italy, Portugal, etc.?

cross-posted from: https://retrofed.com/c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.ca/p/2196841/what-are-some-awesome-science-youtube-channels-for-preteens

I have a younger sibling who watches YouTube all day, and I have just installed (among other things, including Fedora KDE!) FreeTube on their laptop, and it has a convenient profiles feature to separate, for instance, educational and not so educational content.

What are some good sciencey channels that are easy to follow and are run be nice people (rather than bots or similar)? I’ve got SciShow, Clint’s Reptiles, and a few others already, but what are some good ones that you all know? They are currently interested in animals, particularly sea creatures and reptiles, but other topics are fun too (history, chemistry, CS, whatever are all good!)

It was very affordable (sub $20), came in lots of colours (including this lilac colourway that I love!), and is super comfortable too. The vertical mouse I used previously, a Ugreen one, had a narrower grip that was less than ideal.

The mouse is by “Sanwa Supply”, model number “GMAERGWBT22V” (V for violet I presume, it shows up at just “BT22” when pairing with Bluetooth), though I’m sure there are plenty of identical models from other brands.

The plastic finish is nice and will last a long time, as there isn’t rubber like on the ridiculously priced MX Masters. The buttons are silent and have a nice click, the side buttons for forwards/backwards are nicely placed, and you can switch between 3 devices (two Bluetooth, one with the dongle)

The mouse came with a magnetically attached wrist rest too, which is nice, and even without it, it does not suffer from the trailing pinky finger issue of other vertical mice. The magnets are strong enough where it isn’t super loose but not too strong where it’s hard to detach. It’s a nice bonus when I’m at my desk for long hours, and it can be removed if I need to pack it.

BUT one of the main reasons I bought it, aside from the fantastic colours, is that you can use it with a AA battery! No glued in nonsense, it’s super easy to swap it out, and the dongle is also stored in the battery compartment too (always a nice bonus). I use it with rechargeable IKEA Ladda batteries, and it’s been awesome.

It’s no “gaming mouse”, but I use it to play Minecraft, and it works well for that.

It was very affordable (sub $20), came in lots of colours (including this lilac colour that I love!), and is super comfortable too. The vertical mouse I used previously, a Ugreen one, had a narrower grip that was less than ideal.

The mouse is by “Sanwa Supply”, model number “GMAERGWBT22V” (V for violet I presume, it shows up at just “BT22” when pairing with Bluetooth), though I’m sure there are plenty of identical models from other brands.

The plastic finish is nice and will last a long time, as there isn’t rubber everywhere like on the ridiculously priced MX Masters. The buttons are silent and have a nice click, the side buttons for forwards/backwards are nicely placed, you can switch between 3 devices (two Bluetooth, one with the dongle), and the scroll wheel is nice (though not a metal one)

The mouse came with a magnetically attached wrist rest too, which is nice, and even without it, it does not suffer from the trailing pinky finger issue of other vertical mice. The magnets are strong enough where it isn’t super loose but not too strong where it’s hard to detach. It’s a nice bonus when I’m at my desk for long hours, and it can be removed if I need to pack it.

BUT one of the main reasons I bought it, aside from the fantastic colours, is that you can use it with a AA battery! No glued in nonsense, it’s super easy to swap it out, and the dongle is also stored in the battery compartment too (always a nice bonus). I use it with rechargeable IKEA Ladda batteries, and it’s been awesome.

cross-posted from: https://retrofed.com/c/ask@piefed.social/p/2118592/what-are-some-of-your-favourite-rock-punk-bands-around-the-world

I’m currently listening to BTR (Bulgarian), Kino (Russian), Luke (French), the pillows (Japanese), Bjornarna (Swedish), Nova Koma (Latvian), Melt-Banana (Japanese), Republika (Polish), Ornatos Violeta (Portuguese), Starshooter (French), Chewie (Scottish), Jufkamental (Bosnian), Kult (Polish), Die Toten Hosen (German), Die Artze (German), and Ska-P (Spanish)!

In my opinion, it’s better to listen to all the best bands from everywhere rather than a mixed bag of American and British ones. Plus, they all have their own unique flavour on top of the traditional rock/punk styles, so it’s fun to listen to them!

What are some of your favourite rock/punk bands outside of the U.S. and England? I would also like to listen to some from outside Europe (I have a few Japanese ones, but that’s about it)

cross-posted from: https://retrofed.com/c/ask@piefed.social/p/2109773/what-are-your-ideas-for-public-holidays-that-can-be-celebrated-by-everybody

A lot of holidays are associated with religion and colonialism, but I think it would be a lot better if we had holidays that were universally recognised regardless of your beliefs.

Take my home country of Australia. You of course have the Christian originated holidays of Easter and Christmas, and Australia Day is awful (it’s pretty much celebrating the colonialism and slaughter of the indigenous peoples of Australia).

New Years should stay, it’s universally recognised for everybody using the Gregorian calendar, and memorial days for those who have died in war is also important to keep (like ANZAC day!), as well as the various independence days

Personally, I would propose the revival of the summer and winter solstices (the longest and shortest days of the year, reversed for the southern hemisphere), and May 8th as the new Australia Day (mate!)

What holidays do you think should be universally celebrated?

It looks like there are multiple post types on Piefed (link, image, poll, text, etc.), and the Interstellar client throws an error for me when I try to create a text post on it. It says that the link cannot be null, as well as the alt text (neither of which are relevant for a text post).

Has anybody experienced this issue and know how to resolve it? The app definitely supports Piefed from what I can tell, and I can do everything else (receive notifications, read posts, comment, updoot, join and leave communities, etc.)

If it helps, I’m running the Android client installed via F-Droid