GrosPapatouf

In France we call those places "Bureau de tabac", and they are everywhere.

Planes are not safer than rail. Definitely not if you fly Boeing.

To be fair, using the decimal system for everything was the No1 mistake of the french revolution. A duodecimal system would have been so much nicer.

We European get our baby hats provided by social security, same as our baby cigarettes.

Standard mobile plans in France have included unlimited SMS since the mid 2000s I'd say. People still use it, but WhatsApp/Messenger are pretty popular too.

Europeans don’t text, they use messenger apps

It really depends on the country. SMS is still commonly used in France for instance.

Wiping your ass with horse shit is not quite something to be proud of.

I use Joplin with a self hosted WebDAV for syncing. Works like a charms on all my devices.

First, you don't need tens of thousands of internet satellite in LEO to have an ambitious space program. The current mega-constellations are just a way for billionaires to build a new monopoly, and control internet access. It has nothing to do with getting humanity in the stars or whatever. Second, when are all these space telescopes coming? Launch cost is a very small fraction of building a space telescope because they are fragile, very large and complex pieces of equipment and getting them on a rocket is hard. Third, we will never see millions of human in outer space in our lifetimes. Earth is our only chance, at least for the overwhelming majority of us. So let's protect it from sociopath billionaires.

Decay times grow very quickly though. At 500km altitude a debris falls back in a few months up to a couple of years, but at 800km you are looking at centuries.

And they basically destroyed the business model of all other spacecraft manufacturers, which relied heavily on the geostationary telecom market.

I mean, the need for internet satellite is mostly in low density areas. In big cities fiber will always be cheaper and more reliable (except maybe in the US where operators are allowed to fuck you). I hate Musk and I guess Starlink is squeezing their monopoly position right now, but I'm not 100% sure they are not profitable.