Big difference for ffmpeg especially (but I imagine for curl too): it's not just one guy in Nebraska. Seems to have a very healthy community of devs involved in it.
Sponsored segments is no different to Netflix (and other producers) selling "product placement" in TV shows or films. If anything they are far more subtle and effective as the viewer isn't usually aware.
I remember once watching an episode (can't remember the show) where the dialogue included characters talking about how good their new car was. The B-rolls would show almost every angle of the car too.
Sure enough, according to the end credits, the episode had product placement from the car manufacturer.
This instance it was a little _too_ obvious but I have no doubt I've been exposed to hundreds of in-film/show adverts.
I learned wheel building many years ago from Sheldon's website and that lead to many great memories fixing other racer's wheels around camp fires in my 20s.
Similar story. As a student I bought an old bike and restored it thanks to lots of info I found from Sheldon. And building a wheel was such a fun but weird experience. Part mechanics, part art.
I ended up writing my thesis on bicycle wheels after this. Or, it's a thesis on optimization algorithms, but I managed to play around with optimizing wheels as the "real world application". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10410813
Of course. I'm not talking about lack of money though here. We've all been on our last tenner until payday and need to go somewhere.
Some people seem to think that spending less at the pump means your saving money, but to save money you need to drive less. They religiously drive on £10-20 fuel stops.
My ex wife was convinced she spends less on fuel by putting less in a time, she even earnt more than me.
On my deathbed I want to look back on life and feel I've made a small positive impact on the world.
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