They do. Someone with a salary of €400,000 would take home approximately €242,000 after income tax.

Up to €10,777: 0% tax rate
From €10,778 to €27,478: 11% tax rate
From €27,479 to €78,570: 30% tax rate
From €78,571 to €168,994: 41% tax rate
More than €168,994: 45% tax rate

According to The EIU, the cost of living in Paris is similar to San Francisco.

If it’s something that people are using a lot then anything that improves the experience can be seen as increasingly important/valuable.

From a practicality perspective, they offer precision, feedback and speed advantages over membrane/rubber dome types which can be valuable in different use cases.

I haven’t used gamer brand mechanical keyboards in a while, but my previous impression was that they were overpriced and generally at the lower quality/poorer experience end of the spectrum. I think there are likely far better options out there at all price points.

For most of the year, Assam (loose leaf) with a splash of milk; when it’s available, first flush Darjeeling.

I initially bought a cheap espresso machine, since this was the only type of coffee I drank. I bought the Aeropress later on for camping, which prompted me to try much lighter roasts. I’ve since found that this is where my preference lies, and I’ve pretty much ditched the espresso machine as a result (though still useful when I have guests.)

For most users/use cases, there isn’t a need for for so many dedicated keys - if they are prepared to learn layouts with multiple layers. There are several notable advantages: cost, portability, reduced footprint (keeping hands closer together when using mouse and keyboard), and reduced finger travel/stretch. These last two are good preventative measures for carpal tunnel.

I chose a 40% ortholinear keyboard specifically because I make heavy use of the numpad in my work. I keep the numpad on one of four layers and I find using it to be quicker and more seamless to transition to than when using a full sized keyboard. I only wish that more manufacturers made ortholinear layouts…

And would you say that an idea formed from the combination of multiple old human ideas is not original? If the influence of an existing idea disqualifies it from being original then very little could be considered original. If something additional to existing ideas is needed for originality then that what is that thing which is beyond the capability of an AI?

Personally, I would argue that any new combination of existing ideas is inherently original (i.e. a fresh perspective.)

Talking specifically about image generators (rather than LLMs) which are trained on billions of images - some of which would be widely considered as artwork (old ideas?) and others documentary photographs.

Those ‘new’ ideas can be inputted as a prompt into an AI image generator. Would the output of that satisfy your criteria for OC?

How so? What is it that makes art OC that cannot be applied to AI created art? I think it would take an extremely narrow definition which would also exclude a significant amount of human created art.