Lex Friedman[0][1][2] (with an “E”) would probably prefer not being confused with Lex Fridman[3][4][5] (without an “E”), the host of the interview linked above.
I remember spending a day in fourth grade during Maryland history reproducing the flag on construction paper. (Admittedly that was many years ago; my children apparently didn’t get this exercise.) The Crossland parts are pretty easy; the Calvert parts are a little harder. The tricky parts are getting the number of pales correct, and coloring in all the countercharges correctly (i.e. where the red goes vs. white, and where the black goes vs. yellow).
It looks like the occasion is the 30th anniversary of Bare Bones Software (the company): <https://www.barebones.com/company/>. Perhaps the original submitter mistakenly interpreted the "30th Anniversary special pricing” text as applying to the BBEdit program itself.
The new title now seems inaccurate, or not reflecting the intention, given that, and given that the linked page says "30th Anniversary special pricing! Use the coupon code “BBEDIT30” at checkout to get BBEdit for US$30 for a limited time."
The situation is confusing because of a little bit of history.
BBEdit was 30 years old last year because it really was around in 1992, but it wasn’t commercially available. It was basically Rich Siegel and his friends. 1993 is when it became commercially available at version 2.5.
I believe it is Bare Bones Software (the company) that is having its 30th anniversary this month <https://www.barebones.com/company/>, rather than BBEdit (the program).
Re the Dock: it may not be easily discoverable, but you can resize the Dock by hovering over a vertical bar between icon groups, then dragging up and down. Hold down the Option key to snap to (what I presume is one of a number of) unscaled icon sizes.
One of the first things I do on a new install (as well as turning on the Finder status bar) is option-clicking on the Dock and shrinking it down by one step (or maybe two on a 13" MacBook).
The option key won’t snap to the unscaled icon sizes. The unscaled icon sizes are just too far apart—there’s 48 px, but the other sizes are powers of 2.
> I know what you're asking yourself and the answer is YES. #Android communicates with #Google services outside an active VPN connection, even with the options "Always-on" and "Block Connections without VPN."
Not saying that makes it right, but perhaps the discussion should be not be focused on Apple specifically.
...which suggests that the notion that some designer at Apple subtly decreased the contrast on green bubbles to make them look "gross" is ridiculous -- if they really wanted to make SMS messages look bad, they could be much less subtle about it...
Google offered several times to work with Apple to get full compatibility with their messages. Apple refused every time. This is Apple's deliberate choice.
Be less subtle? Serving what purposes? Getting slammed by the EU and the like?
They have to be very, very subtle, and ride the fine line between effectiveness and outrage, never going too much on a side or the other. The best and most enduring conspiration theories have originated from such deliberate and surgical manipulations. The goal they are after: most people will unknowingly abide and be manipulated, while the minority will go nuts proclaiming they know the truth.
Welcome to propaganda 101, aka destructive marketing.
At the time the green/blue distinction appeared in Messages, it was widely reported that the green color for SMS messages represented the fact that most cellular plans in the US at the time charged a fee for each SMS message sent, or had a higher monthly rate for "unlimited" texts. It would seem that very few people remember the days before "unlimited data/text/minutes".
(US currency is typically associated with the color green in a way that probably doesn't apply elsewhere in the world. Also, the actual color of green on US paper currency is quite different from the green bubbles... but I digress.)
The More You Know...
[0] <https://lexfriedman.com/> [1] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lex_Friedman> [2] <https://www.youtube.com/c/lexfriedman>
[3] <https://lexfridman.com/> [4] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lex_Fridman> [5] <https://youtube.com/c/lexfridman>