We pass the marker announcing the start of the sestercentennial, also known as the semiquincentennial. The first term contains sester, which means something on the way from 2 to 3. The second term essentially means half of 5 hundreds. Centennial in both words, of course, refers to hundreds of years.
As I sit on the plane, I ponder how airlines separate excessively obese people from those not obese enough, and how they make the former pay twice as much. And how does this align with the policy of universal equality and equal opportunities? The issue causes “anthropometric dissonance” – over the past decades, the average airplane seat width has narrowed from 47 to 43 cm, while the average passenger weight has significantly increased. As a result, there emerges a rigid classification of passengers into “regular” and officially recognized “Customers of Size” (CoS).
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The main technical criterion separating these categories is the “armrest rule.” If a person’s body extends beyond the outer boundary of the lowered armrest by more than 1 inch (2.5 cm), they are officially recognized as “oversized.” The inability to fully lower the armrest without pain or discomfort to oneself or a neighbor is grounds for requiring the purchase of a second seat.
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Until 2025, Southwest Airlines was considered the “gold standard” for large individuals, allowing them to occupy a second seat for free. However, as of January 27, 2025, the rules changed: such passengers are now required to purchase a second seat in advance when booking. If an individual fails to do this and the flight is full, they may simply be denied boarding and offered to rebook to another flight where two adjacent seats are available.
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The financial risks now almost entirely fall on the passenger. According to the new 2025 policy, a refund for an additionally purchased seat is only possible if the flight departs not fully booked. Considering that the average aircraft occupancy today is 85–90%, the likelihood that money paid for a “comfort seat” will not be refunded is extremely high.
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There exists a “geographical lottery” of passenger rights in the world. In Canada, a unique doctrine of “One Person, One Fare” (1P1F) is affirmed by court. There, obesity is recognized as a “functional disability,” therefore, airlines are required to provide a second seat for free on domestic flights if the passenger presents a medical certificate. In the USA and Europe, no such benefits exist, and comfort is considered a commercial service.
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Technically, there is also a “seatbelt rule,” which is the second most important (after the armrest rule) and serves as a kind of “legal and technical barrier.” Specifically, every passenger must be buckled during taxi, takeoff, and landing. If the belt does not fasten, the passenger physically cannot be seated. This isn’t a matter of comfort, but a question of legality aboard the aircraft. If the standard length of the belt is insufficient, the passenger has the right to request a seatbelt extender, which usually adds between 25 to 60 centimeters. The mere request for an extender often gets recorded by flight attendants as a marker of an “increased size passenger.” This is a critical moment. Most airlines globally explicitly forbid the use of two extenders simultaneously. If the length of one standard belt plus one extender is not enough, the passenger is recognized as “oversized” for that seat type. In this case, the airline has the full right to remove them from the flight or demand the purchase of a second seat, as safety cannot be ensured.
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Airlines’ main argument for imposing limitations is flight safety. According to EASA and FAA standards, a full airplane evacuation must take no more than 90 seconds. A large passenger, who physically does not fit in the seat, can block the aisle or slow the movement of others in an emergency, therefore they are prohibited from occupying seats near emergency exits. Personally, I think this is just a nice reason to avoid spending extra money.
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Identifying “too fat” passengers often happens right in the cabin. Flight attendants have the right to demand that a person undergo an “armrest test” in front of witnesses. If an “encroachment” into a neighbor’s space is discovered, priority is always given to those who fit in their own seat, and the CoS passenger may be removed from the flight for the comfort of others.
It all started when about 20 genuine cowboys on dancing horses passed us at the intersection. Turns out there are thousands of them here. Tope Nacional parade, San Ramon, Costa Rica
They’re so cool. Crossing the road. Cars piled up behind us and oncoming, and everyone waited patiently
Wow, they really think that “we” have been together for 19 years and for me, this is a new achievement.
Everyone is waiting for a cyberpunk future where each cafe table is served by an android. But it seems that it will never happen. The automation of the service sector is stagnating and will continue to do so for one simple reason: maintaining a human is becoming cheaper than servicing an industrial robot.
Food and clothing are rapidly depreciating. Production volumes are such that feeding and clothing a “bag of skin” today costs pennies. Now compare this with the cost of developing, software, and maintenance of a complex robot waiter or cleaner. A human is a self-regulating system that fuels and updates itself. And if worn out, easily replaced. Pure economy!
In the “First World,” the motivation to labor hard will disappear. Why go to a hard, boring job if basic needs are met with minimal effort, and everything else is done by others who really need to? People in developed countries will work only where there is thrill and pleasure. Eventually, we will face a shortage of hands where it is “not cool,” but there won’t be robots there either – too expensive.
Poor countries will be stuck in the past. Their populations are growing like yeast. Choosing a job there is a luxury available only to a few. An excess of labor makes work almost free.
I think the world is facing a harsh imbalance. Developed countries will likely permanently close their borders to avoid diluting their comfort, and all industries that are still difficult or expensive to automate will simply move to poor regions. Perhaps, developed countries will become less likely to conflict with one another, as there will be too many resources to make every resident happy.
But it will be harder with poor countries. Why invent a complex robot if you can relocate a factory where thousands are ready to work for food, which becomes cheaper every year? This has long been happening and will most likely continue for a long time.
Conventional programmers in the USA won’t be replaced by AI, but by programmers from Southeast Asia and South America. Several layers of AI for quality control and one manager approving AI conclusions and automatic layoffs and hiring will oversee them. And those programmers who remain in developed countries will focus more on orchestration than on coding. This role requires even more intelligence, and only one in ten current individuals will be capable. Only, the reason for such a crisis will not be AI.
Also, I think that the borders of the future world may close in one direction. It will become increasingly difficult to enter developed countries from developing and poor ones, but the opposite will be facilitated by authorities. Africa is growing so fast that it will surely become a problem if people there are not already prepared for life beyond their villages.
The future is not about the uprising of machines. It’s when some work for pleasure, and others because they are cheaper than electricity and gears.
Do you agree, or am I exaggerating too much?
Does she really have a 21:9 television at home to broadcast stretched 4:3 images?
How can you tell a car belongs to a woman? Probably because she is occasionally not very sober either;)
Two months ago, there was a loud bang at four in the morning in the neighboring village. Firefighters, police, and medics arrived but found nothing at the scene except for several open manhole covers and the smell of burning. No fire, no casualties, no consequences (besides the displaced covers). Yesterday I read that the local fire marshal has offered a $10,000 reward for information that helps find and arrest four suspects who had the audacity to look suspicious in that village shortly before the bang. No faces, only the colors of their shorts and t-shirts.
Thereminvox at a Splin concert yesterday. It turns out that this seemingly borrowed word doesn’t exist in English. Instead, the name of this musical instrument is theremin because the generic family name of Lev Theremin had French roots and was spelled as Theremin. The thereminvox was nicely incorporated into the arrangement, although it was played quite simply by a musician from Rostov, and the thereminvox itself had only one antenna.
Among the musicians, Meshcheryakov, the drummer, really stole the show. The most melancholic was the guitarist, Vadim Sergeyev. He just stared motionlessly into the crowd, almost immovable, but performed his part very precisely – evidently, professionalism can’t be diluted.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 