Couldn't you simply use macOS without the iCloud features? Which features require iCloud to work?

You can but there's just not much point anymore.

I don't remember all the specifics but every time there was a new macos I could cross most of the new features off. Nope this one requires iCloud or an apple ID. Nope this one only works with other macs or iPhones. Stuff like that. The Mac didn't use to be a walled garden. You can still go outside of their ecosystem (unlike on iOS) but then there's not much point. You're putting a square peg in a round hole.

Now, Apple isn't the only one doing this. Microsoft is making it ever harder to use windows without a Microsoft account. That's why I'm gravitating more and more to foss OSes. But there are new problems now, like with Firefox on Linux I constantly get captcha'd. M365 (work) blocks random features or keeps signing me out. My bank complains my system is not 'trusted'. Euh what about trusting your actual customers instead of a mega corp? I don't want my data locked in or monitored by a commercial party.

I can recommend IINA much more compared to VLC. It's so much more performant (like 4-5x times), has a macOS native UI, some features VLC is lacking, let you watch an unlimited amount of videos at the same time.

Thanks - I'll take a look.

Yes it has a unique ID

Which changes whenever you get a new passport. Not what we would call a primary key in database design.

And a person can have more than one German passport

With a strong motivation yes, just for fun no.

One motivation is that you want to travel to Israel and to some Arab country, which do not accept passports with stamps of the "enemy" in it.

I don't know if they verify the motivation in any way or whether it's enough to say so.

There are (according to the BMI[1] (German interior ministry)) only two reason to have multiple passports: The first being the one you stated and the second being multiple (visa requiring) travels in a short enough timeframe so that your passports would have to be lying at the foreign countries embassies/consulates at the same time.

Seems like motivation enforcement is quite strict, as they do state that you can't even get two passports for the "enemy visa" reason when the visits are just planned, but you can't prove it yet (palne tickets etc.) you won't get it, and you'll have to go to the German embassy after you can prove it...

[1]https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/faqs/DE/themen/moderne-ve...

Or a poem about Apple as empire created by OpenGPT:

An empire of technology, A king among kings, Apple reigns supreme With sleek devices and shiny things.

From iPhones to iPads, They rule the world of tech, With their sleek design And user-friendly interface.

They've conquered the market With their innovation and might, And their loyal followers Stand by them, day and night.

Their empire continues to grow, Expanding far and wide, Apple is a force to be reckoned with And a true global empire, inside and out.

Actually it’s not getting to warm. Somebody on YouTube tested the Air running next to a heater and it didn’t got significantly hotter and didn’t additionally throttle (except of the normal throttle of 10% compared to the Pro)