Damn. He's from my city and there's a pub here named after him which I've never visited. I never knew he was an antinatalist. Now that I do, I might go and check it out.

You can use Nix outside of NixOS. Nix + Void has been the mainstay for my machines for the past couple of years.

I don't recall the shop having the Advancer or the lace up version of the Veloce, but I do remember trying out velcro Veloces which did feel more comfortable. At the end I went with the pair of Shamans because they were cheap, didn't feel too uncomfortable at the time and I thought they would break in more than they have so far. Definitely realise my mistake with that decision now though hah.