Posts by Azamino 75 publicly visible posts • joined 6 Jul 2019
"... they have to own what they say." Hmm, wind the clock back 35 years for how that worked out in the former Eastern Bloc, or nip into modern day China, Saudi Arabia etc to to see the impact it has on their citizens.
Props to you for walking the walk and posting under your own name rather than a handle.
Looking out for the "ill-intentioned" doesn't really help does it? I worked in IT for 25 years, mostly banking, and I cannot remember any other type of worker lasting more than a couple of months!
My bosses were invariably trying to lock our customers into disadvantageous contracts while using the wrong software on minimally viable hardware. I much prefer the idea that they were fiendish degenerates making deliberate choices than well-intentioned incompetents making cock-up after cock-up.
By letting the guy go they are probably doing him a favour, https://flowingdata.com/2015/09/23/years-you-have-left-to-live-probably/
For the love of Gaia, once you have accrued an adequate pension pot go and do something more interesting. You will be happier and it creates room for the younger generation to get ahead too.
In the decade 2001 to 2011 thirty released killers in England and Wales were convicted for 29 murders and 6 manslaughters between them. That's at least 35 people who died unnecessarily.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16638227
The death penalty might not be working in the USA but is the system in England and Wales any better?
I'm not convinced by your Northern Rock analogy, SVB seemly failed due to a liquidity trap whereas Northern Rock foundered on Securitization. Happy to be convinced otherwise.
For those fortunate enough to be too young to remember, banks such as Northern Rock sold mortgages which were then bundled into CDO's for selling to investors as bonds. This is called Securitization and its theoretical strength is that illiquid assets, such as 25 year mortgages, can be made liquid while losses are diluted among a wider pool of investors.
Securitization is still a thing, but now for car loans rather than housing.
Anti-car measures? Then buy a pushbike or an electric bike, an electric Brompton is near perfect for multi-modal commutes.
I have sympathy for anyone forced into the office. I prefer it over WFH but acknowledge that I am in the minority. I have a sneaking suspicion that the real enthusiasm for dragging people into the office is to try to stop people from working multiple jobs simultaneously.
Advising people to avoid the markets is very daft. Do advise against stock-picking or trying to beat the market, people should simply invest in a global tracker with the lowest possible fees (Vanguard for example).
For anyone in the UK I suggest taking a look at the personal finances blog monevator.com for how to best make your money work for you. Being on top of your finances is priceless.
I'll second this. I spent a couple of years away abroad and was lucky enough to find an IT job 'on the tools' when I came back. Straightforward hours, minimal stress and far more headspace for hobbies and private projects.
Sure it pays less and has zero prestige, but I'm on the glide path to early retirement and my long term health is taking priority over corporate headaches (tracking quarterly SLA's anyone?).
@Codejunky, I think that you need to check your water supply for hallucinogens!
Since privatisation the new water companies have extracted tens of billions of pounds by borrowing against their assets, money then apportioned roughly one third as profits, two thirds invested.
Should the nation decide to bring those assets back to the public sector the tax payer is, again, on the hook for those debts.
As to whether the industry has been well-managed I’ll point you to sewerage pumped into the sea, a desalination plant in the Thames that was scheduled to be offline during the Summer (you know, the time when it might be needed..) etc.
I noticed the absence of SFTW but not the missing banner (I’m not counting anything that requires scrolling to the very bottom of the page) and the Paris icon clearly shows that time’s arrow is telling me it’s time to knock work on the head. I mean, if I’m missing stuff I’m interested in what has happened to my paid work!!
Sorry Iron, what is the relevance of their nationalities? The rich are borderless citizens of nowhere, to quote Theresa May.
The sins of the father are not especially relevant either, Enron was a corporation not a crime family, so was the father even involved in the off-balance fraud that brought it down?
Oomph! There's some heavy handed misogyny in one comment, just maybe accept that a jury heard all the evidence and acted accordingly?
Both have been found guilty but the individual 20 years younger and just a teenager when she met her DotCom millionaire (back when millions were worth something) co-conspirator has been found slightly less culpable.
That sounds about right, and often in properly devious ways. One firm I worked for was circling the plughole in 2001 and hired a very enthusiastic Aussie HR chap for an already over-staffed department composed of old friends and old flames of the exec board.
Cue the cuts with said Aussie in the lead sharing the bad news*, while also measuring up his new office as he was clearly expecting to head up HR once the superannuated HR team was shown the door. Barely a year later the fellah was out the door himself, with the old crew still in situ and blaming him for being over-zealous.
* I was in the first batch to go, but cannot complain because at least the firm still had cash for enhanced redundancy packages.
Everyone’s watching the Russian invasion of Ukraine and screaming into their hands, yet after 100 days the Russian’s have butchered barely a quarter of those killed in the invasion of Iraq in the same time frame. Like it or not, Assange exposed those illegal deaths in Iraq and the UK and US want to punish him for doing so. In no way does that condone the criminal actions of Putin and his cronies in Ukraine, two wrongs do not make a right.
I have posted here before and had folk question the accuracy of the allegations and take solace from the assurances of others that Wikileaks were wrong. Yet these assurances have never been tested in a court of law which is the very, very, least that anyone could ask for.
So your average speed, including stopping for traffic lights, was the same as the cyclist. No hold up at all then for, as sure as death and taxes, there will be another set of lights appearing shortly! This used to amaze me most mornings on my commute, drivers hurtling past just to brake sharply at the next set of traffic lights.
I worked a racking and stacking gig (de-comm / shift / re-comm) for the better part of a year back in the noughties. A large part of the job was driving a van out to the new data centre in Camberwell and it was exactly the same story but with higher speeds.
You hit the nail on the head.
What hurts is that so many members of the establishment made their own money using Ltd companies for their newspaper columns, consultancy gigs etc but once they're rich it's suddenly time to pull up the ladders and deny the rest of us the chance!
It happens again and again, be it free university education, tax relief on buy-to-let mortgages, NS&I bonds that tracked inflation [1), those in power take full advantage on the way up and then slam the doors shut.
1 - https://www.nsandi.com/help/manage-your-savings/maturing-investments/index-linked-savings-certificates
Paying salary directly into your pension is a great idea as it saves you both employers and employees National Insurance contributions. It is one way to keep more of your money when working via an umbrella company.
Obviously this locks the cash away until you are ready to pull down your pension, but once you have passed your annual £7,500 NI allowance it will save you 25% in combined contributions plus your PAYE tax rate of 20% or 40%.
If you are a tourist you will qualify for the Japan Rail pass, which is an absolute bargain, imagine a two week whole of UK travelcard for circa £240. Living there makes it a lot more expensive, in 2019 my round trip Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Tokyo cost me more than the JR Pass.
Driving in Japan is pretty straightforward, my only gripe being the traffic lights hoist in the sky rather than being on the street. Overnight on-street parking was not permitted in Aoba-Ku, where I lived, which made car ownership really expensive, I was advised that it would cost circa £200 a month to rent a space. On the bright side it reduced the amount of traffic when I had to hire a car and streets are just much nicer when not lined with cars.
Do you have any proof of that allegation?
I have yet to read of any convincing examples of people being killed due to leaks released by Assange.
In the meantime we are still waiting on the serious allegations of war crimes reveals by WikiLeaks to be tested in a court of law.
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