Shmiggles's recent activity
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Comment on What moderate countries are left to emigrate to? in ~travel
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Comment on My Leopold FC900R broke - Recommendation request in ~tech
Shmiggles LinkI use a full-size WASD keyboard with Cherry MX Blues at home and another with Browns at work, and I like them both. You can buy them without keycaps if you want to reuse your Leopold ones.I use a full-size WASD keyboard with Cherry MX Blues at home and another with Browns at work, and I like them both. You can buy them without keycaps if you want to reuse your Leopold ones.
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Comment on London’s £4.5 billion super sewer is open for business in ~engineering
Shmiggles Link ParentKemble's shareholders bought it from Macquarie Bank, which is a cartoonishly evil investment bank based in Australia. Macquarie has the most creative accountants in the Southern hemisphere -...Kemble's shareholders bought it from Macquarie Bank, which is a cartoonishly evil investment bank based in Australia. Macquarie has the most creative accountants in the Southern hemisphere - they'll follow you into a revolving door and come out first.
So they bought the water company and then discovered it was in a right state, so they put some money in to try to improve things. Of course, they only reason they did this - and bought it in the first place - was to generate a return on their investment. Unfortunately for them, the infrastructure was in such a state that they don't have enough money to fix enough problems to make it actually profitable, so their investments are mostly going towards limiting how quickly things get worse.
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Comment on London’s £4.5 billion super sewer is open for business in ~engineering
Shmiggles Link ParentThe Thames Water situation is a major political story that's bubbling ominously in the background, so readers are expected to be on top of it. England's water companies are regulated by Ofwat, a...The Thames Water situation is a major political story that's bubbling ominously in the background, so readers are expected to be on top of it.
England's water companies are regulated by Ofwat, a government agency. Ofwat regulates water companies' finances as well as their services. To get around this, Thames Water (which is regulated) is wholly owned by another company, Kemble Holdings (which is unregulated). Kemble (the name comes from a village near the source of the Thames) is owned by a few foreign sovereign wealth funds (Abu Dhabi, amongst others) and pension funds (only one of which is British).
Thames Water has run up about half a billion pounds of debt, with the approval of the regulator. Kemble has about £16 billion of debt. Thames has enough money to run until next May, Kemble can't pay its debts. Kemble's owners have stated that they now consider the company to have a market value of zero.
His Majesty's Government can't buy Kemble, even for a nominal value of £1, because that would mean taking on the £16 billion pounds of debt, which it can't afford to do, because the previous government has left it an annual budget shortfall of £22 billion. It can't buy just Thames Water because that would leave Kemble with billions of debt and no way to make any income, so Kemble won't sell Thames.
So far, there have been no announcements from the government about what it will do.
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Comment on Why every city wants a Wrigley Field in ~design
Shmiggles LinkAmateurs. That's not a mixed-used development, this is a mixed-use development.Amateurs. That's not a mixed-used development, this is a mixed-use development.
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Comment on ‘We’re hemorrhaging money’: US health clinics try to stay open after unprecedented cyberattack in ~health
Shmiggles LinkI'm an Australian who lives in the UK, so it would be very easy for me to say something along the lines of guise you should just get the government to run the health system, it's so much better,...I'm an Australian who lives in the UK, so it would be very easy for me to say something along the lines of guise you should just get the government to run the health system, it's so much better, but that would be boring and not terribly insightful.
The entire idea of insurance is that everyone who takes out a policy is pooling their payments and their risk together. Most people never claim as much as they pay in, but some people claim much more than they pay in, and the insurance company handles that risk. A 'socialised' public healthcare system works exactly the same way, but everyone is a policyholder, and it's funded through taxes rather than individual policyholders paying in.
Of course, Freedom and Choice and Free Markets are foundational parts of the US' national identity, so that isn't going to work for you, so instead you have private companies offering health insurance. Fine, makes sense.
But as far as I can tell, individuals in America don't take out their own health insurance policies, but instead get it as part of their workplace pay package. This is the bit that strikes me as a terrible idea. It means that instead of taking out the specific policy that meets your own needs and budget, that decision is made on your behalf by your employer. Suddenly your needs are irrelevant, and all that matters is the price. The buyer and the end-user are now different people, who have their own antagonistic relationship going on, so demand in the health insurance market has nothing to do with quality any more.
And then it gets worse, in this article. It's not entirely clear - I suspect the author doesn't know himself - but I think that Change Healthcare is a payment processing business operating between the insurance companies and the actual healthcare providers. So they're the victim of a cyberattack and can no longer deliver on their contracts, but the market has no incentive to punish them for this. The healthcare providers' solvency is now under threat, the insurers don't care because they have an excuse for not paying out, the employers don't care because they paid for a health insurance policy and that's all that matters, and the policy beneficiaries suffer but don't have a say in what happens because they're not buying anything.
Is this really a free market?
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Comment on UK Conservative party suspends MP Lee Anderson over claims that Islamists have "got control" of London's Mayor Sadiq Kahn and the capital in ~society
Shmiggles Link ParentFurther statements he makes no longer imply some credibility within the party. He will not receive Conservative Party funding and support in the upcoming General Election.- Further statements he makes no longer imply some credibility within the party.
- He will not receive Conservative Party funding and support in the upcoming General Election.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
Shmiggles Link ParentIf you're not using Windows, stick to NFS for directory sharing - it's just easier. If you're just using this to get the files onto the Pi, forget NFS and just rsync them over. Jellyfin is great -...If you're not using Windows, stick to NFS for directory sharing - it's just easier. If you're just using this to get the files onto the Pi, forget NFS and just rsync them over.
Jellyfin is great - it's a nice, slick Netflix-style UI. It can also handle TV tuners, if you get the Pi TV hat.
I expose my Jellyfin install to the Internet, with no VPN, so my parents can access it. Jellyfin has password-protected user accounts, so that's fine for my needs.
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Comment on What are your favorite no-refrigeration, no-microwave lunches? in ~food
Shmiggles LinkBuy a small cooler bag and an ice pack that fits in it. You can now keep food refrigerated until lunch time. As for what to have, I've taken to having 'complicated' sandwiches. A bag of salad...Buy a small cooler bag and an ice pack that fits in it. You can now keep food refrigerated until lunch time.
As for what to have, I've taken to having 'complicated' sandwiches. A bag of salad leaves and a pot of supermarket deli filler is enough for four sandwiches, or you can have slices of cheese, and a bit of sweet pickle never goes amiss. (I also go for sliced ham, but you mentioned not liking meat.)
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Comment on Battle over a recurrent French national obsession: How Muslim women should dress? in ~life.women
Shmiggles Link ParentIt behoves us to understand why specific concepts exist in specific societies before we demand that they be removed.It behoves us to understand why specific concepts exist in specific societies before we demand that they be removed.
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Comment on 'Most privileged nursing home': Nikki Haley takes a swipe at America's ageing politicians in ~society
Shmiggles Link ParentThe article was published in The Daily Telegraph, the house newspaper of the Conservative Party in the UK. The Telegraph's owners are currently trying to sell it. In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher's...I am not a fan of Haley and this article trying to both sides things
The article was published in The Daily Telegraph, the house newspaper of the Conservative Party in the UK. The Telegraph's owners are currently trying to sell it.
In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government introduced the 'Right to Buy' reforms, in which which low-income households renting government-owned homes could buy them at below-market prices, as a ploy to win over the then-young-and-fractious Baby Boomers. Since then, British governments of all political persuasions have felt a need to inflate property prices, by not replacing the sold-off government housing and restricting house-building by the private sector. Consequently, the old class-based division that shaped British politics (the working class voted Labour, the middle class and aristocracy voted Conservative) has been replaced by an age-based division (the homeowning Baby Boomers and Gen Xers vote Conservative, the renting Millennials and Gen Zers vote Labour, Lib Dem, or Greens, according to the tactical voting situation in their constituency).
The owners of the Daily Telegraph have recently announced an intention to sell the newspaper. The British newspaper market is notoriously competitive (all newspapers of note are distributed nationally), so nearly all the papers are loss-making, and their only value is in their ability to shape public opinion. As the house newspaper of the Conservative Party, the Telegraph's readership is mainly Conservative members and voters, who are, to an increasing extent, exclusively elderly.
If you're trying to sell a newspaper, 'Everyone who reads this paper will be dead within twenty years,' isn't a great selling point. Over the past couple of months, there has been a spate of 'Boomers have stolen the Millennials' futures' articles submitted to the UK subreddits. The comments on these articles on the Telegraph website are the usual avocadoes-and-Netflix nonsense that one expects from a generation that is becoming an increasingly unbearable economic burden, but the comments on Reddit are cynical jabs at the role that the Telegraph has played over the past decades in creating this crisis. However, the persistence in the probably paid for submissions indicates that the Telegraph is desperate to increase its market value by acquiring younger readers, whose 'natural' progression from renting Labour voter to homeowning Conservative voter has been disrupted by the housing crisis.
The Telegraph's core readership (and owners) are politically aligned with the US Republican Party - most still support Liz 'Lettuce Lady' Truss's disastrous premiership (and her subsequent claims that the markets are controlled by the International Communist Conspiracy). They have no issue with Haley's role in the Trump administration, and the readers that the Telegraph wants to recruit don't care; Haley just happened to be the person who provided the skeleton of the intergenerational justice story the Telegraph wanted to run.
The people in this article are American, but the story is British.
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Comment on Favorite "chow" meal? in ~food
Shmiggles LinkI made this last night: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/cheats_spicy_sausage_41113 This is also good, but a bit more pricy: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/one-pot_bacon_spinach_50776I made this last night: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/cheats_spicy_sausage_41113
This is also good, but a bit more pricy: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/one-pot_bacon_spinach_50776
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~talk
Shmiggles Link ParentThe payment processors shy away from anything that has a higher proportion of chargebacks, since those cost the processors money. Anything sex-related gets a lot of chargebacks, probably due to...The payment processors shy away from anything that has a higher proportion of chargebacks, since those cost the processors money. Anything sex-related gets a lot of chargebacks, probably due to buys trying to cover their tracks. ('Honestly, I never bought that - it must be a scammer.')
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Comment on I'm about to move away from my family. What should I know about living alone that no one told you before you started? in ~life
Shmiggles Link ParentAn interesting approach I heard is to buy cheap tools at first, and then replace them with quality ones when they break. That way, you only splash out on things you need to splash out on.An interesting approach I heard is to buy cheap tools at first, and then replace them with quality ones when they break. That way, you only splash out on things you need to splash out on.
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Comment on Sexual harassment still pervades science in ~science
Shmiggles Link ParentThat's the mechanism; it's always the mechanism. Churches, the Armed Forces, schools, orphanages and other care homes... whenever there's institutional sexual abuse, there's a power imbalance...These figures are really disheartening, especially when you take into account the power dynamics of university researchers as opposed to a private sector job. Knowing that your mentor has complete determination on your career trajectory, funding, tenure, etc. you can certainly see how it may drive those affected to not speak up for fear of retribution.
That's the mechanism; it's always the mechanism. Churches, the Armed Forces, schools, orphanages and other care homes... whenever there's institutional sexual abuse, there's a power imbalance between abuser and victim.
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Comment on Headteachers warn UK facing ‘dangerous’ teacher shortage as recruitment crisis deepens in ~life
Shmiggles Link ParentAcademies have the same Ofsted inspection requirements, but have more flexibility around staffing and curriculum. Academies can employ teachers who don't have Qualified Teacher Status, but are...Academies have the same Ofsted inspection requirements, but have more flexibility around staffing and curriculum. Academies can employ teachers who don't have Qualified Teacher Status, but are wary of doing so, and have the same party scales as maintained schools anyway. Academies face the same problems as maintained schools.
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Comment on Unexpected, but great mashups in ~music
Shmiggles LinkBBC Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue has been doing this since the 70s. I'm Horny to the tune of Blowing in the Wind Bob the Builder to the tune of 'I Dreamed a Dream' from Les Miserables...BBC Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue has been doing this since the 70s.
- I'm Horny to the tune of Blowing in the Wind
- Bob the Builder to the tune of 'I Dreamed a Dream' from Les Miserables
- Killing Me Softly with His Song to the tune of the Can Can from Orpheus in the Underworld
- Teenage Kicks to the tune of Jerusalem
- Girlfriend in a Coma to the tune of Tiptoe Through the Tulips
- Spider-Man to the tune of 'Bring Him Home' from Les Miserables
- Barbie Girl to the tune of Strangers in the Night
- A Whiter Shade of Pale to the tune of The Muppets Show
- I'm Too Sexy to the tune of Frere Jacques
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Comment on Headteachers warn UK facing ‘dangerous’ teacher shortage as recruitment crisis deepens in ~life
Shmiggles LinkAs a former physics teacher, I can shed some light on why this situation is so bad. Teacher pay has been flat since the Conservatives came to power, making teaching less and less viable as a...As a former physics teacher, I can shed some light on why this situation is so bad.
- Teacher pay has been flat since the Conservatives came to power, making teaching less and less viable as a career; it's now more of a thing to do between getting your degree and working out what you really want to do with your life.
- Pandemic lockdowns have caused an awful lot of bad behaviour. Early in primary school (Reception and Year 1), children are taught how to behave in a school environment, and teachers rely on the regular reinforcement of these norms that comes with regular school attendance to manage student behaviour. Teachers are too stretched thin to cope with these additional behavioural problems.
- The cost of living crisis has made teachers' personal lives more difficult, but also causes additional stress, mental health issues, and subsequent behavioural problems amongst students.
- The pandemic motivated early retirement amongst many older workers, including teachers.
- During the pandemic, many working parents (usually mothers) had to leave their jobs to homeschool their children. In doing so, many found that the cost of childcare exceeded their wages, and so didn't return to the workforce when schools reopened. Many teachers will be amongst this group.
- The government has increased teachers' pay without increasing school budgets, forcing schools to cut back on resourcing and teaching assistants (some of whom have left for higher pay in supermarkets). This has increased teachers' workloads.
- Schools have also been forced to spend a greater proportion of their budgets on energy (especially for heating) and on food.
- Ofsted has insisted that everyone pretend that none of this has been going on, and has inspected schools accordingly.
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Headteachers warn UK facing ‘dangerous’ teacher shortage as recruitment crisis deepens
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Comment on Silly sports in ~sports
Shmiggles LinkWorld Pea Shooting Championships World Pea Throwing Championship Spaniel Racing Dwyle Flonking Worm charming Wife-carrying Husband Calling Bog snorkelling Gurning The Mongol Rally Microsoft Excel...
Apart from fascism, what makes you uncomfortable in you current country? This is the first question you need to ask yourself. Every country has its own unique national identity, and its own unique culture. Culture is not just the food you eat, the language you speak and the clothes you wear; culture is how you interact with other people. You need to start with a shortlist of countries whose cultures are more aligned to your personal values than where you currently are.
Once you've got your shortlist, you can start removing countries that are likely to fall to fascism. The bad news on this front is that the whole of the developed world seems to be experiencing similar political crises; fascism only arises when more moderate politicians do not resolve those crises. The UK, where I currently live, has recently voted in a centre-left government formed from the Labour Party after fourteen years of misrule by the centre-right Conservative Party, but some of the Conservative's loss is attributable to the rise of the Reform Party on the right, and they have some fascist tendencies.
I think it may be more useful to ask, What would fascism look like in each of these countries? I live in the UK, where the response to fascism would be polite and cheerful non-compliance, but I'm originally from Australia, where people love tattling on their neighbours to the authorities.
This information is usually available on government websites. Keep in mind that this is a bureaucratic process, and governments are often incentivised to make this process unpleasant. For example, I've been waiting since June for the British Home Office to make a decision about my immigration status, and even my MP hasn't been able to get any answers out of them. You will typically need to have qualifications or experience in a particular line of work that your intended destination country has trouble recruiting for; there are usually published lists of such occupations on government websites.
Information about the cost of living and healthcare systems can be found online. Note that reporting about public health systems is often a litany of scandals, but this presents an incomplete picture. The UK's National Health Service is genuinely in a bad position, but private health insurance (which pays for private hospitals and so on) is available, is of good quality, and comparatively cheap, because it has to compete with the NHS, which is free to use.
As for social security systems, you will almost certainly not have access to these as a recent migrant.
A lot of this depends on where you're coming from and where you're moving to. An American moving to Australia will receive a much warmer welcome than a Chinese or Indian person, for complex historical and economic reasons.
If you're trying to escape fascism, this is the least important thing to consider. Climate change will be experienced mostly by less developed countries; wealthy countries can buy solutions to immediate problems like famines or water shortages. It's a serious problem for everyone, but answering the previous questions will answer this one.
Other questions to consider: