On 17/12/2024 09:26, D wrote:
>
>
> On Mon, 16 Dec 2024, rbowman wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 16 Dec 2024 11:51:27 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>
>>> In Europe the EU is completely clueless and even the UK which had re
>>> temerity to leave it is now being led back into it my a man who thinks
>>> men can have a vagina.
>>
>> Scholz got his vote of no confidence. It will be interesting to see how
>> that plays out. Apparently the CDU head isn't a EU fan.
>>
>
> A colleague at one of my current consulting gigs was very happy to see
> the coalition bust, and joined the green party the next day.
>
Yes. a staggering amount of people vote green despite the fact that they
cant run a pissup at a brewery.

> My prediction is a destruction of the socialists, enormous leaps forward
> for the greens, the extreme left and right, and I suspect they will end
> up with a christian democrat minority government.
>

There will always be a few Neonazis and communists (not much difference)
and Green is the new communist anyway.

The dividing line is actually between ideological politics and pragmatic
politics.

AS living standard fall people have less time for ideology and moral
arguments: they want heating in their homes and food on the table.

> I doubt, but would be positively surprised, if they would end up with
> the swedish model of a center government with support from the
> nationalist/extreme right.
>
Not a bad mix IMHO
> I think germany is still too scared of the right to do something like
> that, although it was worked fairly ok in the swedish government
> constellation, with a good "give and take" between the center and the
> nationalist right.

--
Climate Change: Socialism wearing a lab coat.

On 17/12/2024 09:49, D wrote:
> Don't trust the danish! They are very tricky people. They invaded sweden
> once, and we're constantly watching them, in case they will try it
> again! As for the rest, they are good people, although the norwegian are
> the most lazy people on the planet.

Danes are Germans with a seasick accent.
Did you know they are so socialist that every baby has a line tattooed
on its head at birth
"This way up" :-)

Much prefer swedes

--
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is.
-- Yogi Berra

On 2024-12-17, D <nospam@example.net> wrote:
> How did you do the rb/D quoting? Do you have a script for that? It was
> very beautiful.

Hand editing in "vi" - my newsreader is "slrn".

For a while I was using Thunderbird as my newsreader, but since I use a
variety of computers, it was a nuisance that each device had its own
"newsrc" file.

With "slrn", I can "ssh" into one Fedora box, with minimal bandwidth
consumption and delay. TigerVNC is not so friendly for that.

On 2024-12-17, D <nospam@example.net> wrote:
D> If you're content to wait until you are at least 55 to withdraw money, you
D> can start a retirement foundation. The gross assets are taxed with a flat
D> tax of 0.3% or so every year, regardless of if the assets shrink or grow.
D> And in return you can withdraw your retirement savings for free. This is
D> not very well known, and I have never heard of a company that offers this.

LP> So an after-tax savings account. How is this different from an ordinary
LP> savings account ... I guess the difference is that the interest is
LP> tax-free? Sweden special!

> The difference is that in an ordinary savings account, you put in taxed
> money. In this type of account, your company can put in gross earnings,
> have the capital gains being taxed at only 0.3% (ish) flat fee per year,
> and then when you, the employee, withdraw it, it's taxed as retirement
> income.
>
> If you put in your taxed savings into a "kapitalförsäkring" you can
> withdraw the money tax free, but the flat tax is higher, it's currently
> 0,888% for 2025.

What is taxed a 0.3%/year: The capital GAIN (interest) for the year, or
the accumulated capital value?

And does "retirement income" have a lower tax rate than "long term
capital gains"?

D wrote:

> How did you do the rb/D quoting?

Its often a sign of messages that have been gatewayed via FidoNet

On Tue, 17 Dec 2024 10:55:30 +0100, D wrote:

> Hahaha... 100% true! I remember several years ago, it was found out that
> danish politicians actually paid for train tickets for arabians and sent
> them along to sweden. Absolutely hilarious! I'm telling you, never trust
> the danish!

You've got to get your kicks in when you can. Denmark has a way of losing
territory when it goes to war so subtlety is required.

I didn't realize there is a 4th season on Netflix but I enjoyed 'Borgen'.
Sausage making is so much more fun when you have 9 or 10 parties.

On Tue, 17 Dec 2024 10:36:04 +0100, D wrote:

> Yes, I would imagine they have their own. I like the idea of still
> having activities for only men and women. I think those types of spaces
> are severely lacking in todays society, and i think they are extremely
> beneficial for the development of young men and women.

Consider some of the stunts we pulled off as Boy Scouts I shudder to think
of adding girls to the mix. It might improve those winter camping trips
though.

186282@ud0s4.net <186283@ud0s4.net> wrote:
> On 12/9/24 8:25 PM, rbowman wrote:
>> On Mon, 9 Dec 2024 13:58:47 -0800, John Ames wrote:
>>
>>> Any chance of this conversation returning to anything even *slightly*
>>> more relevant to *nix, computers in general, or, like, *anything* else?
>>> Maybe I should dig up some old Francis E. Dec rant for a more coherent/
>>> relevant refresher course...
>>
>> Feel free to start a thread.
>
> Ummmmm ... I just TRIED with the "Bit-Slice" topic.
> Jumped IMMEDIATELY back to 'non-OS/Computer stuff' :-)
>
> Was HOPING for discussion/insight into 'alternative'
> schemes for 'CPU's and such derived from older solutions.

For which there are far more relevant newsgroups than
comp.os.linux.misc to discuss that in too.

> Houston, we have a problem .............

That an off-topic discussion went further off-topic doesn't
surprise me much. But I do find it ironic that I lurk in
groups which are relevant to some of the non-computer
discussion here, and they've been dead as a doornail for
years now.

--
__ __
#_ < |\| |< _#

On Tue, 17 Dec 2024 10:30:39 +0100, D wrote:

> Really?! Why was that? Did they have too thick skulls?

They may have had some really good drugs.

https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/the-45-acp-history-performance/

There is a theory that the Norse berserkers where getting into the
psychedelics too. A little warrior enhancement is ever popular.

https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-drug-captagon-and-how-is-it-
linked-to-syrias-fallen-assad-regime-245935

On Tue, 17 Dec 2024 10:42:43 +0100, D wrote:

> Yep... economy is fine. No need for private jets and business class.

But business class is so nice! Some of the 747s had the upper deck
outfitted as a lounge.

https://www.executivetraveller.com/boeing-747-bars-lounges

The last time I flew on company business I was in the last row on a flying
cattle car. The cramped seating was bad enough but when we hit a little
turbulence the passenger next to me stopped playing with his tablet and
starting searching for a barf bag. Good times!

On Tue, 17 Dec 2024 10:13:37 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

> On 16/12/2024 20:28, rbowman wrote:
>> On Mon, 16 Dec 2024 11:56:59 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>
>>> What else could they do? Kill 30% of the nation for having cheered
>>> Hitler on? For believing in German racial supremacy and the subhuman
>>> nature of Romanians Jews Poles and other Bolsheviks?
>>
>> Considering Brits have their own opinions on subhumans
>
> We dont have subhumans

Only pakis, wogs, and other endearing terms.

On Tue, 17 Dec 2024 10:23:54 +0100, D wrote:

> No... rural, red and bible tumping generally seems to be the recipe when
> it comes to finding the more free areas of the home of the brave and
> land of the free.

I'm live and let live but the bible-thumping in some areas can get
intense. I had a contract in Indiana. Many of the businesses proudly
announced they were good Christian businesses - as they tried to screw
you.

It's an odd state. The KKK is usually associated with the deep south but
in the '20s the Klan ran the state.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Klan

It was toned down when I was there in the '80s but you didn't have to look
too hard to find remnants.

There are a lot of churches in Montana and several of my friends are
active but you don't get the same feeling. Roman Catholics are the largest
denomination but that's a little misleading as there are about 10,000
protestant denominations that aren't lumped together.

On Tue, 17 Dec 2024 10:22:36 +0100, D wrote:

> Ahh.. ok, now I know. "Her books and characters serve as the basis for
> the internationally successful TV series Rebecka Martinsson." I've seen
> an episode or two when visiting Stockholm, since my father really enjoys
> criminal shows.

I didn't know it had become a TV series. Amazon has it for $18 for the
first year. I'll have to try it when I finish the 'Leverage' series.

'Leverage' is sort of apropos. It's a team of grifters and thieves that
take down people like corrupt insurance CEOs. They don't shoot them but
expose them and clean out their accounts to reimburse those that they
screwed.

On Tue, 17 Dec 2024 10:53:31 +0100, D wrote:

> If you ever go to Stockholm, stay within the city center, and only walk
> on the well lit mainstreets at night.
>
> I've have several friends who got mugged or assaulted at night in the
> city center by the arabian gangs.

That applies to many large US cities but so far Arabs aren't the real
problem. Even high profile events like the Boston Marathon bombing, while
Islamist, was carried out by Chechens.

On Tue, 17 Dec 2024 10:49:05 +0100, D wrote:

> Don't trust the danish! They are very tricky people. They invaded sweden
> once, and we're constantly watching them, in case they will try it
> again! As for the rest, they are good people, although the norwegian are
> the most lazy people on the planet.

I read an article a while back that many young Swedes went to Norway when
they couldn't find work at home. They found employment peeling bananas.

https://www.ateriet.com/banos-spreadable-banana-taste-test/

I've been known to mash a banana on bread but this seems a bit extreme.

I wonder what Norway will do when the North Sea oil fields dry up?

I did find it amusing that Norway housed some of its immigrants in an off
season resort -- somewhere north of the Arctic Circle. Welcome to sunny
Norway!

On Tue, 17 Dec 2024 10:28:01 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

> Danes are Germans with a seasick accent.
> Did you know they are so socialist that every baby has a line tattooed
> on its head at birth "This way up"

The Danes improved the British gene pool.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danelaw

On Tue, 17 Dec 2024 10:47:01 +0100, D wrote:

> There are two neobanks, Avanza and Nordnet who are just about to take
> their first stumbling steps outside of the swedish market. They are
> quite alright as well.

Probably the best known sort-of Swedish companies in the US are IKEA and
Volvo. I guess IKEA moved to the Netherlands. I'm not sure about Volvo
these days. Then there was Saab... I had a girlfriend who drove a 96, one
of the early ones that left a cloud behind it like a chainsaw.

Then there were the art house movies like 'I Am Curious Yellow' and
Bergman's stuff. When she was 12 my wife's parents took her to see 'The
Virgin Spring' under the misconception that it was some sort of Disney
nature film. I do like that one the best. So much for turn the other
cheek.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMJ58Q5fx_4

Lars Poulsen wrote this post while blinking in Morse code:

> On 2024-12-17, D <nospam@example.net> wrote:
>> How did you do the rb/D quoting? Do you have a script for that? It was
>> very beautiful.
>
> Hand editing in "vi" - my newsreader is "slrn".
>
> For a while I was using Thunderbird as my newsreader, but since I use a
> variety of computers, it was a nuisance that each device had its own
> "newsrc" file.
>
> With "slrn", I can "ssh" into one Fedora box, with minimal bandwidth
> consumption and delay. TigerVNC is not so friendly for that.

That's what I'm doing now.

--
Earth Tones:
A youthful subgroup interested in vegetarianism, tie-dyed
outfits, mild recreational drugs, and good stereo equipment. Earnest,
frequently lacking in humor.
-- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
Culture"

On 2024-12-17, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:

> On Tue, 17 Dec 2024 10:36:04 +0100, D wrote:
>
>> Yes, I would imagine they have their own. I like the idea of still
>> having activities for only men and women. I think those types of spaces
>> are severely lacking in todays society, and i think they are extremely
>> beneficial for the development of young men and women.
>
> Consider some of the stunts we pulled off as Boy Scouts I shudder to think
> of adding girls to the mix. It might improve those winter camping trips
> though.

(to the tune of "The Battle of New Orleans")

We're the boys from Camp Cucamonga
Our mothers sent us here to study nature's ways
We learned to make sparks by running stick together
And if we find the girls' camp we'll set the woods ablaze

--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey

On 12/17/24 1:43 AM, rbowman wrote:
> On 17 Dec 2024 04:34:14 GMT, Robert Riches wrote:
>
>> The thought of doing long division in Roman numerals fills me with
>> dread--let along manually doing finite element analysis.
>
> I wonder how many little tricks they had? I've worked with carpenters who
> didn't know squat about the Pythagorean theorem or Euclidean geometry but
> they certainly knew about 3-4-5 triangles and such.

I used to play with using Roman numerals for lots
of things. Fun - but let's say I don't rec it for
any purpose. The Babylonian base-60 system is yet
another one to avoid ... even though old Greek
scientists converted their terrible math system
to Babylonian to do real calx, and then back to
the crap system for 'publications'.

The Roman system isn't illogical ... but it's really
meant for smaller/simpler numbers.

As for 'tricks' ... builders especially had many,
usually based on geometry.

On 12/17/24 4:49 AM, D wrote:
>
>
> On Mon, 16 Dec 2024, 186282@ud0s4.net wrote:
>
>> On 12/16/24 4:18 PM, rbowman wrote:
>>> On Mon, 16 Dec 2024 00:04:19 -0500, 186282@ud0s4.net wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 12/15/24 5:10 PM, D wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sun, 15 Dec 2024, rbowman wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sun, 15 Dec 2024 14:08:24 -0000 (UTC), Lars Poulsen wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> My boss and I looked out and saw that there were no engineer jobs
>>>>>>> available in town; LM Ericsson had just closed their US Internet
>>>>>>> group and put 300 Internet engineers on the street. So he asked if I
>>>>>>> would be willing to join him in a startup.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> A friend got caught in the Marconi to Ericcson transition. It was fun
>>>>>> while it lasted.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> Ahh Ericsson... the only company on the planet that makes the
>>>>> government look and feel like a startup with hipsters!
>>>>
>>>>     Hey - Nordic - a different way of thinking. Don't be a bigot
>>>> now  :-)
>>>
>>> Hey, Nordic Semiconductor does fine work -- but they're Norwegians, not
>>> Swedes.
>>
>>
>>  FYI ... Norway, Sweden, Finland and often Denmark are
>>  generically referred to as "The Nordics". There is
>>  enough shared culture & history to kinda make them a
>>  distinctive cultural group.
>
> Don't trust the danish! They are very tricky people. They invaded sweden
> once, and we're constantly watching them, in case they will try it
> again! As for the rest, they are good people, although the norwegian are
> the most lazy people on the planet.

Hey, I'm 50% Dane ... probably more since they did so
much ravishing in England.

Norway, well, not much to DO there ... hard to get
very motivated. Just watch the tide come in and out
in the fiords ... :-)

Now, are you interested in a slightly used fishing
trawler ... excellent condition I promise ......

>>  As for the BUSINESS SENSIBILITY of Ericsson, well ...
>

Oh, listening to the Bloomberg financial channel today,
Denmark has RUN OUT OF LABOR. Orders for products have
had to be delayed/cut. It's kinda at an economic peak
unless they outsource or, horrors, import hordes of
barbarians. Most of the 1st-world is like this now ...
success spawned the idea that you don't NEED to make
ten kiddies - so now many make NONE. Extinctions can
take many forms.

And Novo Nordisk is like 60% of the economy ... one
little glitch there and .......

On 12/17/24 4:41 PM, rbowman wrote:
> On Tue, 17 Dec 2024 10:28:01 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>
>> Danes are Germans with a seasick accent.
>> Did you know they are so socialist that every baby has a line tattooed
>> on its head at birth "This way up"
>
> The Danes improved the British gene pool.
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danelaw
>

Agreed there ... the old Brits were an ugly lot :-)

Actually, hard to tell what a "Brit" actually IS.
It's one of those countries occupied/invaded by
SO many entities over the ages that nobody really
has a claim.

The first known human on the island - a cave fossil
named 'Cheddar Man' - turned out to be a 'black'
African who apparently sailed up the Spanish and
finally English coast about 10,000 years ago just
as the ice age was starting to thaw.

Oldest living lines ... probably somewhere in Wales.

On 12/14/24 5:07 PM, D wrote:
>
>
> On Sat, 14 Dec 2024, rbowman wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 14 Dec 2024 12:20:58 +0100, D wrote:
>>
>>> Sounds like a good man! You should keep him!
>>
>> I don't think it was 'What Color is your Parachute' but there was a book
>> from the '70s that had a punchline like 'How to hire an employer.' It's a
>> worthwhile way to think. They're not hiring you, you're finding
>> corporation that will provide a sales force, accountants, and all that
>> business cruft while you happily write code.
>>
>> Many people dream of having their own business. Been there, done that,
>> and
>> found the business part very tedious.
>>
>
> This is a very powerful mindset I've had my entire working life. I think
> more people who are employed, should think of themselves as one man
> entrepreurs, as you say, you are the one with value, and shop around as
> you would if you ran your own business.
>
> As for having my own business, yes, the accounting is tedious, but I pay
> about 400 EUR per month to get that done for me.
>
> This is also something I tell everyone who wants to start their own
> business. For the love of god, outsource all accounting as quickly as
> possible.

This is a productive philosophy - assuming you have
the Right People. (Almost) independent agents can be
highly productive and inventive. It takes only a light
hand to kinda infuse them with 'the mission'.

Alas most managers, knowing they're crap, go for the
heavy dictatorial hand as psychological compensation ...

On Wed, 18 Dec 2024 00:05:27 -0500, 186282@ud0s4.net wrote:

> The first known human on the island - a cave fossil named 'Cheddar
> Man' - turned out to be a 'black' African who apparently sailed up
> the Spanish and finally English coast about 10,000 years ago just as
> the ice age was starting to thaw.

Depending on the exact timing he may have hiked across Doggerland.

On 17/12/2024 21:03, rbowman wrote:
> On Tue, 17 Dec 2024 10:13:37 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>
>> On 16/12/2024 20:28, rbowman wrote:
>>> On Mon, 16 Dec 2024 11:56:59 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>>
>>>> What else could they do? Kill 30% of the nation for having cheered
>>>> Hitler on? For believing in German racial supremacy and the subhuman
>>>> nature of Romanians Jews Poles and other Bolsheviks?
>>>
>>> Considering Brits have their own opinions on subhumans
>>
>> We dont have subhumans
>
> Only pakis, wogs, and other endearing terms.

No Brit ever uses those terms, not since about 1960
And even then they weren't an indication of inferiority, just difference

Especially paki, which these days is pretty much as friendly as an
Australian saying 'bugger'

As in 'he's a good bugger..'

Only in the isolated USA whose contact with the rest of the world was
deliberately curtailed in 1783, has the idea of racial superiority,
rather than racial or ethnic or really *cultural* difference, survived.

--
The New Left are the people they warned you about.