'An 11-year-old chimney sweep whose death after getting stuck in a flue led to a change in Victorian child labour laws is to become the youngest British person to be honoured with an official blue plaque.
George Brewster, a “climbing boy”, died in 1875 after getting jammed while cleaning the inside of a chimney at the County Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Fulbourn near Cambridge.'
Interesting, as it was a real change of mind. I also recall that sweeps were the first known case of environmentally induced cancer IIRC - of the scrotum. Epidemic in sweeps even to Victorian doctors. (Allegedly also Chieftain tank drivers, because of all the oil, but that was something I was told in the pub so I have no idea!).
For a start, who knew that our Labour Attorney General was Gerry Adams’ lawyer?
It’s like Chagos. A court says he should jump, and Starmer replies how high.
Apart from Starmer doing the exact opposite of that and saying the Government will do everything possible to block a payment to Adams ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0jn1zg1ew9o ), yes, that is correct.
Everything possible would include not repealing the Legacy Act, which under Parliamentary sovereignty is a possible option.
So either he's going to do a u-turn, or he's not willing to do everything possible.
Reminds me of Jo Swinson saying she would do "anything" to stop a no-deal Brexit, but "anything" did not include a) actually agreeing a Brexit deal; or b) making Jeremy Corbyn PM
I can't help but notice that PB isn't chock-a-block with 'Labour's clueless crash of the economy' today, with attention being turned to other lines of attack.
Are the key economic indicators slightly better today? Reading around, it looks as if they may be. And if they are, is this just a hiccup on the road to dismal decline?
I can't help but notice that PB isn't chock-a-block with 'Labour's clueless crash of the economy' today, with attention being turned to other lines of attack.
Are the key economic indicators slightly better today? Reading around, it looks as if they may be. And if they are, is this just a hiccup on the road to dismal decline?
There are so many lines to attack its difficult to keep up with them
I can't help but notice that PB isn't chock-a-block with 'Labour's clueless crash of the economy' today, with attention being turned to other lines of attack.
Are the key economic indicators slightly better today? Reading around, it looks as if they may be. And if they are, is this just a hiccup on the road to dismal decline?
There are so many lines to attack its difficult to keep up with them
Sorry Big G, but you seem to find it fairly easy to keep up with them all.
For a start, who knew that our Labour Attorney General was Gerry Adams’ lawyer?
It’s like Chagos. A court says he should jump, and Starmer replies how high.
Apart from Starmer doing the exact opposite of that and saying the Government will do everything possible to block a payment to Adams ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0jn1zg1ew9o ), yes, that is correct.
Everything possible would include not repealing the Legacy Act, which under Parliamentary sovereignty is a possible option.
So either he's going to do a u-turn, or he's not willing to do everything possible.
Reminds me of Jo Swinson saying she would do "anything" to stop a no-deal Brexit, but "anything" did not include a) actually agreeing a Brexit deal; or b) making Jeremy Corbyn PM
I can't help but notice that PB isn't chock-a-block with 'Labour's clueless crash of the economy' today, with attention being turned to other lines of attack.
Are the key economic indicators slightly better today? Reading around, it looks as if they may be. And if they are, is this just a hiccup on the road to dismal decline?
We must hope they aren’t.
The omens are not great but maybe that lunatic in the US may not proceed with his more hare brained policies which will be hugely inflationary.
I know woke is driven by exclusion (just as the average member of the public gets used to the 'correct' terms and words to use those words and terms move on, and you get subject to opprobrium for incorrect language).
But can anyone pinpoint when EDI became DEI? And does anyone other than me have an issue with this as it is rather adjacent to the Latin for God?
According to these guys (and girls and non-binaries etc) it's going the other way, DEI -> EDI 🤷
DEIs, EDIs... I guess we'll be on to IDEs by mid March
ETA: And the E is equity, rather than equality, apparently
Of course it is, equity means equality of outcome, not equality of opportunity.
Personally I think they should stick Justice on the front of the name.
I can't help but notice that PB isn't chock-a-block with 'Labour's clueless crash of the economy' today, with attention being turned to other lines of attack.
Are the key economic indicators slightly better today? Reading around, it looks as if they may be. And if they are, is this just a hiccup on the road to dismal decline?
I didn't give Rishi Sunak the credit for inflation going down a bit, because he did diddly squat to make it happen. Can you point to any actions of Starmer that have led to the lower than expected inflation figures seen today? If so, I'll recognise them.
I can't help but notice that PB isn't chock-a-block with 'Labour's clueless crash of the economy' today, with attention being turned to other lines of attack.
Are the key economic indicators slightly better today? Reading around, it looks as if they may be. And if they are, is this just a hiccup on the road to dismal decline?
I didn't give Rishi Sunak the credit for inflation going down a bit, because he did diddly squat to make it happen. Can you point to any actions of Starmer that have led to the lower than expected inflation figures seen today? If so, I'll recognise them.
I wasn't giving, or asking you to give, Starmer any credit. I was merely pointing out that economic indicators (not just inflation - FTSE also, for example) have had a better day today, and the remorseless attacks on Labour's economic policies have had a bit of a day off on PB.
On topic, @Cyclefree - you could also have mentioned that during the relevant period, and in addition to the roles that you did mention, Mr Haythornthwaite was also Chair of the Southbank arts centre (2008 - 2016), the Worldwide Web Foundation (2012 - 2016), the Better Regulation Commission (2006 - 2009), the Performance Theatre Foundation (2015 - 2020), and two other private companies.
He was also a non-executive director of FTSE100 company Land Securities (2008 - 2009) and an advisor to Star Capital (2006 - 2012).
I can't help but notice that PB isn't chock-a-block with 'Labour's clueless crash of the economy' today, with attention being turned to other lines of attack.
Are the key economic indicators slightly better today? Reading around, it looks as if they may be. And if they are, is this just a hiccup on the road to dismal decline?
There are so many lines to attack its difficult to keep up with them
Sorry Big G, but you seem to find it fairly easy to keep up with them all.
ELEVEN paragraphs. We all love Miss @Cyclefree - I’d vote for her as Prime Minister - but please, shove it in ChatGPT and reduce it to three?
Ta muchly
(Tho I do agree with the argument)
Word limits have varied over time. OGH used to impose a limit of around 800 words. As Cyclefree expanded, her articles started to come in at around the 1,200 mark and was teased on length. Viewcode then brought in one at around 1,400 words and the debate intensified. Then Ydoethur(?) got one published at 1,800 words and the debate ceased. At approx 1,118 words this article "Pitched Out" is well within three of those four limits.
Cyclefree articles are much more readable than leon articles in places like the spectator, difference is she isn't paid for word vomit and he is
I can't help but notice that PB isn't chock-a-block with 'Labour's clueless crash of the economy' today, with attention being turned to other lines of attack.
Are the key economic indicators slightly better today? Reading around, it looks as if they may be. And if they are, is this just a hiccup on the road to dismal decline?
I didn't give Rishi Sunak the credit for inflation going down a bit, because he did diddly squat to make it happen. Can you point to any actions of Starmer that have led to the lower than expected inflation figures seen today? If so, I'll recognise them.
I wasn't giving, or asking you to give, Starmer any credit. I was merely pointing out that economic indicators (not just inflation - FTSE also, for example) have had a better day today, and the remorseless attacks on Labour's economic policies have had a bit of a day off on PB.
Stock markets never go up or down in a straight line. It is the trend that matters.
We still are seeing some inflationary pressure and higher oil prices with the pound falling against the dollar have yet to feed into prices at the pump or commodity prices for businesses.
US inflation numbers came in lower than expected too which will help.
They say no one ever rings a bell at the top of the market.
I'm not so sure.
What are your thoughts as to what actually might happen if the whole crypto bubble bursts?
I can't decide if it's just bad for everything, or if there'll be a rush for safer things - investing in ice sculptures perhaps?
The crypto bubble always bursts. I think @rcs1000 knows more about this than I do, but bitcoin has burst several times since 2010. The point to get in is just after a bust. I did a brief Excel some years ago plotting it on (I think) a logarithmic scale, and IIRC it comes out as a sawtooth. So boom-bust, boom-bust, with the times between busts getting gradually smaller.
If you know where we are in this cycle, I would be grateful...
'An 11-year-old chimney sweep whose death after getting stuck in a flue led to a change in Victorian child labour laws is to become the youngest British person to be honoured with an official blue plaque.
George Brewster, a “climbing boy”, died in 1875 after getting jammed while cleaning the inside of a chimney at the County Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Fulbourn near Cambridge.'
Interesting, as it was a real change of mind. I also recall that sweeps were the first known case of environmentally induced cancer IIRC - of the scrotum. Epidemic in sweeps even to Victorian doctors. (Allegedly also Chieftain tank drivers, because of all the oil, but that was something I was told in the pub so I have no idea!).
When I was a kid, I went to Sudbury Hall in Derbyshire, where they had a chimney kids could climb up to 'experience' what chimney sweeps did. Decades later, my parents took our son there, and he did the same thing.
I can't help but notice that PB isn't chock-a-block with 'Labour's clueless crash of the economy' today, with attention being turned to other lines of attack.
Are the key economic indicators slightly better today? Reading around, it looks as if they may be. And if they are, is this just a hiccup on the road to dismal decline?
There are so many lines to attack its difficult to keep up with them
Easy to say when every possible hypothetical the government might be heading in the slightest direction of doing wrong is picked over incessantly.
PB Tories are like the jumpy passenger drawing breath theatrically whenever the driver goes within 4 feet of a parked car.
Apparently there’s a climate and nature bill going through at the moment which, according to the few people commenting about it online, is a great threat to the fabric of society.
I have tried to find a balanced commentary. To no avail. Is there one, does anyone have a rational view on it ?
Some of this just sounds like conspiracist thought processes running wild - similar to the idea that “15 minute cities” meant we were all going to be forcibly imprisoned in 15-minute walkable areas.
Exactly. It all seems a very bizarre extrapolation. Similar to the WEF will have us all eating crickets stuff. I wondered if there was a balanced commentary. It is a private members bill, thanks Carnyx, so won’t be law unless the govt backs it.
It's a handy reference piece actually. Almost every WEF conspiracy theory succinctly summarised.
Is it a pisstake? "Flowery language", "livestock gutted".
Of course it’s not a pisstake. You’d think it was from something like Brass Eye.
There is a community of people out there who believe this,is genuinely the case.
Mind you, the Scottish government is all in on the epidermic of the new drug, Cake!, being sold in our Primary Schools.
Injecting rather than ingesting? Now that's mainlining.
I can't help but notice that PB isn't chock-a-block with 'Labour's clueless crash of the economy' today, with attention being turned to other lines of attack.
Are the key economic indicators slightly better today? Reading around, it looks as if they may be. And if they are, is this just a hiccup on the road to dismal decline?
There are so many lines to attack its difficult to keep up with them
Easy to say when every possible hypothetical the government might be heading in the slightest direction of doing wrong is picked over incessantly.
PB Tories are like the jumpy passenger drawing breath theatrically whenever the driver goes within 4 feet of a parked car.
They say no one ever rings a bell at the top of the market.
I'm not so sure.
What are your thoughts as to what actually might happen if the whole crypto bubble bursts?
I can't decide if it's just bad for everything, or if there'll be a rush for safer things - investing in ice sculptures perhaps?
The crypto bubble always bursts. I think @rcs1000 knows more about this than I do, but bitcoin has burst several times since 2010. The point to get in is just after a bust. I did a brief Excel some years ago plotting it on (I think) a logarithmic scale, and IIRC it comes out as a sawtooth. So boom-bust, boom-bust, with the times between busts getting gradually smaller.
If you know where we are in this cycle, I would be grateful...
I'm sitting on hands that I've firmly nailed to the chair as far as crypto investment is concerned. I really do intend to never have anything to do with it. I am interested in what its rise or demise might do to other things though. @rcs1000 often has an interesting take on these things. Hence the question.
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
I can't help but notice that PB isn't chock-a-block with 'Labour's clueless crash of the economy' today, with attention being turned to other lines of attack.
Are the key economic indicators slightly better today? Reading around, it looks as if they may be. And if they are, is this just a hiccup on the road to dismal decline?
There are so many lines to attack its difficult to keep up with them
Easy to say when every possible hypothetical the government might be heading in the slightest direction of doing wrong is picked over incessantly.
PB Tories are like the jumpy passenger drawing breath theatrically whenever the driver goes within 4 feet of a parked car.
Kemi gets a 3.5 out of 10 so far, mainly earning those points for having the good sense to make an intervention that we shan't discuss.
Everything else - shadow cabinet appointments, sorting out CCHQ (she hasn't), policy (laughs bitterly), PMQs and handling the media (including social media) - has all been preeeetty bad.
On the other hand Reform has risen in the polls by seemingly doing almost nothing. Farage and the other MPs have had about the same amount of airtime since the election as the Lib Dems, ie hardly any. I’d put Farage’s parties’ popularity in the past down to him being an ever-present charismatic feature of the political landscape, but that doesn’t explain the post-election rise. It feels much more like an automatic NOTA vote.
I always found the Greens’ stubbornly high support in the absence of any media coverage or visible activity at all quite remarkable, but I sense Reform is benefiting from the same phenomenon.
These are all reasons I expect the Tories to do better vis a vis Reform in real elections for the foreseeable future. They’ve been outperforming polling in local by-elections.
I think that's just an indication of the varying amounts of right wing media we consume. I consume a fair bit, you hardly any. I think Reform, for having 5 MPs, have been fairly ubiquitous since the election, making the news through their membership number stunt, holding various live events, Farage's Trump association, being fairly visible in the campaigns on inheritance tax, well-promoted Tory defections. Objectively I don't see a full calendar of publicity like that for the Lib Dems, but potentially I'm not watching C4 News or other relevant media sources.
Reform's current success is remarkable because it is a rare phenomenon, but the explanation of it is not obscure or mysterious, and if it suffers a downfall the same will apply.
There is only one basic set of principles most voters will vote for, and that is a 21st century instantiation of the post 1945 social democrat deal, a deal which spends the state's money in ever rising truckloads.
(Cradle to grave welfare state, pensions, health care free at point of delivery, free education to 18, regulated private enterprise, international trade as a good thing, NATO).
No government has dared to touch this and its principles are therefore absolutely intact. But the deal has in recent times been delivered woefully, implicating all major parties. Reform offers all this + populism + get migration fixed + a leader who speaks human to Fred Bloke + untainted by failure + not very obviously very racist + you won't have to run your car by windmills and use heatpumps that don't work.
They are, a fortiori, immune to criticism about delivery. The odd thing is that they are not at 40%. Possibly they will be.
They say no one ever rings a bell at the top of the market.
I'm not so sure.
What are your thoughts as to what actually might happen if the whole crypto bubble bursts?
I can't decide if it's just bad for everything, or if there'll be a rush for safer things - investing in ice sculptures perhaps?
The crypto bubble always bursts. I think @rcs1000 knows more about this than I do, but bitcoin has burst several times since 2010. The point to get in is just after a bust. I did a brief Excel some years ago plotting it on (I think) a logarithmic scale, and IIRC it comes out as a sawtooth. So boom-bust, boom-bust, with the times between busts getting gradually smaller.
If you know where we are in this cycle, I would be grateful...
I'm sitting on hands that I've firmly nailed to the chair as far as crypto investment is concerned. I really do intend to never have anything to do with it. I am interested in what its rise or demise might do to other things though. @rcs1000 often has an interesting take on these things. Hence the question.
Sound attitude.
Crypto is one of the most successful pyramid schemes of all time, but its still ultimately a pyramid scheme.
Just because there's a seemingly endless supply of people willing to bet on it because "stonks go up!" doesn't mean its sound or sensible.
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
I can't help but notice that PB isn't chock-a-block with 'Labour's clueless crash of the economy' today, with attention being turned to other lines of attack.
Are the key economic indicators slightly better today? Reading around, it looks as if they may be. And if they are, is this just a hiccup on the road to dismal decline?
Erm because no one needs to state the obvious....the site isn't full of the sky is blue posts either
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
So, you're saying NU10k is a myth?
No I am saying the opposite and it needs to stop else people will start acting on it
But, we should not be reacting to these miscarriages we should be looking, at a higher level as to what caused the events that led to the wrong. In this case surely the question is why was this person ever appointed to the position where she performed so poorly. There must have been some wrongdoing by the person who appointed her.
Having said that another wrong, and one the present government front bench is relying upon to such an extent it has never even crossed their vile vindictive minds, is How are they going to be held to account. There has never been any serious attempt at holding Gordon Brown to task for selling off the gold. I know that even if he and Tony Blair were made bankrupt the money raised would be negligible against the loss. But if they had been then the present even more incompetent bench of chancers might have been put off seeking high office and so there would have been a monetary as well as emotional saving to the nation that would have been of a similar magnitude.
The obvious example I have to say is the Post Office Horizon scandal. Now Mrs Jack Straw deserves all the punishment she will be dealt, but what about Jack Straw himself who appointed her and what about the courts who convicted these innocent people when the evidence against them was so manifestly concocted and untrue.
Would it surprise you to learn that: - she was appointed by that intellectual colossus, sorry, that should have read colossal nitwit, Dominic Raab; - neither he nor the Select Committee which considered her appointment gave any thought to the potential conflict of interest with her role at the Judicial Appointments Commission; And - the Nolan Principles for Public Life do not even mention conflicts of interest as something which public servants should consider or be aware of.
I can't help but notice that PB isn't chock-a-block with 'Labour's clueless crash of the economy' today, with attention being turned to other lines of attack.
Are the key economic indicators slightly better today? Reading around, it looks as if they may be. And if they are, is this just a hiccup on the road to dismal decline?
There are so many lines to attack its difficult to keep up with them
Easy to say when every possible hypothetical the government might be heading in the slightest direction of doing wrong is picked over incessantly.
PB Tories are like the jumpy passenger drawing breath theatrically whenever the driver goes within 4 feet of a parked car.
I'd suggest if you're not jumpy with tgis lot driving then you're passenging with your eyes closed. We've gone from being driven by idiots to being driven by maniacs.
They say no one ever rings a bell at the top of the market.
I'm not so sure.
What are your thoughts as to what actually might happen if the whole crypto bubble bursts?
I can't decide if it's just bad for everything, or if there'll be a rush for safer things - investing in ice sculptures perhaps?
The crypto bubble always bursts. I think @rcs1000 knows more about this than I do, but bitcoin has burst several times since 2010. The point to get in is just after a bust. I did a brief Excel some years ago plotting it on (I think) a logarithmic scale, and IIRC it comes out as a sawtooth. So boom-bust, boom-bust, with the times between busts getting gradually smaller.
If you know where we are in this cycle, I would be grateful...
I'm sitting on hands that I've firmly nailed to the chair as far as crypto investment is concerned. I really do intend to never have anything to do with it. I am interested in what its rise or demise might do to other things though. @rcs1000 often has an interesting take on these things. Hence the question.
The guy who runs the local craft beer bar is a real crypto evangelist who believes it will double every 4 years.
I’m not convinced. It doesn’t pay you anything has no store of value. You’re just reliant on more and more people buying it especially Microstrategy. God knows where that would end.
I prefer conventional investments and businesses or funds I can understand what the value is in them and what they return.
They say no one ever rings a bell at the top of the market.
I'm not so sure.
What are your thoughts as to what actually might happen if the whole crypto bubble bursts?
I can't decide if it's just bad for everything, or if there'll be a rush for safer things - investing in ice sculptures perhaps?
The crypto bubble always bursts. I think @rcs1000 knows more about this than I do, but bitcoin has burst several times since 2010. The point to get in is just after a bust. I did a brief Excel some years ago plotting it on (I think) a logarithmic scale, and IIRC it comes out as a sawtooth. So boom-bust, boom-bust, with the times between busts getting gradually smaller.
If you know where we are in this cycle, I would be grateful...
I'm sitting on hands that I've firmly nailed to the chair as far as crypto investment is concerned. I really do intend to never have anything to do with it. I am interested in what its rise or demise might do to other things though. @rcs1000 often has an interesting take on these things. Hence the question.
Sound attitude.
Crypto is one of the most successful pyramid schemes of all time, but its still ultimately a pyramid scheme.
Just because there's a seemingly endless supply of people willing to bet on it because "stonks go up!" doesn't mean its sound or sensible.
If Trump does get the fed to underwrite some crypto then the consequences of the pyramid collapsing would be bloody. Even underwriting selected crypto could be destabilising as rationally the other cryptocurrencies would become less desirable. Though rational isn't particularly relevant.
It is dreadfully unfashionable to mention, but the Common Purpose training scheme (and subsequent alumni status) has a great deal to do with codifying the more pernicious aspects of the NU10k phenomenon.
I think there is a broader question here of how the chairman, an more generally the board, is supposed to do its job in this kind of organisation.
In shareholder-owned company (whether private or public), the board's job is not to look at the details of how the company is doing its job, but to look at its plans and results in terms of the wider market. Do the plans make sense in terms of where the market is going and what the competition is doing? Are the results good enough to succeed?
The board members won't devote a huge amount of time to each company whose board they are, but they have a good incentive to really hold the CEO to account, and they will bring knowledge of the wider market from the other boards they sit on, and from the shareholding organisation that they represent. They will largely take the CEO's word for what is happening internally, and will hold him to account based on accounting reports and market movements. They thus complement the CEO who might get tunnel vision as he is internally focused on the company operations.
Not much of this applies to an organisation like the CCRC. They will still have to largely take the CEO's word for what is happening internally,but there is no market to provide data about results,and are no competitors. Other orgs that these board members might sit on are likely to be completely unrelated. Instead, the results that the CEO needs judging by are closely related to the internal details that the board has to rely on the CEO to tell them about. I don't really see how the board is supposed to work.
It is dreadfully unfashionable to mention, but the Common Purpose training scheme (and subsequent alumni status) has a great deal to do with codifying the more pernicious aspects of the NU10k phenomenon.
It is going to bite them in the arse, there is an ever increasing number of us that realise that we are sackable for making for example a 1£ mistake in our expenses claim versus those at both ends that seem to be not held accountable for anything they do.
Those of us that basically obey the law are getting fed up with criminals because that is what these people are being let off while we are held to a higher standard
They say no one ever rings a bell at the top of the market.
I'm not so sure.
What are your thoughts as to what actually might happen if the whole crypto bubble bursts?
I can't decide if it's just bad for everything, or if there'll be a rush for safer things - investing in ice sculptures perhaps?
The crypto bubble always bursts. I think @rcs1000 knows more about this than I do, but bitcoin has burst several times since 2010. The point to get in is just after a bust. I did a brief Excel some years ago plotting it on (I think) a logarithmic scale, and IIRC it comes out as a sawtooth. So boom-bust, boom-bust, with the times between busts getting gradually smaller.
If you know where we are in this cycle, I would be grateful...
I'm sitting on hands that I've firmly nailed to the chair as far as crypto investment is concerned. I really do intend to never have anything to do with it. I am interested in what its rise or demise might do to other things though. @rcs1000 often has an interesting take on these things. Hence the question.
The guy who runs the local craft beer bar is a real crypto evangelist who believes it will double every 4 years.
I’m not convinced. It doesn’t pay you anything has no store of value. You’re just reliant on more and more people buying it especially Microstrategy. God knows where that would end.
I prefer conventional investments and businesses or funds I can understand what the value is in them and what they return.
It may double in value and keep doubling in value for the next 16 years like that, still won't be anything real underpinning it.
There's a myth that's equivalent to gold but gold is real - while much of the value of gold is because its being used as a store of value, it still has incredibly important value even without that including not just jewellery which everyone thinks about but electronics, manufacturing and much of our modern world.
Crypto has no such real value behind it. Simply disliking "fiat" isn't a value in and of itself.
It is dreadfully unfashionable to mention, but the Common Purpose training scheme (and subsequent alumni status) has a great deal to do with codifying the more pernicious aspects of the NU10k phenomenon.
It is going to bite them in the arse, there is an ever increasing number of us that realise that we are sackable for making for example a 1£ mistake in our expenses claim versus those at both ends that seem to be not held accountable for anything they do.
Those of us that basically obey the law are getting fed up with criminals because that is what these people are being let off while we are held to a higher standard
It’s the other way round - Common Purpose is the handshake for the NU10K.
Bit like joining the right golf club used to be. Or joining the right lodge in the Masons.
Useless Fuckers Of The World Unite…
I did laugh when someone whined, at lunch the other day, that people have a pejorative view of MBAs now.
Global Majority is a new one on me. Has this replaced BAME now ? I do find it hard to keep up with these ever changing terms. Who’d be an HR professional these days ?
I think there is a broader question here of how the chairman, an more generally the board, is supposed to do its job in this kind of organisation.
In shareholder-owned company (whether private or public), the board's job is not to look at the details of how the company is doing its job, but to look at its plans and results in terms of the wider market. Do the plans make sense in terms of where the market is going and what the competition is doing? Are the results good enough to succeed?
The board members won't devote a huge amount of time to each company whose board they are, but they have a good incentive to really hold the CEO to account, and they will bring knowledge of the wider market from the other boards they sit on, and from the shareholding organisation that they represent. They will largely take the CEO's word for what is happening internally, and will hold him to account based on accounting reports and market movements. They thus complement the CEO who might get tunnel vision as he is internally focused on the company operations.
Not much of this applies to an organisation like the CCRC. They will still have to largely take the CEO's word for what is happening internally,but there is no market to provide data about results,and are no competitors. Other orgs that these board members might sit on are likely to be completely unrelated. Instead, the results that the CEO needs judging by are closely related to the internal details that the board has to rely on the CEO to tell them about. I don't really see how the board is supposed to work.
So what you are saying is there is no point in them being there and being paid the 100'000s they are?
They say no one ever rings a bell at the top of the market.
I'm not so sure.
What are your thoughts as to what actually might happen if the whole crypto bubble bursts?
I can't decide if it's just bad for everything, or if there'll be a rush for safer things - investing in ice sculptures perhaps?
The crypto bubble always bursts. I think @rcs1000 knows more about this than I do, but bitcoin has burst several times since 2010. The point to get in is just after a bust. I did a brief Excel some years ago plotting it on (I think) a logarithmic scale, and IIRC it comes out as a sawtooth. So boom-bust, boom-bust, with the times between busts getting gradually smaller.
If you know where we are in this cycle, I would be grateful...
I'm sitting on hands that I've firmly nailed to the chair as far as crypto investment is concerned. I really do intend to never have anything to do with it. I am interested in what its rise or demise might do to other things though. @rcs1000 often has an interesting take on these things. Hence the question.
The guy who runs the local craft beer bar is a real crypto evangelist who believes it will double every 4 years.
I’m not convinced. It doesn’t pay you anything has no store of value. You’re just reliant on more and more people buying it especially Microstrategy. God knows where that would end.
I prefer conventional investments and businesses or funds I can understand what the value is in them and what they return.
It may double in value and keep doubling in value for the next 16 years like that, still won't be anything real underpinning it.
There's a myth that's equivalent to gold but gold is real - while much of the value of gold is because its being used as a store of value, it still has incredibly important value even without that including not just jewellery which everyone thinks about but electronics, manufacturing and much of our modern world.
Crypto has no such real value behind it. Simply disliking "fiat" isn't a value in and of itself.
Don’t disagree with any of that. I expect one day they will run out of suckers/punters and then gravity will take effect.
It is dreadfully unfashionable to mention, but the Common Purpose training scheme (and subsequent alumni status) has a great deal to do with codifying the more pernicious aspects of the NU10k phenomenon.
It is going to bite them in the arse, there is an ever increasing number of us that realise that we are sackable for making for example a 1£ mistake in our expenses claim versus those at both ends that seem to be not held accountable for anything they do.
Those of us that basically obey the law are getting fed up with criminals because that is what these people are being let off while we are held to a higher standard
It’s the other way round - Common Purpose is the handshake for the NU10K.
Bit like joining the right golf club used to be. Or joining the right lodge in the Masons.
Useless Fuckers Of The World Unite…
I did laugh when someone whined, at lunch the other day, that people have a pejorative view of MBAs now.
As I said before, when you can't get justice through the legal system you get justice in other ways
I think there is a broader question here of how the chairman, an more generally the board, is supposed to do its job in this kind of organisation.
In shareholder-owned company (whether private or public), the board's job is not to look at the details of how the company is doing its job, but to look at its plans and results in terms of the wider market. Do the plans make sense in terms of where the market is going and what the competition is doing? Are the results good enough to succeed?
The board members won't devote a huge amount of time to each company whose board they are, but they have a good incentive to really hold the CEO to account, and they will bring knowledge of the wider market from the other boards they sit on, and from the shareholding organisation that they represent. They will largely take the CEO's word for what is happening internally, and will hold him to account based on accounting reports and market movements. They thus complement the CEO who might get tunnel vision as he is internally focused on the company operations.
Not much of this applies to an organisation like the CCRC. They will still have to largely take the CEO's word for what is happening internally,but there is no market to provide data about results,and are no competitors. Other orgs that these board members might sit on are likely to be completely unrelated. Instead, the results that the CEO needs judging by are closely related to the internal details that the board has to rely on the CEO to tell them about. I don't really see how the board is supposed to work.
Well, at the rowing club I’m a member of (Charity) the board of trustees knows everything that’s going on.
The CEO asked me, the other day, about a minor part of some stuff I’d done for the website - it *might* have raised a question of data protection, if it had been done wrong.
I can't help but notice that PB isn't chock-a-block with 'Labour's clueless crash of the economy' today, with attention being turned to other lines of attack.
Are the key economic indicators slightly better today? Reading around, it looks as if they may be. And if they are, is this just a hiccup on the road to dismal decline?
There are so many lines to attack its difficult to keep up with them
Easy to say when every possible hypothetical the government might be heading in the slightest direction of doing wrong is picked over incessantly.
PB Tories are like the jumpy passenger drawing breath theatrically whenever the driver goes within 4 feet of a parked car.
With respect, don't you know how politics works ?
More importantly, does the Leader of the Opposition know how politics works?
The PM at least has the excuse that he came to the trade relatively late and got to the top (in part) by a sequence of accidents.
It is dreadfully unfashionable to mention, but the Common Purpose training scheme (and subsequent alumni status) has a great deal to do with codifying the more pernicious aspects of the NU10k phenomenon.
It is going to bite them in the arse, there is an ever increasing number of us that realise that we are sackable for making for example a 1£ mistake in our expenses claim versus those at both ends that seem to be not held accountable for anything they do.
Those of us that basically obey the law are getting fed up with criminals because that is what these people are being let off while we are held to a higher standard
It’s the other way round - Common Purpose is the handshake for the NU10K.
Bit like joining the right golf club used to be. Or joining the right lodge in the Masons.
Useless Fuckers Of The World Unite…
I did laugh when someone whined, at lunch the other day, that people have a pejorative view of MBAs now.
I agree. And there used to be quite a wise law forbidding freemasons from being judges (my recollection is Blair got rid of it, as he did with everything wise in our legal system). The same should really be true of Common Purpose alumni and any form of public service.
I think there is a broader question here of how the chairman, an more generally the board, is supposed to do its job in this kind of organisation.
In shareholder-owned company (whether private or public), the board's job is not to look at the details of how the company is doing its job, but to look at its plans and results in terms of the wider market. Do the plans make sense in terms of where the market is going and what the competition is doing? Are the results good enough to succeed?
The board members won't devote a huge amount of time to each company whose board they are, but they have a good incentive to really hold the CEO to account, and they will bring knowledge of the wider market from the other boards they sit on, and from the shareholding organisation that they represent. They will largely take the CEO's word for what is happening internally, and will hold him to account based on accounting reports and market movements. They thus complement the CEO who might get tunnel vision as he is internally focused on the company operations.
Not much of this applies to an organisation like the CCRC. They will still have to largely take the CEO's word for what is happening internally,but there is no market to provide data about results,and are no competitors. Other orgs that these board members might sit on are likely to be completely unrelated. Instead, the results that the CEO needs judging by are closely related to the internal details that the board has to rely on the CEO to tell them about. I don't really see how the board is supposed to work.
Well, at the rowing club I’m a member of (Charity) the board of trustees knows everything that’s going on.
The CEO asked me, the other day, about a minor part of some stuff I’d done for the website - it *might* have raised a question of data protection, if it had been done wrong.
Man on top of his brief.
Its his job and he takes it seriously....to many shysters from the nu10k however view turning up and collecting a hefty pay check as there job and nothing more. People are getting fed up of it which is why so many support the healthcare ceo being executed.
It is dreadfully unfashionable to mention, but the Common Purpose training scheme (and subsequent alumni status) has a great deal to do with codifying the more pernicious aspects of the NU10k phenomenon.
It is going to bite them in the arse, there is an ever increasing number of us that realise that we are sackable for making for example a 1£ mistake in our expenses claim versus those at both ends that seem to be not held accountable for anything they do.
Those of us that basically obey the law are getting fed up with criminals because that is what these people are being let off while we are held to a higher standard
It’s the other way round - Common Purpose is the handshake for the NU10K.
Bit like joining the right golf club used to be. Or joining the right lodge in the Masons.
Useless Fuckers Of The World Unite…
I did laugh when someone whined, at lunch the other day, that people have a pejorative view of MBAs now.
I agree. And there used to be quite a wise law forbidding freemasons from being judges (my recollection is Blair got rid of it, as he did with everything wise in our legal system). The same should really be true of Common Purpose alumni and any form of public service.
The twats in question will just find another way to form a herd.
I was a Mason, way back, when they started the whole thing against police officers etc. it was a bit of a relief to everyone else when the social climbers fucked off.
They say no one ever rings a bell at the top of the market.
I'm not so sure.
What are your thoughts as to what actually might happen if the whole crypto bubble bursts?
I can't decide if it's just bad for everything, or if there'll be a rush for safer things - investing in ice sculptures perhaps?
The crypto bubble always bursts. I think @rcs1000 knows more about this than I do, but bitcoin has burst several times since 2010. The point to get in is just after a bust. I did a brief Excel some years ago plotting it on (I think) a logarithmic scale, and IIRC it comes out as a sawtooth. So boom-bust, boom-bust, with the times between busts getting gradually smaller.
If you know where we are in this cycle, I would be grateful...
I'm sitting on hands that I've firmly nailed to the chair as far as crypto investment is concerned. I really do intend to never have anything to do with it. I am interested in what its rise or demise might do to other things though. @rcs1000 often has an interesting take on these things. Hence the question.
The guy who runs the local craft beer bar is a real crypto evangelist who believes it will double every 4 years.
I’m not convinced. It doesn’t pay you anything has no store of value. You’re just reliant on more and more people buying it especially Microstrategy. God knows where that would end.
I prefer conventional investments and businesses or funds I can understand what the value is in them and what they return.
Stripe's new crypto features which let 'AI' agents trade crypto in order to buy things online makes me a bit twitchy. 'On the upside' I could see it being useful. But I can also see it being really, really bad given the state of 'AI agents' just now.
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
The nu10k are those that fail mightily but seem to still fail upwards and get bigger and better jobs after failing. Cressida Dick was an example
It is dreadfully unfashionable to mention, but the Common Purpose training scheme (and subsequent alumni status) has a great deal to do with codifying the more pernicious aspects of the NU10k phenomenon.
Interesting. A noughties version of the WEF conspiracy theory.
They say no one ever rings a bell at the top of the market.
I'm not so sure.
What are your thoughts as to what actually might happen if the whole crypto bubble bursts?
I can't decide if it's just bad for everything, or if there'll be a rush for safer things - investing in ice sculptures perhaps?
The crypto bubble always bursts. I think @rcs1000 knows more about this than I do, but bitcoin has burst several times since 2010. The point to get in is just after a bust. I did a brief Excel some years ago plotting it on (I think) a logarithmic scale, and IIRC it comes out as a sawtooth. So boom-bust, boom-bust, with the times between busts getting gradually smaller.
If you know where we are in this cycle, I would be grateful...
A friend of mine bought a load of bitcoin back when it was an oh-so-laughable light-relief section in the news. "Man buys pizza with new-fangled 'bit coin' (LOL)!" era.
He now spends his time sailing around luxurious islands in a luxurious yacht.
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
The nu10k are those that fail mightily but seem to still fail upwards and get bigger and better jobs after failing. Cressida Dick was an example
You’re coming across as someone on the wrong end of life who needs to have a go at someone or something.
Best advice is to wait until Leon comes back on; it’s about the only useful service he offers this site.
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
The nu10k are those that fail mightily but seem to still fail upwards and get bigger and better jobs after failing. Cressida Dick was an example
So.... same old, same old? But what is 'nu10k'? Is it different in some way?
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
The nu10k are those that fail mightily but seem to still fail upwards and get bigger and better jobs after failing. Cressida Dick was an example
You’re coming across as someone on the wrong end of life who needs to have a go at someone or something.
Best advice is to wait until Leon comes back on; it’s about the only useful service he offers this site.
You don't see people failing their jobs and being promoted.....well everyone else here does virtually
They say no one ever rings a bell at the top of the market.
I'm not so sure.
What are your thoughts as to what actually might happen if the whole crypto bubble bursts?
I can't decide if it's just bad for everything, or if there'll be a rush for safer things - investing in ice sculptures perhaps?
The crypto bubble always bursts. I think @rcs1000 knows more about this than I do, but bitcoin has burst several times since 2010. The point to get in is just after a bust. I did a brief Excel some years ago plotting it on (I think) a logarithmic scale, and IIRC it comes out as a sawtooth. So boom-bust, boom-bust, with the times between busts getting gradually smaller.
If you know where we are in this cycle, I would be grateful...
A friend of mine bought a load of bitcoin back when it was an oh-so-laughable light-relief section in the news. "Man buys pizza with new-fangled 'bit coin' (LOL)!" era.
He now spends his time sailing around luxurious islands in a luxurious yacht.
OTOH, I wonder what this chap would make of it. An oldie but still a goodie.
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
The nu10k are those that fail mightily but seem to still fail upwards and get bigger and better jobs after failing. Cressida Dick was an example
So.... same old, same old? But what is 'nu10k'? Is it different in some way?
It is the replacement for the old lords etc always being given good jobs by their peers
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
The nu10k are those that fail mightily but seem to still fail upwards and get bigger and better jobs after failing. Cressida Dick was an example
You’re coming across as someone on the wrong end of life who needs to have a go at someone or something.
Best advice is to wait until Leon comes back on; it’s about the only useful service he offers this site.
Mention of that certain poster leads me this. Bath Uni graduated lots of interpreters and translators today. They didn’t look glum, but you do wonder at the future for those in this profession. After all even Leon is sometimes right in his predictions.*
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
Maybe I'm young (please! please let it be so!) but it sounds like a new term for what's been happening for years (decades? millennia?). Though fits in a pithy hashtag better I guess.
I can't help but notice that PB isn't chock-a-block with 'Labour's clueless crash of the economy' today, with attention being turned to other lines of attack.
Are the key economic indicators slightly better today? Reading around, it looks as if they may be. And if they are, is this just a hiccup on the road to dismal decline?
There are so many lines to attack its difficult to keep up with them
Easy to say when every possible hypothetical the government might be heading in the slightest direction of doing wrong is picked over incessantly.
PB Tories are like the jumpy passenger drawing breath theatrically whenever the driver goes within 4 feet of a parked car.
With respect, don't you know how politics works ?
Apart from a few of us aren't we all commentators not politicians?
Actually, I think there is a truth in that question you pose - the left and centre on here do behave more as if this is just a discussion board, the right are more into the game of amateur politics, they see themselves more as movers and shakers.
Out there in the actual politics world our tribes mirror each other more closely.
Or it could just be that left wing anger is always righteous and heartfelt, whilst right wing anger is all concocted 😁
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
The nu10k are those that fail mightily but seem to still fail upwards and get bigger and better jobs after failing. Cressida Dick was an example
You’re coming across as someone on the wrong end of life who needs to have a go at someone or something.
Best advice is to wait until Leon comes back on; it’s about the only useful service he offers this site.
Mention of that certain poster leads me this. Bath Uni graduated lots of interpreters and translators today. They didn’t look glum, but you do wonder at the future for those in this profession. After all even Leon is sometimes right in his predictions.*
*We did all die from covid, right?
A while back I was watching a presentation from a guy pitching Real Soon Now(TM) 'real time sign language' via 'AI Avatars'. While the poor sign-language person covering his talk looked increasingly depressed.
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
The nu10k are those that fail mightily but seem to still fail upwards and get bigger and better jobs after failing. Cressida Dick was an example
You’re coming across as someone on the wrong end of life who needs to have a go at someone or something.
Best advice is to wait until Leon comes back on; it’s about the only useful service he offers this site.
Mention of that certain poster leads me this. Bath Uni graduated lots of interpreters and translators today. They didn’t look glum, but you do wonder at the future for those in this profession. After all even Leon is sometimes right in his predictions.*
*We did all die from covid, right?
Am I on the wrong end of life, yeah sure I am I work a job, I have to rent because I can't afford to buy.....don't dispute that I am in the same boat as about 80% of people.......however when we see people getting away with shit we wouldn't without getting a p45...yes we are getting angrier. People like the one mentioned in the header
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
Maybe I'm young (please! please let it be so!) but it sounds like a new term for what's been happening for years (decades? millennia?). Though fits in a pithy hashtag better I guess.
I didn’t know either so googled it and this was the first link that came up. Second was a car registration based in Stockton.
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
Maybe I'm young (please! please let it be so!) but it sounds like a new term for what's been happening for years (decades? millennia?). Though fits in a pithy hashtag better I guess.
The point is that we were supposed to be living in an accountable meritocracy now.
We are, instead, living in a less accountable chumocracy
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
The nu10k are those that fail mightily but seem to still fail upwards and get bigger and better jobs after failing. Cressida Dick was an example
So.... same old, same old? But what is 'nu10k'? Is it different in some way?
It is the replacement for the old lords etc always being given good jobs by their peers
We can't just go about sacking people just for being useless. Then they might notice that the people doing the sacking were also useless. And there aren't enough quango seats to go round.
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
Maybe I'm young (please! please let it be so!) but it sounds like a new term for what's been happening for years (decades? millennia?). Though fits in a pithy hashtag better I guess.
The point is that we were supposed to be living in an accountable meritocracy now.
We are, instead, living in a less accountable chumocracy
This however why people were so unconcerned about the healthcare ceo being executed. People here were surprised by it but people here are generally in the top few percent
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
The nu10k are those that fail mightily but seem to still fail upwards and get bigger and better jobs after failing. Cressida Dick was an example
You’re coming across as someone on the wrong end of life who needs to have a go at someone or something.
Best advice is to wait until Leon comes back on; it’s about the only useful service he offers this site.
Mention of that certain poster leads me this. Bath Uni graduated lots of interpreters and translators today. They didn’t look glum, but you do wonder at the future for those in this profession. After all even Leon is sometimes right in his predictions.*
*We did all die from covid, right?
A while back I was watching a presentation from a guy pitching Real Soon Now(TM) 'real time sign language' via 'AI Avatars'. While the poor sign-language person covering his talk looked increasingly depressed.
The open source VLC media player project is currently working on realtime machine speech to text + translation feature for a future release. For a project like that bolting on a signing 3d model feels like a very logical next step.
They say no one ever rings a bell at the top of the market.
I'm not so sure.
What are your thoughts as to what actually might happen if the whole crypto bubble bursts?
I can't decide if it's just bad for everything, or if there'll be a rush for safer things - investing in ice sculptures perhaps?
The crypto bubble always bursts. I think @rcs1000 knows more about this than I do, but bitcoin has burst several times since 2010. The point to get in is just after a bust. I did a brief Excel some years ago plotting it on (I think) a logarithmic scale, and IIRC it comes out as a sawtooth. So boom-bust, boom-bust, with the times between busts getting gradually smaller.
If you know where we are in this cycle, I would be grateful...
I'm sitting on hands that I've firmly nailed to the chair as far as crypto investment is concerned. I really do intend to never have anything to do with it. I am interested in what its rise or demise might do to other things though. @rcs1000 often has an interesting take on these things. Hence the question.
The guy who runs the local craft beer bar is a real crypto evangelist who believes it will double every 4 years.
I’m not convinced. It doesn’t pay you anything has no store of value. You’re just reliant on more and more people buying it especially Microstrategy. God knows where that would end.
I prefer conventional investments and businesses or funds I can understand what the value is in them and what they return.
Bitcoin is not a productive asset. You do not receive interest on it, or dividends, or rent.
Indeed, from a technical point of view, it's the very opposite, because it sucks up such an incredible amount of electricity. For the Bitcoin price to stay the same, you need to see around $2 billion in new money to come in every month, solely to pay for the electricity used to mine it.
And it's worth noting that if Bitcoin's price was $1m, then that would mean that at least $20 billion would need to be spent on electrical generation every month. And that would mean you'd need $20+ billion of inflows to keep the price stable.
Now, over time the amount of new Bitcoin mined declines. Nevertheless, right now, it is the very opposite of a productive asset.
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
The nu10k are those that fail mightily but seem to still fail upwards and get bigger and better jobs after failing. Cressida Dick was an example
So.... same old, same old? But what is 'nu10k'? Is it different in some way?
It is the replacement for the old lords etc always being given good jobs by their peers
We can't just go about sacking people just for being useless. Then they might notice that the people doing the sacking were also useless. And there aren't enough quango seats to go round.
Personally I prefer people to be competent for the job and if not they are better off not being in the job as they are actually worse than useless
I can't help but notice that PB isn't chock-a-block with 'Labour's clueless crash of the economy' today, with attention being turned to other lines of attack.
Are the key economic indicators slightly better today? Reading around, it looks as if they may be. And if they are, is this just a hiccup on the road to dismal decline?
There are so many lines to attack its difficult to keep up with them
Easy to say when every possible hypothetical the government might be heading in the slightest direction of doing wrong is picked over incessantly.
PB Tories are like the jumpy passenger drawing breath theatrically whenever the driver goes within 4 feet of a parked car.
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
Maybe I'm young (please! please let it be so!) but it sounds like a new term for what's been happening for years (decades? millennia?). Though fits in a pithy hashtag better I guess.
The point is that we were supposed to be living in an accountable meritocracy now.
We are, instead, living in a less accountable chumocracy
That's OK. Elon Musk wants to replace that with a techbro aristocracy. See Curtis Yarvin for details.
Before Covid, I saw him eating in the outside area of Joe and the Juice on San Vicente Blvd. I felt like going up to him and saying "You know why it's called Joe and the Juice, right? It's code for Joe and the Jews"*.
You know, just to see his reaction.
* For the record, I assume it is not, in fact, code for Joe and the Jews.
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
The nu10k are those that fail mightily but seem to still fail upwards and get bigger and better jobs after failing. Cressida Dick was an example
So.... same old, same old? But what is 'nu10k'? Is it different in some way?
It is the replacement for the old lords etc always being given good jobs by their peers
We can't just go about sacking people just for being useless. Then they might notice that the people doing the sacking were also useless. And there aren't enough quango seats to go round.
Personally I prefer people to be competent for the job and if not they are better off not being in the job as they are actually worse than useless
They say no one ever rings a bell at the top of the market.
I'm not so sure.
What are your thoughts as to what actually might happen if the whole crypto bubble bursts?
I can't decide if it's just bad for everything, or if there'll be a rush for safer things - investing in ice sculptures perhaps?
The crypto bubble always bursts. I think @rcs1000 knows more about this than I do, but bitcoin has burst several times since 2010. The point to get in is just after a bust. I did a brief Excel some years ago plotting it on (I think) a logarithmic scale, and IIRC it comes out as a sawtooth. So boom-bust, boom-bust, with the times between busts getting gradually smaller.
If you know where we are in this cycle, I would be grateful...
I'm sitting on hands that I've firmly nailed to the chair as far as crypto investment is concerned. I really do intend to never have anything to do with it. I am interested in what its rise or demise might do to other things though. @rcs1000 often has an interesting take on these things. Hence the question.
The guy who runs the local craft beer bar is a real crypto evangelist who believes it will double every 4 years.
I’m not convinced. It doesn’t pay you anything has no store of value. You’re just reliant on more and more people buying it especially Microstrategy. God knows where that would end.
I prefer conventional investments and businesses or funds I can understand what the value is in them and what they return.
It may double in value and keep doubling in value for the next 16 years like that, still won't be anything real underpinning it.
There's a myth that's equivalent to gold but gold is real - while much of the value of gold is because its being used as a store of value, it still has incredibly important value even without that including not just jewellery which everyone thinks about but electronics, manufacturing and much of our modern world.
Crypto has no such real value behind it. Simply disliking "fiat" isn't a value in and of itself.
Don’t disagree with any of that. I expect one day they will run out of suckers/punters and then gravity will take effect.
There is a practically infinite supply of suckers so that's not a problem. However crypto currencies require more and more electricity to solve as the problem gets harder and harder (this is one of the reasons why I think the boom-to-bust cycle is accelerating) and there will eventually reach a point where the cost of electricity to mine 1BTC costs you 1BTC, so there's no point. You can start it again with a new cryptocurrency tho, and round and round we go again.
But again we stray outside my area of competence: perhaps @rcs1000 or other of PB Brains Trust can answer with more certainty and less viewcode bulls**t.
Rather a large number of Aussies and Kiwis in Harris’s men, weren’t there. And the Yanks also bombed Dresden as part of the same attacks.
Let us not forget Kurt Vonnegut Jr's Yank's eye view from a cellar under the POW camp where he was being held captive. (Slaughterhouse 5 for younger readers.)
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
The nu10k are those that fail mightily but seem to still fail upwards and get bigger and better jobs after failing. Cressida Dick was an example
You’re coming across as someone on the wrong end of life who needs to have a go at someone or something.
Best advice is to wait until Leon comes back on; it’s about the only useful service he offers this site.
Mention of that certain poster leads me this. Bath Uni graduated lots of interpreters and translators today. They didn’t look glum, but you do wonder at the future for those in this profession. After all even Leon is sometimes right in his predictions.*
They say no one ever rings a bell at the top of the market.
I'm not so sure.
What are your thoughts as to what actually might happen if the whole crypto bubble bursts?
I can't decide if it's just bad for everything, or if there'll be a rush for safer things - investing in ice sculptures perhaps?
The crypto bubble always bursts. I think @rcs1000 knows more about this than I do, but bitcoin has burst several times since 2010. The point to get in is just after a bust. I did a brief Excel some years ago plotting it on (I think) a logarithmic scale, and IIRC it comes out as a sawtooth. So boom-bust, boom-bust, with the times between busts getting gradually smaller.
If you know where we are in this cycle, I would be grateful...
I'm sitting on hands that I've firmly nailed to the chair as far as crypto investment is concerned. I really do intend to never have anything to do with it. I am interested in what its rise or demise might do to other things though. @rcs1000 often has an interesting take on these things. Hence the question.
The guy who runs the local craft beer bar is a real crypto evangelist who believes it will double every 4 years.
I’m not convinced. It doesn’t pay you anything has no store of value. You’re just reliant on more and more people buying it especially Microstrategy. God knows where that would end.
I prefer conventional investments and businesses or funds I can understand what the value is in them and what they return.
It may double in value and keep doubling in value for the next 16 years like that, still won't be anything real underpinning it.
There's a myth that's equivalent to gold but gold is real - while much of the value of gold is because its being used as a store of value, it still has incredibly important value even without that including not just jewellery which everyone thinks about but electronics, manufacturing and much of our modern world.
Crypto has no such real value behind it. Simply disliking "fiat" isn't a value in and of itself.
Don’t disagree with any of that. I expect one day they will run out of suckers/punters and then gravity will take effect.
There is a practically infinite supply of suckers so that's not a problem. However crypto currencies require more and more electricity to solve as the problem gets harder and harder (this is one of the reasons why I think the boom-to-bust cycle is accelerating) and there will eventually reach a point where the cost of electricity to mine 1BTC costs you 1BTC, so there's no point. You can start it again with a new cryptocurrency tho, and round and round we go again.
But again we stray outside my area of competence: perhaps @rcs1000 or other of PB Brains Trust can answer with more certainty and less viewcode bulls**t.
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
The nu10k are those that fail mightily but seem to still fail upwards and get bigger and better jobs after failing. Cressida Dick was an example
So.... same old, same old? But what is 'nu10k'? Is it different in some way?
It is the replacement for the old lords etc always being given good jobs by their peers
We can't just go about sacking people just for being useless. Then they might notice that the people doing the sacking were also useless. And there aren't enough quango seats to go round.
Personally I prefer people to be competent for the job and if not they are better off not being in the job as they are actually worse than useless
"We're gonna need a bigger quango."
We probably dont need the quango at all if its just full of useless tossers as most are
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
The nu10k are those that fail mightily but seem to still fail upwards and get bigger and better jobs after failing. Cressida Dick was an example
You’re coming across as someone on the wrong end of life who needs to have a go at someone or something.
Best advice is to wait until Leon comes back on; it’s about the only useful service he offers this site.
Mention of that certain poster leads me this. Bath Uni graduated lots of interpreters and translators today. They didn’t look glum, but you do wonder at the future for those in this profession. After all even Leon is sometimes right in his predictions.*
*We did all die from covid, right?
A while back I was watching a presentation from a guy pitching Real Soon Now(TM) 'real time sign language' via 'AI Avatars'. While the poor sign-language person covering his talk looked increasingly depressed.
The open source VLC media player project is currently working on realtime machine speech to text + translation feature for a future release. For a project like that bolting on a signing 3d model feels like a very logical next step.
It does. And not too hard to manage even now with the mix of controlnet and some of the video-gen/3D-asset models. But ... I feel bad for even sketching the code out in my head.
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
The nu10k are those that fail mightily but seem to still fail upwards and get bigger and better jobs after failing. Cressida Dick was an example
So.... same old, same old? But what is 'nu10k'? Is it different in some way?
It is the replacement for the old lords etc always being given good jobs by their peers
We can't just go about sacking people just for being useless. Then they might notice that the people doing the sacking were also useless. And there aren't enough quango seats to go round.
Personally I prefer people to be competent for the job and if not they are better off not being in the job as they are actually worse than useless
"We're gonna need a bigger quango."
We probably dont need the quango at all if its just full of useless tossers as most are
None of this worked out well for the Golgafrinchan's.
They say no one ever rings a bell at the top of the market.
I'm not so sure.
What are your thoughts as to what actually might happen if the whole crypto bubble bursts?
I can't decide if it's just bad for everything, or if there'll be a rush for safer things - investing in ice sculptures perhaps?
The crypto bubble always bursts. I think @rcs1000 knows more about this than I do, but bitcoin has burst several times since 2010. The point to get in is just after a bust. I did a brief Excel some years ago plotting it on (I think) a logarithmic scale, and IIRC it comes out as a sawtooth. So boom-bust, boom-bust, with the times between busts getting gradually smaller.
If you know where we are in this cycle, I would be grateful...
I'm sitting on hands that I've firmly nailed to the chair as far as crypto investment is concerned. I really do intend to never have anything to do with it. I am interested in what its rise or demise might do to other things though. @rcs1000 often has an interesting take on these things. Hence the question.
The guy who runs the local craft beer bar is a real crypto evangelist who believes it will double every 4 years.
I’m not convinced. It doesn’t pay you anything has no store of value. You’re just reliant on more and more people buying it especially Microstrategy. God knows where that would end.
I prefer conventional investments and businesses or funds I can understand what the value is in them and what they return.
It may double in value and keep doubling in value for the next 16 years like that, still won't be anything real underpinning it.
There's a myth that's equivalent to gold but gold is real - while much of the value of gold is because its being used as a store of value, it still has incredibly important value even without that including not just jewellery which everyone thinks about but electronics, manufacturing and much of our modern world.
Crypto has no such real value behind it. Simply disliking "fiat" isn't a value in and of itself.
Don’t disagree with any of that. I expect one day they will run out of suckers/punters and then gravity will take effect.
There is a practically infinite supply of suckers so that's not a problem. However crypto currencies require more and more electricity to solve as the problem gets harder and harder (this is one of the reasons why I think the boom-to-bust cycle is accelerating) and there will eventually reach a point where the cost of electricity to mine 1BTC costs you 1BTC, so there's no point. You can start it again with a new cryptocurrency tho, and round and round we go again.
But again we stray outside my area of competence: perhaps @rcs1000 or other of PB Brains Trust can answer with more certainty and less viewcode bulls**t.
In theory, you don't need to keep generating new Bitcoin. You can just stop and use your existing Bitcoin. That's meant to be a design feature, not a flaw.
That's predicated on the idea that you use Bitcoin as a currency, rather than as an investment. However, Bitcoin doesn't even function as a currency these days. It takes far too long to compute transactions, as well as course as Bitcoin being insufficiently stable in value for it to have much use for day-to-day transactions.
They say no one ever rings a bell at the top of the market.
I'm not so sure.
What are your thoughts as to what actually might happen if the whole crypto bubble bursts?
I can't decide if it's just bad for everything, or if there'll be a rush for safer things - investing in ice sculptures perhaps?
The crypto bubble always bursts. I think @rcs1000 knows more about this than I do, but bitcoin has burst several times since 2010. The point to get in is just after a bust. I did a brief Excel some years ago plotting it on (I think) a logarithmic scale, and IIRC it comes out as a sawtooth. So boom-bust, boom-bust, with the times between busts getting gradually smaller.
If you know where we are in this cycle, I would be grateful...
I'm sitting on hands that I've firmly nailed to the chair as far as crypto investment is concerned. I really do intend to never have anything to do with it. I am interested in what its rise or demise might do to other things though. @rcs1000 often has an interesting take on these things. Hence the question.
The guy who runs the local craft beer bar is a real crypto evangelist who believes it will double every 4 years.
I’m not convinced. It doesn’t pay you anything has no store of value. You’re just reliant on more and more people buying it especially Microstrategy. God knows where that would end.
I prefer conventional investments and businesses or funds I can understand what the value is in them and what they return.
It may double in value and keep doubling in value for the next 16 years like that, still won't be anything real underpinning it.
There's a myth that's equivalent to gold but gold is real - while much of the value of gold is because its being used as a store of value, it still has incredibly important value even without that including not just jewellery which everyone thinks about but electronics, manufacturing and much of our modern world.
Crypto has no such real value behind it. Simply disliking "fiat" isn't a value in and of itself.
Don’t disagree with any of that. I expect one day they will run out of suckers/punters and then gravity will take effect.
There is a practically infinite supply of suckers so that's not a problem. However crypto currencies require more and more electricity to solve as the problem gets harder and harder (this is one of the reasons why I think the boom-to-bust cycle is accelerating) and there will eventually reach a point where the cost of electricity to mine 1BTC costs you 1BTC, so there's no point. You can start it again with a new cryptocurrency tho, and round and round we go again.
But again we stray outside my area of competence: perhaps @rcs1000 or other of PB Brains Trust can answer with more certainty and less viewcode bulls**t.
In theory, you don't need to keep generating new Bitcoin. You can just stop and use your existing Bitcoin. That's meant to be a design feature, not a flaw.
That's predicated on the idea that you use Bitcoin as a currency, rather than as an investment. However, Bitcoin doesn't even function as a currency these days. It takes far too long to compute transactions, as well as course as Bitcoin being insufficiently stable in value for it to have much use for day-to-day transactions.
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
Maybe I'm young (please! please let it be so!) but it sounds like a new term for what's been happening for years (decades? millennia?). Though fits in a pithy hashtag better I guess.
The point is that we were supposed to be living in an accountable meritocracy now.
We are, instead, living in a less accountable chumocracy
Going by my childhood I was supposed to be living on a space-station with glamorous space-vixens and eating delicious space-food. I'm not that surprised by either future failing to pan out.
Though I do have a robot hoover and a small air-fryer.
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
The nu10k are those that fail mightily but seem to still fail upwards and get bigger and better jobs after failing. Cressida Dick was an example
So.... same old, same old? But what is 'nu10k'? Is it different in some way?
It is the replacement for the old lords etc always being given good jobs by their peers
We can't just go about sacking people just for being useless. Then they might notice that the people doing the sacking were also useless. And there aren't enough quango seats to go round.
Personally I prefer people to be competent for the job and if not they are better off not being in the job as they are actually worse than useless
"We're gonna need a bigger quango."
We probably dont need the quango at all if its just full of useless tossers as most are
None of this worked out well for the Golgafrinchan's.
That sounds pathetic. I think one problem is that many of these figurehead types whose main role is to "chair" things have exactly that skill and no other. They look the part, have a bit of a presence and a voice that carries, have a general but not special intelligence, have mastered smooth professional-speak, and they have connections because they are good at networking. Then it snowballs for them, you get one gig, appear to be just the ticket, you get another etc. And so long as nothing goes seriously and publicly wrong, all is fine. When it does, as the Header says, that is when you find out what they're made of and quite often it's nothing much.
NU10K - Divine Right To Rule for the 21st century.
Ok, Malmesbury, "NU10K" if we must.
Yes, we must
The stereotype recurs, unfailingly.
We need to label them. Ridicule them. Scapegoat them. Until they are a byword for the shameful incompetence they so adore.
Its amazing that despite all the examples that keep coming to light there is still a denial that the nu10k is a myth
Do I want to know what 'nu10k' is? It means nothing to me.
The nu10k are those that fail mightily but seem to still fail upwards and get bigger and better jobs after failing. Cressida Dick was an example
You’re coming across as someone on the wrong end of life who needs to have a go at someone or something.
Best advice is to wait until Leon comes back on; it’s about the only useful service he offers this site.
Mention of that certain poster leads me this. Bath Uni graduated lots of interpreters and translators today. They didn’t look glum, but you do wonder at the future for those in this profession. After all even Leon is sometimes right in his predictions.*
Comments
'An 11-year-old chimney sweep whose death after getting stuck in a flue led to a change in Victorian child labour laws is to become the youngest British person to be honoured with an official blue plaque.
George Brewster, a “climbing boy”, died in 1875 after getting jammed while cleaning the inside of a chimney at the County Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Fulbourn near Cambridge.'
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/jan/15/chimney-sweep-whose-death-changed-law-honoured-with-blue-plaque
Interesting, as it was a real change of mind. I also recall that sweeps were the first known case of environmentally induced cancer IIRC - of the scrotum. Epidemic in sweeps even to Victorian doctors. (Allegedly also Chieftain tank drivers, because of all the oil, but that was something I was told in the pub so I have no idea!).
but "anything" did not include
a) actually agreeing a Brexit deal; or
b) making Jeremy Corbyn PM
Are the key economic indicators slightly better today? Reading around, it looks as if they may be. And if they are, is this just a hiccup on the road to dismal decline?
The omens are not great but maybe that lunatic in the US may not proceed with his more hare brained policies which will be hugely inflationary.
Personally I think they should stick Justice on the front of the name.
https://x.com/michaelgove/status/1879580831251136824?s=61
He was also a non-executive director of FTSE100 company Land Securities (2008 - 2009) and an advisor to Star Capital (2006 - 2012).
Strangely enough, there is no mention of his role at PetroSaudi on his LinkedIn page.
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/rick-haythornthwaite
We still are seeing some inflationary pressure and higher oil prices with the pound falling against the dollar have yet to feed into prices at the pump or commodity prices for businesses.
US inflation numbers came in lower than expected too which will help.
If you know where we are in this cycle, I would be grateful...
If they think its worthwhile make it $100m, if not don't bother.
PB Tories are like the jumpy passenger drawing breath theatrically whenever the driver goes within 4 feet of a parked car.
PART 9. WHERE ARE WE. It is 2024. The UK Government is finding it more and more difficult to exert control, and the 2010-2024 governments lost control more than once. It cannot manufacture consent to win an argument because the Internet will counter-argue whatever the cause...
There is only one basic set of principles most voters will vote for, and that is a 21st century instantiation of the post 1945 social democrat deal, a deal which spends the state's money in ever rising truckloads.
(Cradle to grave welfare state, pensions, health care free at point of delivery, free education to 18, regulated private enterprise, international trade as a good thing, NATO).
No government has dared to touch this and its principles are therefore absolutely intact. But the deal has in recent times been delivered woefully, implicating all major parties. Reform offers all this + populism + get migration fixed + a leader who speaks human to Fred Bloke + untainted by failure + not very obviously very racist + you won't have to run your car by windmills and use heatpumps that don't work.
They are, a fortiori, immune to criticism about delivery. The odd thing is that they are not at 40%. Possibly they will be.
Crypto is one of the most successful pyramid schemes of all time, but its still ultimately a pyramid scheme.
Just because there's a seemingly endless supply of people willing to bet on it because "stonks go up!" doesn't mean its sound or sensible.
There's far more than 10k of the parasites.
- she was appointed by that intellectual colossus, sorry, that should have read colossal nitwit, Dominic Raab;
- neither he nor the Select Committee which considered her appointment gave any thought to the potential conflict of interest with her role at the Judicial Appointments Commission;
And
- the Nolan Principles for Public Life do not even mention conflicts of interest as something which public servants should consider or be aware of.
I’m not convinced. It doesn’t pay you anything has no store of value. You’re just reliant on more and more people buying it especially Microstrategy. God knows where that would end.
I prefer conventional investments and businesses or funds I can understand what the value is in them and what they return.
Even underwriting selected crypto could be destabilising as rationally the other cryptocurrencies would become less desirable. Though rational isn't particularly relevant.
In shareholder-owned company (whether private or public), the board's job is not to look at the details of how the company is doing its job, but to look at its plans and results in terms of the wider market. Do the plans make sense in terms of where the market is going and what the competition is doing? Are the results good enough to succeed?
The board members won't devote a huge amount of time to each company whose board they are, but they have a good incentive to really hold the CEO to account, and they will bring knowledge of the wider market from the other boards they sit on, and from the shareholding
organisation that they represent. They will largely take the CEO's word for what is happening internally, and will hold him to account based on accounting reports and market movements. They thus complement the CEO who might get tunnel vision as he is internally focused on the company operations.
Not much of this applies to an organisation like the CCRC. They will still have to largely take the CEO's word for what is happening internally,but there is no market to provide data about results,and are no competitors. Other orgs that these board members might sit on are likely to be completely unrelated. Instead, the results that the CEO needs judging by are closely related to the internal details that the board has to rely on the CEO to tell them about. I don't really see how the board is supposed to work.
Those of us that basically obey the law are getting fed up with criminals because that is what these people are being let off while we are held to a higher standard
There's a myth that's equivalent to gold but gold is real - while much of the value of gold is because its being used as a store of value, it still has incredibly important value even without that including not just jewellery which everyone thinks about but electronics, manufacturing and much of our modern world.
Crypto has no such real value behind it. Simply disliking "fiat" isn't a value in and of itself.
Bit like joining the right golf club used to be. Or joining the right lodge in the Masons.
Useless Fuckers Of The World Unite…
I did laugh when someone whined, at lunch the other day, that people have a pejorative view of MBAs now.
https://x.com/labbeyondcities/status/1879550940866609294?s=61
The CEO asked me, the other day, about a minor part of some stuff I’d done for the website - it *might* have raised a question of data protection, if it had been done wrong.
Man on top of his brief.
The PM at least has the excuse that he came to the trade relatively late and got to the top (in part) by a sequence of accidents.
I was a Mason, way back, when they started the whole thing against police officers etc. it was a bit of a relief to everyone else when the social climbers fucked off.
https://x.com/foxnews/status/1877913350794805595
"Agent! Buy me a bag of crisps!"
"Sure!"
:: three trillion dollars and 19hrs later ::
"Here's your pineapple pizza!"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7929210.stm
He now spends his time sailing around luxurious islands in a luxurious yacht.
Best advice is to wait until Leon comes back on; it’s about the only useful service he offers this site.
https://x.com/atticumfloreat/status/1879096647881527351?s=61
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_Popular_Delusions_and_the_Madness_of_Crowds
*We did all die from covid, right?
Maybe I'm young (please! please let it be so!) but it sounds like a new term for what's been happening for years (decades? millennia?). Though fits in a pithy hashtag better I guess.
Actually, I think there is a truth in that question you pose - the left and centre on here do behave more as if this is just a discussion board, the right are more into the game of amateur politics, they see themselves more as movers and shakers.
Out there in the actual politics world our tribes mirror each other more closely.
Or it could just be that left wing anger is always righteous and heartfelt, whilst right wing anger is all concocted 😁
We are, instead, living in a less accountable chumocracy
Indeed, from a technical point of view, it's the very opposite, because it sucks up such an incredible amount of electricity. For the Bitcoin price to stay the same, you need to see around $2 billion in new money to come in every month, solely to pay for the electricity used to mine it.
And it's worth noting that if Bitcoin's price was $1m, then that would mean that at least $20 billion would need to be spent on electrical generation every month. And that would mean you'd need $20+ billion of inflows to keep the price stable.
Now, over time the amount of new Bitcoin mined declines. Nevertheless, right now, it is the very opposite of a productive asset.
You know, just to see his reaction.
* For the record, I assume it is not, in fact, code for Joe and the Jews.
But again we stray outside my area of competence: perhaps @rcs1000 or other of PB Brains Trust can answer with more certainty and less viewcode bulls**t.
That's predicated on the idea that you use Bitcoin as a currency, rather than as an investment. However, Bitcoin doesn't even function as a currency these days. It takes far too long to compute transactions, as well as course as Bitcoin being insufficiently stable in value for it to have much use for day-to-day transactions.
Net Approval of Elon Musk:
All: -9%
Men: +6%
Women: -21%
Marist / Jan 9, 2025 / n=1387
https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1879618399095177704
Cash is far superior.
*puts hands in pockets and whistles innocently*
Though I do have a robot hoover and a small air-fryer.
So... there's that.
"1968: JAPAN's Amazing TRANSLATION COMPUTER | Tomorrow's World | Retro Tech | BBC Archive"
https://youtu.be/zvHg-DA2Qk8?si=lIVJXmCj-x7jY5bm