If you prefer a less woo based style of delivery, Andrew Huberman has some great podcasts that touch on a lot of this and all backed up with research (he’s a neuroscientist running a research lab at Stanford). The recommended protocols don’t land up being much different from Wim in some cases.

Train from Irkutsk to Beijing and then on to Hong Kong, then hop on one of these
https://www.langsamreisen.de/en/freightertravel/north-america-asia/

As others had said, ITZoo and Tier1 both self refurb corporate machines and are decent value and OK to deal with

All blown out of proportion by the vengeful beeb

Good job he was assured there was no party
https://twitter.com/MirrorPolitics/status/1469788795813998595

ModelOff was a really big excel competition annually in London but looks like they have stopped it this year, saying the focus on Excel only was no longer enough to crown a champion modeller. It was always really heavily Financal Modelling focussed though.

Handed my notice in last week much to managements surprise, quite a few others are as well. Think prolonged wfh has given more time for reflection.

I know our IT department is like a revolving door at the moment but that is driven by other local companies paying more and ours not waking up to the need to pay more if they want to retain people in a boyant market.

Does your library provide Libby access? You can read New Scientist for free online that way (and 100’s of other magazines)

Beyond it being described as “disastrous” I’m not sure what the real life impact of this case is expected to be, anyone seen a good summary of the predictions ??

I have one set up at work that does this but it required VBA

Toyota enter the fray
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/02/toyota-announces-the-bz4x-the-carmakers-first-mass-produced-electric-vehicle

.

What if the problem isnt capitalism but democracy?
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/nov/01/the-big-idea-is-democracy-up-to-the-task-of-climate-change

Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape by Cal Flyn

This book explores the extraordinary places where humans no longer live – or survive in tiny, precarious numbers – to give us a possible glimpse of what happens when mankind’s impact on nature is forced to stop. From Tanzanian mountains to the volcanic Caribbean, the forbidden areas of France to the mining regions of Scotland, Flyn brings together some of the most desolate, eerie, ravaged and polluted areas in the world – and shows how, against all odds, they offer our best opportunities for environmental recovery.

By turns haunted and hopeful, this luminously written world study is pinned together with profound insight and new ecological discoveries that together map an answer to the big questions: what happens after we’re gone, and how far can our damage to nature be undone?

No Horlicks or malt drink fans?

Cant believe Honda Jazz has not been recommended yet, great little car

Government are hoping to shift the non-commodity costs from electric to gas over the next decade and think they can drive down the cost of heat pump by 30-50%, so by 2030 the financial benefit should of heavily swung from gas to electric heating

This piece from a few days ago is good on what a representative sample of the UK agree on should be the actions to hit the 2030 reduction targets

The most popular policy mix selected by the public was:

A carbon tax of £75 per tonne on polluting manufacturing and construction businesses, with some funding to invest in new technologies, supported by 94% of people.
Better-integrated public transport coordinated by local government (93%).
Food campaigns and support from government, supermarkets and food companies promoting plant-based diets and cutting meat and dairy consumption by 10% (93%).
A comprehensive UK-wide electric vehicle charging network by 2028 (91%).
Raising flying costs, particularly on frequent fliers (89%).
Some restrictions on cars entering city centres and a 60mph speed limit on motorways (82%).
Support for less intensive farming and paying farmers to improve nature, including woodlands (79%).
Grants for heat pumps and home insulation for low-income households and low-interest loans for others, reaching 1.4m heat pump installations a year by 2030 (77%).

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/11/uk-public-backs-carbon-tax-high-flyer-levy-and-heat-pump-grants-study-shows

Thought it was going to have great estuary views but just looks very meh

Why would you take on such a complicated build in such a location in his position

Nice article hear on what people are actually willing to pay and would like to see policy deliver
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/11/uk-public-backs-carbon-tax-high-flyer-levy-and-heat-pump-grants-study-shows

You are all talking about trees but that isn’t how Octupus offset. They use a company called Renewable World that provide renewable energy solutions to developing countries so that cooking and hot water can be done with renewables rather than solid fuels, water can be pumped rather than women spending hours carrying it, communities can have micro grids set up etc. It has many tangible benefits beyond carbon impact on the recipients.

This was an interesting read on why defending Taiwan is a trap that the US should avoid:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/05/the-us-must-avoid-war-with-china-over-taiwan-at-all-costs

General Reading:
David Speigelhalter – The Art of Statistics
Tim Hartford – How to make the world add up
Andy Field – An adventure in Statistics
Charles Wheelan – Naked Statiscs

Text book:
Andy Field book Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics or Using R

Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel et al – OpenIntro Statistics (Digital copy is free https://www.openintro.org/book/os/) In the same series is Modern Statistics and Introductory Statistics with Randomization and Simulation if those float your boat more – these use R and have a supporting Coursera course

Barbara Illowsky et al – Introductory Statistics (Kindle edition currently free, like the series above they have a opensource model for digital versions, https://openstax.org/details/books/introductory-statistics)

Richard McElreath – Statistical Rethinking if you fancy Bayes (supporting lecture series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WVelCswXo4)

The Edifier range looks OK, any views on the Edifier R1280T or similar? Seem to get pretty good reviews apart from the crappy remote?

I have the 1700BT for TV and streaming music duties and really like them but I am not an audiophile. I would probably go for the 2000BT if I bought again for more input options

UK green energy surcharges set to switch from electric to gas bills

If this goes ahead, the switch to electric everything will look a lot more attractive

Can you imagine what would happen if suddenly the veil was lifted and the population at large understood that they’d been lied to for the past 50 years? The myth of governments having no money and austerity being necessary supports the wealth and power of the elite. Being honest about how money and govt finances work would turn everything on it’s head, and that’s why they don’t do it.

Exactly, one of the common questions you hear asked when MMT is explained, is so why do homeless people exist and the answer it is a political choice is not one most like to stomach

…and yet governments never do that in the extreme way you think they should/could. Soo you’re saying there’s a magic way to make everything better and to please all those voters, and nobody does it… Is that not some kind of clue?

This is literally what Biden is doing at unprecedented scale

So those moaning about Univserity fee’s, do you think a Starmer Labour Government would lower the threshold for repayment which hits lower earners hardest like the current Government are proposing?

Breakdown of recent polling
https://twitter.com/keiranpedley/status/1443522335601045504

They could have easily reported it as a car crash, how he’s at war with his party and still behind in the polls. But they didn’t, so maybe spend a minute to think about why that is.

That is literally what they reported for the first few days of the conference and reporting how popular JC still is, then Starmers speech got positive attention, maybe because there wasn’t much in it to criticise?

Ignoring those already mentioned
Hardcore History
Malcolm Gladwell Revisionist History
Radiolab
Tim Ferris (dip in and out depending on guest)
Costing the Earth
Huberman Lab
Lex Friedman (dip in and out depending on guest)
Jocko Podcast (dip in and out depending on guest)
2 Bears 1 Cave
Your Mum’s House

Like others have said, give a months notice and move on

My experience is like the last couple of posts though, seen old victorian terraced houses with bad mould and each time it was due not opening windows/ vents, drying clothes indoors, hanging wet stuff, shower/ cooking and not running extractor

I disagree. There’s no substantive difference.
What are the policies announced by Starmer which shift politics to the left?

It’s not all about policies though is it, the Tories don’t have a policy to be corrupt but yet they are.

I’d take him over the Tories all day of course. I’m not excited by the speech though.

This a position I can completely understand. There are a bunch of posters who make it sound like they would rather the status quo if they can’t have a radical transformative agenda, which I don’t get. I would like radical and transformative but I would take the good bits of the New Labour years without the bad bits over another term of the Tories.

Energy efficiency in new houses should be the priority.

He pointed out in his speech that when Labour left power they had in place regulations that all new homes would be low carbon, it was the Tories that got rid of the Code for Sustainable Homes. Labour put in place what you want previously, why don’t you think they would again? Housing stock turns over too slowly in this country to ignore retrofits

Home insulation isn’t a big issue for me.
I don’t own a home and most people I know can’t and never will be able to afford one.
Might have been good to tackle something like that.

So you don’t have energy bills?
Don’t think 500k new jobs is beneficial?
Don’t think accelerating the path to net zero is important?
Don’t think tackling one of the major causes of fuel poverty matters?

Just, it doesn’t help me so I don’t care about the rest of society?

As he talked for almost 1hr 30mins and it was one of the only policies he vaguely hinted at – can you explain what it is?

“So it will be Labour’s national mission over the next decade, to fit out every home that needs it, to make sure it is warm, well-insulated and costs less to heat and we will create thousands of jobs in the process.

“I can also pledge that we will also introduce a Clean Air Act and everything we do in government will have to meet a “net zero” test to ensure that the prosperity we enjoy does not come at the cost of the climate.”

Upgrading 19 million homes in a decade, costing £6bn a year from the £26bn pot announced by Rachel Reeves
-Upgrading 19 million homes so that they reach a minimum energy efficiency of EPC Band C
-Providing grants to low-income households and low interest loans to those able to pay to cover the cost of retrofitting
-Supporting up to 500,000 jobs
-Working with local and combined authorities, and the private sector, to recruit and train staff to upgrade housing
-Fitting homes with insulation, double glazing, upgraded home heating systems, and other renewable technologies

Any of that you disagree with or see as vacuous?

even if he does win will he do anything worthwhile? This speech suggests no.

Green New Deal not worthwhile?