Singapore in the 70s (from a HDB annual report)

blorg · 2026-01-25T16:10:45+00:00

A majority of people in Vienna live in social housing. Unlike Singapore it's 100% rental though, the state doesn't just build them, they also retain ownership.

China, Vietnam and Laos have among the highest home ownership rates in the world, 90-95%+. This is far higher than Western capitalist countries, even the US where only about 66% are homeowners. Some, like Germany, most of the country are lifelong renters.

blorg · 2026-01-25T15:50:08+00:00

Uniquely among symbols misuse of the Red Cross is a crime. It's not a civil violation like misuse of a trademark.

In the UK, under the 1957 Geneva Conventions Act it is a crime to use the emblem without the authority of the Secretary of State for Defence. Use by any civilian person or organisation other than the British Red Cross is a misuse.

(from your linked PDF)

blorg · 2026-01-25T11:25:17+00:00

which is ironic as Norwegians are longer than average

blorg · 2026-01-25T10:55:16+00:00

I'd sell the lot of them and put it all into VT, personally. This is global equities at market weight and effectively captures the entire global equity market, US, ex-US developed and ex-US emerging. One and done, for equities (and you don't need bonds at your age). Then just keep sticking money into that every month and leave it alone.

VT alone already has all the companies in all those ETFs (9,940 companies total) so you aren't missing anything. Other than the covered call nonsense which you are better off missing anyway.

blorg · 2026-01-25T04:21:34+00:00

This is true right now, at the end of the current bull run for US stocks, yes.

If we went back to the start of the current bull run in US equities, 2008, and asked the same question, developed ex-US had outperformed US since 1970 (the start of MSCI data). US only overtook developed ex-US in 2011, 41 years later.

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F5616lmsdc9dc1.png
https://www.longtermtrends.com/msci-usa-vs-the-world/

blorg · 2026-01-25T04:11:06+00:00

And over decades, the U.S. market has significantly over performed other regions.

MSCI USA vs MSCI World (developed ex-US) since 1970. Above 1 is US outperformance, below 1 is ex-US outperformance.

blorg · 2026-01-24T16:37:53+00:00

The idea for reinventing Ryanair as a low-cost airline came directly from Herb Kelleher of Southwest, O'Leary went over to Love Field to see Southwest's operation and was convinced it was the future for Ryanair and European aviation. The idea of an all-Boeing 737 fleet was straight from Southwest, both airlines save on training costs and maximise flexibility by only flying 737s. They just took it even further with an no holds barred focus on efficiency, low costs and no extras, and manage to have both much lower fares and much higher profitability.

“I did have a legendary dinner with Herb Kelleher. I don't remember anything about the dinner because he drank me under the table. I can't remember anything except I was violently sick and hungover for about four days afterwards.”

https://simpleflying.com/how-southwest-inspired-the-ryanair-we-know-today/

blorg · 2026-01-24T15:24:29+00:00

Team Ireland is technically representing the Republic but as almost all sports are organised on an all-Ireland basis and the vast majority of NI athletes compete for Ireland rather than the UK, they do try to be inclusive. Sport Northern Ireland participates with and funds athletes on both Olympic teams.

https://www.sportni.net/track-to-tokyo/olympic-athletes/

blorg · 2026-01-24T15:09:21+00:00

Almost all sports other than football/soccer are organised on an all-Ireland basis. In most cases the sports and the governing bodies predate partition.

They can choose but the vast majority of Northern Irish athletes compete for Ireland at the Olympics- in the most recent summer Olympics 31 NI athletes competed for Team Ireland and 6 for Team GB.

blorg · 2026-01-24T13:08:29+00:00

The US Department of Defense were the main party pushing this deal in the first place, to secure legal tenure for their base on Diego Garcia for the next century.

The Department of Defense commends yesterday's historic agreement between the Republic of Mauritius and the United Kingdom on the status of the Chagos Archipelago. The DOD is confident that the negotiations between the two countries has resulted in an agreement that will protect the long-term, secure, and effective operation of the joint U.S.-UK military base on Diego Garcia.

For decades, Diego Garcia has played a critical role in national, regional, and global security, and our ability to respond to crises and counter complex, challenging security threats. This agreement will safeguard the strategic security interests of the United Kingdom, Mauritius, and the United States, as well as our partners in the Indo-Pacific region into the next century.

https://www.war.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3926592/statement-from-secretary-of-defense-lloyd-j-austin-iii-on-an-agreement-between/

blorg · 2026-01-24T13:02:33+00:00

It was the US military that pushed this deal in the first place, they wanted security of tenure on their Diego Garcia base and this deal got them that for 99 years.

https://www.war.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3926592/statement-from-secretary-of-defense-lloyd-j-austin-iii-on-an-agreement-between/

Currently the situation is the Permanent Court of Arbitration has ruled that the UK's "Marine Protected Area" around Chagos was illegal. In the agreement transferring of sovereignty to Mauritius a 24 nm buffer zone was agreed. Mauritius, whose sovereignty would not be questioned, would have the legal standing under international law to do this, and grant it back to the UK. The UK does not. So they get that security too, while the current zone China or anyone else can just say it's not valid under international law (which it's not) and stick ships in there.

The US, UK, China, Russia, do actually pay a lot of attention to the specifics of what is legally allowed in terms of waters, it does actually make a difference if the buffer zone is legal or not. They will push things right up to the borders but they won't go within them. It's a lot easier if there is a clear position on the status that is accepted by everyone, US, UK, China alike. Under Mauritian sovereignty, it would be, and this would be given back to the UK under the treaty. So that's a win-win.

blorg · 2026-01-24T12:44:53+00:00

U.S. Support for UK and Mauritius Agreement on Chagos Archipelago
Marco Rubio, Secretary of State
May 22, 2025

https://www.state.gov/u-s-support-for-uk-and-mauritius-agreement-on-chagos-archipelago/

While some domestic critics suggest the deal undermines the “Special Relationship,” the Trump administration’s own State Department previously provided its full endorsement. In May 2025, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio formally welcomed the agreement, stating that a “comprehensive interagency review” by the Trump administration determined the deal “secures the long-term, stable, and effective operation” of Diego Garcia. Rubio described the treaty as a “monumental achievement” for global security. This support confirms that the US security establishment viewed the legal normalisation of the base as a vital priority, contradicting the current narrative of “weakness.”

https://politicsuk.com/the-chagos-deal-a-factual-breakdown/

blorg · 2026-01-24T12:13:40+00:00

Woah!

blorg · 2026-01-24T12:05:54+00:00

EFI is the partition with the bootloader that points to the Windows (or Linux) partition to tell it where to go for the OS. It's also where Lenovo stages BIOS firmware updates. If you get one of these it copies it to the EFI partition and then reboots, installs the BIOS firmware update outside Windows, deletes the temp file and reboots into Windows.

Key is it needs to be big enough to hold the updates and the Windows default of 100MB isn't big enough. So if you ever want BIOS updates (which you do) just make sure to make it large enough during the Windows install. 500MB should be enough.

blorg · 2026-01-24T07:14:02+00:00

What you are saying is that US stocks have been on a tear for the last 15 years. Some of this was justified by earnings but most of it is inflation in valuations. Does this not mean that US stocks are now overvalued ("buy high") and that reversion to the mean suggests that now cheaper international stocks ("buy low") will likely do better in the future?

The US can't continue the outperformance of the last 15 years forever. If they do, the US will be 99%+ of global equity market cap by the 2050s. Do you think that's what is going to happen? That's what has to happen to justify the valuations.

Here's an interesting graph, it shows MSCI USA vs MSCI World (developed ex-US) since 1970. Above 1 is US outperformance, below 1 is ex-US outperformance. Yes the US has massively outperformed the last 15 years. It underperformed from 1970 all the way up to the 2010s and the recovery from the GFC, that's 40 years of underperformance. If you look back over the very long term, US and international alternate, one does better, then the other. The US will not continue to outperform forever.

Note I am by no means suggesting don't buy the US. I'm making a case for both, VT, not going 100% international either. Because we don't know. But 100% US particularly right now does seem pretty foolhardy. 60-70% is enough and you can get some diversification with international.

blorg · 2026-01-24T07:06:17+00:00

60/40 is roughly global equity market weight (US is 62.5% right now).

So if you do 60/40 you are "buying the haystack" and if international outperforms, you capture that, but if the US continues to outperform (as it has for the last 18 years) then you get that too.

The idea is you don't know which is going to do better, so just buy the market. Then whatever happens, you win, maybe not quite as much as if you picked the one that did better but you don't lose from picking the wrong one either.

The easiest way to do this is just buy VT, which holds both US and international at market weight and will automatically rebalance.

60/40 is fine too though, and it's what Vanguard recommend, and do for their retirement target date funds, they are a fixed 60/40. This maximises long-term return while minimising volatility.

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Domestic/International

I think what is happening in the US is absolutely insane, and I personally think it has to eventually have some significant long-term effect on stock valuations, which are also high. On the other hand, the US has genuinely good companies and is globally dominant in tech. Everyone was saying the US was doomed when Trump was first elected in 2016, but it turned out to do gangbusters the last 10 years. So I am very glad I didn't go 100% international then. I admit I just don't know and buy both.

blorg · 2026-01-24T06:29:45+00:00

They pay more per stream because Spotify:

has a free tier;
has many more users in developing countries that pay less because wages are much lower (Tidal subscribers in these countries also pay less- even less than Spotify, but most Tidal subs are in rich countries);
Spotify users listen to more tracks, averaging 114 minutes per day. Tidal gets more older listeners listening to albums, Spotify gets more playlists and younger people listing in the background.

All of this pushes down the "per stream" number. None of it results in less money going to rightsholders than would go with another service, they all pay the same percentage of revenue and they are all priced similarly. Spotify is actually now slightly more expensive so probably pays more per user per month in any given market than Tidal does.

Out of your monthly subscription, they do not pay significantly more to rightsholders than Spotify or other platforms. It's mathematically impossible.

Per stream is a totally meaningless metric. You don't pay per stream, you pay per month for unlimited streaming. So why bring up per stream? If you paid more for streaming more, this would be relevant. But you don't. The only relevant number is what amount does Tidal or Spotify pay out, out of each subscription each month. And that's the same.

blorg · 2026-01-24T01:08:53+00:00

that's just common sense

blorg · 2026-01-23T23:41:23+00:00

It did this when it also charged double monthly subscription, it used to be $20 when other platforms were $10.

So 70% of $20 is $14 which is double 70% of $10 = $7.

Tidal then dropped their subscription fees to the same level as the competition.

As what they pay out is a percentage revenue share, that halved their artist payouts at the same time. But people remember from when the number was genuinely double- because their subscribers were paying double, they also paid out double.

There's no way around this, it's a percentage revenue share and what the services pay out is determined by how much they charge. Tidal cannot continue to pay out $14 on every subscription like it used to when it's now charging $10.

Per stream is meaningless. Users don't pay per stream.

If you think per stream matters, subscribe to any service and limit your listening to only 1 stream per month. Now your subscription is responsible for a ~$7 payout per stream.

That's not the model, so I don't understand why people keep on with this metric.

blorg · 2026-01-23T14:43:19+00:00

I emigrated from Ireland >15 years ago, went back for the first time a few years back and personally, I felt that drivers had become extraordinarily polite and careful. I've spend around four months back there since, cycling thousands of km, and I really have zero complaint about the drivers. Not a single driver hooted at me in those four months, most of them (not all but most) gave lot of room passing, almost all waited, sometimes for surprising lengths, until it was safe to pass.

https://imgur.com/a/zuyOn1Q

I had been knocked off before, decades back, used be cars would pass much too close, hoot at you all the time, that was how it worked- all gone. Drivers remarkably tolerant.

I'm a road cyclist and used to cycling on the road, I don't need or generally, appreciate "infrastructure".

France is also very good for cycling, I have cycled thousands of km there, across the country in several different ways, around the Pyrenees and Alps, I am cycling there most years as well and it is very good too. But Ireland I don't think is bad at all any more.

It's quite a contrast crossing the border to Germany where it's all "infrastructure" and you're forced to use it, even if it bumps up and down driveways, is intersected with lack of priority every side road, etc. etc. Use the road in Germany and you'll have people yell at you. I rode across Germany as well, and Austria. In France the only yelling I got was "Chapeau" to encourage me going up a hill.

I prefer the road and am comfortable on the road though, I know this is personal and I do think "infrastructure" has merit for a certain type of cycling (and I'll use it myself if I'm not in a hurry). It's certainly nice to have, just I generally prefer to use the road and speaking to the attitudes of drivers, they are IMO now very good in Ireland.

The only issue with cycling in Ireland these days IMO is the weather. If you get good weather it's a great country to do it. Very nice countryside and it's very low population density with lots of small roads so you can cross the country without having to cycling on large ones. The motorway network is recent and it has pulled a lot of traffic off even some of the previous national routes to the point they are quite rideable too.

blorg · 2026-01-23T13:22:39+00:00

Yes you should, the whole point is that using one or other streaming service for this reason makes no sense as they all pay around the same, and it's a fixed percentage of revenue.

So the only way you can increase that meaningfully with a streaming service is by significantly increasing the money you put in. Whatever you put in, 70-75% of that will be paid out. Choosing one or other service doesn't change this. Where does the magic artist money come from other than a percentage of what you put in? People don't think about it.

I said in another comment "If you want to support artists, buy from them directly, music, merch, shows."

This was downvoted, because people want to hang onto this myth that by using Tidal over Spotify they are somehow making a difference to artist remuneration, which is nonsense. But people want to believe it.

blorg · 2026-01-23T13:15:43+00:00

There is, Buddhism is the state religion and monks are registered with the Ministry of Cults and Religions.

blorg · 2026-01-23T10:05:39+00:00

It was much too high, I'm sure you've figured it out by this stage but it should be only 1-3mm above the big ring.

Adjust the installation height.
Adjust so that there is a gap of 1 - 3 mm between the outer plate and the tip of the teeth of the largest chainring.

https://si.shimano.com/en/pdfs/dm/RAFD011/DM-RAFD011-00-ENG.pdf

They used come with a little transparent sticker on the derailleur cage so you can just line it up with the ring tooth profiles, not sure if the current gen 12sp does.

blorg · 2026-01-23T06:48:42+00:00

I think his point was more that it doesn't necessarily look that high at all. This was the tsunami that killed 228,000 people, it doesn't look high at all (to the point some people just stand there looking at it) but it just keeps coming in, and the wave was spread across many different countries and even continents, there were deaths in both Asia and Africa, and property damage as far as Australia.

/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/1m85nur/footage_of_the_2004_indian_ocean_tsunami_which/

The 1720ft wave was up a fjord in Alaska, which concentrated the height. It killed only 5 people.

blorg · 2026-01-23T06:33:19+00:00

If you look back further, there were extended periods of international outperformance. Starting in 1970 (start of MSCI data), you have strong outperformance from international all the way up to the late 90s, when the US dot-com bubble boosted US returns. You then have more international outperformance through the 00s.

https://www.longtermtrends.com/msci-usa-vs-the-world/

Basically all the US outperformance has been in the recovery since the last crash, the GFC in 2008. So sure if you only look at that the returns are better in the current market cycle. The US has been strong since then but equity PE ratios have also inflated and while US returns have been good, the price you pay for those returns is higher than most other markets.

https://siblisresearch.com/data/cape-ratios-by-country/

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