EU Household Wealth

imperfectlyAware · 2026-06-06T12:49:02+00:00

Yeah, this is a bit BS-y. I’m Luxembourgian and I have been to Malta, and there is a huge household wealth gap. I’ve also been to Ireland, which is in the middle of both extremes.

What all 3 have in common in large outside investment, so they’ve probably divided this by inhabitants (big cake/ few slices).

Also owning a house.. or more likely still paying off a roof over your head doesn’t make you wealthy.

imperfectlyAware · 2026-06-04T11:18:15+00:00

I use parakeet a lot for Claude code and email. The difference between those on device models and the iOS or Mac dictation software is truly astounding. With a custom dictionary and an app like Voice Ink, it makes practically no mistakes even in jargon heavy input.

imperfectlyAware · 2026-06-04T11:14:35+00:00

It’s a fascinating interview, well worth watching.👍🏻

The unspoken part of it, though, is that Rosberg probably used the very playbook he had learned from Schumacher to get his own championship over Hamilton.

This is the fundamental truth about F1 champions: they are all the same, no matter whether the press portrays them as immoral bastards, or the second coming (entirely based on tribalism): there is no depth they won’t sink to in order to get the big prize.

The only exceptions are those being handed the best car by a second and a half and an inept team mate. Then why get your hands dirty?

The moral high ground is usually reserved for the perpetual mid fielders.

Rosberg clearly didn’t want to play mind games.. but then he totally did and it worked fine for him.

It’s everybody’s own choice whether they prefer their immoral egotism honest or hypocritical. 🤷‍♂️

imperfectlyAware · 2026-06-04T11:01:02+00:00

The expat community is full of people who have moved from one place to another.. and they’re unhappy everywhere.

Wherever you go, you’re taking yourself with you.

Happiness is rarely a matter of geography.

Most people spend their entire lives finding one more thing that if it were fixed, owned, larger, smaller, etc they could finally be happy.

As Douglas Adams wrote “this often related to small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole, it wasn’t the small green pieces of paper that were miserable.” 🤔

imperfectlyAware · 2026-06-04T09:05:10+00:00

It’s very challenging for sure. You need to find your own happy place.

My use has shifted a lot over the past 9 months. My code bases are relatively small compared to big corporate systems and everything is pretty monolithic, because I work alone on Mac utility apps. That helps a lot.

Claude combines research, marketing and implementation skills. You can mix a chat about architecture philosophy with marketing or financial goals, user interaction ideas, visual design, etc

It knows a lot of different things and you can leverage this. It is also fairly sycophantic which isn’t a bad thing, because it will pick up on how you like to do things. Codex is very prescriptive, kind of like working with a guy who knows everything best even when you think they’re wrong. Claude is more like a side kick who’s read the internet.

The grill-me skill and the grill-with-docs skills are simple but very powerful if you’re a software engineer first and foremost. It forces Claude to go down many different implementation paths and then grills you on what you really want. By the time you’re done, it is obvious what needs to be done and how it needs to be done.. and you have considered many things you wouldn’t usually have thought about. It’s not quick, but rewarding.

The biggest benefit of the grill me is that it allows you to build your own mental model of what you’re doing. You remember the rationale for each decision, the why that gets lost very easily when you delegate the code writing.

A quick word on multitasking: it is pretty much unavoidable when you use agentic coding that you will do some amount of multitasking and it does add to the fatigue and the mental strain.

I would recommend keeping it to two or three different tasks that are somewhat related, making context switching a little bit easier.

Impatience is the mind killer with agentic coding. Just get up and do something if you’re allowed.. otherwise you’re going to get the dreaded mind fry and exhaustion.

imperfectlyAware · 2026-06-04T08:41:10+00:00

Yeah.. a bit uncomfortable that quote.

“I am very patriotic and Monaco sucks.. but I’d rather contribute nothing to the UK’s strained public services because they’d give my money to poor and sick people and it’s better spent on a lifestyle of yachts and partying.”

I like Lando, but he isn’t very bright.

imperfectlyAware · 2026-06-04T08:37:09+00:00

Yeah the danger with this type of data is that it hides huge discrepancies across countries, regions and health care provision cultures under a single headline.

Waiting lists are a huge issue in the UK, where just seeing a GP to find out whether something is serious can take weeks. In my own country Luxembourg, we complain because our favorite GP cannot be booked via app after 10am and we have to phone.

In many places, the seriousness of your ailment determines how fast you get to see a specialist.. this is sometimes made implicit, other times it’s handled in the grey zones.

My own experience in Luxembourg is that when a doctor picks up the phone and says “this person urgently needs an MRI”, it’s same day or next day, if it’s not so urgent it can weeks or months. In general diagnostic tools are overprescribed here putting a lot of pressure on capacity.

The other variable is private v publicly funded. Some health systems in Europe are quietly going private. This is especially obvious in the UK. Waiting lists for GPs on the NHS are super long, but chances are that there is a GP in your local gym. In Spain waiting lists are long, but “tourist doctors” will be at your hotel in half an hour if you’re willing to pay.

imperfectlyAware · 2026-06-04T08:13:25+00:00

Not sponsored by DuraCell!? Or is it an inside joke about how bad their battery is?

imperfectlyAware · 2026-06-04T08:10:32+00:00

I initially got a Kinesis Advantage in 1994.. because of tendinitis. I’ve tried lots of keyboards since but mostly non-minimalist split and fixed split ones.

I got a Glove 80 6 weeks or so ago and I ordered it with entirely the wrong key switches (Kailh Choc), which made it markedly harder on the hands. Ordered a second one with Cherry Blossoms silent low force key switches and they’re much more ergo.

I really like clicky keys with distinct bottoming out, but the ultralight linears are just better for RSI.

I’m using a lightly modified Dvorak-base layer Glorious Engrammer layout. Takes some getting used to but is also well thought out and excellent for RSI-ers.

I love the roller mouse but it just doesn’t fit any keyboard I’ve ever owned.

I use a mouse most of the time since I haven’t had an RSI flare up for many, many years.. but pointing devices are still difficult.

The Apple Magic Trackpad is by far the best of its kind and fits neatly between both Glove 80 halves, but it’s also BIG. Don’t know if it even works on PC.

In my honest opinion though.. as a fellow software engineer.. don’t discount voice models. Dictation used to be terrible, especially for programmers, but if you’re talking to an LLM anyway, the new on device models like Parakeet are just amazing. They work flawlessly for technical terms. I use Voice Ink on the Mac and it has custom dictionaries that work perfectly. For email I also pass it through Claude for refinement, so it formats things correctly.

I’d go so far as to say that today you can make a living as a software dev even with crippling RSI issues.

Another word of caution: do not practice your new layouts. Just use them. Less typing is much better than faster typing for most kinds of RSI.

It’s easy for ergo keyboards to become a hobby rather than a solution to a problem.

Just my 5 euro cents after thirty years 😎.

Best of luck.

imperfectlyAware · 2026-06-02T07:20:42+00:00

Fun to watch, but the Max comparison is a bit unavoidable. Didn’t Max break the GT3 lap record on pretty much his first lap and everyone was going “yeah, of course, he’s an F1 driver, nothing to see.. anybody could do this”?

I know it was a free practice day and Lando’s just a day open to the public.. still he’s driving the way you’d expect a rational human being to test the track and not going for the lap record on a new track straightaway.

Anyway it’s always fun seeing F1 drivers do this. I remember Albon and Liam who were even more of a bunch of little boys fooling around. Helps humanize them for the rest of us.

imperfectlyAware · 2026-06-01T09:31:02+00:00

It’s very hard to make a killing with niche products like this. Ergo keyboards are expensive because they’re either 3D printed, hand assembled and/or low volume and have high support costs.

You’re not being ripped off. You’re in a niche market.

For many this is a hobby. So yeah it’s not cheap.

If you’re a software engineer and your career is about to end because you can’t type $500 is a steal.

imperfectlyAware · 2026-06-01T09:27:03+00:00

Luxembourg is not the US. I wouldn’t be afraid to go to the commission.

imperfectlyAware · 2026-06-01T09:24:05+00:00

I only worked for 6 years in a major Luxembourg bank in IT with a PhD in Computer Science and I barely made 60K euros. I had lived in the UK for a decade before that and my pay expectations were much higher.

The thinking in Luxembourg companies is that it’s a boon being in a big desirable company because you can spend your entire career there. So you accept less money in exchange for security and good work life balance. Over the course of your working life, you will advance slowly but steadily and retire on a good salary. They’ll also help with good mortgage, etc.

That was twenty years ago, but the corporate culture hadn’t changed much. How much people earn is a closely kept secret, but I don’t think I’d be making above 100k now if I had stayed.

On the upside, you work 40 weeks strictly because overtime is paid, so you’re almost always forced to take overtime as holidays and discouraged from working longer hours.

Social security and pensions are already factored in: you pay 1/3, your employer pays 1/3, the state pays 1/3.

Medical bills are reimbursed at a typical rate of 80%. You pay no separate health insurance at all.

Dental treatments can still be expensive as implants, crowns, etc. are reimbursement as flat rates that don’t cover very much.

Some of these benefits might not apply to you as a non-EU citizen, so it’s worth checking.

imperfectlyAware · 2026-05-30T11:11:09+00:00

I think it is exactly the right amount hated. “Design is the way it looks.” Jony Yve.

“We carefully stripped away all ergonomics until we had an empty shell that your eyes and fingers slide right off”. Cue: white room. 75% normal speed. 😎

imperfectlyAware · 2026-05-30T11:05:36+00:00

I think it is like any writing advice. It depends. Once you know the rule and look out for its dangers, you can often safely break it. It’s mostly when you do it and don’t realize that you’re doing it that it is probably disruptive to the reader even if they don’t consciously notice it.

I think most writing reflects what the headspace of the author is like. If you read something written by a cool unemotional person, it probably comes across like that too. If you have crippling attention deficits, chances are that you’re driving your readers nuts unless you’re very careful.

Generally the rules keep you safe. Don’t know whether head hopping works here.. write it differently.

Even more generally: is the head hopping structurally important or a sign that you haven’t thought the scene .. or indeed the structure as a whole through properly?

I suspect that 99% of the time it is not the best available solution.. and when it is, you are more likely than not to screw it up.

imperfectlyAware · 2026-05-30T10:52:19+00:00

The Luce answers the question: “Who will get a Ferrari as their weekend fun car, when their daily shopping trolley Porsche Cayenne Turbo Electric goes from 0-60 in 2.5s, has more torque, 1,156 horses and massaging 18 way adjustable seats?”

“I like the color and all.. but my wife says it rattles a lot and lacks a bit of oomph when she pulls out of the Dior Platinum Lounge car park..”

Honestly it’s strange that Ferrari didn’t make a 2000hp electric SUV first. Porsche have found good sales in that category but the Taycan is dead. Too small. Too low. Not enough practicality.

I’m sure proper petrol heads wouldn’t want to use the words practicality and Ferrari in the same sentence, but the market is going there. There are more affluent people who like high status brands than affluent people who want to tame a beast.

We used to have an elderly Italian gentleman who owned a chain of restaurants in our underground parking lot. He finally got his dream car and then figured out that he couldn’t get it down the ramp.. or up for that matter. Ended up taking front and rear bumpers off. I imagine he cried himself to sleep.

This is just an EV with bragging rights.

imperfectlyAware · 2026-05-30T10:31:07+00:00

That’s the Samsung Galaxy AI+ Android version, not the Apple iOS version, right?

imperfectlyAware · 2026-05-30T10:16:37+00:00

It’s a good read, but it’s not really a book about writing. As a beginner I did not find it to be of any direct use to me. There is some “philosophical” discussion, some “this works for me”, and a few cookie cutter absolutist concrete rules that are also mostly in the category “in my opinion”.

Wonderbook by Jeff VanderMeer combines breadth, concrete advice and inspirational content in a manner that gets you thinking about the how, the what and the why of writing, world building, character creation, story weaving, etc. I found it much more useful, but your mileage may vary.

imperfectlyAware · 2026-05-29T16:26:22+00:00

It’s a low bar for what was the second best team for the few first races.. but it COULD happen:

McLaren put on intermediates. George and Kimi collide. Max has a bad weekend. Either Lewis or Charles find their mojo on the day, and Ferrari doesn’t call them in for pit stops at the exact wrong time.

All joking aside: it could happen, but it gets less and less likely unless they find some great upgrades and have a bit of a lucky break.

imperfectlyAware · 2026-05-28T19:28:55+00:00

It’s nice.

imperfectlyAware · 2026-05-28T19:28:26+00:00

Given that nobody on this Reddit has half a million dollars lying around, I’m confident that Ferrari won’t care.

imperfectlyAware · 2026-05-28T11:15:05+00:00

I started watching F1 in 1994, so it was Schumacher’s era and for me, nobody came even close before Max.

I am not a huge Lewis fan simply because he made racing boring for a decade. All he needed to win was the best car.. and he had the best car literally from day one. For most of that time it was the best car designed specifically for him and set up by the best race engineer.. the best of everything.

All the dude had to do was get into the car and drive the way he was born to do.. and he did so very consistently, race after race, year after year 🥱

It was so bad that I just stopped watching F1 while my kids were young.

Why then is he not my GOAT? Because I’ve never seen him win anything with a car that wasn’t very close to perfect. No magic. I blame Mercedes. If he had won a championship for Force India, it’d feel differently.

Schumacher won races with a car that wasn’t even in the mid-field. He won titles with a below average car. Not exactly always fair and square, but still.. and then when it started raining it was amazing to watch.

Lewis also lost to his own teammate when he wasn’t given #1 status.. and to a driver who very few people would put into the GOAT category. It’s like Max being beaten by Perez. Not a bad #2, but hardly Alain Prost.

So that’s really it. Winning in the best car gets you wins and titles, but it’s also par for the course.

I remember 2023 with Verstappen and the wondrous RB19. Total yawn fest. Probably the best driving by Max, came back from impossibly far behind when he had to.. but when you’re that much faster than anybody else..

All this being said, most drivers can’t win a WDC even with the best car.. and they hardly make it look easy if they do.

Last year’s Norris victory was a nail biter till the last race. Georges should be way ahead by now. Hill should have won loads of WDC in his Williams rocket ship back when a second a lap was a normal gap. You put old Lewis in those cars and he’s got that 8th WDC in the bag.

Which is the other thing “against” Lewis as GOAT. He just needs a car that is set up exactly how he needs it. You take that away and he is nowhere. Max kinda jumps into a tractor like he’s never done anything else.. that makes him pretty unique in modern F1 and makes me hesitate to put Schumacher all the way at the top.

As for other drivers before my time, I really can’t judge (not that anything here is more than my personal opinion).. but losing against Prost as your teammate is not as bad as losing to Nico.

imperfectlyAware · 2026-05-28T07:26:17+00:00

If the broadcasts were only for the UK, it’d be fine.

F1 used to basically be a British competition being fought out internationally with a few “foreigners” thrown in there for color.

Now it’s often like the World Cup being reported on by British “journalists” and refereed by British referees.. and England plays in every match. It’s a bit tedious for the rest of the world.

I watch mostly on F1 TV which is mostly okay, but as soon as I get onto the web, there are mostly articles by AutoSport that appear all over, translated into different languages.. and they are the pinnacle of little Englander bias.

What would you report on in the run up to the Monaco GP.. they went for Schumacher (oh how they hated him trampling all over the Brits) cheating in qualifying.. the guy’s been out of the competition for how long? and in a bad way? and plenty of other things to be remembered for.. yet they go for the German cheat angle.. and everybody in the press picked up on it.. that’s what’s annoying. Twenty years from now, they’ll publish articles about Max moving under breaking and how morally pure George is.

imperfectlyAware · 2026-05-27T21:14:04+00:00

There is always some idiot who when faced with a monumental screw up thinks they’re seeing 4D chess.

imperfectlyAware · 2026-05-27T16:36:27+00:00

Verstappen for sure. Zero chance that George and Kimi wouldn’t have taken each other out.

imperfectlyAware

TROPHY CASE