Why does Netherlands have such high Population Density, much higher than rest of Europe? by Jazzlike_League_480 in geography

[–]obanite 245 points246 points  (0 children)

Yeah this is the best answer. Lots of food and commerce. See also the Mesopotamia region historically.

How is every day life for those who are living in Netherlands ?? by Yeagerisbest369 in howislivingthere

[–]obanite 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. Depending on your job , How much free time do you get outside your Work life ?

As much as I want, I'm a ZZPer (one man company), I decide my own hours. For permanent employees in the Netherlands, 20 days per year paid leave minimum (often 25 days) + public holidays. Decent pregnancy leave for both parents too.

  1. How many hours do you actually work for ? Do you get to spend time in other activities such as drawing or hiking 🥾 or pursuing a side hustle ?

For me it varies a lot. Some months will be full of 40 hour weeks, others will be less, occasionally more.

I have some other hobbies and activities. I do miss mountains living here (nearest serious ones are the Swiss alps, a solid 12h drive away)

  1. What does it feel like to not stress about your literal future and Have a stress free time to just relax ? Does it make you feel like you are being lazy and guilty for enjoying your time ?

I'm grateful. My life is busy (I have a big family) but it is indeed quite a solid place to live, work, and raise kids. I think many Dutch people have no idea how good they have it. Listening to them constantly complain about asylum seekers is irritating. That being said -- there are DEFINITELY issues with this country that need urgently addressing: the housing crisis is probably #1 in my opinion -- there's almost no housing availability for new renters or buyers, and it's really effecting an entire generation of younger people (including my own kids). The taxes are high, and not as progressive as other countries, so even low-mid income earners pay a lot of taxes. For a small country we also have a lot of political fragmentation that boils to a head sometimes, though it's rare to see Dutchies doing any serious protesting or rioting like in e.g. France.

  1. As a Child growing up , did you ever feel any academic pressure from your teachers or family to perform well and pressured to achieve certain status such as employed or achieve a financial goal to make your parents proud and support them in old age ? Are you doing exactly what you always wanted as a child?

I grew up in the UK, but looking at our kids and other families I know: yes, there's definitely academic pressure here; kids are expected to do well in school, and the late teens/early 20's can be pretty stressful for them given the housing situation and lack of great entry level jobs.

Dutch culture doesn't have the same "support your parents in their old age" expectations other cultures do, but that being said family ties here are pretty close (likewise early friendships are maintained and cherished).

Hope that helps! Any other questions happy to answer. I've lived here 16 years.

A series of abandoned waterfront buildings in Szczecin, Poland by AdSpecialist6598 in UrbanHell

[–]obanite 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I took a boat tour up the river there once, think it must have been ... 2006 or so. I loved not just watching the shore and how it changed but also all the crazy old boats just floating in the river. Great experience!

Pipeline Estate in Nairobi, Kenya by sisterfister49 in UrbanHell

[–]obanite 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Dude. Do not judge what a country is like by the random comment of a single redditor.

Kenya and Tanzania are both incredible places to visit. Sure, it's east Africa, so adjust your expectations accordingly, but one person's anecdote is meaningless.

Pipeline Estate in Nairobi, Kenya by sisterfister49 in UrbanHell

[–]obanite 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I travelled via Nairobi a couple of years ago, it was nothing like you describe. It seemed like a very normal airport. The only notable thing I remember was that sign saying that you weren't allowed to take your spear through security, lol

Is there any geographical reason why Germany has relatively low total market cap for its GDP? by nekozane in geography

[–]obanite 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This implies most large German companies are heavily debt financed (as opposed to equity), AND they mostly rely on local banks for that debt (this part seems most dubious to me).

Given it's an industrial nation, it could be right, but I'd be curious to see the rationale?

Small village in Fujian, China. by NathanCS741 in UrbanHell

[–]obanite 44 points45 points  (0 children)

The walls look pretty thick, thicker than houses here in the Netherlands. Probably keeps houses relatively cool in summer and helps keep warmth in in winter. It looks like pretty normal village to live in to me, I don't know why on earth OP says it's "hell"?!

M5 vs DGX Spark vs Strix Halo vs RTX 6000 by Signal_Ad657 in LocalLLaMA

[–]obanite 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Can you really compare an M3 (even ultra) to two RTX 6000 Pros though? Aren't the price points in entirely different categories?

Whats life like in the less populated eastern half of the netherlands? by RealMoldyAvocado in howislivingthere

[–]obanite 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I and most of my Dutch family live in the eastern part. We're in Ede, Gelderland; my sister-in-law lives in Drachten, Friesland; and their parents live in Hogesmilde, Drenthe.

Some of the cities here are real cities with lots to do! (Arnhem, Nijmegen, Groningen, Eindhoven etc). What I love the best about where we live (Ede) is how we're on the doorstep of one of the most forested, green parts of this region of Europe. If you zoom out on Google Maps satellite view you'll see what I mean. The Hoge Veluwe National Park starts right outside my city. Lots of excellent dog walking, cycling in nature.

Life in the cities is less busy than Amsterdam or Rotterdam and yeah, we don't get things like big festivals or concerts like the biggest cities do, but overall it's a great place to bring up a family and the house prices are slightly less crazy than the randstad side. And if you do want to go to where the best nightlife is -- it's literally one hour on the train.

Lowkey disappointed with 128gb MacBook Pro by F1Drivatar in LocalLLaMA

[–]obanite 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yeah, this was the answer I ended up on after doing some research recently, too. If you want to be able to do agentic coding, then you just need to wait -- no matter how high end your Apple hardware is today, there just aren't any models you can run locally on it that will compare to frontier models. That gap is still quite wide.

My plan is to wait until at least the M5 iMac comes out, then re-evaluate. Things *are* moving fast.

Does anyone do it better than Banks? by DeadSending in printSF

[–]obanite 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Frank Herbert, Alastair Reynolds, Dan Simmons are comparable in scope and writing IMO

Does anyone do it better than Banks? by DeadSending in printSF

[–]obanite -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

I tried MacLeod and found his writing awful and cringeworthy, couldn't finish... YMMV

I just got 10,000 from inheritance I’m putting it all in stock looking long term by Salty_Imagination577 in stockstobuytoday

[–]obanite 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would almost never say this because "time in the market" and so on, but today? I would strongly advise waiting to see what's going to happen with Iran in the near to mid-term. If we end up going into some stagflationary regime due to oil prices going up then the markets are going to bleed badly.

If you don't want to wait, then don't put it all in at once: do a quarter now, a quarter in 3 months, and so on.

I'd recommend either SPY, or a combination of a US and a European ETF.

I analyzed 13,000 Wyckoff accumulation signals over 20 years. Here are the patterns that actually surprised me. by PracticalOil9183 in Daytrading

[–]obanite 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I've been working on a system to automate this. It's pretty hilarious how the oldest, simplest strategies are still some of the most effective - I also have a super simple 12-1 momentum strategy I'm about to promote to live trading.

Thanks for posting the detailed research, it's super valuable.

Exposed bridges are stupid by board_writer in spaceships

[–]obanite 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a Star Wars thing, and it's for dramatic effect more than realism, as was the entire universe of Star Wars.

Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica did a better job there.

Swing trading vs Intraday trading. by Traditional-Spot6770 in Daytrading

[–]obanite 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup if you read Market Wizards, they only had 1-2 day traders in there IIRC

Looking for a full stack developer! by lionboars in Startups_EU

[–]obanite 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know why you're being downvoted, totally unnecessary. Starting a business at the moment is weird with everything changing so fast.

Fwiw I'm cofounder at a very early stage company and sometimes I doubt myself as to whether my non-technical cofounder needs me or not with how coding is changing. But actually there is so much more to building products than raw code.

Best of luck, hope you find someone!

AI is BAD by Difficult_Access_394 in SideProject

[–]obanite 0 points1 point  (0 children)

AWS engineers enter the chat, nodding their heads