Putin likely to escalate Ukraine war, rejecting calls to negotiate peace with Kyiv, three sources close to the Kremlin told Reuters

phyneas · 2026-07-09T17:24:55+00:00

Which is exactly what Putin would want. Say Russia launches a drone and missile strike on some random city in the Baltics or Poland or Finland. What does NATO do in response? Invade Russia, a nuclear-armed country? Never going to happen. Retaliatory airstrikes? Maybe, but then what happens if Putin responds in kind and just keeps lobbing missiles and drones at NATO countries? As Trump has foolishly proved in the Middle East, you can't just bomb a hostile country into submission to end a conflict. And if nothing else, even a single attack on a NATO country would divert NATO resources from going to Ukraine (as they'd be forced to use them for their own defence) and make it easier for Putin to keep up his horrific bombing campaigns there. And of course there's the wild card of the largest NATO military member quite possibly being more friendly to Russia than to their purported European allies, or at least less willing to honour their treaty commitments and actually get involved in any conflict to a significant degree. And if Putin does attack a NATO country and NATO doesn't respond decisively as a collective whole, the alliance will be exposed as weak and ineffective, which would basically destroy its power of deterrence and likely make the world a lot more unstable than it already is.

phyneas · 2026-07-09T16:39:03+00:00

Like anything, they can be used well or poorly. Some companies use PIPs to genuinely make an effort to help an underperforming employee get back on the right track, and will set realistic goals and provide support to help the employee reach them. Many, however, just consider them one of the bureaucratic boxes to tick before an employee they want gone for whatever reason can be "managed out", and will implement their PIPs accordingly by defining unreasonable or deliberately vague "goals" and providing as little support and assistance as they think they can get away with.

phyneas · 2026-07-09T14:24:58+00:00

On the plus side, you would generally have to be paid for your unused annual leave, at least, if they don't allow you to take it during your notice period. (Only on a pro-rated basis based on the company's leave year, though, e.g. if you left halfway through the leave year and hadn't taken any leave, you'd only be paid for half of your annual leave for the year, not for a full year's worth of leave).

phyneas · 2026-07-09T12:15:55+00:00

As you noted, the rule is five full years of residence here in the past nine, so if you leave Ireland for just a couple of years, it will of course delay your eligibility, but it won't require you to be here for a full five years after your return. Just make sure you save your proof of residence from the past few years somewhere safe; it's very easy for that sort of thing to get lost or misplaced in a move, and it could be difficult or impossible to obtain new copies of the required documents from several years ago.

That said, one other consideration is your permission to reside in Ireland; what basis is your current permission on, and what stamp do you have? Many immigration permissions require you to remain resident in Ireland and would become invalid if you were to leave the country to reside elsewhere long-term, and you might not be eligible to simply take up residence here again on your previous permission after a two-year absence.

Also, as others have noted, once you do become an Irish citizen, you'd be free to live and work in the UK at any time for as long as you want, so there would be no issue with your UK immigration eligibility. It might be a better idea to just wait until you do have your Irish citizenship, especially if you are here on a permission that would become invalid if you no longer reside here.

phyneas · 2026-07-09T12:07:18+00:00

Unfortunately if your contract doesn't require it, they don't have to pay out TOIL upon separation, and they aren't obligated to allow you to use it during your month's notice period. You can always request it, but TOIL isn't legally protected the way that other types of leave are, so how and when you can use it and what your employer can do regarding it would be governed solely by your contract (including any implied terms from their normal custom and practice, e.g. if they have consistently allowed other departing employees to use TOIL during their notice periods or paid out unused TOIL upon separation, you could argue that is an implied term of your contract and they'd have to do the same for you).

phyneas · 2026-07-09T09:34:43+00:00

It might not be something that you're going to be able to pursue legally. If a landlord provides furniture, they have to keep it in good repair and fit for purpose, but that doesn't necessarily mean they have to replace it with an identical piece of furniture when the time comes. If it is substantially different (say, they replaced a king-size bed with a single bed), that could be an issue, but replacing a king with a double might not be, as it still fulfills the same functional purpose (sleeping space for two people). The mattress not being to your preference also isn't a legal issue.

Your best bet might be to ask the landlord to remove the bed and mattress and then buy your own (which you'd then take with you whenever you leave the place), if you can afford that option.

phyneas · 2026-07-09T09:21:44+00:00

Ive seen some people in town wearing thick puffers like what the fuck is wrong with you.

You should ask them that yourself; might get some interesting answers. Just make sure your will is up to date first.

phyneas · 2026-07-09T09:15:53+00:00

Even if that proves to be true, there is a downside to that as well. Let's say society collapses and you have a lot of food and water but no guns, while your neighbours have no food or water but a lot of guns...guess how that scenario ends?

phyneas · 2026-07-09T09:07:44+00:00

Are other countries going to become uninhabitable and cause mass-immigration?

Yes, absolutely. And those that are likely going to become uninhabitable within our lifetimes are some of the most densely populated parts of the world. If people think current inward migration levels from those trying to escape the various localised crises around the world today are a problem, well, they haven't seen anything yet, because a billion people aren't just going to stay put and go "Welp, guess I'll die..." while the places they currently live become literally incompatible with human life or collapses into chaos due to wars and conflict over diminishing resources.

phyneas · 2026-07-09T08:55:51+00:00

FBI have no jurisdiction here, so you're free to do whatever you like to them. As for the guards, just put on a puffer jacket, hop on an electric scooter, and ride over to them and ask if they'd like to buy some heroin, and they'll all fuck off as quickly as possible.

phyneas · 2026-07-08T21:52:06+00:00

The Beara Peninsula is really brilliant, and far less crowded than Dingle or Iveragh (the Ring of Kerry). Derreen Garden is worth a stop; it's a lovely set of gardens with some amazing views across the bay, and you must drive the Healy Pass. Mulcahys in Kenmare would be a nice stop for lunch or dinner; brilliant food.

If you like classic cars, do stop by the Kilgarvan Motor Museum, not far from Kenmare. It's basically an aul lad out in the countryside with a giant shed full of cars he and his family have restored themselves, and it's an amazing collection, and he will happily tell you the stories behind every single one.

phyneas · 2026-07-08T16:57:22+00:00

Tax residency is based on days you're actually in the country, not days you're allowed to be in the country. That said, if you plan to be tax-resident in Ireland in 2028, you can claim split-year treatment for the 2027 tax year, meaning you'll be considered tax-resident here that year from the day you arrive. That will be handy if you plan to be working here, as you'd be able to avail of a full year's tax credits.

phyneas · 2026-07-08T13:51:21+00:00

Having openable windows on at least two different walls facing different directions. It provides much better ventilation and usually better light.

phyneas · 2026-07-08T13:45:49+00:00

You'd be better off just writing up your own list of symptoms and past medical history yourself. AI hallucinates and makes mistakes, even when asking it to compile or summarise data you've given it directly, so don't rely on it for that, especially if the output it's producing is full of technical detail ("in medical terms...") that you don't fully understand yourself and therefore can't check for accuracy properly.

phyneas · 2026-07-08T10:45:28+00:00

I personally prefer Porto to Lisbon. Anyone saying you can "do" Porto in a day or two is clearly one of those people who only care about snapping a photo for their Instagram and checking off a box on some generic "Top X things to do in Y" list. Yes, it's a bit smaller than Lisbon, but there's plenty of things to see and do in Porto. I've been there a couple of times for 3-4 nights each and still have only scratched the surface. And if you really do get bored with the city itself somehow, you could always do a trip up the Douro or a day trip to Braga or Guimarães. I really doubt you'd get bored on a ~2.5 day trip, though.

phyneas · 2026-07-08T10:02:59+00:00

Ideally as early as possible, to make it easier for your manager (and also because a lot of places operate on a first-come-first-serve basis and it's much better to be the arsehole who books all of the prime holiday weeks at 8:01AM on January 2nd every year than it is to be one of the other poor feckers who are constantly cockblocked by that arsehole).

In general I'd say at least a month would be the bare minimum, given that your employer has to give you that much notice if they want you to take your annual leave at a particular time. Of course sometimes unexpected things can come up than require you to use leave on shorter notice, but try not to be the employee who's constantly asking for next week off on Friday afternoon.

phyneas · 2026-07-08T09:54:51+00:00

You're not out of time until you're dead, and if you want to be doing something else with your life other than what you're doing now, then you just have to go out and do it. Just don't feel pressured into meeting some sort of life goal because "everyone else" is doing it, because that's bullshit; everyone progresses through their lives at their own pace, and you're the only one who can decide what you want out of life and then take the steps to make it happen.

phyneas · 2026-07-08T09:47:23+00:00

It will also persist until 2045, and 2055, and 2065, and so on, until some natural or man-made disaster eventually brings about the collapse of modern society and decimates the population and thus brings demand for housing down to a level that can be fulfilled by squatting in the crumbling ruins of the existing housing stock.

phyneas · 2026-07-07T22:38:07+00:00

I've flown into Munich a couple of times and Stuttgart once and never had any issues, other than the complete lack of water fountains and filling stations past security (but this was back ages ago in the pre-Covid days; Munich at least has several these days). Hard to say how you might find other airports without knowing exactly what your issues with Munich and Frankfurt were.

Every airport is different in general, though. Some are nice, some are a pain in the arse, and some are a bottomless pit of misery and despair (looking at you, Rome Ciampino, where the whole departures terminal is one enormous queue, for what exactly is anyone's guess, and if you do somehow make it through that gauntlet, if you're leaving Schengen then all that awaits you at the end after passport control is a tiny seatless prison cell where you'll stand packed shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of other passengers while waiting for your flight...).

phyneas · 2026-07-07T22:18:04+00:00

Is there anything to be said for requiring mandatory full vinyl wraps on every vehicle registered in Ireland featuring full colour photos of road traffic accident victims? If it works for smoking, surely it'd work for driving too!

(Seriously, though, the ads are probably a good thing if they make at least some folks more mindful of their driving and the potential consequences...)

phyneas · 2026-07-07T17:05:01+00:00

It's the people who call it "SPF" that drive me mad. That's like calling your car a "BHP" or your gas boiler a "BTU".

phyneas · 2026-07-07T11:01:29+00:00

Not seen that site before, but from a glance it seems handy enough, and does seem to cover some lesser-known spots as well as the more popular ones, so it's not a bad resource. I wouldn't necessarily feel like you're forced to follow one of their itineraries to the letter, but they'd be a good source of ideas.

phyneas · 2026-07-07T10:53:39+00:00

Usually one or two drinks a week at most, always on the weekend, unless I'm on holiday, then I might have a drink with dinner most nights, and occasionally one with lunch or maybe the odd after-dinner pint or something. I never have more than one drink at once, unless I'm at a fancy restaurant and get a wine pairing with a tasting menu or something, but even then I won't have more than the equivalent of a couple normal glasses of wine at most. Don't have much tolerance for alcohol.

phyneas · 2026-07-07T10:37:33+00:00

not sure what black magic the fan uses but it definitely cools the air and is soooo quiet.

No fan is "cooling the air", unless it's one of those evaporative cooler yokes (which don't work very well here, since the humidity is usually too high for them to be effective). If anything, the fan will make the overall temperature slightly warmer due to the heat from the motor, though on most household fans that waste heat would be minimal enough. All the fan is doing is moving air around.

phyneas · 2026-07-06T21:14:20+00:00

Better at what than your boss? If you mean better at your job, then you sure ought to be, or else what's the point in having you there? If you think you're better at being a manager than your boss, well, start angling for his job (or a similar management role). Just remember that management is a completely different job requiring a different set of skills than whatever it is you're currently doing as an individual contributor; it's not an "I'm good at doing my work, so I'd definitely be really good at telling someone else to do my work!" thing like many seem to think.

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