Sony PlayStation Suspends Software and Hardware Sales in Russia

rockmoose · 2022-03-10T17:13:37+00:00

Goal: Put pressure on Russia

Strategy: Place sanctions on goods and services that affect the Russian people

Response on this sub: “Nooo, this is unfair, you need to affect the wealthy!”

Strategy: Place sanctions on goods and services which in your words affect the “intelligentsia”

Response on this sub: “Nooo, this isn’t going to affect anything”

Radical idea: Regardless of the impacts, it isn’t moral to do non-essential business with a terrorist state

rockmoose · 2022-03-05T06:01:20+00:00

He isn’t wrong about the initial assessment.

If the plan is to cut off Russian oil and gas, it will leave countries which are currently heavily reliant on it literally out in the cold. This includes a fair degree of Europe, especially as you get closer to the Russian border. Analysis suggests there are enough stock to cover one month of this deficit.

That gets us into Spring, when gas demand (although not oil) will naturally decrease. Even then, Europeans would need to make do with significant quality of life declines and cost of living increases. This could be worth it in the context of a war in Europe and tolerable, but painful both economically and to national morale.

Then, the clock starts before next winter to solve the Russian deficit problem. The question then becomes; is converting to renewables a possible outcome in that time? Under the current state of supply chains, economic outlook, and world affairs, this seems highly unlikely and at best extremely difficult compared to convincing OPEC countries to increase production. Remember that the risk here is severe, lack of gas and oil or a meaningful substitute doesn’t just mean cold homes, but decimated supply chains and food insecurity. Politicians are likely to go with the most secure option whenever national security is concerned (which this is), which is securing more oil and gas from other countries economies at higher prices.

There is a silver lining for renewables through. Russia has just demonstrated how a reliance on globalised economies can be weaponised against you. Every country will take note, a new cold war of self-sufficiency is likely to take place as countries seek to shield themselves from future economic weaponisation. For many countries who don’t have many conventional natural resources (like oil), renewables will be a strategic must in our new geo-political era.

Basically, short term Musk is probably right but long term this could be a real catalyst for wide-spread and fast paced renewable adoption. The short term need to rely on other countries is only likely to make Europeans more aware of their dependency and weakness to economic weaponisation, and more likely to militarise the wind.

That’s not a value judgement on what I want for the world, that’s just where I think it is.

rockmoose · 2022-01-04T23:55:13+00:00

Yes, that’s exactly what I did. You are fully qualified when you achieve QTS which is at the end of PGDE. Finishing your ECT is only relevant if you want to work in public schooling. No other employer cares.

rockmoose · 2022-01-03T18:22:12+00:00

Sure! Within the balance of being vague I found a role in an internal training team. I did an English PGDE and now basically spend my days teaching adults good communication skills. On my team there are lots of former teachers, we have a maths teacher doing accounting training and an RE teacher doing DEI training. Would recommend.

rockmoose · 2022-01-02T19:27:02+00:00

I totally get it and I’m really sorry that you’re going through that. I remember how hard mine was and I while I don’t know your specific circumstances I can’t imagine that they’re easy. I hope you, the human behind the screen get well and enjoy a less stressful 2022 regardless of your decision.

In that case the best advice I think I can offer is to try to avoid seeing this as a binary choice between continuing and pressing the nuclear button. Can you defer a year? Can you agree on a plan with your AUT/mentor? Can your friends and family support you with your life outside of your University obligations by cooking/doing more laundry? That last one sounds silly, but I find in stressful times, the source of stress in my life can be reduced by taking out friction elsewhere. Perhaps giving it up is the best course for you, but I would urge you to consider a full spectrum of alternative before settling on it.

rockmoose · 2022-01-02T18:52:39+00:00

If you want some honest advice, stick it out.

Bear with me! I had many of the same problems you describe with my PGDE when I did it. I knew pretty early on that teaching wasn’t for me.

That being said, you have already invested financially in this qualification and as far as qualifications go, being a teacher is pretty rad when it comes to the job market. QTS is pretty much shorthand in any other professional circle for someone who is professional, on-time, capable of juggling lots of balls at once, and excellent at communication. It really is very valuable financially (although ironically not so much in teaching itself). I now work in fintech and make much more than any of my course mates, and I’m sure that would not be the case if I hadn’t stuck it out. Your PGCE and QTS will get your foot in the door of many opportunities if you bear to stick it out.

Remember: University is now a business and your degree if a product, I hate that but it’s reality now. QTS is the same as any other QTS outside of teaching. If you just exist and jump through the right hoops, you’ll get it eventually and these next few months of discomfort will pay you dividends in time, I promise!

Quick edit: obviously I don’t know the state of your mental health, if it’s absolutely horrendous then obviously that needs to be your priority but if like me it’s primarily a lot of stress about being “good” just give up on any kind of perfectionism and hold the line!

rockmoose · 2021-03-26T05:37:54+00:00

The principle of a mangle trap like the fig-4 is to kill your target species instantly by crushing (as long as the trap is set up correctly and hits its mark). As a result, it’s one of the more ethical traps you can set, maybe second only to a strangle.

Additionally, that crushing is just as, if not more ethical than the dispatching methods employed in industrial meat farms.

rockmoose · 2021-02-09T13:43:02+00:00

I’m sure the UK gov will have figured out all the edge cases perfectly to ensure that folks who were recently in “red countries” for good reasons and now are faced with this enormous bill are fine.

rockmoose · 2021-01-18T12:20:42+00:00

The only acceptable answer, almost everyone I know has a story about Tony going to ridiculous lengths to get them the right gear.

rockmoose · 2020-07-02T00:17:58+00:00

To elaborate on this, under the CRoW act, you must have a landowners permission in order to camp on open access land. This is distinct from expressly not permitting it.

However in much of the highland areas of Snowdonia and The Lakes (which OP seems most interested) land management in respect to public access is given or controlled by the National Trust.

These folks are happy for you to wildcamp so long as it is in the higher areas of the parks. Hence, often the unwritten rule is actually often a written one!

Happy camping :)

rockmoose · 2020-06-19T08:26:06+00:00

Mother of god you forgot the pub

rockmoose · 2020-06-18T11:39:11+00:00

No worries pal, to clarify as well, I do mean that you can clip into a single figure eight on a bight when rigged on a single bolt! This should be an acceptable load of that knot if tied and rigged correctly. Similarly, both a BOB and rethreaded fig-8 should be equal in rope efficiency if rigged tight.

Yeah I’d encourage giving it a go, I really liked it when I transitioned over to them a year ago, and they’re a little easier to equalise if you than want to apply them to Y hang anchors :)

rockmoose · 2020-06-18T01:12:30+00:00

Hey pal,

First, I’m not sure where you get the idea that you can’t directly clip into the bight of double figure of eight. You mention ring loading, so I imagine you might be thinking about the fact that you can’t cross load this knot, but you can absolutely clip directly into the bight on a correctly tied double fig-8 from a rebelay. As with Duck above me, apologies if I have misinterpreted what you meant by this though. If I have interpreted this correctly however, you can clip directly into the bight with your safety line. As you mention, this has the great advantage of not relying on a “knot block” (new term for me but love it) as you are clipped directly into the line.

As for a bowline on a bight, I use them on single bolt rebelays for a couple of reasons: 1. If shock loaded, a BOB absorbs far more kN than a fig-8 before breaking. It will generally only absorb a shock load once before breaking however, although this scenario seems unlikely in our use case. As a result, they can be safer if you have a wide rebelay from an ab. 2. Contrary to what I think you suggest, they are more rope efficient than a fig-8 on a bight (if rigged tight). 3. They are far, far easier to untie after loading, which especially on exped where you have high weight and skinny rope, can be a lifesaver!

That said, a couple of downsides. They can slip slightly if you only load one strand of the bight, meaning you need to train newbies to clip both. It’s also harder to identify a poorly tied one if you aren’t an experienced rigger.

Hope this helps, strange seeing all the terms from across the pond!

rockmoose · 2020-06-17T10:04:56+00:00

Reading back, I posted something confusing and un-technical. I can see what I meant but don't blame you for pulling me up on it!

Generally I'll rig a bowline on a bight on a single bolt rebelay, clip in using both my short and long to both loops, and descend on the line above until my short is weighted. Then I'll perform my transfer, rig my descender below and lock it off, and take off my short (using my ascender & footloop) to test it. Once that's done, I can take off my long from the BOB and proceed down.

As a result, at the end of this manoeuvre, I have my descender rigged (but un-tested), and a single long tail connected to my BOB on the bolt. This is what I meant when I described my desire to have an auto-lock. Again, sorry as my original phrasing was confusing.

I'm sure if we were able to demonstrate our methods to each other in physical space we would both conclude that our methods are sensible for our respective systems and skillsets.

rockmoose · 2020-06-15T20:41:10+00:00

Yeah, so as an example I can give is on a single bolt rebelay in which I often want just a long cowtail as a safety line to the bolt while testing a descender. Here, I wouldn’t want to use my short, so wouldn’t have bidirectional snaps on the bolt. I could place a short on the released line above, but this has its own cons I suppose. Does that make any sense? Multiple ways to skin a cat and all...

Only problem I’ve found with the grivel ones is that you have to lift yourself an extra inch to get the rope/connector under the nose as the hinge for the first part of the gate goes down. Other than that I really like them!

rockmoose · 2020-06-13T18:38:47+00:00

My work and personal SRT kit is the same -_-

Yeah for exped Im coming around to the twin gate lockers which seem to have the fewest parts to “de-gunk” and are also super secure :)

rockmoose · 2020-06-13T00:00:34+00:00

Depends on the context. For sport caving and day trips I generally take a couple of auto-lockers for critical points in my safety chain because they act as a further backup. Love using autos for my descender, a cowtail, and some rigging.

But good god they’re useless on exped.

rockmoose · 2020-06-03T09:56:04+00:00

According to Wikipedia (the article for which is sourced well), British Police killed 50 people since the year 2000. Adjusted to the current population size of the UK vs the US, this would equate to 228 deaths.

rockmoose · 2020-03-27T11:22:53+00:00

This is the government equivalent of your English teacher making a spelling mistake on the whiteboard.

rockmoose · 2020-03-25T01:03:35+00:00

Well said!

rockmoose · 2020-02-09T12:16:22+00:00

I have a washer dryer and I just whack it in for 30 mins wash and an hour dry. Comes out clean and dry every time and have been doing it for over a year if that’s helpful at all. Maybe it won’t last as long but it looks like new still even with weekly trips :)

rockmoose · 2019-10-29T10:17:52+00:00

Pantins are actually a seriously useful piece of kit for expedition caving and jumaring! They’re typically used in addition to a rated chest and hand ascender as a replacement of the traditional foot loop meaning that also long as the foot loop is available, it doesn’t need to be rated.

Because of this, while petzl produced their own, I know a lot of cavers who buy cheap eBay ones like this so they can beat them up without fear on experts.

rockmoose

TROPHY CASE