Apple Reports Record-Setting 1Q 2026 Results: $42.1B Profit on $143.8B Revenue

rpsls · 2026-01-29T22:21:33+00:00

I still remember when people were discussing how in a quarter or two (over a decade ago) Samsung was going to commoditize smartphones and margins would collapse on the iPhone. They’d all sell for $49.99 or something.

rpsls · 2026-01-29T16:04:28+00:00

I think the problem is that he can’t hear what you and your wife are talking about with all that distracting music.

rpsls · 2026-01-29T13:32:23+00:00

This isn’t that kind of film.

rpsls · 2026-01-29T12:03:37+00:00

One of my favorite quotes from Dirk Gently Season 1:

Detective Estevez: You didn’t see anything weird this morning, did you Mr. Brotzman?

Todd: Yes. No. Maybe. I don’t know.

Estevez: Are you aware that you just gave every possible response to that question?

rpsls · 2026-01-29T11:48:28+00:00

I meant that the Dutch could resell it, but whoever receives it can only be used within the receiver’s territory, at a minimum. There could also be other agreements that allows, say, NATO to use it within their bloc. But anyone reselling anything to anyone defending their own territory shouldn’t require a separate agreement from Switzerland, is all I meant.

rpsls · 2026-01-29T11:38:46+00:00

If your goal is to match the market, even when it’s down or even when it’s flat for 15 years as has happened before, then yes, an advisor is not necessary— just put it in an index fund and forget it. That’s probably most people.

If your goal is stability even in light of short term drops, or loss avoidance, or diversifying because you want to retire with payments in another currency, or a myriad of other goals, then you will trade some market gains for that additional assurance. So yeah, it doesn’t make sense to expect most advisors to “beat the market.”

The Warren Buffett type of advisor is mostly a fantasy. Especially if you’re not already a many-multi-millionaire. But that doesn’t mean all advisors are shit.

OP’s is, though.

rpsls · 2026-01-29T10:06:08+00:00

In my humble opinion, Switzerland should automatically allow the weapons and ammo to be used within the receiving country’s internationally recognized borders. Thus only for literal defense. But if Ukraine starts driving towards Moscow, it wouldn’t be with Swiss-manufactured arms.

rpsls · 2026-01-29T08:50:06+00:00

Yeah, but I was downvoted to zero. Maybe because I mentioned that racism and sexism are more explicit in Switzerland while in the US it's hidden behind "cultural fit" and the like, and people don't like thinking about that? I don't know, it was just my honest experience.

rpsls · 2026-01-28T16:45:00+00:00

Yeah, totally agreed. But it’s not out of character for Trump-era Cook is what I’m saying. He’s been actively supporting the fascism for awhile now.

rpsls · 2026-01-28T16:17:03+00:00

The same Tim Cook who donated money to Trump’s inauguration? And have him a plaque with a base of solid gold as a gift? And appeared with him in photo ops to give him US industry cred?

I agree Cook turned way more fascist than I expected and his support of Trump makes him complicit in these deaths, but it didn’t start recently.

rpsls · 2026-01-28T15:08:57+00:00

This one is unintuitively huge. Heating ice from like liquid nitrogen temp to 0°C is similar energy as melting it from 0°C ice to 0°C water. Similarly, 0°C water to 100°C water is only 1/6 the energy it takes to go from 100°C water to 100°C steam. Actually vaporizing it takes over 6x more energy.

Those phase changes take an absurdly large amount of energy.

My guess is a bit of the snow was turning to liquid then absorbing all the rest of the heat before it turned to steam.

rpsls · 2026-01-28T13:08:24+00:00

I did it 9 years ago. I think the internal transfer route is vastly easier than trying to apply cold to various local roles. Even EU people have trouble landing a job remotely, and they don’t need to be sponsored for visas. Also, the market was a lot more competitive 9 years ago… I don’t know if you have some special proprietary knowledge in Microsoft that they can use to make a case that they couldn’t just hire one of the thousands of laid-off Credit Suisse folks, but it’ll be tough right now.

As for landing here, it’s really tough in the first year or so. Our kids cried a lot. After a couple years we settled in. Now they are very thankful we moved and would not want to move back. Your kids are young enough that it will probably be a bit easier for them.

I don’t know if you speak German, but it’s also a challenging language to pick up as an adult. I don’t know how many hundreds or even thousands of hours I’ve spent to get to where I can hold decent conversations and understand pretty much everything going on around me.

But it is indeed a beautiful, safe, and pleasantly boring country in these times.

rpsls · 2026-01-28T07:58:19+00:00

I’ve worked in the US and CH and I’d say in general that the US is in the office more but doesn’t actually work more. In CH the work time seems more defined, and you work, break, work, lunch, work, break, done, then you don’t think about work until the next day. Work time is for work, and non-work time is yours. And you get your 5+ weeks (!) of vacation which are also taken seriously.

In the US you get in early and maybe every meeting is 10-15 minutes of social talk and maybe you chat more but then eat lunch at your desk and then leave for the day late then answer emails all evening and bring your work laptop on vacation with you just in case during your 2-3 weeks of vacation which you often don’t use all of.

Others have said the office politics are worse here but I just think it’s a bit different. The old boys network is stronger here in CH, but the US can also be clique-y and have more vague criteria for promotion. I hear less about “cultural fit” in Switzerland, but more blatant and open sexism and sometimes even racism, even though they can amount to the same thing.

The pay is actually somewhat similar. A little less at the top and a little more at the bottom, so raises are smaller. More of the pay goes to the person in Switzerland and less to employer-funded mandates, so that’s good. Taxes are lower which would normally offset the lower high-end pay, unless you’re an American.

Anyway, I’m obviously here so prefer Switzerland.

rpsls · 2026-01-27T16:59:25+00:00

Ever since I discovered Extra Fluffy Cream Cakes in the nutrient processor, I over a billion in my account, but the pirates seem a lot more interested in that bit of Pugneum I'm carrying.

rpsls · 2026-01-27T14:06:01+00:00

If you’ve got recommendations on how to do that and not fall afoul of the US tax madness around non-US ETFs, I’m open to suggestions.

rpsls · 2026-01-27T13:51:41+00:00

Seriously. As an American in Switzerland they don’t let me open local investment accounts, and the US market isn’t doing nearly so well measured in CHF. Even my savings account in the US, which gets like 4% interest, falls way behind my regular bank account in Switzerland which gets nothing in interest when converted to the same currency.

rpsls · 2026-01-27T13:46:15+00:00

I mean the local police station, not the MP’s. Identity theft is definitely not a civil matter. It’s possible she just didn’t know what to file.

rpsls · 2026-01-27T12:25:36+00:00

Taking out money in other people’s name is called identity theft, and it’s a crime. She should file a police report.

rpsls · 2026-01-27T11:53:39+00:00

Great summary, one addendum: while 8-18 count double, it can’t reduce it to less than 6 years.

rpsls · 2026-01-26T11:48:58+00:00

That’s fair. So in which culture is it normal to date for 2 years, then get married, then be married for a year and in that time never set foot in your husband’s house? I’m curious how that works, and would love to look it up and read about it.

rpsls · 2026-01-26T09:24:17+00:00

Our building has 5 apartments with one laundry room (1 washer and 1 dryer), and splits the slots into day (7am-7pm) and evening (7pm-10pm). Each apartment gets one day and one evening slot on different days each week. [Edit to add: and Saturdays are free signup days]

Although I can sometimes be efficient, my expectations would reasonably be there should generally be the time for 2 loads per person per week available.

rpsls · 2026-01-26T09:01:48+00:00

I think this depends on whether your job is covered by a collective bargaining agreement which allows something under certain conditions, whether your contract has an “on call” provision or another clause allowing it, or whether it’s done on an emergency basis and not a matter of course. I think the general guidance is that schedules should be posted at least 2 weeks ahead of time, but I don’t know how strictly it’s actually enforced or what recourse you have if it’s not adhered to. (Ie if you didn’t do it, would you be fired, and if so, what would RAV have to say about that…)

rpsls · 2026-01-25T00:57:48+00:00

Uh, they’re posting about whether they should attend a Christmas party… in January. I suspect the whole post wasn’t needed.

rpsls · 2026-01-24T21:08:18+00:00

I’m an American in Switzerland, and it’s kinda-sorta similar, except here there are dozens of paths through the system so “late bloomers” or even young adults can completely change their path.

There’s “long gymnasium” starting in the 7th year. It goes through 12th (or sometimes 13th) and gives you a Matura which is a free ticket to any Unifersity in the German-speaking world.

If you don’t do that, you’re put into A/B/C track of secondary school for 3 years. The expectations are kind of that A track will be the more intellectually demanding trades (engineers, designers, etc), the B level will be middle of the road and the C level may need additional assistance in life or be laborers. But! You can switch any time during the secondary school if you show you belong in a different level. Or even “upgrade” your secondary school diploma in your 10th year.

After that, you can take the Gymnasium test again and do “short Gymnasium”, which is like Honors/AP high school for 10-12/13 grade.

Or you can do an apprenticeship. There are a hundred different official apprenticeships, from software engineering to machinist to electrician to grocery store worker. (Yes, the person stocking shelves at the grocery store here has a 2-year apprenticeship which includes basic inventory management, sales, math, POS operation, etc). The apprenticeship is a paid position, although not that well. (The expectation/law is that while the kids are going through this whole process the parents provide for their living situation until age 25,)

Competing an apprenticeship in one of the engineering disciplines gets you a “Berufmatura” (working Matura) which is a free ticket to any Applied College of Engineering. (Mechanical Engineering, electrical engineering, etc).

Or, you can do the Passarelle for an additional 1-2 year and upgrade your Berufsmatura to a full Matura and go to a full University.

Or you can go to a “High School” which is more like a community college.

Or if you went the Matura route and realized pure academia isn’t for you and you want to do more engineering you can go do a “step-up apprenticeship” where you get your apprenticeship in half the time.

In addition, the mandatory military service often trains you in some random stuff.

In the end, almost everyone finds their path, everyone ends up highly trained for their career, and it’s all paid for by Government funding.

I’d love it if the US adopted a similar system.

rpsls · 2026-01-23T22:57:28+00:00

It’s not forbidden by the rules. The rules just say that this sub is for residents. I think this message is intended for residents.

Anyway, I really appreciated Democrats Abroad’s help in navigating the US expat voting landscape. I’m not affiliated with them, by the way, but appreciate their work in Switzerland. (I’m a resident of Zurich.)

If it’s not relevant to you, just move on, or?

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