ThePyroPython

Then what you should do when you're about to buy something is pause, think "do I actually need to buy this?", then count out 60 seconds as you imagine better things that money could be saved for or more urgent things that are needs rather than wants.

If by the end, you decide that you are 100% certain you want the thing, then buy it. Otherwise walk away.

This way you're only buying with intention.

I personally use it and excuse to sell, donate, or dispose of stuff I have no use for.

It's the perfect time to do it as you're going through everything anyway, I literally did it last November when I moved out of my last apartment.

If they ever finish the fucking thing properly.

They made two classic British engineering mistakes:

Mistake A: Bundling the whole thing as one humongous engineering project and creating a single entity to deliver it.

Mistake B: Starting construction in London.

WARNING: ENGINEERING RANT AHEAD!

On Mistake A:

A single entity created for this huge megaproject makes for good political hay when raising interest and funds but that's where the usefulness stops. What it devolves into, particularly with the UK's rainforest-worth of planning laws and frameworks, is massively over budget and horrendously delayed.

What it should have been was a broad vision with dozens of smaller projects funded and implemented separately with constraints in place so all the individual sections line up once the whole thing is finished.

This fixes two things:

Fix 1: Breaks the scope of the project down into more manageable chunks with separate design authorities, construction contractors, and project management. So when they inevitably run into planning issues, they can be resolved much quicker through the courts and the committees because they're dealing with 1/10 of the fucking reading material! It also keeps cost ballooning down as large projects work-hours scale logarithmically not linearly.

Fix 2: Allows them to bundle in small related upgrades that will have a more immediate effect once the smaller projects are completed.

For example, a new station section needs to be constructed for the high-speed lines. Well since you have to partially demolish the station to create new walkways, utility connections, toilets etc. why not also upgrade the passenger common areas like the departure boards, the outside areas, the retail space, the existing low-speed tracks and points that haven't had any fucking upgrades done since steam was rolling on them!

Dozens of these smaller changes gets more local stakeholders (i.e. residents and commuters) on-side and more willing to put up with disruptions because, see Fix 1, the project won't be as heavily delayed.

On Mistake B:

Starting in London might look to make sense at first glance since it is the largest city by both population and GDP per capita. But it means that the later stages of the project, when it inevitably gets delayed and spirals in cost, are the ones that are much more easily axed. This goes against the whole point of the project which was to shorten the commute to London from Northern Cities like Manchester, Leeds, and eventually Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Cardiff.

What we will have now is a very slightly faster journey time between Birmingham and London. If you've ever had the misfortune to regularly travel between Leeds/Manchester and London you'll be aware that all of the delays and cancellations happen immediately north of Birmingham.

Birmingham to London is already well serviced whereas an upgraded route between Manchester, Leeds, and Birmingham would have a measurably better impact on passenger numbers and reliability. This is because Westminster has NEVER cared about infrastructure beyond Cheltenham and only goes to Birmingham out of convenience as the next largest population centre.

In and around London, by far, is also the MOST expensive place to build anything, blowing most of the initial budget within the boundary of the M25.

By applying Fix 1 and Fix 2 you can start implementation by using Fix 3: Start at multiple locations.

Starting the station and track construction from the other population centres of Manchester, Leeds, and Birmingham with these smaller projects means that you can then source funding from combined local authorities, implement the projects faster because of the lower density and cost to build than London, AND insulates the overall vision from being scrapped when the political climate changes.

Eh it's the best I've had and honestly, it's about average for a mid-level Electronics Engineer without becoming Senior Designer / Team Lead or Manager.

Thing is that there's not much of an industry here in the UK compared with the States. Also it's not a direct one-to-one as if I were to move to the states they'd probably pay me about $80k because they'd want some value (saving on wage) for going through the extra effort of a H1B visa. On top of that there's also whatever I'd be expected to pay for health insurance.

Electronics Engineer, UK (in the North), £39,000 after 5 and a half years of experience.

My field pays about the middling amount for the engineering profession. If I were to move overseas I could expect a 50% to 100% increase in pay.

Though my current company is great because they treat me very well. Hybrid work on offer with a minimum of 2 days in the office but since my job requires being in the office I don't use that except for Fridays or when I'm not feeling great but still able to work, flexible working hours as long as I'm available during core hours of 10am to 4pm and Fridays are usually a half-day unless I'm very busy. There's a pay-adjusted profit share bonus (the lower your salary is, the more you get from the bonus) and they try to match inflation with automatic pay rises.

Much better than my previous place which gave me suicidal depression, anxiety, and workplace-stress-induced PTSD where raised voices and slamming doors trigger an anxiety attack.

What next: painter detained for 2 weeks as they tried to cross the US boarder for having paper, brushes, and a water colour palette as border police suspect they were attempting to paint illegally on their tourist visa.

I can only speak for the UK and from a amateur perspective but here's the rough breakdown:

90% of the time it's likely a private pilot that's wandered into a restricted airspace without realising it. Or a faulty radio or navigation equipment or a medical emergency. They're politely escorted out.

9.9999% of the time is an adversarial nation testing the response time of the quick-reaction force defenses. They're politely but forcefully escorted out. Maybe some insults traded over the radio but that'd be about as heated as it gets.

0.0001% they pose a threat and refuse to be escorted out. At that point it's basically the same thing of asking "what would happen if someone climbed the fence to the White House and towards it and when the secret service pointed guns at them didn't stop, would they get shot?"

It's the pilot's call at that point, but if they posed a threat to life then yes they probably would shoot them down.

Edit: there's probably a ridiculous amount of zeros I'd need to add to the last point to indicate how unlikely it is but I can't be arsed to add that many. Basically you might as well round down to 0%

Bold words coming from a couch fucker.

OnlyOffice: am I a joke to you?

Trump is the addressed subject but not the intended audience.

Genuine question: why is this comment licensed under creative commons?

Fuck yes! But also ask for a defensive military presence.