Paul Brownjohn @Paulos_the_fog@social.cleverlibre.org
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
@anamckellar This is so true. If we were to lose bees and flies, (key pollinators) we would quickly have no plant life on which we depend. Suicide! How stoopid are we? In parts of the UK sensible folk no longer use chemical sprays on verges and hedge rows. In other places quite the opposite, Go figure.
Not sure if we shook hands on Twatter or not, but hello and welcome to Mastodon! I'm sure you will be happier here than you were in the other place; this one seems to be full of reasoning beings rather than badly behaved school children
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Here's a good but of simple advice for our (often) sociopathic #management class when they are (among other things) thinking about #outsourcing & #supplychain contracts:
'Is there anything you don’t want to appear in the press about your pay gaps or tax records? Anything that would annoy the median voter? Maybe don’t do it. Behave as you would want your own subcontractors to behave'!
Its a simple ethics really, but one that often seems beyond many managers fresh out of #BusinessSchool!
This is something I don't quite understand, in France, where many of my colleagues hailed from when I was working, fixed rate mortgages are the norm when rates are relatively low. A colleague was able to remortgage his house, on which he had been paying a mortgage at 4%, for a new loan at a measly 1.44%; fixed rate for the entire 20 year life of the mortgage.
How come such deals are unavailable in the United Kingdom; is it the greed of the banks, is there some legislative reason why they can't or won't do this or is it, as I suspect, pure greed and profiteering!
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2022/10/20/a-global-house-price-slump-is-coming?utm_id=23852509992360064
@Bunkopirate
It used to amaze me in the part of Belgium where I lived which was Dutch/Flemish speaking, that to get a job as a supermarket checkout operator, you were expected to be able to speak Flemish (obviously), French, German and English all to conversational standard. Most were girls and young women not long out of school.
However, the one that really shook me the most was in a BBC radio broadcast about gay couples adopting children. They interviewed a couple from the Amsterdam in the Netherlands which is very broad minded about this sort of thing and this gay couple had adopted two mentally handicapped kids that no other adopters wanted. The BBC first interviewed the the couple then the kids who were 9 and 11 years old. They were interviewed in English and replied to the interviewer's questions in simple but perfect English. The idea that in England foreign-speak is too difficult to learn is astonishing when you realize that in the Netherlands, mentally handicapped kids are expected to learn English - AND THEY DO!
Kids, mentally handicapped or otherwise, achieve what people expect them to be capable of achieving. Low expectations; low achievements!
@Bunkopirate
One of my ex-bosses from my days in Belgium worked in the UK for a while where he manned the multi-lingual helpdesk. The Brits working there were pretty badly paid but his rate was OK and the Brits used to whinge about how much he was paid compared to them. His answer was simple
"I can provide support for IT systems in English, French, Dutch and German; how many languages can you speak to the level necessary to do phone support?"
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Now there's an omen for you - I'm just not quite sure what it signifies.
I blame Corbyn or Putin maybe!
I think in this case it is because the company is totally incompetently run!
Today they actually accused me of lying about an appointment despite me having confirmed the time of the appointment in three separate phone calls with them! The stupid bitch who phoned me back about it insisted that I was wrong and that their planning was right - that is a very good way to get your ears burnt as that involves them telling me I'm a liar! I may not always get everything right, but if I confirm something three times, the odds are, I've got it right!
I had to phone our would be new Internet service provider today just to confirm the time they're coming tomorrow as they sent me a text saying they'd be there in the morning whereas I arranged for them to come in the afternoon.
When switchboard answered the phone I was presented with a menu: press 1 for Luxemburgish, press 2 for German, press 3 for French or press 4 for English. Feeling a bit lazy, I opted for #4, English, so when the human operator actually answered the phone I started speaking English. The operator immediately asked me if I spoke French as she didn't feel able to handle the call in English! Is it just me or is it really a bit odd to offer people the option of speaking English and then when they ask for that option, you say to them “no, no, I can't do that!
Luxembourg has become the first nation in the western world to make all public transport completely free of charge. The idea is to try to reduce the legendary traffic jams that occur around the capital city during busy times but most especially in the morning rush hour. There is little clarity as to the result as COVID intervened forcing many people to stay at home or to work from home but the idea is certainly a good one.
Luxembourg is a very small country indeed so whether this type of attempt to reduce the density of road traffic is applicable to any other state is debateable.
For those who have never done it before, taking up an opportunity involving moving to a foreign country is a very big step indeed! It's a step that I have taken numerous times in my career (I have lived and worked in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg and lived as a retiree in Thailand) but it is very stressful indeed. On the other hand, I know very few people who, once have taken that step, would even consider moving back to the absolute shithole that the UK has become after 13 years of tory vandalism and misrule!
Of course, for most Brits, language skills or rather lack of them are a major stumbling block. Britain is about the only country where the majority of school leavers can only speak their own language and that often very badly! "La plume de ma tante est sur la table" DOES NOT count as speaking a foreign language!
In Luxembourg, where I am living at the moment, every child leaves school fluent in Luxembourgish, French, German and English! When I say fluent, I mean able to hold a conversation and to attend and follow proceedings in a business meeting! As a schoolkid here, you need to be properly fluent in French and German as science and maths are taught in German and philosophy is taught in French (so 'la plume de ma tante' wouldn't work here even as a school-kid)
I too an an enthusiastic photographer but I do mainly wildlife especially butterflies.
This one of my favourites:
@xtaldave
Why would any highly qualified and sought after professional choose to stay in the absolute shithole the UK has become under the astoundingly corrupt and utterly worthless tories?
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
It's astounding that worthless morons like Frost get to criticize what the UK government is doing on the Brexit front without ever being asked to detail what alternative measures they would recommend.
The answer is of course, that they don't have any workable ideas of their own, just criticism of other peoples ideas!
This is just terrific - the cattle in the barn of the farm next door are making such a bloody row that I can't sleep. I don't know why - they are never normally this noisy. I'm guessing that this is a new batch of calves that have just been taken from their mothers and are calling out for her, however, I wish they would SFU!!!
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Just came across a poll question asking, “Should students be able to use cell phones in school?” and my first thought was if they can’t use cell phones in school, how else are they gonna be able to say goodbye to their parents before they get gunned down in the daily school shootings and what the fuck is wrong with this country?
@rbreich
That is maybe not the point - few people in the UK, Germany, France or any of the other countries mentioned have to pay for their insulin. I have to take long acting insulin every day but it costs me precisely nothing as it is paid for by the healthcare system here in Luxembourg. Only in the USA are there large numbers of people who have to pay for their insulin out of their own pockets!
It's an absolutely iniquitous situation that results in 100s or 1000s of people dying every year as they can't afford the insulin to keep them alive!
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
