NFLATION is not a new problem. It is a problem that’s “always there” – sometimes just worse (higher) and therefore more visible. It’s also a form of hidden tax. To make matters worse, it’s part of false promises made by banks and economies built mostly upon debt, not wealth. There’s no “quick fix”; the best solution is to avoid debt altogether.

But there are still some people out there who are debt-free and actually save money.

People of that latter group like to talk about securing assets or “diversifying investments” etc. People with a ‘survivalist’ mindset or survival instincts do not look ahead or foresee danger; instead they wait for something to happen and then respond to that, putting out fires instead of preventing fires (to use a metaphor if not a real scenario).

Some people like to believe that hoarding money will make them very safe, even if the process of making that money harms their physical and mental health, not only shortening the life but also lessening its quality. Some processes of hoarding money increase the risk of getting arrested. How’s that for safety?

Some people make bunkers because of an assumption of looming war/s; some lose money to classic scammers, including the fear-mongering “bunker industry”. Some become drug addicts. Some try to “spread” the assets/money, but that often focuses on: 1) multiple bank accounts. 2) multiple banks. 3) like (2) in several countries. 4) gold/silver 5) fakecoins (‘crypto’). 6) a safe at home. 7) car (loses value fast). 8) home (endless maintenance). 9) jewellery (value lost immediately once purchased).

Yes, a car is a liability and constant cause of unforeseen expenses, including several annual bills, never mind the wear and tear. It is a truly terrible form of investment. There is no “magic” or “perfect” option.

Here’s another: purchasing future supplies – inevitable or unavoidable commodities – years in advance (some not perishable), especially when inflation rates are high and financial rewards for savers are low. This option relies on ample storage space. Does that pay off? Maybe.

Inflation is still high; governments changed what they measure.

The new data from ONS:

HAVE just checked this page, which was updated a few hours ago with weekly data. I then compared apples to apples or oranges to oranges. Before the COVID-19 pandemic we had vastly fewer people dying (than now).

It’s up from 11,860 in 2019 to 14,679 this year. The total population increased 1-2% in that period of time.

It was almost the same last week.

What contributes to this massive increase?

When will numbers come back to “normal”? Is the “new normal” an extra ~60,000 Brits dying per year? That’s a lot, it’s way too much, and it warrants investigation + clear answers.

s of today, the BillBC says that today and tomorrow we should expect ultrasonic wind speeds, so we should probably enter some bunker:

Also tomorrow:

Obviously it’s some data issue, but their exception handling or input sanitation could use some work.

Deterioration of services has reached truly unacceptable levels

‘m done. Really, done!

It’s not about unreasonable pricing or quality of facilities or… (they too are issues, but…)

After what happened in April [1, 2] and what has just happened again (today) I see no reason to ever book a train here again. Ever. Unless my life depends on it or something….

It’s over.

At 4AM we get an E-mail from Trainline: “your train journey has been canceled.”

NO explanation, no reason given, 2 hours’ notice!

Second time out of 3.

That’s 66.6% cancel rate.

Imagine having 2 out of 3 journeys that you book canceled at short notice (the first time it happened minutes earlier; there was no notice until we had physically arrived at the station).

Is it possible to get a refund? Yes. It’s not even a full refund (that’s Trainline’s fault). So we lost money, even after the refund. They keep the booking fees, ticket collection fees etc. What’s more, they ruin our plans , they frustrated relatives waiting for us to visit, they’ve wasted a lot of time, e.g. having to do lots of clicking and stuff to only receive a partial refund (outrageous, as they canceled it for no stated reason, breaking their side of the contract and promise).

So we dressed up and prepared in vain. The train got canceled. Why? They don’t even tell us.

British Rail has gone off the rails, at least based on the high failure (to meet schedule) rate.

This industry (yes, it has been privatised) may deserve the same boycott some airlines and airports deserve.

If the service is so bad, why pay them?

Stop paying them, this way they’ll get the message, reform may be imposed (e.g. nationalising the system; it used to be like that before it became all about greed).

I’m done with rail travel. Any further time wasted trying to play roulette (booking in the hope it’ll actually materialise) is risk of disappointed or, as happened last time, hours on phone, E-mail etc. And arguing with about 6 different people before a refund gets issued.

It’s not like I’m some Luddite or Amish or grumpy old man. If it was still reliable like before (never mind affordable, too), then fine. But the trust is lost. We’re breaking up. It’s not me, it’s you. I have no time or desire to deal with this nonsense anymore.

want to present this morning’s data from ONS, comparing England and Wales (not Scotland) deaths in 2019:

And the same week this year (as per today’s release):

We went up from about 9,000 deaths per week to 10,000+.

Our government says that only about 50 people died that week “with COVID-19 on the death certificate in England,” so what causes those other 900+ deaths per week? Shouldn’t the government learn how it can save tens of thousands of lives?

Video download link | md5sum deb923a8340805a0040d08074d87dd02
Sirius Cannot Retain Anything
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0

Summary: The crimes of Sirius ‘Open Source’ aside, it seems like the company has no chance of surviving; its 25^th anniversary is later this year, but it’s understaffed and running out of clients

THE company that once upon a time sponsored the Free Software Foundation and KDE resorted to defrauding its own staff in 2011 if not even earlier. Former staff is finding out and coming to grips with it.

The company has meanwhile lost several more clients (the ones it openly admits losing; usually it lies about that loss or keeps it secret for a long time… for the sake of ‘morale’). Many people, including managers, are mortified to discover what went on. Some leave and some are preparing to sue (albeit the company is in hiding, so it’s not easy).

Perhaps none of this should be particularly shocking. I know and I’ve seen attrition crises in the company over the years (dating back to 2011). But this one is different. This one the company cannot recover from and the fake ‘founder’ might even up in a jail cell. This is the first part of a series that we hope can become daily in the installments sense. There are things we cannot publicly state at this moment, but sooner or later it will be safe to blurt them out.

Video download link | md5sum 9014d1ac4981a4f86e5930dc24d3679d
Cadent Gas Limited Leaving a Mess Behind
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0

THE local (ish) company that handles the gas pipes was here today. I didn’t agree to it, it was imposed on me, and the time wasn’t up for negotiation either. A dirty kitchen was left behind and it seems likely at least one of the people had COVID-19, judging by the cough. Some were smoking on the job, outdoors…

The video (conversation) above discussed a number of issues with one of the managers there (hopefully his name isn’t on the video). I was urged to make a complaint and ask for some clarification about what had happened, why it had to happen etc.

At the end I left aside the first call that I made, before their escalation and callback. It didn’t contain anything important that the second call did not cover as well (besides, it contained personal information like postcode and phone numbers), but it was useful for reference in case they tell inconsistent stories.

Excess deaths in the UK are very high this year. COVID-19 isn’t over either; it’s still spreading and swirling, so having several strangers inside my kitchen, where food and beverages are handled, is undesirable, especially without proper consent. We are paying a lot of money for gas, we sometimes smell gas leaks, and here they go replacing metal pipes with plastic. When challenged about it over the phone, the managers accepted that the greenwashing of plastic pipes was disingenuous.

It’s troubling to see the power that those power (gas/electricity) corporations have in the UK.

It should be noted that the above call (one of two and the more relevant/detailed one) is a culmination of a desire to phone up Cadent Gas Limited or E.ON Next (regarding the suspicious first letter and the suspected gas leak). If there really was an emergency/urgent matter (such as a confirmed gas leak in the area), they’re not talking about it. Both people whom I spoke with (at the above firm) deny there was a gas leak nearby. Remember that they have a vested interest here; they’d possibly deny any emergent issues with the pipes as it’s their responsibility to look after these pipes and leaks indicate a commercial failure of theirs. Lives would be at risk.