Executives likely to use such a device aren’t using public transit.

Yes they are. Probably not in the country that calls it transit, mind. And lots of people would like to be able to have more private conversations in public, whether or not they’re travelling at the time.

Plus, I’ve seen a lot of threads over the years from gamers, or the people who have to live with them, looking for something exactly like this.

Is this a troll?

Stochastic terrorism is spreading hatred and fear that is likely to make someone, somewhere, commit a violent act against the targets (or individuals within the targeted demographic). In this case, specific eBay employees were told to target this specific couple to shut them up. I don’t know how precise the instructions were but the targets, and the people told to target them, were not random.

If he were said to be omnipotent, this would be an interesting conundrum. But he isn’t so it doesn’t really work?

“Secretly”

Is this another thing that the rest of the world didn’t know the US doesn’t have?

Why could that possibly be?

(Hint: The answer is in the article you didn’t continue reading the moment you found an excuse for inaction.)

I’m not sure it’s ever legit for the job-hunter to be paying the recruiters. It would normally be the employer.

A % commission doesn’t give that much incentive to find you the very best job as opposed to the first one that will do. You’re paying them a percentage but they’re looking at the return per hour of work they put in. You’ll come under a lot of pressure to accept the first job on offer simply because that job gives them the best return even if it is a smaller cash amount than the best job they could possibly find (if they put the time in).

Their incentives do not align well with your incentives. So best avoided, IMO.

Using the wrong picture is almost as ridiculous as reducing his career to Dumbledore. For shame.

I know that. I did add a disclaimer, I’m not trying to sell the things.

Still haven’t had it

You almost certainly have. A substantial minority never develop symptoms. It’s one of the things that makes it spread so easily. If it made everyone very sick they’d all be safely tucked up in bed and not spreading it.

There is no useful answer to your question. Some people develop symptoms very quickly, some people are asymptomatic for a period, others remain asymptomatic throughout.

If you think you’ve been exposed and you could put others at risk, do a test. False positives are common but they’re better at picking up people who are very infectious so that’s something.

If you want to know if you’ve had it, there are antibody tests which check for antibodies from infection rather than vaccination. (Example for information, not a personal recommendation.) They’re not 100% accurate but a positive is most likely a true positive, given that the vast majority of people have had it by now. They test for two types of antibody, IgM and IgG. IgM should only show up during or immediately after recovery from an infection, IgG turns up later in the course of an infection and sticks around after recovery.

You don’t need to register a company unless you need to employ people yourself to get the work done. You can just register as self-employed. The details will vary depending on where you are. You’ll most likely have to convince the tax authorities that it is genuine self-employment and not your employer dodging taxes. If you have an actual job with an employer abroad, you’ll need to ask your local tax authority how to handle it.

Your hourly rate when self-employed should be around 2.5x the equivalent salaried hourly rate. This is because the employer is not paying for your admin time, training, equipment, office costs, holiday pay*, sick pay*, or contributing to your pension, or doing your taxes for you*. And because you don’t have the security of a salary and will need to spend a lot of time bidding for work that might not pan out, while they get the benefit of having you on tap with no long-term commitment.

*these are not USian things but as a European you will still be losing them

It depends a bit on the field you work in but self-employment is not generally a great idea for a fresh graduate. Your degree qualifies you to become qualified and you can’t easily do that on your own. Lack of experience will also make it hard to get the kind of work you need to develop your skills and get better work.

Comfortably-off customers casting aspersions on “minimum wage workers” are the absolute pits.

There is lots to say here but you are too clueless to say any of it. FFS

How Oxford Street is being reclaimed from American candy shops

Westminster Council has been cracking down on US sweet shops after many were discovered to be fronts for illegitimate businesses. In November 2022 one third of the stores had been shut down and by March 2023 the Met Police had seized £1 million worth of goods from the shops.

The solution is pretty sweet (pun intended):

A new initiative by Westminster Council called Meanwhile On: Oxford Street will allow up-and-coming businesses to open in the sites of closed-down candy shops without paying rent, while also having their business rates cut by 70 percent. The free rent will last for the first six months of the stores opening. It comes as part of a scheme to regenerate central London’s waning high street.

“90% of content moderators are foreigners. What we have experienced during the process is very hard… spending three months without receiving a salary, in a country that isn’t yours. You cannot pay the rent, you cannot buy food,” Nkuzimana explains. Cori Crider – co-director of Foxglove, a British organization that is supporting the workers in this process – adds that this situation “forces [the content moderators] to continue accepting insecure jobs to remain in [Kenya], despite the serious risk to their mental health.” Moderators have resorted to crowdfunding, so that they can support their families as the legal fight unfolds.

Just highlighting the exploitation of migrant workers here, like much of Twitter’s remaining workforce, apparently. It also reminded me of this story: The fishermen:

On November 22, Joanne circulated a letter among the migrant crew. “I have been made aware the crew members are contacting an outside representative,” it read, possibly referencing a call Quezon made to Stella Maris seeking help for Susada. “I am also aware that crew members have been leaving their port without permission or making our office aware. Sadly the actions by these crew members are beginning to ruin the trust and faith we have placed in our Filipino crew.” It concluded by noting they would make reports to local police and UK immigration authorities “if necessary”.

These people are fucking sick. The whole system that denies people the legal right to work just so they can be more easily exploited is fucking sick.

I’m going to go and punch some walls. Laters.

Then you’re in a perfect position to help him out.

Make sure he gets a say in it. Invite him into your life, don’t just make sure you’re the next dumping ground for him, if that makes sense. Kid needs a sense of agency, I’m sure. And he needs to know that someone wants him around.

And make sure he has trusted adults outside your household he can talk to if things get difficult at any point. Your brother sounds perfect for that. Weekly phone calls or something to check in with him. It’s important that he knows he can tell someone if he’s being treated badly. Not that you will, but he needs to know that f anything goes wrong, he has someone he can tell about it.

This will not be easy. But if you’re in a position to do it, it’d be a great thing to do.

Good luck.

I used to live round the corner from a strange little place that sold cassette tapes (what we used for music and sometimes even data before CDs, for those too young to know). Everyone was convinced it was a front but it turned out it was a world famous tape supplier. Just happened to be based in my quiet little back street.

The newsagents next door to my last place have to have been a front though. Shelves were half bare, only ever stocked with stuff that doesn’t go off. Always two or three guys hanging out in the back room, looking slightly surprised if you wanted to buy something. Cash only, no cards (not that unusual round here but they usually have a minimum purchase rather than just no card machine at all these days).

They were absolute sweethearts. Took loads of deliveries for us, always really nice about it. And that’s more evidence that it’s a front. Proper criminals are the best neighbours anyone could ask for because the last thing they want is complaints bringing the police to their door.

Do you live close enough to his school to offer (effectively) childcare during the week plus any time she is working at the weekends?

If so, you don’t need to take him off her or present it as that kind of threat. Just give her some space to get her shit together without forcing the kid along for the ride.

If you don’t live close enough to his school, it gets a lot more complicated.

(Apologies if I’ve missed this detail somewhere.)

There’s only so much time in the day. And far too easy to waste it arguing pointless things with random strangers on the internet.

In this case, their motive does not matter. They did you a favour shutting it down before you wasted any more time thinking about something that does not matter at all.

An easy non-tomato pasta is a tin of soup as the sauce.

Butter and black pepper is as easy as it gets; get some fruit for afters and that’s not a terrible meal. You can chuck in extra bits and pieces to make it more interesting (cold meats, salad veg, cheese, anything tasty you can get to bite size).

Corner stores have trouble keeping fresh produce in because it goes out of date so quick. It might be worth asking them if you could pick up any past their best items for cheap at the end of the day.

You can quarter an onion or a potato (no need to peel) and get through most soft veg with a butter knife. But you could do with a better knife. Ask around some charity shops, they’ll often have stuff like that come in and (depending on where you are) many of them still function as both fundraiser and provider of cheap stuff for people who need it.

Good luck. Hope things get easier for you soon.