Why would it be sarcasm? 

Deep into Gen Y. 

I had several Macs that remained perfectly usable for around eight years, but these days I find that anything that’s only dual core ain’t gonna hack it. I’d also say 12 gigs is the base level of memory you want to work with. For a long time 8 gigs was enough, but not any more.

Tends to be a multi-year lag effect in the housing market. It’s rather sticky. And of course the other pattern you often see play out is that the market simply becomes moribund for a couple of years because sellers won’t drop prices but buyers can’t afford the prices being asked. This in turn skews stats, because the…

Well, yes, I did include the phrase “ceteris paribus” for a reason. There are lots of factors in the mix, not least capital flows and the search for yield/ROI. In a high inflation environment the demand from institutional investors and cash buyers for assets may increase, for instance.

It’s also incredibly hard to…

Take a step back.

Imagine a house is on the market for $100,000 in a 3.5% interest rate market. The monthly repayments on a 30 year loan are $450.

Now imagine there’s a financial shock and interest rates jump up to 8%. The monthly repayments on that loan are $733.

Now if the seller wants to attract the same buyers, they…

You’re only a true owner when the mortgage is paid off. I’m talking about anybody who’s not yet in that position. It may make it easier to think purely about buyers, but buyers are committing themselves to 20-30 years of repayments, so the consequences of their choices are distributed over several decades.

It was generally much easier. When interest rates are high, asking prices are low, because they’re set based on demand, which in turn is based on lending, which in turn is based on affordability of repayments.

In addition, interest rates are usually high when inflation is high. And as a borrower, inflation is your…

I don’t know if this counts as a “skill”, but in many ways I think it is. I’ve noticed that a fairly high proportion of Gen Y guys cannot pee in restrooms while other guys are there. And I suspect this is the result of changing patterns of socialization and expectations of privacy, especially for males.

I am a professional software engineer but I can’t touch-type. I learned to type when I was seven on a membrane keyboard (ZX81) that simply didn’t facilitate touch-typing, so my brain learned a completely different way of doing things, with two fingers on each hand plus my right thumb. It’s still pretty efficient -…

I don’t really...understand the thrust of this article. Yang says we must do all we can, but also that it’s too late for some who are going to have to retreat. The latter is probably true. He wants people to be able to retreat from the most vulnerable areas as what amounts to climate change refugees, and says that his…

Just the vegans, I would say.

It should be illegal. And it should incur a serious fine.

Hmm, the article is really a bait and switch whose intended take-home message is that sexism is reducing women’s pay.

Why Smithers?

Stark would never vote for anybody as unintelligent as Trump plainly is.

If you bought a ticket on one of the cheaper flights, you are generally voting for less space with your wallet.

I don’t hate people who recline their seats, even without asking. I hate people who suddenly SLAM THEIR SEATS BACKWARDS WITHOUT WARNING. I apply to them the same terminology that Withnail uses for Uncle Monty.

In an era in which people frequently use laptops, this could lead to damage to the screen; I’ve seen people…

“What advantages does this motorcar have over, say...a train? Which I could also afford.”

> it’s the reason my daughter said “biscuit” before she said “cookie.”

You will all be assimilated, colonials.