Gnash

#Worldle #288 1/6 (100%) https://worldle.teuteuf.fr Only posting because of the perfect round.

They sure are.

Fair point about the return on capital. Here is the ROCE for UK banking since the last 90s. You can clearly see how it dropped off a cliff after the financial crisis and is still well below that level. Source link.

#Yeardle #226 https://histordle.com/yeardle/ Last gasp for me too, but I had narrowed it down exactly.

I've been paying plenty of attention. Pre financial crisis, ie the last time interest rates were high enough for consumer rates not to be distorted by being unable to be negative, UK bank profits were far higher. It's got nothing to do with dividends. If the base rate is 5%, the best sustained savings rates will be in the region of 4% and the best mortgage rates will be in the region of 6%. The net interest margin is 2%. But with base rates at about 0.5%, as they have been for most of the last 14 years, savings rates can't go below 0%. Most accounts have been paying around 0.1%, but you could maybe get 0.5% by shopping around. The best mortgage rates have been about 1.5%. The net interest margin is 1%, or maybe a touch higher. Hence net interest margin has been compressed versus 'normal' interest rates and banks' profits have been lower. Obviously that is a simplification and there are many other factors involved, but the recent rise in interest rates does not mean that banks are making excess profits. Indeed, with the economy going into a downturn, they have to set aside more money to cover expected defaults.

#Yeardle #224 https://histordle.com/yeardle/ Bah!

Wrong on both counts. Banks' profits have been suppressed for well over a decade due to the low interest rates. If the base rate is 0.1%, you can't make any money on savings. The increasing normalisation of interest rates just brings bank net interest margin towards a normal level. I'm not saying we should have sympathy for them, but to say they are making ridiculous profits is, well, ridiculous. And there is loads of press about imposing a 'windfall' tax on them, which of course would be very popular. Banks already do pay an additional 8% tax on profits.

I spent the night with a local family on an island on Lake Titicaca. Their evening meal was a large bowl of boiled potatoes. Without sauce, without seasoning, every night.

I had one of those little critters in Peru, with some flaky potatoes. It tasted like chicken - a poor man's chicken. Also had alpaca in Peru - a poor man's mutton. Whale in Iceland and Norway - magnificent, a rich man's beef steak. And I had puffin in Iceland - didn't really taste like anything else, but it was almost black and wasn't great.

#Yeardle #222 https://histordle.com/yeardle/ Cock. 48 years with the first guess and didn't get it.

To be fair, there are many appliances where it's not that simple. I have a small oil-filled radiator that has a power rating of 2kW, but if I set it to my desired temperature and leave on for, say, 5 hours, it will only actually be heating the oil for a small proportion of that time. I'd like to know how much energy it has used in that 5 hours, but just doing power rating x time won't give me the right answer. Similarly, I have an electric shower that is rated at 7kW. But if I turn the heat down to 3 (out of 10), and turn down the pressure, I assume it is not consuming as much as 7 kW. But exactly how much it is consuming is not clear. And smart meters cannot realistically provide an accurate answer either.

I've come to the same conclusion. Unless they can pinpoint usage for specific appliances, while several are running (they can't), I don't see the point.

#Worldle #281 2/6 (100%) https://worldle.teuteuf.fr I'm shit at the flags.

#Yeardle #220 https://histordle.com/yeardle/ 18 years off with my first attempt. Still took another 6 goes.

#Yeardle #216 https://histordle.com/yeardle/ Oooft!

He was the right guy in the eyes of the MPs back then too.

Any chance Johnson's backers will move to Mordaunt and there will still be a contest...?

#Worldle #274 1/6 (100%) https://worldle.teuteuf.fr

#Yeardle #213 https://histordle.com/yeardle/ I clearly know f all about Scottish history.

#Yeardle #211 https://histordle.com/yeardle/ 1 year out, still took 5 guesses!

I love the entries written in Scots, for example: https://sco.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun

#Yeardle #210 https://histordle.com/yeardle/ Me too.

#Worldle #270 3/6 (100%) https://worldle.teuteuf.fr Guesstastic.

#Yeardle #209 https://histordle.com/yeardle/ No triangulation required today.

#Worldle #269 1/6 (100%) https://worldle.teuteuf.fr I've been getting the bonus rounds for a few days.