• 7 Posts
  • 67 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 8th, 2023

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  • 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.


  • “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.


  • 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.










  • I have trouble believing that humans can’t get by without meat, or cars, or carbon fuel, or mass-produced clothes, or supermarkets, or <insert your pet obsession here>.

    It does not matter what you believe, or what you prioritise. Other people have different beliefs and have made different choices. If you want them to think and choose differently, don’t start off by telling them that they’re scum while you polish your imaginary halo.

    And for fucks sake don’t fill the Fediverse up with so much narcissistic, whiny crap that everyone who isn’t you fucks off somewhere else.

    This is not hard.