jimicus

Think of the economic and tourist opportunities. Beachfront property in Alice Springs. A new habitat for Australian wildlife.

I've been a customer of Monzo Ireland since they started a few months ago.

And for the last month, I've not been able to receive instant SEPA payments into my account.

I have raised this and raised it and put in a formal complaint and I don't even know what else. And every time Monzo are saying "errr.... dunno".

In an act of mild desperation, I went to Revolut - who aren't even the cause of the problem in the first place! - and they have given me an explanation of what's wrong, where it's wrong and why it's Monzo's issue to resolve in clear, simple English.

In “Feet of Clay”, Wee Mad Arthur describes how drops affect creatures of different sizes. “A mouse’s walk away, a horse would break every bone in its body and a helephant would spla…”.

In 1926, one J. Haldane wrote an essay “On being the right size”. In particular, he wrote “You can drop a mouse down a thousand-yard mine shaft; and, on arriving at the bottom it gets a slight shock and walks away, provided that the ground is fairly soft. A rat is killed, a man is broken, a horse splashes.”

https://www.phys.ufl.edu/courses/phy3221/spring10/HaldaneRightSize.pdf

Okay, Great Brains of HA community. Here's a tickler for you:

I have a small terraced house that (should) be easy to get Zigbee coverage in. Any Zigbee dongle should do the trick.

Problem is, I have a steel outbuilding that I also want coverage in. It's divided into two parts, with a steel wall between. I'd also like coverage in the garden front and back.

What's the most cost-effective, sensible way to do this?

I'm looking for a power monitor (similar to, say, the Iotawatt) that:

1. Can be shipped to Ireland.
2. Can be plugged directly into a socket; I don't want to have to put together some gimcrack solution involving a Shelly EM, project box and hot glue (and it's illegal for anyone who isn't an electrician to do almost any electrical work here, so opening up the distribution board is Right Out).
3. Can read the power either by means of a CT clamp over the tails or an LED sensor on the electric meter.
4. Can report back over Wifi.

Can anyone suggest anything?

In "Witches Abroad", we meet Legba - a "dark and dangerous spirit".

The APF notes that Legba is a Voodoo spirit. But it doesn't note that the voodoo spirit Papa Legba isn't usually depicted as being a chicken - which is how Pratchett presents him.

There is, however, a breed of chicken known as the "Legbar". A reference and a pun in one.

I'm pretty sure the traditional Dwarf drinking song about gold was inspired by this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK7n1Q-fDeA

The timeline fits - these adverts aired in the late 1980s, so by the time PTerry wrote about the dwarf drinking song, it's reasonable to assume that it would have dropped sufficiently from public memory that few would openly accuse him of stealing the joke.

Apologies if this is the wrong sub, but it's the closest I can think of.

I'm looking to extend my house. I can protect myself against cowboy builders (eg) by seeking out reviews, asking for references and asking around if anyone can recommend somebody.

But how can I protect myself against a builder going bankrupt? Back when I lived in the UK, credit cards provided comprehensive protection against pretty much any risk - is there anything similar here?

If I invest in ETFs - then sell them before I've held them eight years (so deemed disposal never comes in) - how would any gains be taxed? Would it just be capital gains or something else?

I've just been told to budget around €100k for a 24 sq.m. extension - and that's just for a builders finish. Putting anything in like a kitchen is more on top.

Is my builder planning on using diamond rather than steel? Or is that simply how much it costs right now?