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Nice people thread part 6 - thrice by twice as nice :)
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BTW, I started a new job on Monday: back to investment banking. It's nice to be back to the plush offices, fruit and biccies in the kitchens, drinks in the board room on Friday evenings with the traders. We are a very rare beast too: an investment bank that has neither been bailed out by the Government nor is being done for Libor manipulation. There's a very nice view over the harbour from one window and down to Botany Bay from the other which whiles away the hours.
well that was the case before you joined anyway
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chewmylegoff wrote: »well that was the case before you joined anyway
Funnily enough our shares were down almost half a dollar the day I started!0 -
I was at the last place over 2.5 years so it's not that bad!
It doesn't help that I'm thoroughly fed up with banking and really want to get out but can't afford to just yet.
I just keep hoping you return to europe and open that restaurant in the south of france,
Now THAT would be a great np meet up.0 -
That's really interesting. I hadn't realised there is a problem. Of course, Helium is very freely available in the atmosphere, but the cost of condensing it out is high. Apparently, it's produced cheaply as a by-product of natural gas production, and supply is diminished as gas production is lower. I agree it seems crazy to waste it.Has this actually happened? I know there's a potential problem, eg link but helium balloons seem as popular as ever in the colonies. Maybe He is being rationned as a super secret squirrel part of austerity.
I'm afraid it is not freely available in the atmosphere. It tends to float to the top of the atmosphere and escape into space. Most He comes from drilling down to pockets of porous rock where the He is trapped, either on its own or along with much larger quantities of methane (natural gas). It is formed naturally as a by-product of radioactive decay, so we should treat it like any other kind of stuff that takes thousands of years to form but can be dug up instantly - think fossil fuels - and remember that the He naturally trapped in the earth's crust is eventually going to run out. I understand current estimates are that it will run out in about 50 years at current rates of use. While we can in theory make more - nuclear fission creates new radioactive substances that will make more He as they decay - at present there is no prospect of our being able to make anything like as much as we need. There are all sorts of essential scientific and medical things (including MRI) that require very low temperatures (ie lower than liquid nitrogen) and the only way we have of achieving these low temperatures is by using liquid He. The He that's used for these cryogenic purposes is all very carefully collected, recycled and reliquefied, but inevitably some of it escapes every time the containers are opened to put new samples in or whatever. It's really crazy for us to be releasing it into the atmosphere in balloons so it can float away from the Earth into space where we can never get it back.
ETA There's loads and loads of it in the Sun, which is making more all the time at an unimaginable rate, but of course we can't collect it from there. It's created in the Sun because it is one of the products of nuclear fusion, so if we could get fusion going in a controllable way, we'd solve our He shortage as well as our energy needs. Sadly, the fusion breakthrough doesn't seem any closer now than it did 25 years ago when I first learnt about it.Do you know anyone who's bereaved? Point them to https://www.AtaLoss.org which does for bereavement support what MSE does for financial services, providing links to support organisations relevant to the circumstances of the loss & the local area. (Link permitted by forum team)
Tyre performance in the wet deteriorates rapidly below about 3mm tread - change yours when they get dangerous, not just when they are nearly illegal (1.6mm).
Oh, and wear your seatbelt. My kids are only alive because they were wearing theirs when somebody else was driving in wet weather with worn tyres.0 -
Omg, i have been reasing the rules for passport photos. They are crazy now. The thing than makes me giggle is make up does as much to alter a face and thats allowed. I loved the picture in my last passport., and i know i won't like this one,
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Btw, its me not dh that has got stung by the no passport thing for me first, there is something on in paris next month i would have loved to have gone to, and dh is conferencing in a nice european city the day after, so we could have made a weekend of it.0 -
Chewie, I found the HMRC spec for PAYE calcs. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ebu/payerout12.pdf
Of course, even though the payroll progs may all follow the same spec (bugs excepted), the guys who input the data may not all do things the same way.No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?0 -
Oh, i was wondering what i would refer to the Wreck as when the nice builders leave, as it will not be a wreck but will hardly be a normal finished house. Some one on old style suggested the brilliant...resurwrecktion.0
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I'm afraid it is not freely available in the atmosphere. It tends to float to the top of the atmosphere and escape into space. Most He comes from drilling down to pockets of porous rock where the He is trapped, either on its own or along with much larger quantities of methane (natural gas). It is formed naturally as a by-product of radioactive decay, so we should treat it like any other kind of stuff that takes thousands of years to form but can be dug up instantly - think fossil fuels - and remember that the He naturally trapped in the earth's crust is eventually going to run out. I understand current estimates are that it will run out in about 50 years at current rates of use. While we can in theory make more - nuclear fission creates new radioactive substances that will make more He as they decay - at present there is no prospect of our being able to make anything like as much as we need. There are all sorts of essential scientific and medical things (including MRI) that require very low temperatures (ie lower than liquid nitrogen) and the only way we have of achieving these low temperatures is by using liquid He. The He that's used for these cryogenic purposes is all very carefully collected, recycled and reliquefied, but inevitably some of it escapes every time the containers are opened to put new samples in or whatever. It's really crazy for us to be releasing it into the atmosphere in balloons so it can float away from the Earth into space where we can never get it back.
ETA There's loads and loads of it in the Sun, which is making more all the time at an unimaginable rate, but of course we can't collect it from there. It's created in the Sun because it is one of the products of nuclear fusion, so if we could get fusion going in a controllable way, we'd solve our He shortage as well as our energy needs. Sadly, the fusion breakthrough doesn't seem any closer now than it did 25 years ago when I first learnt about it.
That's very interesting, and quite alarming! The sea level concentration of He is 5ppm, which seems to be an equilibrium level. At least it was that level in the 1940's, before people used He much. I agree with you that this generation is squandering resources. I strongly suspect that future generations will look back on us as totally irresponsible idiots.No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?0 -
It's not me. I've never given/received a helium balloon, nor been at the edge of a group that were giving/receiving one.
I blame the sort of people that'd read Heat magazine.0 -
Hello Pastures. Hope you had a warm welcome in your new pad and will be able to sleep tonight.
What is it like? How much space have you got? How long do you expect to be there for?
Sorry if you have previously said all this.0
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