Facts that shocked you

[Skeptisk]

mickythefish said:

A USA salary of 100k a year puts you in the top 20% of earners.

A UK of salary of 42k does the same in the UK.

Have you got a link for that? I think median salary is now around £35k so £42k seems too low.

[Skeptisk]

Roofless Toothless said:

The Post Office in Denmark is to stop delivering letters.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg8jllq283o

Things like this make me realise just how old I am. Also, I spent an hour this morning trying to recover (and failing) my email account because Hotmail is denying all knowledge of me.

Based on my recent experience so has Royal Mail. They just didn’t tell me they were going to bother before I paid for postage…

[Skeptisk]

There is a mathematical shape called Gabriel’s horn, which is made by rotating a line around the x axis, where the line approaches but never meets the X axis. If you calculate the volume of the horn it converges to a limit, such that with a finite amount paint you could fill the horn. However, the surface area of the horn doesn’t converge and so tends to infinity, so that you would need an infinite amount of paint to paint the outside of the horn, which is a paradox (as you have painted the inside surface area with a finite amount of paint).

[Skeptisk]

mondie said:

The total market cap of all companies listed on the UK stock exchange is less than Apple's.

That is shocking and depressing, showing how far the UK has fallen in the last century or so.

[Skeptisk]

LimaDelta said:

jonsp said:

LimaDelta said:

Skeptisk said:

mondie said:

The total market cap of all companies listed on the UK stock exchange is less than Apple's.

That is shocking and depressing, showing how far the UK has fallen in the last century or so.

I saw a comparison recently that the majority* of blue-chip US companies are <20 years old, and the majority of blue-chip European ones are >100 years old, which demonstrates the very different attitudes towards entrepreneurship, innovation, red-tape & protectionism. If you want to build a business, the US is the place to do it.

Can't remember the exact figures but circa 90%

Isn't that massively skewed by American tech companies?

Outside of tech would be impossible to scale a business to blue-chip in 20 years.

Of course, but why has all of that development taken place in America, and not Europe?

To be fair the question should be more like “but why has all that development taken place in California and not elsewhere”?

However, currently and going forward most cutting edge technology is happening in China.

Although the UK still has some of the best universities in the world we don’t seem able to leverage that. Most governments have been Tory in the past 40 years and supposedly “pro business” and “anti regulation” but that didn’t seem to help.

Edited by Skeptisk on Thursday 27th March 08:45

[Skeptisk]

98elise said:

Skeptisk said:

mondie said:

The total market cap of all companies listed on the UK stock exchange is less than Apple's.

That is shocking and depressing, showing how far the UK has fallen in the last century or so.

Apple isn't bigger than the UK stock exchange because the UK is in decline. It's because of Apples success/growth.

Edited to add...

This is the UKs GDP per Capita (in real terms) since the mid 50's

Edited by 98elise on Thursday 27th March 11:46

That is comparing apples and oranges.

GDP measures economic activity “in” the UK whereas market cap represents the value of global activity of companies headquartered in the UK. A lot of UK economic activity is owned by foreigners (including Apple).

[Skeptisk]

Brother D said:

98elise said:

Skeptisk said:

mondie said:

The total market cap of all companies listed on the UK stock exchange is less than Apple's.

That is shocking and depressing, showing how far the UK has fallen in the last century or so.

Apple isn't bigger than the UK stock exchange because the UK is in decline. It's because of Apples success/growth.

Edited to add...

This is the UKs GDP per Capita (in real terms) since the mid 50's

Edited by 98elise on Thursday 27th March 11:46

The per capita GDP is really depressing for the last 20 years. Reflects the reduction in living standards we all see

Since 2007 the real growth has been around 5%. The Chinese have averaged 5% a year.

[Skeptisk]

DodgyGeezer said:

Skeptisk said:

Brother D said:

98elise said:

Skeptisk said:

mondie said:

The total market cap of all companies listed on the UK stock exchange is less than Apple's.

That is shocking and depressing, showing how far the UK has fallen in the last century or so.

Apple isn't bigger than the UK stock exchange because the UK is in decline. It's because of Apples success/growth.

Edited to add...

This is the UKs GDP per Capita (in real terms) since the mid 50's

Edited by 98elise on Thursday 27th March 11:46

The per capita GDP is really depressing for the last 20 years. Reflects the reduction in living standards we all see

Since 2007 the real growth has been around 5%. The Chinese have averaged 5% a year.

Assuming you're not part of the Politburo where would you rather live?

I am not Chinese so hard for me to say China, because I don’t speak the language very well and have no cultural or family connection to the place. I wouldn’t be put off living there because of the government. I am more put off by the 9-6-6 work culture. I do think that it would be good to live in a country where you see constant improvements to living standards, a country that is on the way up, whereas the UK feels like it is in decline and there is so much negativity.

[Skeptisk]

The time difference between humans and Tyrannosaurs (around 65 million years) is actually smaller than the time between Tyrannosaurs and other famous dinosaurs such as Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus, Diplodocus (around 70-75 million years).