> A modern server can be power cycled remotely, can be reinstalled remotely over networked media, can have its console streamed remotely, can have fans etc. checked remotely without access to the OS it's running etc. It's not very different from managing a cloud - any reasonable server hardware has management boards. Even if you rent space in a colo, most of the time you don't need to set foot there other than for an initial setup (and you can rent people to do that too).

All of this was already possible 20 years ago, with iLO and DRAC cards.

Yes, that's true, but 20 years ago a large proportion of lower end servers people were familiar with didn't have anything like it, and so a whole lot even of developers who remember "pre-cloud" servers have never experienced servers with them.

We have a similar law in Italy, but, not having much advanced technology foreigners are willing to buy, the government uses it to prevent foreigners from buying washing machine manufacturers.

My wife and child are regularly stopped at the border if I’m not with them, because they don’t have the same surname. I live in the UK.

These panels are heavily subsidised. My brother got it almost completely financed by the state of Berlin a few years back.

These are mostly limited time and budget offers, not generally available for everyone in Germany all the time.

The reality is that these letters are written in a kind of pseudolegalistic language, where a phrase like “the employee was punctual” means they were usually late. If they were actually punctual, you'd see something more like “the employee consistently demonstrated exceptional punctuality”.

You usually need the reference letter to be reviewed by the works council or by an employment lawyer.

sighs. Seriously?

Good to know though, if true.

German here. Absolutely true, and has been for many years now. Some examples:

- grade D, poor performance: "We were satisfied with his performance" - grade C, meh: "We were entirely satisfied with his performance" - true grade A+: "We were always satisfied to the utmost degree with his performance" plus highly positive and extensive in the rest of the reference letter.

- "was sociable": alcoholic - "was always striving for a good relationship with colleagues": was gossiping instead of working - "sociability was appreciated": had sex with colleague - "was very empathic": had sex with customer

> - "was very empathic": had sex with customer

This would be very funny to see on an Arbeitszeugnis for a prostitute. Remember prostitution is legal in Germany.

I wonder why there is no LLM that can decode this. Tried many times but it seems the models don’t pick up the nuances.

The perfect test for LLMs!

Assuming these numbers are relevant and correct, there is a reason why qualified migrants prefer other countries.

If you were a French or a German doctor or an engineer, would you spend 3 months fighting with the Home Office for the questionable privilege of earning £50K per annum in a country where a half decent flat costs £2500 a month?

> The biggest issue is giving up one of the biggest instrument of control over the economy to a supra-national non-democratic organisation

This is the point. Germany managed to set up a really independent central bank (which is a non- democratic, bureaucratic, etc… thingy) and inflation was at the target for decades. Italy, France, etc… didn’t, and inflation was 2-3 point above target and above the German levels. So they joined the Euro, which has a governance very similar to the Deutsche Mark.

To this day, inflation in European countries outside the Eurozone is higher.

> And Germany being overzealous in fiscal and monetary policy has stagnated growth and limited policy options.

German fiscal discipline is a tool of strategic independence. It started in ‘49 when they knew they would eventually had to reabsorb East Germany. Today it allows them to re-arm without having to ask permission.

Over the past 20 years, Germany grew more than Italy, France and the UK.

If I recall correctly, the UK changed the way in which they compute the government contribution to GDP (going from G being just cost to some estimate of the output). This caused both the COVID drop and recovery to look steeper.

My understanding is that when you transfer large sums (such as 30K) to an overseas account for the first time, the British bank is required to block it and ask you questions.

The first time I transferred money to an overseas account in my name, the bank blocked the transfer for a day until I gave them proof that I was the owner of the account, what I was doing with the money and that I wasn’t being scammed.

That's for account hacking and similar. In this case, the customers were buying "tech services" and at least not expecting to be scammed.

These are for personal bank accounts. Business banking is different.

Small business accounts are covered by the same rules.

They give you stuff and you give them pieces of paper. If they misbehave, you can embargo them and now they are in trouble because they depend on you to turn said pieces of paper into something of value.