Cool and wet again today. At least to start. It rained here most of yesterday, going from storm to drizzle to storm to steady rain, back to misty drizzle throughout the day. I’m hoping that it will dry out a bit later.
My smoked turkey was a success. It was done earlier than expected, so we ate earlier. I thought I’d be short on wood for the smoke but I had plenty. Shredded pecan stump works great. It’s been a few years so I am happy it went well, and I will do more smoking soon. The stuff will stay up here and I should be able to do little jobs while watching the fire. Both the turkey and the pork ribs had beautiful ruby red flesh, a good half inch deep or deeper and tasted great.
I didn’t get much else done, but I did get some (very) small things off the list. And importantly, my wife proved we can do a big meal from scratch up here despite the work zone conditions and very small oven.
And hey, we found a couple of things we haven’t brought up yet, like a small food processor, or an immersion blender. Or honey. If we’re gonna keep making cornbread, we WILL need honey.
Today I’m hoping to get back in the groove and make some real progress on the master bath. We’ll see what happens.
And the next trip up, I’ve got to move a bunch of stuff.
Everyone should be stacking whatever they can.
Nick
(you can probably do without the ‘free’ big screen tv…)
Vanguard and Black Rock clearly wanted out, which probably greased the wheels of the machinery with the Feds.
As for Tony’s motivations, he seems to be operating on any publicity being good as long as it isn’t his obituary.
TSLA has lost half of its value in the last year and the Jesus Truck is nowhere in sight. In the meantime, paper for car loans is getting more expensive, and Tesla doesn’t have a dealer network to absorb inventory while Americans figure out their new pain point for monthly car payments.
Dealers are a two edged sword.
Really, his big mouth got the better of him. I think it’s pretty clear that his lawyers took him to the woodshed and explained reality to him. He should never have offered to buy Twitter “as is” without the usual due diligence. But he did, and he had no way to wiggle out of it.
That said, don’t feel too sorry for the guy. Tesla has still revolutionized the EV industry, SpaceX continues to revolutionize the space industry, and Musk is not exactly broke. On top of that, who knows what he may manage to do with Twitter. As long as the servers don’t crash before he has new teams in place, I think he’s probably going to do just fine…
Its interesting, Tony quit a lot of superestructure, tornadoing a lot of blue collars IT also. Yes, blue collars, software is a mature industry, another day we could argue.
But, servers doesnt crash, and maybe dont, there si a lot of downturn due crypto and echo dot and etcs, so I guess he is gonna replace on a strict one by one case people fired.
He built paypal, lets see what happen
@ayjblog: Agreed. He cleaned house absolutely brutally, which is actually a good thing. Rip off the bandaid, instead of dragging things out. Layoffs over months and months would destroy morale. Now he has a clear foundation on which he can build a new team.
Twitter never was worth $44 billion, but it may actually turn a profit now…
Where’s my SSD:
Amazon warehouse workers stage global Black Friday strike across 40 countries including US and Germany over pay and working conditions
I ordered one of the 2T NVMe sticks and an enclosure Tuesday. Got the enclosure Wed, stick delayed until Saturday.
Is there a reckoning finally coming to Big River?
If you want the answer to the question and don’t urgently need the stick or can find it somewhere else, try returning it. Don’t even open the shipping box. See how long it takes to get a refund to your *credit card* — don’t accept a gift card balance.
Keep the enclosure. They’ll just throw it away.
Musk did NOT build Paypal. That’s getting into one of those “The Legend Of …” tales in the Valley which are mostly apocryphal but retail stock investors like to believe.
60F and bright overcast here in the north of the south. I just had a french canadian meat spread on toast with a slice of apple pie for breakfast. Coffee is good.
Think I’ll start my day.
n
(I was actually up at 7, and 715, and 8 and 815, and 9… and I did my good deed for the day by NOT ripping out someones spine and beating them to death with it. 😉 )
We have a business level Dropbox account. Members get a proportional amount for their own stuff, a shared folder for all. I moved my personal DB into the biz one to save $$. I have a Synology NAS I use for my other crap.
Somehow, I’ve accumulated 1.4T of digital detritus on the NAS which is not backed up. So, I bit the bullet and started moving it all into DB. First deleted files that were already in DB. Then started moving the rest to my local DB folder. After a big folder of junk is moved, I set it to “online only” in the DB folder so my laptop isn’t swamped. Last night, I got all 1.4T moved and uploaded to DB. Synology has a cloud sync app that supports DB and is happily chugging away at syncing the 1.4T DB to the NAS. Once done, I’ll try dropping some test files on the NAS and see if it properly syncs to DB and vice versa.
Synology also has a Backblaze app and I may purchase a yearly plan for another backup.
I’m not even counting my ~2.7T Apple TV DB which I keep on an external 12T G Drive Pro along with some “other” stuff. The total runs about 4T.
For now, I keep my Calibre DB local in my DB folder and it works well.
I use that – works very well. I only use that to backup the critical things I don’t want to lose – financial docs and pictures. I end up with a monthly charge from Backblaze of less than a buck. It is my tertiary backup.
0x47 today.
That’s the number in my head.
My body often feels differently.
“The Micro-Techs (Perry Rhodan #55)” by Clark Darlton
https://www.amazon.com/Micro-Techs-Perry-Rhodan-55/dp/B000JJ9HMO?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number fifty-five of a series of one hundred and thirty-six space opera books in English. The original German books, actually pamphlets, number in the thousands. The English books started with two translated German stories per book translated by Wendayne Ackerman and transitioned to one story per book with the sixth book. And then they transition back to two stories in book #109/110. The Ace publisher dropped out at #118, so Forrest and Wendayne Ackerman published books #119 to #136 in pamphlets before stopping in 1978. The German books were written from 1961 to present time, having sold two billion copies and even recently been rebooted again. I read the well printed and well bound book published by Ace in 1974 that I had to be very careful with due to age. I bought an almost complete box of Perry Rhodans a decade or two ago on ebay that I am finally getting to since I lost my original Perry Rhodans in The Great Flood of 1989. In fact, I now own book #1 to book #106, plus the Atlan books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Rhodan
BTW, this is actually book number 63 of the German pamphlets written in 1962. There is a very good explanation of the plot in German on the Perrypedia German website of all of the PR books. There is automatic Google translation available for English, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, French, and Portuguese.
https://www.perrypedia.de/wiki/Die_Mikro-Techniker
In this alternate universe, USSF Major Perry Rhodan and his three fellow astronauts blasted off in a three stage rocket to the Moon in 1971. The first stage of the rocket was chemical, the second and third stages were nuclear. After crashing on the Moon due to a strange radio interference, they discover a massive crashed alien spaceship with an aged male scientist (Khrest), a female commander (Thora), and a crew of 500. It has been over sixty-nine years since then and the Solar Empire has flourished with tens of millions of people and many spaceships headquartered in the Gobi desert, the city of Terrania. Perry Rhodan has been elected by the people of Earth to be the World Administrator.
Perry Rhodan’s spy on the Swoon’s planet Swoofon has found out that the Arkonide Robot Brain Regent is having the Swoon’s build a hypercom compensator detector. That means as the Terranean space ships travel back to Terra, their previously hidden hypercom transits will not be hidden anymore. Perry Rhodan and his people must stop the the building of the hypercom compensator detector.
Two observations:
1. Forrest Ackerman should have put two or three of the translated stories in each book. Having two stories in the first five books worked out well. Just having one story in the book is too short and would never allow the translated books to catch up to the German originals.
2. Anyone liking Perry Rhodan and wanting a more up to date story should read the totally awesome “Mutineer’s Moon” Dahak series of three books by David Weber.
https://www.amazon.com/Mutineers-Moon-Dahak-David-Weber/dp/0671720856?tag=azlinkplugin-20/
My rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 5 out of 5 stars (1 reviews)
“Fired Twitter Moderator Reveals “Worries” Over Platform’s Free Speech Future”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fired-twitter-moderator-worries-about-platforms-free-speech-future
“Take one look at some of the employees fired from Twitter the past two weeks by Elon Musk and it’s easy to understand why the company operated as a far-left echo chamber for so long. Though company executives claimed that the platform was “politically neutral” for many years, evidence is coming to light which confirms what we already knew – There was a severe leftist bias that permeated every aspect of the social media site which specifically targeted and censored any viewpoints or facts that did not fit with their narrative.”
“Hilariously, Musk posted on the discovery of a supply closet at Twitter HQ containing activist swag including stacks of t-shirts which have “#StayWoke” printed on them. A neutral company? Not a chance.””
The first commenter has it right, “Mentally ill man wearing a wig does not make a woman.”.
The Old Sombrero lives!
This was another trailer we saw in front of “Knives Out: Glass Onion” last night.
No Whitney Houston biopic is complete without touching on the Super Bowl performance in Tampa which happened in the predecessor to Raymond James Stadium.
Hopefully, the film spent some money on the CGI and got the stadium’s unique architecture correct.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tfemzaMkoU
I’ve been to games in both Raymond James and the old Tampa Stadium, and for the average fan not in boxes or club seats, the Sombrero was better IMHO.
I forgot to hit post commenting on the first trailer we saw last night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlNFpri-Y40
Firing Chapek and bringing back Iger doesn’t change the movies already in the pipeline. Heck, Iger probably approved a lot of the flicks heading into next year, including that hot mess.
Ant Man as dopey sitcom dad. Jeesh, you would think Rudd would know better, having risen to fame in “Clueless” which had a very smart dad character portrayed by Dan Hedaya, one of the breakthrough aspects of the film.
I’ve been bingeing on the 3 seasons of the now cancelled “Dark Matter”. I’ve enjoyed the Firefly like premise of the scallywag crew and the interstellar worlds society. The ignorable downside of the uber competent lady characters vs the knuckle dragging guys doesn’t seem too annoying.
“The Peripheral” is fun, too.
We binged “Wednesday” on Netflix. I liked it. Sort of Buffy/Sabrina/Potter like. They could have done this sans “Addams Family” and it would be still be good.
Wow, Ford wants $109 for a onetime 15 GB download of a new navigation map for my 2019 Ford F-150. Or, $199 for a five year annual update of my navigation map. Not cheap.
Wow, indeed! For my 2020 F-150, a download of the current maps is “free”, and I can buy a USB drive of the map files for $40.
For $109, you’re 75% of the way to the price of a new Garmin GPS with lifetime maps.
Ford wants $150.00 for a new SD card for my navigation system. Not going to happen. I have a Garmin with lifetime maps. Ford should let me download updated maps for no cost, or certainly no more than $5.00. Thus I am still on the map delivered with the vehicle.
Wow, indeed! For my 2020 F-150, a download of the current maps is “free”, and I can buy a USB drive of the map files for $40.
For $109, you’re 75% of the way to the price of a new Garmin GPS with lifetime maps.
My 2019 F-150 just came off the primary warranty on Oct 31. So I guess no new maps. But $109 is absurd.
But I am going to replace my battery soon as I would like the stop-start system to work again and my battery saver system is down to ten seconds. A real pain in unloading at night time. Plus I am getting a battery alarm for ten seconds when I start it.
Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly said today that Trump unelectable to President due to the mass migration of conservatives out of the blue states. That has made those states more liberal. Unsaid was that might make any conservative enelectable in the USA for President.
Regarding car maps updates – those are typical prices, I think.
I did see some information on the Toyota owner’s forum (not associated with Toyota) at http://www.toyotanation.com that you can sometimes find map updates memory cards on Amazon. They seem to be around $35 (for Toyota). Multiple positive reviews.
Ford map updates seem to be around $45-50 on the Zon.
Cadillac charges $100 for a one time map update. I’ve seen specials for $85. I haven’t sprung for one yet, and likely never will. When we travel, I will use the cars gps and have the wife use google maps on her phone.
>> And hey, we found a couple of things we haven’t brought up yet, like a small food processor, or an immersion blender. Or honey. If we’re gonna keep making cornbread, we WILL need honey.
What, no beehives in any of your local auctions? Maybe a Girl Scout merit badge(?) for beekeeping??
And probably a desirable for-barter item post-apocalypse. “The great news about honey is that it never goes bad and it’s very easy to store.”
>> I just had a french canadian meat spread on toast with a slice of apple pie for breakfast.
Does this “spread” come in a tube? Or is ‘spread’ here a verb?
“Not the Right, After All”
https://areaocho.com/not-the-right-after-all/
“The shooting at the fag club in Colorado was blamed upon the right. Come to find out, it wasn’t anyone on the right after all. It was a tranny, proving again that the trannies are, by definition, delusional.”
“In new court filing, public defenders for the suspect in the mass shooting at a Colorado gay club that left 5 people dead say that their client is non-binary and that “they use they/them pronouns.” The lawyers refer to their client as Mx. Anderson Aldrich.”
What is beyond delusional ?
>> I just had a french canadian meat spread on toast with a slice of apple pie for breakfast.
Does this “spread” come in a tube? Or is ‘spread’ here a verb?
Probably some potted meat like “Underwood Deviled Ham Spread”
https://www.heb.com/product-detail/underwood-deviled-ham-spread-4-25-oz/143620
Maps; to be honest, I rarely use the Ford’s own navigation system. I have a Garmin Nuvi on the dashboard, but since the truck has “Android Auto” built in, I normally plug my phone in and use Google Maps on the car’s console. One nice feature; if I get a text message while driving, an alert will pop up and offer to read it to me.
I’ve read that Ford is going to discontinue the built-in infotainment system, and offer both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Since most people these days have one or the other.
One benefit of a dedicated GPS system; if you manage to get out of cell coverage, you may lose the ability to display maps on your phone. A Garmin has maps for the entire USA built in.
@alan, funny you should ask…
One auction had hives. Several auctions have had beekeeper suits. I thought that I was only seeing them as wuflu lockdown failed hobbies, but the last one I saw was last month…
I’ve no desire to keep bees, although I hope someone does.
Miniature dinosaurs are about as close to animal husbandry as I would want to get. :-p
n
The french meat spread is ground pork and some other stuff, cooked and served cold in its own congealed fat. The family has been mispronouncing the name for decades but I found it in an old F-C cookbook.
IDK offhand what the actual name is but it’s something like ga-tone’ or ca-tone’, only spelled like the french would. It’s very similar to the french meat pie her family makes for holidays, and the french meat based “stuffing” served with the bird. (savory, with a bit of sweet)
n
Miniature dinosaurs are about as close to animal husbandry as I would want to get. :-p
Just don’t get a rooster.
>> Wow, Ford wants $109 for a onetime 15 GB download of a new navigation map for my 2019 Ford F-150. Or, $199 for a five year annual update of my navigation map. Not cheap.
>> >> Regarding car maps updates – those are typical prices, I think.
I did see some information on the Toyota owner’s forum (not associated with Toyota) at http://www.toyotanation.com that you can sometimes find map updates memory cards on Amazon. They seem to be around $35 (for Toyota). Multiple positive reviews.
Ford map updates seem to be around $45-50 on the Zon.
A friend said this one comes with free returns, which an unscrupulous person might take advantage of, but of course @lynn wouldn’t do such a thing.
Another friend mentioned something called ‘bit-torrent’? But I’ve never heard of it.
In any case, the last few cars we’ve had (Subbies and LEAFs) all use mapping software that’s other than Garmin-based (both I believe are Tom-Tom) and as such I don’t care for their UIs so they didn’t get used. Android Auto has been sufficient most always but I do have an old Garmin in storage that has lifetime map updates if the need ever arises.
>> The french meat spread is ground pork and some other stuff, cooked and served cold in its own congealed fat. The family has been mispronouncing the name for decades but I found it in an old F-C cookbook.
IDK offhand what the actual name is but it’s something like ga-tone’ or ca-tone’, only spelled like the french would. It’s very similar to the french meat pie her family makes for holidays, and the french meat based “stuffing” served with the bird. (savory, with a bit of sweet)
So kinda like French SPAM, sorta…
And something you’d avoid feeding to a dog 🙂
I have a Ford C-Max hybrid, but it is not the top-tier trim level that included the navigation system. I tried using Android Auto once to display Waze from my phone on the dashboard screen, but the display resolution was too coarse, and the refresh rate was too slow. So I just mount my phone on the dash and use Waze there.
The start-stop system continues to work very well for me, but I only have 28k on the odometer after four years. I plan to ask about the replacement schedule for the 12v battery when I go in for the 30k scheduled maintenance.
Performance is holding up well. I’m still averaging 40mpg on long trips on the interstate, and 44mpg in mixed driving on the three days a week I commute to work. I’m happy with that.
OsmAnd, available for Android via F-Droid, allows advance caching of the entire country or even the world if desired.
I believe the same thing is possible with HERE Maps on iPhone, but most Android phones have SD card slots.
It depends on the candidates and the timing, but I doubt Trump is electable anymore period.
Virginia went from voting for the KKKlansman Dem to a moderate Republican for Governor in one four year span.
And Georgia sent the Shadow Governor packing even if they did make a mess in the Senate race. Again.
The longer the SALT tax deduction remains capped, the more likely voters in the blue states are going to start looking for tax relief at the state and local level. That usually means a moderate Republican Governor.
“Ten Myths about US Aid to Ukraine”
https://www.hudson.org/foreign-policy/ten-myths-us-aid-ukraine-luke-coffey
“Here are the top ten myths and misconceptions about US aid for Ukraine and why they are wrong:”
“Myth 1: There is not enough oversight of US aid to Ukraine.”
“Reality: There has likely never been more accountability or transparency measures in place for US foreign assistance than what is available for Ukraine aid. Take the biggest (and most controversial) supplemental from last May, which allocated $40.1 billion. This bill was 699 lines long. Of these, 110 lines dealt with accountability, transparency, and reporting requirements. Therefore, 16 percent of the bill’s text was dedicated to oversight. May’s bill also included 16 separate reporting requirements to the US Congress for the Department of Defense, Department of State, US Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Department of the Treasury. To date, the three Ukraine supplementals have allocated an additional $14 million for the Inspectors General of the Department of Defense, Department of State, and USAID to increase oversight. There is plenty of accountability and oversight. Those who argue that there is not enough have failed to outline in detail what additional oversight is needed.”
Hat tip to:
http://www.michaelmedved.com/
“The economic screw tightens”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-economic-screw-tightens.html
“I don’t think households have a “mountain of savings” at all – they have a “cellar of debt”. It’s filling up fast, and it’s about to overflow.”
I agree. Many people took early retirement rather than going into germ laden workplaces and their income is radically down.
And the Fed’s new umpteen interest policies are shutting private industry down. The feddies, not so much so the inflation is increasing.
Referred to by:
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2022/11/a-sobering-reflection.html
Terrines, Pates & Galantines
Richard Olney
Time-Life, 1982
One of a series, set is a good reference.
Virginia went from voting for the KKKlansman Dem to a moderate Republican for Governor in one four year span.
Virginia is a special case. The dumbrocrat governor upset the PTA moms and got himself thrown out of office.
Full of thanksgiving and Thanksgiving. It’s been a lot the last week. Things are coming to a head with our friend and their twins. A mandatory reporter gave the mother an ultimatum to open a case with our version of CPS or they would. The father blames his bad behavior on everyone around him, ignores the contribution of his alcohol, and is very angry. We’ve looped in a few more people to help support the mother specifically.
DV is unpredictable. We are being as bold advocates for the twins as we dare. I’m concerned that the mother doesn’t acknowledge her danger. It’s a knife edge to walk. Push too hard and we will be shut out of helping.
The twins have improved their grades with our encouragement and advocacy. No Fs at the moment which wasn’t the case last month. We’re getting the Ds nudging upward. Mother is working on lining up counseling. Teachers are pressuring mom to do some medical evaluation for ADHD / similar on one of the twins.
It’s exhausting and stressful. Doing our best to give the twins support and a sense of normalcy and safety. Trying to get them to open up. Clams.
Many children are in far worse situations. Many of us grew up in more adverse circumstances. My heart aches for them.
And I’ve got 8 rabbits to send to freezer camp, including a buck. I need his cage. I’m soft hearted and am keeping a young doe meant for the freezer to whom my husband has taken a liking and, ahem, named. Don’t name your food.
The backup buck will go to freezer camp. The named meat bunny doe will get elevated to beloved pet and breeder, while her seven littermates fill the freezer.
I need to refill the water barrel early. Had a leak on a drinking nipple. Corrected but it went thru half the barrel in a week. S’okay. Filling us a 20 minute task in the daylight. Tomorrow.
I picked up four gallons of local milk. Time to make a double batch of feta. Enough to refill our supply and for Christmas presents.
And I’ve had a friends pet rabbit in a spare hutch by the kitchens this week. He’s on oral antibiotics for sniffles, contagious respiratory disease. Quarantined. Giving oral antibiotics to an uncooperative rabbit is an order of magnitude more difficult than pilling a cat. He can take his nasty claws on his hind feet behind his ears to where I’m grasping his nape. Flexible monster. I’m happy to watch my friends rabbit. The dosing hasn’t been fun.
Good to foster humility and an opportunity to learn new skills. Right?
Happy belated birthday Rick. Grateful you’ve kept up the site and for your contributions.
@jenny, you do what you can and you are doing more than most. I hope you have success.
n
Jeez Rick you slid that one right past me. FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS!
That’s a big number, glad to have you thru the last circumnavigation of our local star, and hope to for many more.
n
>> Just don’t get a rooster.
Nor a porcupine.
>> Just don’t get a rooster.
Nor a porcupine.
— unless you are an evil genius… and then … no DO NOT get a rooster and a porcupine. NO!
n
Ford map updates seem to be around $45-50 on the Zon.
Thanks, I looked, they are for older vehicles. Nothing for my 2019 F-150.
0x47 today.
That’s the number in my head.
My body often feels differently.
Happy Birthday !
I’ve played around with OSM. For some things, it’s great – for example, when my wife was putting together trails for a man-trailing weekend, the OSM maps for the area were better than the Google maps. Where we live, the maps are also much more up-to-date.
However, the navigation is deranged. I tested it a bit in our area, where I obviously know the streets pretty well. In one instance, I came to a road where I needed to turn left. OSM sent me right, and had me do a 180 at the next roundabout, which was about half-a-mile away. Maybe it thought the road didn’t allow left turns? Dunno…
Um…maybe don’t take early retirement unless the numbers add up?
Granted, I’m paranoid, but we have looked at our finances in detail, several times, and also had our bank advisor go through them. And I’m not even retired yet. I’m mostly paranoid about 20, 30, 40 years after retirement – what will inflation will do to semi-fixed payouts? How can you compensate? That’s obviously assuming we live so long, but you want to plan for it, because – later – there will be no way to fix things. As they say: “I intend to live forever…or die trying”.
Anyway, “retirement”. I cannot imagine *not* working, at least part-time. It will be nice, though, to work without worrying about money. Which is already starting, since my school let’s me do a bit on the side. My wife asked what I will be getting paid for subbing that class at the trade school. She laughed when I said “No idea, never thought to ask.” That’s how it ought to be…
Ha! That’s a problem, when you do small-scale farming. The trick I heard was: freeze them, and only take one out to eat, when you don’t remember any more which one it was…
@Jenny: You are doing an amazing thing for the kids – good luck!
0x4A here, as of 2 months ago.
Re pensions. UK has a base pension, payable at State retirement age or, at your option, later. For me, that date was age 65 – it’s now later. For SWMBO’s age cohort, it’s 67, and will be payable from 2024.
If you choose to defer payment of State pension, they will give you an uplift of 10% per year of deferment. Or they did, when I had that choice. But I was planning on not retiring until I’d paid off my mortgage, which would have been at 0x66. So I said, “Later”. Of course, you run a risk that deferring will cause you to lose out, if you shuffle off too soon.
Long story short, 3 years later, $EMPLOYER decided, in his wisdom, to make me, and half my immediate colleagues, redundant Which got me a serious piece of change in severance. This paid off my mortgage, so I could safely take my state pension, and retire. I sometimes miss the work, but not the commute, even though latterly said commute was a short (less than 5km, as the crow flies, but better part of an hour) Tube trip – think light rail mass transit.
That was Easter 2016. Two-and-a-half years later, I was diagnosed with bowel cancer – now in remission after treatment, I believe and hope.
Four years after that, I’m still going (relatively) strong. My oncologist is still keeping an eye on me, although hospital admin seem to have dropped the ball about my last CT scan – should have been September, maybe now before Christmas. Or maybe in the New Year.
I think I’m past the deferment break-even point, although I haven’t done the sums. Meanwhile SWMBO will get her State pension in about 18 months.
G.
Government-funded retirement here is more similar the US: social security based on the years you worked and contributed. I will get partial social security from three different countries – but not the full amount from any of them. Then there is the pension fund from your employer. The nice thing is: this must be fully funded, and the pension company is an independent entity, so your pension is entirely safe. Not having worked a full career here, my pension fund isn’t as full as it ought to be. Then there are the self-funded parts (like an IRA in the US, I think): tax-deferred savings that you can take out when you retire.
So lots of bits and bobs, all very complicated…
@greg
I do not know Paypal history, yes Apple and altri (It seems that that the only ones in Silicon Valley were Terman and his students, algo with Tek). Yes I am old.
Re retirement
As we learnt, your only retirement is bricks and mortar, All governements steal retirement funds, sooner or later, look at Sunak at UK or his Chancellor, retirements will go as product, not inflation, so it begins