What's in the News? 2.0

[Oniya]

A company that pioneered bionic vision implants went bankrupt

And they didn't even notify the people who received the devices.  Now these people have unsupported tech in their heads, which is difficult, expensive, and possibly painful to remove, which can interfere with MRIs (for, say, cancer screening) and have to live with the real possibility that their implants may fail and leave them - literally - in the dark.

I dunno - sounds like a letter would have been the absolute least that the company could have done?

[Lustful Bride]

Hero of the Berlin Airlift has passed away.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/gail-halvorsen-u-s-pilot-who-dropped-candy-not-bombs-as-world-war-ii-ended-dies/ar-AAU0Cap

[Missy]

. . . although it's not clear if the 61 year old is being bailed out by his 95 year old mother,or by us, the taxpayers.

Pardon me for any ignorance as may seem, but aren't these the same thing?

[TheGlyphstone]

I believe the Queen is independently wealthy in her own right, separate from the budget of the British government.

[Oniya]

Excluding government assets, Queen Elizabeth has an approximate net worth of over 500 million USD.

Source

(The information in the chart was collated from Business Insider in 2019 and CEOWorld in 2018.)

[Mechelle]

Yes, the Queen is very wealthy in her own right and  some of the royal residences, such as Sandringham, which is where I think she is at the moment, are owned by her rather than the state.
Since my earlier comment, the word, although I am not sure how reliable it is, is that she has paid £2,000,000 towards Prince Andrew's payment to Virginia Giuffre or her charities.

[Kitteredge]

Havent UK official fought tooth and nail to conceal how much the Queen actually owns? She's the long descendent of colonial abuses and the amounts stolen from, say, the subcontinent of Asia are astronomical alone.

[Oniya]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the figure cited by BI would be how much wealth they were able to verify.  The actual number might differ, as you say.

[Kitteredge]

It's probably similar to Forbes richest people's list, where they simply just ask people (or their reps) how much they're worth and print whatever they're told. My guess is Liz is owner of billions.

[Mechelle]

In what seems to be my role as E's royal correspondent, I can report that the Queen has now tested positive for Covid, She is only experiencing mild symptoms, and is continuing to perform light duties, but there is inevitably an amount of concern about any 95 year old.

She is thought to be triple vaccinated and I wish her well.

[Humble Scribe]

Havent UK official fought tooth and nail to conceal how much the Queen actually owns? She's the long descendent of colonial abuses and the amounts stolen from, say, the subcontinent of Asia are astronomical alone.

The Queen's wealth is a hard one because the UK constitution operates on the basis of something called The Crown. This is not the person of Queen or the reigning monarch, but a weird legal fiction. Parliament notionally exercises power on behalf of 'The Crown' (it's like saying that the US government operates on behalf of The People, but basically in practise it means The Nation). So a lot of royal residences and property, art collections etc are held by The Crown. The Queen personally owns Balmoral and Sandringham, which are large estates and probably worth tens of millions, but most other stuff - Windsor, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, the Royal parks, Regent Street etc, comes under the Crown Estate, which are essentially government property. The Queen gets to use them the same way that the Prime Minister gets to use 10 Downing Street and Chequers, but they aren't her property. Nor is the Royal art collection or the Crown Jewels - they're 'held' by the reigning monarch, but again woe betide her if she tried to sell them. They're also essentially national property. There's also a weird thing called The Duchy of Lancaster Estate, whose income the Queen gets to use - this is where most of her actual income comes from - but her use of it also exists at the government's pleasure.

So you can probably make the Queen very rich if you include the Crown Estates, but I suspect she's a lot less rich than you think she is. Most of it is notionally or actually government property. Yes, we have a weird system. That's what happens when you haven't had an invasion or a revolution since 1688.

And yes, Kitteredge, there is wealth in the UK generated from colonial possessions. There are holdings in the British Museum which were taken by force from other countries (like the raiding of the Summer Palace in Beijing during the 1901 Boxer Rising, and the Benin Bronzes). The US appropriated most of its land from natives too, and has an entire Egyptian Temple in the Met in New York. We're still making our peace with our colonial past, as are many other countries. But - and I say this as someone who thinks the UK should be a Republic - I think it's a bit unfair to blame the Queen personally for that.

[Oniya]

Asustor NAS (personal Cloud storage) has fallen victim to Deadbolt ransomware.

[Kitteredge]

The Queen's wealth is a hard one because the UK constitution operates on the basis of something called The Crown. This is not the person of Queen or the reigning monarch, but a weird legal fiction. Parliament notionally exercises power on behalf of 'The Crown' (it's like saying that the US government operates on behalf of The People, but basically in practise it means The Nation). So a lot of royal residences and property, art collections etc are held by The Crown. The Queen personally owns Balmoral and Sandringham, which are large estates and probably worth tens of millions, but most other stuff - Windsor, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, the Royal parks, Regent Street etc, comes under the Crown Estate, which are essentially government property. The Queen gets to use them the same way that the Prime Minister gets to use 10 Downing Street and Chequers, but they aren't her property. Nor is the Royal art collection or the Crown Jewels - they're 'held' by the reigning monarch, but again woe betide her if she tried to sell them. They're also essentially national property. There's also a weird thing called The Duchy of Lancaster Estate, whose income the Queen gets to use - this is where most of her actual income comes from - but her use of it also exists at the government's pleasure.

So you can probably make the Queen very rich if you include the Crown Estates, but I suspect she's a lot less rich than you think she is. Most of it is notionally or actually government property. Yes, we have a weird system. That's what happens when you haven't had an invasion or a revolution since 1688.

And yes, Kitteredge, there is wealth in the UK generated from colonial possessions. There are holdings in the British Museum which were taken by force from other countries (like the raiding of the Summer Palace in Beijing during the 1901 Boxer Rising, and the Benin Bronzes). The US appropriated most of its land from natives too, and has an entire Egyptian Temple in the Met in New York. We're still making our peace with our colonial past, as are many other countries. But - and I say this as someone who thinks the UK should be a Republic - I think it's a bit unfair to blame the Queen personally for that.

This is what I meant, how the Queen has forced/lobbied/enticed ministers to continue concealing what her actual wealth is because the astounding amount of her wealth, if disclosed, would be "embarrassing." I suspect what this article (among others) alludes to is only a portion of it, so I'm not really sure your credulous account manages to describe what she likely has squirrelled away everywhere:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/07/revealed-queen-lobbied-for-change-in-law-to-hide-her-private-wealth

[Oniya]

I think everyone is agreeing that the Queen's got a metric crapton of personal wealth.  The real question is whether she's pulling Andrew's pay-off money from that source or from government sources.

[Kitteredge]

The question was simply how much wealth the Queen has, so the conversation shifted. The general rule for rich people is to never pay for anything themselves, so I have a good guess.

Another absurdly rich person, meanwhile, is now invading Ukraine for no good reason.

[Beorning]

I think everyone is agreeing that the Queen's got a metric crapton of personal wealth.

I wish I had a metric crapton of wealth :(

Another absurdly rich person, meanwhile, is now invading Ukraine for no good reason.

Yeah. It is confirmed that Russian "peacekeeping mission" has crossed into the Ukrainian break-away territories. Damn.

[Humble Scribe]

This is what I meant, how the Queen has forced/lobbied/enticed ministers to continue concealing what her actual wealth is because the astounding amount of her wealth, if disclosed, would be "embarrassing." I suspect what this article (among others) alludes to is only a portion of it, so I'm not really sure your credulous account manages to describe what she likely has squirrelled away everywhere:

I don't doubt that she's worked behind the scenes to ensure that financial details don't get out, although the article says that all happened in the 1970s and the provisions supposedly expired in 2011. Forbes puts her personal wealth at around $400 million, mainly from Sandringham and Balmoral, plus an investment portfolio of $120 million or so, which is quite substantial, but even if its an underestimate, there are 176 billionaires in the UK, so on a personal level she's not the richest by a long way. I was just trying to ensure you didn't fall into the common trap of assuming that everything held by the Crown Estates (up to $88 billion by some accounts) is her own personal wealth, as it belongs to the nation. But assets are not income - that comes mainly from government funding, so either way the money to pay off her son's indiscretions is by and large coming from UK taxpayers like myself. That's a pretty shitty situation, and one reason why I'm a republican (but not a Republican, I hasten to add).

I think everyone is agreeing that the Queen's got a metric crapton of personal wealth. 

Surely an Imperial crapton?

[Oniya]

Surely an Imperial crapton?

I thought we were the only one still using that convoluted weights and measures system?   

[Regina Minx]

I thought we were the only one still using that convoluted weights and measures system?   

It's complicated. The UK is officially metric, but they still use Imperial units here and there. Primarily in distances measurement and sometimes in liquid volume (aka ordering a pint at the local). Amusingly enough, they also use gallons for describing units of gasoline, but UK pints and gallons are both 20 percent larger than US measurements.

[Humble Scribe]

It's complicated. The UK is officially metric, but they still use Imperial units here and there. Primarily in distances measurement and sometimes in liquid volume (aka ordering a pint at the local). Amusingly enough, they also use gallons for describing units of gasoline, but UK pints and gallons are both 20 percent larger than US measurements.

Legally we're metric for everything, except that we were allowed by the EU to keep miles and pints (but only for beer and milk, all other liquids are sold in litres). The government has muttered about allowing Imperial measurements back in shops post-Brexit, but to what extent shops and manufacturers will actually bother is open to question. You can buy quarter pounders anyway, but I am certain the machine that makes them is calibrated to 113 grammes. Petrol (gasoline) is sold in litres, though car fuel economy is still advertised in miles per (UK) gallon - about 5 litres.
Practically it's a generational thing - old people like my parents still think in pounds and ounces and feet and inches. Younger people are happier using metres and kilos. I grew up during metrication and so am pretty bilingual. I even (just) remember pre-decimal currency; shillings, farthings and half crowns and the like. I still reflexively use feet and inches to describe someone's height, and stones (14lb) and pounds to talk about weight, but I cook in litres and kilos and I can't visualise an acre any more - hectares are much simpler. I think about temperature in Celsius; Fahrenheit means having to grab a calculator. And as someone who has to write about science for an international audience, I'm much happier with Newtons than foot-pounds per square inch (I mean there are factors of 12, 16, 144 and all sorts in there). And as Regina says, the US and UK don't even use the same Imperial system. Our tons are different too.
But the Queen is definitely pre-metric and so would use Imperial (long) craptons, I think.

[Mechelle]

According to the Independent today, the government have launched a study into the benefits of reintroducing Imperial measures. There have been a few cases of "metric martyrs" who are traders who have been fined for selling produce in pounds rather than kilos, although I think this is a case of the government trying to promote one of those culture wars which they so love, rather than a constructive or planned policy, considering the costs involved for retail businesses in changing their equipment.

I am possibly the same sort  of age as Humble Scribe (although I don't remember farthings, which were abolished in the fifties!), as I tend to think in Celsius for temperature, but otherwise think in Imperial, although I can use metric measures. I am a lot happier to use metres and kilograms rather than, say, litres, though. as some measures are more familiar than others.

It's archaic now, but we used to have local measures, where, for example, a Cheshire mile was much longer than a standard mile.




https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-imperial-measurements-economic-benefit-study-b2021304.html

[Oniya]

Well, I read a lot of older literature, so I'm at least familiar with farthings and sixpence.  I have both temperature scales on my computer's weather read-out. 

The US tried to go metric while I was in school (even before that - my father's Physics text talks about conversions for scientific measurements, and they didn't even have a name for technetium yet), but because of generations, the 'foot/pound/gallon' system is still prevalent.

[Lustful Bride]

Russia has Invaded Ukraine. Reports are sketchy. Kyiv may have been hit and Russian Paratroopers may control the airport. Cluster bombs have hit the city, missiles have been flying and some Russian Jets have been shot down. (But this is all speculation I'm hearing elsewhere).

CNN has some updates.

https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-news-02-23-22/index.html

[Beorning]

Something that needs to be added is that Russians are attacking also from Belarus' territory. Which means that Lukashenka is cooperating.

Anyway: [EXPLETIVES SELF-CENSORED]

[Thufir Hawat]

They've entered via Crimea, man, it's effectively Russian territory. In fact, they just said so, quoted by AFP. I don't think I've seen it in English yet.

Belarus is the icing on the cake, though of course Lukashenko would be cooperating .

Oh I've completely lost faith in American Democracy, or at least the ability of the average American to participate effectively in Democracy. I'd be happy to live in a society that valued intelligence and education, but likely that type of place doesn't exist.

Japan? South Korea?

Not saying they're stellar democracies, but valuing intelligence and education is a given, there, from what I know !