The New Coffee Room

Ahh, ok. Arrevaderci mi amicos. See ya around the clubs.

@Horace said in See Sardinia and Die!:

Tl;dr, but the vending machines look interesting.

Thanks! The vending machine shot took every ounce of my picture taking abilities to come out just so. And Jon can thank me later for taking some of the baiting burden he lives with here.

The title is stolen from a famous adage "See Naples and Die", which was actually a compliment to Naples made by some famous guy back in the 1800's who proclaimed that he has now seen one of the most beautiful places on earth and can now die peacefully.

I'll start posting pics and vids here but will start with a bit of story that may make you chuckle. Near the end of my whirlwind tour of the island, I was staying at a nice resort and found myself wide awake before the dawn. I decided to get up and take my suitcase of dirty clothes into the nearby town of Villasimius and find a 24 hour laundrimat. After driving up and down the narrows streets in the still asleep town, I was striking out bad and one quickly learns that relying on Google Maps for locating anything can be a crap shoot. Crap being the key word here. So during my scouring of the town I find myself in a most uncomfortable pinch, having to go numero due pretty darn bad. Well good luck finding a bagno in Italy at this time of the day. So I found myself now driving away from town and finally on a dirt road that seemed to lead to the sea. Away from civilization I came upon a most glorious site. It was a piece of water known as a Stagno. these small lakes or pools abound in Sardinia and are located very near the sea. They are land locked salt water pools that have become thriving wetlands for creatures as you can hear in this video. So I got out of the car , no longer able to wait any longer and did what bears in the woods do. I then went back into town that had more daylight and was successfull finding said 24 hour laundrimat where I then sat in my car, very much relieved but also a bit uncomfortable in my new wretchedness of soiling. My kingdom for a bidet!

I don't think this has been discussed here when talking about the egg crisis in America. We appear to be the only country that sanitizes the eggs , which removes a protective layer, and thus requires refrigeration for storage and display in supermarkets. That has to cost something extra for the delivery of these eggs as we don't like Salmonella in our diets.

https://appliancesfirst.com/why-do-american-eggs-need-to-be-refrigerated/#:~:text=American eggs need to be refrigerated primarily due,removes the natural protective coating called the bloom.

@taiwan_girl said in The Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020 wasn’t as irrational as we thought.:

@NobodySock said in The Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020 wasn’t as irrational as we thought.:

I installed bidet's onto my toilets couple years back and there is no turning back

Yep

@jon-nyc said in The Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020 wasn’t as irrational as we thought.:

I resist using our sprayer because the water is too cold.

That is why you get the toilet seat one. The one I have has "instant" never ending hot water. LOL

Some of us run a hot engine in life and cold water spikes my dopamine, among other umentionables. I feel so clean after that i want to show people

@taiwan_girl said in Net Worth and pensions:

@NobodySock Here are a couple that I "fool around with"

https://cfiresim.com/#google_vignette

https://www.firecalc.com/index.php

They both seemed pretty good to me and were fun to play with. I haven't looked at them recently so dont know what (if any) updates or changes have been made.

They both run many simulations based on past stock market returns. I think they call it a "Monte Carlo"

Thats where the variable “discount rate” comes into play. Considering market gains, losses, and good old dependable inflation. I plugged in 4 percent and then there is the crap shoot of picking the number of years one has left to live. With monthly pensions and SS, that magical number makes all the difference in placing value to the as yet untold true pot of gold

@jon-nyc said in Net Worth and pensions:

You could have entered your own values and let ChatGPT do the calculation for you, eg:

“I am 55 years old and have a pension of XX per month. Using standard actuarial tables and a conservative discount rate, what would you estimate the present value of my pension to be?”

I could tell the truth and admit to doing just that but then people here might think less of my mathamatical abilities and that bothers me.

@jon-nyc said in The Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020 wasn’t as irrational as we thought.:

I resist using our sprayer because the water is too cold.

Said every woman everywhere.

Where is this question voiced by her that should be the only fucking question right now? "how can you consider cutting Medicaid, Medicare, SS, only to give more tax breaks to the ultra rich and the Pentagon? " She would get a little bit of respect for voicing that "sacrilege" statement to fellow Republicans.

Wait until the local shark population hears about this. They lust over the stories of yore passed down from generations of those silly humans that tried to swim for it to SF. Times were really good back then they say.

I haven't used toilet paper since,,,, oh shit, since 3 days ago at the last hotel I stayed in in Sardinia. It was an agritourismo and they had no bidet (the sacrilege!!!). They also had gas station type of toilet paper from a dispenser. Ugh. No really, I installed bidet's onto my toilets couple years back and there is no turning back nor need for paper to clean my better half.

Thanks for the ChatGPT Jon. Wonderful use of AI

I'm worth half of a Steve Austin!

@NobodySock said in Net Worth and pensions:

how to determine pension value in net worth

ChatGPT said:
To determine the pension value in your net worth, you need to estimate the present value of your future pension payments, since net worth is a snapshot of your financial position today. Here's how you can do that:

1. Know the Type of Pension
   Defined Contribution (e.g., 401(k), RRSP): The account balance is already part of your net worth.

Defined Benefit Pension: You receive a fixed monthly income in retirement. You need to calculate its present value.

2. Estimate Annual Pension Income
   Determine the annual amount you'll receive. For example:

$30,000 per year starting at age 65.

3. Choose a Discount Rate
   This reflects the time value of money—commonly 3% to 6% depending on inflation, interest rates, and risk.
   For conservative estimates, use a lower rate (e.g., 3–4%).

4. Estimate Duration
   Use life expectancy to determine how long you'll receive the pension.
   For example: 65 to 85 = 20 years.

5. Calculate Present Value (PV)
   Use the formula for the present value of an annuity:

Where:

𝑃
P = annual pension

𝑟
r = discount rate

𝑛
n = number of years

PV=P×(1−(1+r (-n) /r

The formula did not translate perfectly here. that is (1 +r to the negative n)

@jon-nyc said in Net Worth and pensions:

By the way there are better ways to impress the Italian chicks. Start with buying nicer clothes.

Ha! I'm afraid if they saw my cash flow in retirement, that I would need to hire a doorman at my villa to screen all the aspiring representatives of the fairer sex. I already have a small queue forming on my FB messenger from the American variety

i am striking out hard tonight trying to find a networth calculator that addresses pensions and how to value them into your net worth. can anyone assist?

@taiwan_girl

It is an amazing little town set on a steep hillside with a wonderous view of the valley below it. I may find myself repeating something that is apparent, Italians love building stuff on steep hills.

As much as I hate and detest conspiracy theories, I feel in my bones that this last election was tainted. Allow me to slowly introduce evidence that brings me to this core feeling. Too many things were uttered by the guy who cant keep a secret to save his life, amongst other key pieces that point to his projection. First, let me enjoy the rest of this wonderful trip i am on and will provide factual evidence that Sardinia is truly a piece of paradise.

So i am sitting outside on a veranda waiting to sit down and eat dinner in Baunei, and having conversation with 2 Austrians here on vacation, and one of them has an in with Bosendorfer. But dont bother me right now, i am working it.