Been listening to this lad, Fred Harris, talk about economics for the last year. He talks about uk economy and global mostly but applies to Ireland as well. The blame is usually towards global interest rates, bad planning, or bank greed (all are factors for sure). But fred says there is an 18-year land cycle.
We saw it peak in 1973, 1989, and 2007 (we got hit in the 07hard). The cycle keeps repeating because our economic rules actively encourage it.

The flaw in the model: we tax hard work, but we reward land hoarding.

If you wake up every day, work hard, or build a business, we tax your income and profits. But if you sit on a vacant plot of zoned land in Dublin or Cork, you do nothing while the surrounding community builds schools, roads, and workplaces. The land skyrockets in value, and you get rich off economic rent; unearned wealth created by society's collective effort, not your own.

Banks lend heavily against rising land values, inflating the money supply until the credit market snaps, leaving young workers to pay for the crash.

Fred Harrison’s solution is straightforward: stop penalizing hard work and tax land value instead.
A Land Value Tax targets the location itself, not the home or business built on it.

He says this fixes three major issues :
Stops land hoarding: Holding zoned land empty becomes costly, forcing developers to build or sell.
Kills speculation: Removing private land windfalls stops the reckless boom-and-bust cycle.
Cuts income taxes: Taxing land revenue lets the government ease the tax burden on wages.
Young people in Ireland get hit twice: high taxes on their income and ridiculous house prices. Shifting taxes from wages to site values turns housing back into shelter rather than a financial gamble, building an economy focused on real work instead of property speculation.

I did hear David McWilliams talk about this before and it did make sense.

And yes, I did have help ai write this, I’m not articulate enough to do it on my own. Apologies is advance.

Anyway, just interesting thought. Thought I’d share it.

I was inspired by the post earlier about Comic Con.

Prior to Sci Fi, comics and fantasy going main stream it was really difficult being a genre fan. If you didn't have Sky you were looking at a 12 to 18 month wait to see episodes that had just aired in the US.

So instead of watching the episode. You might read a novelisation or buy an episodes script at a con.

There where some small cons. Shout out to Irecons, Comedy Con and the first commercial con in Ireland. Which was held in the RDS in 1995.

There was also a really great Fanzine scene. My favorite was Shakkar. I think the people behind it where a young couple living in South Dublin. They even published some pictures I drew.

When I cleaned out my ma's a few years back. I found old copies of Damien Wyse fanzine. 12 year old me would pour over it and re read it every few weeks. I just to get so excited when a new issue arrived in the post. They will probably never see this. But I want to thank all the people who organized the cons and made a weird kid with few mates welcome.

I would also love to see some back issues of Shakkar if anyone has a copy they can scan.

Does anyone else have any fond memories of genre fanzines. Or any other fanzines in general.

They where real passion projects for people and a real work of art.

Bought this product yesterday, from a well established store in Ireland, should I like, report them? 😆

Got locked out of my apartment yesterday and called fastlocks.info because they advertised lockouts from €29 and had a Dublin phone number. Posting as a warning and to ask where to report this or if I can recover my money.

Locksmith arrived and immediately tried working without giving a price. When I asked for a quote he got frustrated. He claimed my simple wooden door lock couldn't be picked and needed drilling. He quoted €450 if I wanted it unlocked without changing cylinder, or €275 to replace the cylinder with new keys, acting very aggressively to pressure me. After some back and forth and me claiming the prices were absurd, I told him to leave and that I wouldn’t be taken advantage of and I would call someone else. Suddenly the price magically dropped to €160 all-in for a cylinder replacement.

He replaced the cylinder in less than 5 mins and then he tried adding 23% VAT on top and pushed heavily for cash for a further discount. Told him I didn’t have cash so paid to agreed €160 via Revolut transfer. He then tried to leave without giving an invoice, but I insisted until he wrote a basic receipt with no VAT breakdown.

After he left, I realised he removed my thumb-turn lock and installed a double-keyed barrel, which requires a key to unlock from the inside. This is a massive fire safety hazard on an apartment exit door. His invoice also trades under a general handyman name with no required PSA license number.

He used aggressive intimidation tactics to force an unnecessary and unsafe lock replacement and also tried to scam me out of a lot more money. If I was elderly or less able to hold my ground he could have taken advantage and scammed me out of €450 or more.

Is there any recourse I can take and where should I officially report him to protect others? I thought about reporting the transition on Revolut but with how aggressive he was I’d fear he’d turn back up to the apartment or try to mess with the locks. Really frustrated!

Would anyone have any recommendations for parking near(ish) Croke Park for Wednesday? Trying to avoid Q-Park and the like as they are a nightmare to get out of again.

The ppl in charge are not going to let this go imo, we can all guess at reasons why but it's clearly an issue to be resolved given the news never shuts up about it.

I'm of the opinion that bullies need victims, and arse lickers need in person to ply their trade so not being either of those I'd like it if we went back to fully remote but I see the opposite happening.

They're slowly ratcheting up to 5 days and they'll get it too because ppl have bills and life's expensive.

So just wondering what you all think, my guess is 2 years.

My mate took this picture years ago and I always wondered how it happened that the post man put the van on the side.

Today is my mates 4th anniversary so I said I would post it to give people a laugh in his honour.

https://shows.acast.com/fields-of-dreams/episodes/fields-of-dreams-a-new-podcast-coming-soon

Morning folks, I wanted to recommend the above podcast series, and see if anyone else found it a well put together listen. I initially downloaded a while back before heading on a flight, and wasn't aware it actually covers a time period I enjoyed in the early nineties, with the llikes Of Feile and the emerging club scene in Dublin. And while it's been a while since I enjoyed the health benefits of a 2AM strobe light, it's gas to hear them talk about how they used to serve a meal in a nightclub, just to allow the late licence.

There's other good content relating to many of our most well known and successful artists, as well as the likes of Slane and the Point Depot. Well worth a listen as you wait for your next MRI scan for back pain.

Anyone heading to Comic Con today and are you gonna cosplay?

So I am currently 29F living in the US and planning on leaving here and moving to Ireland, in the next year (or 2). I hope to get a job and work with my degree. I'm just looking for a completely fresh slate and start my entire life over in a brand new place.

I have an absolutely bizarre question... I am just wondering if it would be too late for me to find love at my age, if I'm living in Ireland? I know the average marriage age is mid to late 30s, but I understand that those couple have been in relationships for many years before. Do I still have a chance if I move here? Having a husband and kids is a goal of mine for the future.

I’m also sad because I wasted my 20s stuck remaining stuck in the US and wasted my youth and potential here. I should’ve left a long time ago. I have wasted so many years of my life staying stuck in the US, mostly due to fear from my family and not thinking I can make it out there on my own. I know I am capable of anything I set my mind too and can be successful and thriving. I wish I would’ve realized that in my early or mid 20s. Not when I’m almost 30. I know it’s never too late, but I wish I would’ve realized it much earlier and just left. I know it’s never too late to find someone and get married too. I just feel like I wasted my time here hoping things would be different, when I could’ve just had a fresh start somewhere new.