u/yellowbai

Ozempic and Wegovy (same thing more or less I know) look to be wonder drugs. I know of people who are for the first time in their lives seeing astonishing improvements.

Most importantly they are starting to be trusted by GPs and Doctors. Medic's dont prescribe what is flashy or new or over the counter they prescribe what has clinical evidence on what they trust. It is starting to be freely prescribed.

It is likely these types of drugs for most people will never be over the counter ever. Maybe in some very diluted dose but that remains to be seen. The market is too focused on irrelevant things.

Statins not over the counter and they are around since the 1970s.

Once it passes the hurdles in that it demonstrably reduces healthcare inflation (that is a huge sticky hurdle requiring the best part of a decade to clear). It will see mass adoption. Its locked up in private insurance as a optional extra and once the bean counters at the massive insurance companies calculate that by prescribing it you will pay less on premiums it will trigger vast volumes. Even if it becomes generic they are well placed to maintain leads.

In Germany they have kommunale Kino or cinéma associatif in France. The idea is culture is for everyone and for people on tight budgets they have access to art.

For music it’s called kommunale Musikschule and conservatoire municipal.

The idea is art or music isn’t just middle class posh people and is accessible to all.

We subsidize sports but not everyone wants to do sport or may not be physically able to.

When you see the shenanigans at FIFA. The entire World Cup was basically flaunting for investment. The working man’s game stolen from them for the rich. At the top level, International football is probably the last refuge you get this kind of connection and they are trying to steal that too.

When you look at football in England from the 1970s of 1980s it reminds me of the GAA today in terms of passion. Liverpool fans at the Kop was very similar to of GAA fans today but without the hooligan aspect obviously. Obviously for football the passion not gone away but yo can’t say it’s the same as when it cost 20 quid equivalent to got to a game.
Today the working class fans can’t afford it.

When the suits get in power they start trying to get repeat revenue. When you see the cameras at Croke Park it’s every walk of life. The reactions and emotions of the players can’t be faked you could see them crying.

Anecdotally, from talking to rugby diehards they said the worst thing on a local level that happened to rugby was professionalization. It hurt the top clubs as they became feeders to the provinces.

A lot of people watch rugby or support it but how many play it day in day out to the level before professionalization? From talking to them they’d nearly rather it was less popular or making less money and stronger in the likes of Limerick where they are competing with hurling.

We genuinely have something special. Hope it’s never lost and kept for the next generation. Mayo have a population of 150,000 and they reckon 40-50,000 people could have been in McHale Park. That’s like 12 million people on the streets of Madrid.

I genuinely think some of the top people in the GAA have good intentions. I’m not a cynic and I think a lot of people care about keeping it amateur and with the people. They believe in it from talking to them. As long as those people are in charge I think it’ll stay that way.

People say GAA could never go professional but semi pro is in the realms of possibility if Ireland adds another million or two people as we have done since 2000 we could have the economic base for it.
Ireland in 2040 could 7-9 million people.

The country is also getting richer and in France businessmen are pumping money into Rugby teams. Look at McManus, Louis Fitzgerald with Tipperary or Pat McDonagh for Galway? Belgium and Scotland are roughly our size and have enough for a professional league for football. It’s probably not far off becoming semi-pro and that’s how it would start.

I have two examples in my career show this lesson clearly.

I had a manager. He was very much do anything to prioritize the company, skip familiy milestones, actively told people to not discuss salary, really did all he could in salary negotiations to gaslight you ("2% is a very competitive raise").

You could tell he really enjoyed being in the hotseat.

Forbid anything on personal development or learning outside work. Colleagues wanted to persue certifications or even going back to university which was a company policy that was embraced by other teams. He didn't allow it. He actually went as far to say if he discovereed colleagues were doing night classes he would view it negatively because it isn't priortizing their role.

Team had high turnover as talent left for beter paid roles or roles where they could develop themselves. The team got eventually comprised of people coasting and keeping their heads down.

He really alienated people when someone had a personal crisis. Their parent was dying and they immediately flew home and didn't follow correct channels. As in leave work ASAP having a panic attack and straight to the airport.

He escalated to HR and the employee got an official reprimand but was noted as the most minor possible and effectively a slap on the wrist and essentially a (sad) finger wag. The same employee got a far better job soon few months and left in a deliberately vindictive way to make it as messy as possible within the bounds of legality. He slaughtered him in the exit interview.

Eventually as it turned out the the product was fundamentally not competitive. It wasn't profitable enough and not enough new customers were buying it. The locality he was in just didn't have enough political power to decide anything or keep talent and was a cost center.

Product was chosen to be sunsetted. They assured him another equivalent role to play nice until the end, once the product was wound up and the customers off boarded. He was offered an effective demotion or to be canned. Entire team got laid off.

He had alienated a lot of people so didn't have too many allies in the end. Was extremely lucky to keep a job and will likely never get the same role again.

I compared that to another manager I had in a different company. He actively made allies, helped his reports get pay rises, was chill for WFH didnt enforce the rules rigorously or knew when to turn a blind eye. He got a very good employee going through a bad time a nice reundancy package (Europe) that bought a lot of loyalty. High retention. High performing team. Management looked other way because stable profits and happy customers. The senior management did the same thing regards reundancy packages so wasn't really frowned upon. Officially if it was written down it’s a different story.

The same report who joined a better company remembered him put in a extremely positive reference that all but raved about him. He got a huge promotion into a far better company. Had a few people already there with a positive impression and one or two willing go extra because it would all be worked out. Still crushing it as far as I know and on the route to being a senior director.

People say it’s a politics job so was interesting to see two dynamics play out.

The advocate more time given to developing states or gradually becoming socialist when a state is developed

Caesar was a political gambler no doubt but he always seemed to have a grasp on reality. He was charming he had social skills. He was at pains to seduce everyone he met with his charm. Cicero went through phases of admiring him and being terrified of him.

Then the year before he was assassinated he has a golden throne placed in the Senate, purple toga, the crown scene with Mac Anthony, he names a month after himself and then a golden statue of himself next to the kings of Rome.

Is there scholarship on what possessed him? Was it simple megalomania and vanity?

This isn't really a theological question. But his writing definitely seems quite eloquent for the time period. "Fought the good fight", "Love is patient, love is kind". Through a glass darkly etc.

How unique is he as a writer for the time period?