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A thread for random things

45K views 167 replies 34 participants last post by  pianozach  
#1 ·
I saw on TV that George Clooney earned above $230,000.000 last year also a basket ball player in the USA was transferred or earned $30,000.000 last year, Boxers can earn well over $1,000.000 for one fight, I don’t know about pop stars but I bet classical artists don’t get that amount.
So does it boils down to what the public is prepared to pay to see or hear them, fair enough but something is out of wack, how much do engineers, physicists, research scientists earn? with out them we would still be in the dark ages.
I am out of touch with these things now but a long time ago as a semi pro muso I was lucky to get $5-6 for an evening gig, during a short period as a pro which of course included practice it was about $45/week.
Am I jealous?? Perhaps but it still seems screwy to me.
 
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#8 ·
Maybe we should reverse the order of things here, so that money has negative value- so the more you have the less you have :cool:

That could be interesting - like a Dutch auction of poverty.
In my World Elon Musk could not afford a slice of bread.......
Brought to you by Eddies World of tomorrow
 
#17 ·
I understand, well done.

I am happy being a musician even with the low pay - but I also knew, right from the beginning, what the pay structures were going to be like throughout my music career - I accepted that and can live for another day and still be happy.

Kh :cool:
It took me longer to realise that I would not be capable of earning a decent wage so reverted back to my original intended career and that is now done and dusted, no regrets.
 
#16 ·
I tend to believe that most of us knew that we would never make millionaire status playing an instrument. There are exceptions, of course, but I myself would not want all that celebrity status - people constantly prying into your private life, taking photographs, etc.

I can fully accept who I am today and I'm quite happy with the way my life turned out. I love what I am doing for a living and I am able to live a comfortable life.

I am happy being a musician even with the low pay - but I also knew, right from the beginning, what the pay structures were going to be like throughout my music career - I accepted that and can live for another day and still be happy.


Kh :cool:
 
#18 ·
Yesterday I had to revisit Google Earth and seeing all the blanked out faces made me wonder just how precious we are becoming, I pictured an army of junior staff going over all of the footage and blanking out the millions of faces it must have cost a fortune or has some geek developed a super dupa algorithm.
 
#24 ·
A way to imagine how much a billion is and how wealthy billionaires are compared to, say, millionaires, much less you and I (mind you, I'm using the American billion here - a thousand million):

Time it takes to count a million seconds: 11 days
Time it takes to count a billion seconds: 31.7 years.

So...if you're born worth $2 billion, you would have to spend at the rate of $173,000 per day to exhaust that money by age 64.

'nother fun fact: if you take Amazon's estimated value of somewhat over $1 trillion, and call it Jeff Bezos' net worth, with the way his money is likely set up (investments, offshore accounts, interest, principal, etc., etc.), it has been estimated that, in order to just get no richer than he already is, he has to start spending at the rate of $28 million per day.

The rich - they are not like you and me. And it's not because they have more money, either.
 
#25 ·
The gap between the rich and the poor just continues to increase, as my great Aunt used to say "Money is not the root of all evil it is the love of money" and I would add greed is a bit of a problem. I have always known a billion as one thousand million.
 
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#35 ·
In case you colonials are wondering how your ancestors got to where you are

View attachment 108995

(The bridge dates from 12th C)
They did not mess about in those days, we are too soft to day, bring back the stocks and hard labour and the cat of 9 tails.
 
#38 ·
Our government is to have a referendum on legalising Cannabis because too many people are getting a criminal record for smoking it and the penalty it is not a deterrent, well too many people are getting a criminal record for burglary and that is not working as a deterrent so should we legalise that as well, the same goes for speeding, drunkenness, driving while disqualified etc etc.
We aim to make smoking 'tobacco' illegal in public places but not in your own home, but illegal in your car if children are in the vehicle. Cannabis usually leads to other drugs 'Synthetic Cannabis' 'Crystal Meth' etc.
We have a problem with drinking and driving imagine what it will be like with driving under the influence of Cannabis added to the mix.
Not sure if you will be able to connect with this link but try, it is safe (NZ Herald newspaper)
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12155524

What are your thoughts?
 
#39 ·
...What are your thoughts?
In the US, a few years ago governments discovered that there was a lot of money to be made in gambling. So they legalized (and monopolized) the numbers games that the Mafia had run for years and that they had inveighed against, except their payouts were lower. They called them "lotteries."

Now, they see revenue promise in drugs, a traditional target for them when others were selling. Lots more money to be made here!

Governments, at least in the US, eat money voraciously. Your money, my money. They are careless of the consequences.
 
#40 ·
We've just legalized pot here in Canada one month ago. I can't stand the stuff, never smoked it, never will. But I can't see why people should be thrown in jail for smoking it. Tobacco and alcohol are legal drugs. I personally can't see much difference. I don't like tobacco either. I like alcohol but I don't drink too much, probably about three drinks a week. (I used to drink much less but I live near a liquor store now)

We can't smoke pot or tobacco here in my building. I'm an owner, not renter. We as a strata have banned it for the entire building. And two weeks ago we banned the growing of pot plants too.

Better to legalize it and get it out of the hands of organized crime. At least that it the intention here in Canada.
 
#42 ·
I know I will cop some flak but I like Wagner's music it's the actual singing that I dislike it sounds to me forced, I much prefer Puccini, Verdi, Mozart etc.
 
#43 ·
I've been noticing a hopeful sign in television advertising: some companies are using classical music masterpieces in decent performances as background music for their commercials.

For example the USPS is using the first movement of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony in their Christmas commercial.
A motor vehicle company is using the Queen of the Night's magnificent First Act aria from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte.

My wife who has never heard the aria before, has been traveling through the house attempting to sing it.
Therefore, I'm projecting that some non-classical music listening folks will be attracted to this music and at last will be provided the exposure they never had, converting them to classical music likers.

There's nothing like the exposure of a television commercial with its background music.
 
#47 ·