"FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday that the Covid pandemic was probably the result of a laboratory leak in China, providing the first public confirmation of the bureau’s classified judgment of how the virus..first emerged. "
Does anyone apart from certified morons still believe this “came from a pangolin crossed with.a zebra in a market”
It’s over. Now we need trials
I've asked before - which type of lab leak?
A) a sample, collected from nature, incorrectly contained and becoming the source
OR
a genetically altered/engineered (e.g. gain of function) virus
If A, its unfortunate (yes really), but I don't know who you want to put on trial?
If B, and crimes have been committed, which crimes, by who, and where?
Calling A unfortunate when 20+ million are dead, hundreds of millions have been ill, and billions infected, and that's before we consider the economic cost, seems a tad understated. It's a Lab Leak with consequences on a par with a World War. If negligence was the cause we probably should execute those responsible to set a precedent.
There's more than one way a lab leak can occur: but just to check, you are proposing that we execute people for the consequences of negligence?
"FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday that the Covid pandemic was probably the result of a laboratory leak in China, providing the first public confirmation of the bureau’s classified judgment of how the virus..first emerged. "
Does anyone apart from certified morons still believe this “came from a pangolin crossed with.a zebra in a market”
It’s over. Now we need trials
First I've heard of the zebra theory.
I'm sure a very prolific poster on here, who is usually wrong about everything, keeps on insisting it is a result of genetic engineering and probably a deliberate bio-weapon. What do the FBI and Department of Energy say about those theories?
This whole charade has been a test of basic intelligence and intellectual bravery. You failed on both counts
But what *do* the FBI and Department of Energy say about your theories that it was genetically engineered as a bio-weapon? From what I understand they aren't keen, so if you have any "basic intelligence and intellectual bravery" will you admit that were probably wrong about this, as you are about nearly everything?
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
The only problem with that book was that her knowledge of campanology was a bit ropey.
Well that, and DLS's invasive snobbishness & pretentiousness.
Wimsey is one of the most irritating detectives in fiction.
Having come late in life to the books, I think Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe is my all-time favourite now.
The real hero of Rex Stout's wonderful series is Archie Goodwin, not Nero Wolfe, which is what makes it so special. That and the orchids.
BTW PG Wodehouse was a huge Rex Stout fan - which shows just how good he was.
And, finally, yes, Wimsey is annoying. The Nine Tailors sees him at his best, and his presence is muted by the greatness of the picture of fen life in 1930 somewhere on the borders of Lincs, Cambs and Norfolk. Not all that far from Algarkirk.
I agree with you -- the most interesting portions of 'The Nine Tailors' are the descriptions of Fenland life.
Harriet Vane is more interesting than the absurd Wimsey & the feudal Bunter. The best of DLS's books is Gaudy Night where Vane (& female education) is centre stage.
I was on the side of the bedder who attacks all the dons and I was heartbroken when she was caught by the wretched monocled Wimsey.
Goodwin & Wolfe are an incredible combo. I prefer Wolfe to Goodwin. Both Aunt Dahlia and Bertie Wooster were big fans, as was their creator.
I think the Nero Wolfe novels are stylistically very close to PG Wodehouse -- in that they create a highly artificial, yet enchanting & somehow believable, Universe in the brownstone on West 35th Street.
I mean, there is no-one who ever lived who was anything like Nero Wolfe. Or Archie Goodwin.
Just like there was no-one who ever lived who was anything like Jeeves. Or Bertie Wooster.
Sweet Poison is great.
I love the jury forewoman who really doesn't care whether Harriet killed her boyfriend or not, because the man was a cad, and deserved it.
Strong Poison.
The portrayal of the venomous solicitor confirms all my prejudices about the legal profession, so I do like the book.
Generally, the more Vane and the less Bunter the better.
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
The only problem with that book was that her knowledge of campanology was a bit ropey.
Well that, and DLS's invasive snobbishness & pretentiousness.
Wimsey is one of the most irritating detectives in fiction.
Having come late in life to the books, I think Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe is my all-time favourite now.
The real hero of Rex Stout's wonderful series is Archie Goodwin, not Nero Wolfe, which is what makes it so special. That and the orchids.
BTW PG Wodehouse was a huge Rex Stout fan - which shows just how good he was.
And, finally, yes, Wimsey is annoying. The Nine Tailors sees him at his best, and his presence is muted by the greatness of the picture of fen life in 1930 somewhere on the borders of Lincs, Cambs and Norfolk. Not all that far from Algarkirk.
I agree with you -- the most interesting portions of 'The Nine Tailors' are the descriptions of Fenland life.
Harriet Vane is more interesting than the absurd Wimsey & the feudal Bunter. The best of DLS's books is Gaudy Night where Vane (& female education) is centre stage.
I was on the side of the bedder who attacks all the dons and I was heartbroken when she was caught by the wretched monocled Wimsey.
Goodwin & Wolfe are an incredible combo. I prefer Wolfe to Goodwin. Both Aunt Dahlia and Bertie Wooster were big fans, as was their creator.
I think the Nero Wolfe novels are stylistically very close to PG Wodehouse -- in that they create a highly artificial, yet enchanting & somehow believable, Universe in the brownstone on West 35th Street.
I mean, there is no-one who ever lived who was anything like Nero Wolfe. Or Archie Goodwin.
Just like there was no-one who ever lived who was anything like Jeeves. Or Bertie Wooster.
Sorry: just to make sure that there's no mistake here.
You supported the "bedder" who attacked the dons because she was opposed to female education?
I want to make absolutely sure there's no misunderstanding here.
Absolutely. The FBI are completely certain that it was a lab leak and are universally recognised by the international community as the final arbiters of scientific truth. Leon is vindicated.
The DUP has criticised a key part of Rishi Sunak’s new Brexit deal as the prime minister prepares to sell his agreement to MPs in the Commons.
Sammy Wilson, a senior DUP MP, told Times Radio that the Stormont brake, the mechanism by which Northern Ireland can reject changes to EU goods rules, “is not really a brake at all”.
He said in reality the UK government would have the final say over whether the Northern Ireland assembly could veto a law, but he predicted it would be reluctant to do so because it would be “fearful of the consequences of trade for the rest of the United Kingdom” and “retaliatory action” from the EU.
Yes. But was 'woke' ever not derogatory? I always understood it as a term of the social conservative* to diss the socially progressive*, the modern day equivalent of 'political correctness'
*for want of better terms - I'm aware that 'progressive' in itself is loaded (who wants to be regressive?) but can't think of a better term
ETA: To some extent it's regression to the mean, or regression to the centre to become electable. People have other issues, so a party obsessed with wokeness (on either side) is unlikely to command wide enough support to win.
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
The only problem with that book was that her knowledge of campanology was a bit ropey.
Well that, and DLS's invasive snobbishness & pretentiousness.
Wimsey is one of the most irritating detectives in fiction.
Having come late in life to the books, I think Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe is my all-time favourite now.
The real hero of Rex Stout's wonderful series is Archie Goodwin, not Nero Wolfe, which is what makes it so special. That and the orchids.
BTW PG Wodehouse was a huge Rex Stout fan - which shows just how good he was.
And, finally, yes, Wimsey is annoying. The Nine Tailors sees him at his best, and his presence is muted by the greatness of the picture of fen life in 1930 somewhere on the borders of Lincs, Cambs and Norfolk. Not all that far from Algarkirk.
I agree with you -- the most interesting portions of 'The Nine Tailors' are the descriptions of Fenland life.
Harriet Vane is more interesting than the absurd Wimsey & the feudal Bunter. The best of DLS's books is Gaudy Night where Vane (& female education) is centre stage.
I was on the side of the bedder who attacks all the dons and I was heartbroken when she was caught by the wretched monocled Wimsey.
Goodwin & Wolfe are an incredible combo. I prefer Wolfe to Goodwin. Both Aunt Dahlia and Bertie Wooster were big fans, as was their creator.
I think the Nero Wolfe novels are stylistically very close to PG Wodehouse -- in that they create a highly artificial, yet enchanting & somehow believable, Universe in the brownstone on West 35th Street.
I mean, there is no-one who ever lived who was anything like Nero Wolfe. Or Archie Goodwin.
Just like there was no-one who ever lived who was anything like Jeeves. Or Bertie Wooster.
Sweet Poison is great.
I love the jury forewoman who really doesn't care whether Harriet killed her boyfriend or not, because the man was a cad, and deserved it.
Strong Poison.
The portrayal of the venomous solicitor confirms all my prejudices about the legal profession, so I do like the book.
Generally, the more Vane and the less Bunter the better.
I would agree with that, and would note that of the three strongest DLS books (IMHO Strong Poison, Murder Must Advertise and Gaudy Night), two feature Ms Vane.
That said, the one set in Cornwall (?) and which is almost entirely through Ms Vane's eyes is not that great.
Great thread by OGH. Yesterday was utterly hilarious on here, what with some of the harder, unrepentant eurosceptics tying themselves up in logical knots as to why SM was good for NI but not for the other three nations of the UK.
Absolutely. The FBI are completely certain that it was a lab leak and are universally recognised by the international community as the final arbiters of scientific truth. Leon is vindicated.
No one seems to want answer my question of which type of lab leak thought.
(A) leak of a naturally obtained virus
OR
(B) a genetically altered (e.g. gain of function) virus, tinkered about by man
Surely @leon knows? Huge implications if its (B). Less if its (A).
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
The only problem with that book was that her knowledge of campanology was a bit ropey.
Well that, and DLS's invasive snobbishness & pretentiousness.
Wimsey is one of the most irritating detectives in fiction.
Having come late in life to the books, I think Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe is my all-time favourite now.
The real hero of Rex Stout's wonderful series is Archie Goodwin, not Nero Wolfe, which is what makes it so special. That and the orchids.
BTW PG Wodehouse was a huge Rex Stout fan - which shows just how good he was.
And, finally, yes, Wimsey is annoying. The Nine Tailors sees him at his best, and his presence is muted by the greatness of the picture of fen life in 1930 somewhere on the borders of Lincs, Cambs and Norfolk. Not all that far from Algarkirk.
I agree with you -- the most interesting portions of 'The Nine Tailors' are the descriptions of Fenland life.
Harriet Vane is more interesting than the absurd Wimsey & the feudal Bunter. The best of DLS's books is Gaudy Night where Vane (& female education) is centre stage.
I was on the side of the bedder who attacks all the dons and I was heartbroken when she was caught by the wretched monocled Wimsey.
Goodwin & Wolfe are an incredible combo. I prefer Wolfe to Goodwin. Both Aunt Dahlia and Bertie Wooster were big fans, as was their creator.
I think the Nero Wolfe novels are stylistically very close to PG Wodehouse -- in that they create a highly artificial, yet enchanting & somehow believable, Universe in the brownstone on West 35th Street.
I mean, there is no-one who ever lived who was anything like Nero Wolfe. Or Archie Goodwin.
Just like there was no-one who ever lived who was anything like Jeeves. Or Bertie Wooster.
Sweet Poison is great.
I love the jury forewoman who really doesn't care whether Harriet killed her boyfriend or not, because the man was a cad, and deserved it.
Strong Poison.
The portrayal of the venomous solicitor confirms all my prejudices about the legal profession, so I do like the book.
Generally, the more Vane and the less Bunter the better.
My bad,
It's a bit like when Madame Caillaux in 1914 shot dead a newspaper editor who was running a campaign against her husband. She was terrified that he would challenge the editor to a duel and be killed. So, she did what any good wife does and murdered the editor.
On trial for murder, and potentially facing the guillotine if found guilty, her advocate secured her acquittal by arguing that women were fundamentally irrational, and she could not be held responsible for her actions.
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
The only problem with that book was that her knowledge of campanology was a bit ropey.
Well that, and DLS's invasive snobbishness & pretentiousness.
Wimsey is one of the most irritating detectives in fiction.
Having come late in life to the books, I think Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe is my all-time favourite now.
The real hero of Rex Stout's wonderful series is Archie Goodwin, not Nero Wolfe, which is what makes it so special. That and the orchids.
BTW PG Wodehouse was a huge Rex Stout fan - which shows just how good he was.
And, finally, yes, Wimsey is annoying. The Nine Tailors sees him at his best, and his presence is muted by the greatness of the picture of fen life in 1930 somewhere on the borders of Lincs, Cambs and Norfolk. Not all that far from Algarkirk.
I agree with you -- the most interesting portions of 'The Nine Tailors' are the descriptions of Fenland life.
Harriet Vane is more interesting than the absurd Wimsey & the feudal Bunter. The best of DLS's books is Gaudy Night where Vane (& female education) is centre stage.
I was on the side of the bedder who attacks all the dons and I was heartbroken when she was caught by the wretched monocled Wimsey.
Goodwin & Wolfe are an incredible combo. I prefer Wolfe to Goodwin. Both Aunt Dahlia and Bertie Wooster were big fans, as was their creator.
I think the Nero Wolfe novels are stylistically very close to PG Wodehouse -- in that they create a highly artificial, yet enchanting & somehow believable, Universe in the brownstone on West 35th Street.
I mean, there is no-one who ever lived who was anything like Nero Wolfe. Or Archie Goodwin.
Just like there was no-one who ever lived who was anything like Jeeves. Or Bertie Wooster.
Sorry: just to make sure that there's no mistake here.
You supported the "bedder" who attacked the dons because she was opposed to female education?
I want to make absolutely sure there's no misunderstanding here.
I am always on the side of the degraded in the gutter because they have been thrown there.
The bedder's final speech is deranged and magnificent. The dons are shocked to silence by its emotional power.
The DUP has criticised a key part of Rishi Sunak’s new Brexit deal as the prime minister prepares to sell his agreement to MPs in the Commons.
Sammy Wilson, a senior DUP MP, told Times Radio that the Stormont brake, the mechanism by which Northern Ireland can reject changes to EU goods rules, “is not really a brake at all”.
He said in reality the UK government would have the final say over whether the Northern Ireland assembly could veto a law, but he predicted it would be reluctant to do so because it would be “fearful of the consequences of trade for the rest of the United Kingdom” and “retaliatory action” from the EU.
I have a brake in my car. I can choose not to use it at all which would be interesting, I can use it in mainly in an emergency but generally drive in a way I don’t need to use it all the time, I can use it every few seconds which will piss off the other road users and the occupants of my car. It’s still a brake - just have to know when to use it.
…”The Telegraph have been informed that their headline is wrong, and Matt is considering all options available to him.“……
The important point Hancock makes in response is that after Whitty’s advice a meeting on testing took place which revealed there wasn’t enough capacity to test everyone going into care homes. Which is why later that day Hancock decides only to test hospital patients at this stage
Am I the only one who’s struggling to see the public interest, as opposed to the interest of the public, in this story?
There will be an inquiry into how things were handled during the pandemic, but I’m not sure that posting thousands of selectively-chosen text messages between senior figures helps the situation, nor how ministers and advisors might communicate in a future crisis, knowing that every last detail will end up in Fleet St.
Are we are not now trying to forget about the pandemic, rather than re-live it in detail?
It does seem that Hancock handed over his own WhatsApp conversations to Oakshott to help ghostwrite his memoirs.
Schoolboy error.
Oh wow, really? Is that not a serious breach of journalistic ethics, given that he was presumably paying her to help write the book? Will anyone ever trust her again?
Was anyone stupid enough to trust her before? Known source-shopper. An absolute disgrace to the profession.
Absolutely. The FBI are completely certain that it was a lab leak and are universally recognised by the international community as the final arbiters of scientific truth. Leon is vindicated.
No one seems to want answer my question of which type of lab leak thought.
(A) leak of a naturally obtained virus
OR
(B) a genetically altered (e.g. gain of function) virus, tinkered about by man
Surely @leon knows? Huge implications if its (B). Less if its (A).
(a) is more likely than (b), but (b) is perfectly possible.
Yes. But was 'woke' ever not derogatory? I always understood it as a term of the social conservative* to diss the socially progressive*, the modern day equivalent of 'political correctness'
*for want of better terms - I'm aware that 'progressive' in itself is loaded (who wants to be regressive?) but can't think of a better term
ETA: To some extent it's regression to the mean, or regression to the centre to become electable. People have other issues, so a party obsessed with wokeness (on either side) is unlikely to command wide enough support to win.
“Woke” originates within the Black activist community in the US back in the 1930s. If you were woke, you had become truly aware of the persistent nature of white supremacy & the work done by the state to prevent black people from prospering.
I’m not sure when it took on a wider social justice meaning, sometime post 2000 I think - I certainly never heard it as a teenager at university, but maybe I didn’t move in the right activist circles?
Like many social justice terms it then hopped over to the right as a prejudicial term, a route that echoes that took by “politically correct” in earlier times.
The Remainer problem 'remains' that they never understood why they lost.
The Brexiteer problems remains they can't admit why they won.
Yes, free trade with our largest markets is better. But the closet racists and swivel eyed loons won the vote so suck it up...
It doesn't really. As your earlier comment showed, another Remainer problem is that they think they are arguing with 17 million Nigel Farages for whom any cooperation with Europe is too much. In reality, almost all of those 17 million are keen for a normal, pragmatic relationship with Europe - just not one in which we are governed by Europe.
As I said earlier, almost all leavers I've seen express an opinion are entirely comfortable with this deal.
The whole 17 million thing is very silly given that a large number of them have now died. I do agree, though, that what most people want is a better relationship with the EU than the one we have had until very recently.
That sounds like nonsense - how many do you think have died since 2016? Are you assuming anyone who died voted for Brexit? Huge if true.
I am assuming that the reported demographics of those most likely to have voted Leave are correct.
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
The only problem with that book was that her knowledge of campanology was a bit ropey.
Well that, and DLS's invasive snobbishness & pretentiousness.
Wimsey is one of the most irritating detectives in fiction.
Having come late in life to the books, I think Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe is my all-time favourite now.
The real hero of Rex Stout's wonderful series is Archie Goodwin, not Nero Wolfe, which is what makes it so special. That and the orchids.
BTW PG Wodehouse was a huge Rex Stout fan - which shows just how good he was.
And, finally, yes, Wimsey is annoying. The Nine Tailors sees him at his best, and his presence is muted by the greatness of the picture of fen life in 1930 somewhere on the borders of Lincs, Cambs and Norfolk. Not all that far from Algarkirk.
I agree with you -- the most interesting portions of 'The Nine Tailors' are the descriptions of Fenland life.
Harriet Vane is more interesting than the absurd Wimsey & the feudal Bunter. The best of DLS's books is Gaudy Night where Vane (& female education) is centre stage.
I was on the side of the bedder who attacks all the dons and I was heartbroken when she was caught by the wretched monocled Wimsey.
Goodwin & Wolfe are an incredible combo. I prefer Wolfe to Goodwin. Both Aunt Dahlia and Bertie Wooster were big fans, as was their creator.
I think the Nero Wolfe novels are stylistically very close to PG Wodehouse -- in that they create a highly artificial, yet enchanting & somehow believable, Universe in the brownstone on West 35th Street.
I mean, there is no-one who ever lived who was anything like Nero Wolfe. Or Archie Goodwin.
Just like there was no-one who ever lived who was anything like Jeeves. Or Bertie Wooster.
Sorry: just to make sure that there's no mistake here.
You supported the "bedder" who attacked the dons because she was opposed to female education?
I want to make absolutely sure there's no misunderstanding here.
I am always on the side of the degraded in the gutter because they have been thrown there.
The bedder's final speech is deranged and magnificent. The dons are shocked to silence by its emotional power.
Some of the deranged in the gutter - a certain street artist comes to mind.
The final speech always seemed to me an example of "my lived experience outweighs all the facts. And rules that we create in society".
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
The only problem with that book was that her knowledge of campanology was a bit ropey.
Well that, and DLS's invasive snobbishness & pretentiousness.
Wimsey is one of the most irritating detectives in fiction.
Having come late in life to the books, I think Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe is my all-time favourite now.
The real hero of Rex Stout's wonderful series is Archie Goodwin, not Nero Wolfe, which is what makes it so special. That and the orchids.
BTW PG Wodehouse was a huge Rex Stout fan - which shows just how good he was.
And, finally, yes, Wimsey is annoying. The Nine Tailors sees him at his best, and his presence is muted by the greatness of the picture of fen life in 1930 somewhere on the borders of Lincs, Cambs and Norfolk. Not all that far from Algarkirk.
I agree with you -- the most interesting portions of 'The Nine Tailors' are the descriptions of Fenland life.
Harriet Vane is more interesting than the absurd Wimsey & the feudal Bunter. The best of DLS's books is Gaudy Night where Vane (& female education) is centre stage.
I was on the side of the bedder who attacks all the dons and I was heartbroken when she was caught by the wretched monocled Wimsey.
Goodwin & Wolfe are an incredible combo. I prefer Wolfe to Goodwin. Both Aunt Dahlia and Bertie Wooster were big fans, as was their creator.
I think the Nero Wolfe novels are stylistically very close to PG Wodehouse -- in that they create a highly artificial, yet enchanting & somehow believable, Universe in the brownstone on West 35th Street.
I mean, there is no-one who ever lived who was anything like Nero Wolfe. Or Archie Goodwin.
Just like there was no-one who ever lived who was anything like Jeeves. Or Bertie Wooster.
Sweet Poison is great.
I love the jury forewoman who really doesn't care whether Harriet killed her boyfriend or not, because the man was a cad, and deserved it.
Strong Poison.
The portrayal of the venomous solicitor confirms all my prejudices about the legal profession, so I do like the book.
Generally, the more Vane and the less Bunter the better.
I would agree with that, and would note that of the three strongest DLS books (IMHO Strong Poison, Murder Must Advertise and Gaudy Night), two feature Ms Vane.
That said, the one set in Cornwall (?) and which is almost entirely through Ms Vane's eyes is not that great.
The worst is The Five Red Herrings -- the one set in Galloway with lots of pantomime Scotsmen. It is Vane-less.
I agree with your choice of the best three, though MMA is mainly interesting for the working conditions in the advertising agency.
The DUP has criticised a key part of Rishi Sunak’s new Brexit deal as the prime minister prepares to sell his agreement to MPs in the Commons.
Sammy Wilson, a senior DUP MP, told Times Radio that the Stormont brake, the mechanism by which Northern Ireland can reject changes to EU goods rules, “is not really a brake at all”.
He said in reality the UK government would have the final say over whether the Northern Ireland assembly could veto a law, but he predicted it would be reluctant to do so because it would be “fearful of the consequences of trade for the rest of the United Kingdom” and “retaliatory action” from the EU.
Translation: We're never going to agree to return to Stormont Because we will never serve under Sinn Fein So this Stormont Brake is beyond our reach
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
The only problem with that book was that her knowledge of campanology was a bit ropey.
Well that, and DLS's invasive snobbishness & pretentiousness.
Wimsey is one of the most irritating detectives in fiction.
Having come late in life to the books, I think Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe is my all-time favourite now.
The real hero of Rex Stout's wonderful series is Archie Goodwin, not Nero Wolfe, which is what makes it so special. That and the orchids.
BTW PG Wodehouse was a huge Rex Stout fan - which shows just how good he was.
And, finally, yes, Wimsey is annoying. The Nine Tailors sees him at his best, and his presence is muted by the greatness of the picture of fen life in 1930 somewhere on the borders of Lincs, Cambs and Norfolk. Not all that far from Algarkirk.
I agree with you -- the most interesting portions of 'The Nine Tailors' are the descriptions of Fenland life.
Harriet Vane is more interesting than the absurd Wimsey & the feudal Bunter. The best of DLS's books is Gaudy Night where Vane (& female education) is centre stage.
I was on the side of the bedder who attacks all the dons and I was heartbroken when she was caught by the wretched monocled Wimsey.
Goodwin & Wolfe are an incredible combo. I prefer Wolfe to Goodwin. Both Aunt Dahlia and Bertie Wooster were big fans, as was their creator.
I think the Nero Wolfe novels are stylistically very close to PG Wodehouse -- in that they create a highly artificial, yet enchanting & somehow believable, Universe in the brownstone on West 35th Street.
I mean, there is no-one who ever lived who was anything like Nero Wolfe. Or Archie Goodwin.
Just like there was no-one who ever lived who was anything like Jeeves. Or Bertie Wooster.
Sorry: just to make sure that there's no mistake here.
You supported the "bedder" who attacked the dons because she was opposed to female education?
I want to make absolutely sure there's no misunderstanding here.
I am always on the side of the degraded in the gutter because they have been thrown there.
The bedder's final speech is deranged and magnificent. The dons are shocked to silence by its emotional power.
Nevertheless, her reign of terror was because she was opposed to female education.
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
The only problem with that book was that her knowledge of campanology was a bit ropey.
Well that, and DLS's invasive snobbishness & pretentiousness.
Wimsey is one of the most irritating detectives in fiction.
Having come late in life to the books, I think Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe is my all-time favourite now.
The real hero of Rex Stout's wonderful series is Archie Goodwin, not Nero Wolfe, which is what makes it so special. That and the orchids.
BTW PG Wodehouse was a huge Rex Stout fan - which shows just how good he was.
And, finally, yes, Wimsey is annoying. The Nine Tailors sees him at his best, and his presence is muted by the greatness of the picture of fen life in 1930 somewhere on the borders of Lincs, Cambs and Norfolk. Not all that far from Algarkirk.
I agree with you -- the most interesting portions of 'The Nine Tailors' are the descriptions of Fenland life.
Harriet Vane is more interesting than the absurd Wimsey & the feudal Bunter. The best of DLS's books is Gaudy Night where Vane (& female education) is centre stage.
I was on the side of the bedder who attacks all the dons and I was heartbroken when she was caught by the wretched monocled Wimsey.
Goodwin & Wolfe are an incredible combo. I prefer Wolfe to Goodwin. Both Aunt Dahlia and Bertie Wooster were big fans, as was their creator.
I think the Nero Wolfe novels are stylistically very close to PG Wodehouse -- in that they create a highly artificial, yet enchanting & somehow believable, Universe in the brownstone on West 35th Street.
I mean, there is no-one who ever lived who was anything like Nero Wolfe. Or Archie Goodwin.
Just like there was no-one who ever lived who was anything like Jeeves. Or Bertie Wooster.
Yes, agree entirely. The story is almost incidental to the background. I know quite a bit about bell-ringing, and am happy to confirm that its description of ringing-related matters is pretty good. AFAIAA, however, you can't kill someone with noise, however loud and protracted.
Yes. But was 'woke' ever not derogatory? I always understood it as a term of the social conservative* to diss the socially progressive*, the modern day equivalent of 'political correctness'
*for want of better terms - I'm aware that 'progressive' in itself is loaded (who wants to be regressive?) but can't think of a better term
ETA: To some extent it's regression to the mean, or regression to the centre to become electable. People have other issues, so a party obsessed with wokeness (on either side) is unlikely to command wide enough support to win.
My comically woke sister-in-law-in-law used 'woke' in a vaguely approving way in trying to describe what the word meant to our mother-in-law in a conversation back in 2019. I doubt she would now.
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
The only problem with that book was that her knowledge of campanology was a bit ropey.
Well that, and DLS's invasive snobbishness & pretentiousness.
Wimsey is one of the most irritating detectives in fiction.
Having come late in life to the books, I think Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe is my all-time favourite now.
The real hero of Rex Stout's wonderful series is Archie Goodwin, not Nero Wolfe, which is what makes it so special. That and the orchids.
BTW PG Wodehouse was a huge Rex Stout fan - which shows just how good he was.
And, finally, yes, Wimsey is annoying. The Nine Tailors sees him at his best, and his presence is muted by the greatness of the picture of fen life in 1930 somewhere on the borders of Lincs, Cambs and Norfolk. Not all that far from Algarkirk.
I agree with you -- the most interesting portions of 'The Nine Tailors' are the descriptions of Fenland life.
Harriet Vane is more interesting than the absurd Wimsey & the feudal Bunter. The best of DLS's books is Gaudy Night where Vane (& female education) is centre stage.
I was on the side of the bedder who attacks all the dons and I was heartbroken when she was caught by the wretched monocled Wimsey.
Goodwin & Wolfe are an incredible combo. I prefer Wolfe to Goodwin. Both Aunt Dahlia and Bertie Wooster were big fans, as was their creator.
I think the Nero Wolfe novels are stylistically very close to PG Wodehouse -- in that they create a highly artificial, yet enchanting & somehow believable, Universe in the brownstone on West 35th Street.
I mean, there is no-one who ever lived who was anything like Nero Wolfe. Or Archie Goodwin.
Just like there was no-one who ever lived who was anything like Jeeves. Or Bertie Wooster.
Sweet Poison is great.
I love the jury forewoman who really doesn't care whether Harriet killed her boyfriend or not, because the man was a cad, and deserved it.
Strong Poison.
The portrayal of the venomous solicitor confirms all my prejudices about the legal profession, so I do like the book.
Generally, the more Vane and the less Bunter the better.
I would agree with that, and would note that of the three strongest DLS books (IMHO Strong Poison, Murder Must Advertise and Gaudy Night), two feature Ms Vane.
That said, the one set in Cornwall (?) and which is almost entirely through Ms Vane's eyes is not that great.
The worst is The Five Red Herrings -- the one set in Galloway with lots of pantomime Scotsmen. It is Vane-less.
I agree with your choice of the best three, though MMA is mainly interesting for the working conditions in the advertising agency.
I would agree that Five Red Herrings is practically unreadable.
Some of the early ones are quite fun little period pieces. I've always been fond of Clouds of Witness, for example.
Always remember that “Cloud” = someone else’s computer.
Storing all your passwords on someone else’s computer, has always been a bad idea.
There aren't any good solutions to password security, though, are there? Anything is limited by either the capactiy of the human brain or the average user's lack of give-a-damn.
For most people, who aren’t going to have state-level actors trying to crack their security, a password-protected spreadsheet is more than good enough. Keep a hard copy in a safe as backup, in case you get hit by a bus and your other half needs it. The important rule is not to use the same password for multiple services.
I have a YubiKey token for 2FA, which is the next level up. Avoid things that rely on SMS for 2FA, if possible.
Yes, that is the critical rule, but widely ignored. A frighteningly large number of my acquaintances do indeed use the same password for multiple services. The danger of doing so was brought home to me a while back:
Some time ago, I had to create an account on a small company's in-house system in order to be able to invoice them. The web portal to the system didn't inspire a great deal of confidence, and, lo and behold, a couple of years later I was contacted by scammers who had broken into their system and obtained my email and password. They tried to blackmail me into giving them money with threats that they would use my password to access my other accounts. Thankfully, though, I hadn't used that password or any variant of it for my other accounts, so I could safely ignore their threats. I'd hate to think what would have happened otherwise.
TL;DR: Don't ever use the same password (or variant thereof) for multiple accounts!
I use the same password on lots of services, but only those that aren't important. Similarly for webpages that make you sign up to browse the site etc . . . If I sign up for a web game or similar I use the same password every time. If I get hacked and lose access to a game, its not that important, and I can't be bothered remembering a new password for every site or creating a list secured elsewhere that does so.
My email, online banking, work and other secure sites have a unique password each which I can remember, rather than trying to remember hundreds for loads of crap that honestly why does it matter?
I find keepass works well for me, local password file so not stored on anyone elses computer and I can store the password file on multiple devices as needed and just a script to push keystore changes out to all devices on my local network.
"just a script" definitely fails the "average user give-a-damn" test...
most users will likely only have 2 devices or at most 3 they need it on so a manual copy and paste once a week does the trick
And that fails the same test. I think you have too high expectations of the average user.
As a software developer I can assure you my expectations of users is correspondingly low. We put PEBKAC on support tickets for a reason (Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair)
Yes. But was 'woke' ever not derogatory? I always understood it as a term of the social conservative* to diss the socially progressive*, the modern day equivalent of 'political correctness'
*for want of better terms - I'm aware that 'progressive' in itself is loaded (who wants to be regressive?) but can't think of a better term
ETA: To some extent it's regression to the mean, or regression to the centre to become electable. People have other issues, so a party obsessed with wokeness (on either side) is unlikely to command wide enough support to win.
“Woke” originates within the Black activist community in the US back in the 1930s. If you were woke, you had become truly aware of the persistent nature of white supremacy & the work done by the state to prevent black people from prospering.
I’m not sure when it took on a wider social justice meaning, sometime post 2000 I think - I certainly never heard it as a teenager at university, but maybe I didn’t move in the right activist circles?
Like many social justice terms it then hopped over to the right as a prejudicial term, a route that echoes that took by “politically correct” in earlier times.
Thanks. I first heard of it as a term used by the right, fairly recently; clearly I missed the (long) history of different use.
On the train from Barcelona to Paris. Quite a lot of Americans on board. £128, 6 hours 47 mins. Doesn't seem to be going particularly fast so far, but only 2 hours into the journey.
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
The only problem with that book was that her knowledge of campanology was a bit ropey.
Well that, and DLS's invasive snobbishness & pretentiousness.
Wimsey is one of the most irritating detectives in fiction.
Having come late in life to the books, I think Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe is my all-time favourite now.
The real hero of Rex Stout's wonderful series is Archie Goodwin, not Nero Wolfe, which is what makes it so special. That and the orchids.
BTW PG Wodehouse was a huge Rex Stout fan - which shows just how good he was.
And, finally, yes, Wimsey is annoying. The Nine Tailors sees him at his best, and his presence is muted by the greatness of the picture of fen life in 1930 somewhere on the borders of Lincs, Cambs and Norfolk. Not all that far from Algarkirk.
I agree with you -- the most interesting portions of 'The Nine Tailors' are the descriptions of Fenland life.
Harriet Vane is more interesting than the absurd Wimsey & the feudal Bunter. The best of DLS's books is Gaudy Night where Vane (& female education) is centre stage.
I was on the side of the bedder who attacks all the dons and I was heartbroken when she was caught by the wretched monocled Wimsey.
Goodwin & Wolfe are an incredible combo. I prefer Wolfe to Goodwin. Both Aunt Dahlia and Bertie Wooster were big fans, as was their creator.
I think the Nero Wolfe novels are stylistically very close to PG Wodehouse -- in that they create a highly artificial, yet enchanting & somehow believable, Universe in the brownstone on West 35th Street.
I mean, there is no-one who ever lived who was anything like Nero Wolfe. Or Archie Goodwin.
Just like there was no-one who ever lived who was anything like Jeeves. Or Bertie Wooster.
An interesting difference, in my opinion, is that no-one can successfully imitate Wodehouse (in that he is like Chandler) but I do admire (and recommend) Goldsborough's Nero Wolfe continuations.
Aunt Dahlia throws a volume of Wolfe at Bertie at some point I think.
PS If AI can successfully imitate Wodehouse I shall have to think about whether it is sentient.
Absolutely. The FBI are completely certain that it was a lab leak and are universally recognised by the international community as the final arbiters of scientific truth. Leon is vindicated.
Yes, we must all accept this now. Which is disappointing for me, as my pet theory was that Leon was doing something dodgy with a pangolin in Wuhan in late 2019 and his 'lab leak!' stuff was all a coverup
Absolutely. The FBI are completely certain that it was a lab leak and are universally recognised by the international community as the final arbiters of scientific truth. Leon is vindicated.
No one seems to want answer my question of which type of lab leak thought.
(A) leak of a naturally obtained virus
OR
(B) a genetically altered (e.g. gain of function) virus, tinkered about by man
Surely @leon knows? Huge implications if its (B). Less if its (A).
(a) is more likely than (b), but (b) is perfectly possible.
Maybe, but I think it has huge implications for @Leon's 'trials' and 'executions'. He seems unable to answer.
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
The only problem with that book was that her knowledge of campanology was a bit ropey.
Well that, and DLS's invasive snobbishness & pretentiousness.
Wimsey is one of the most irritating detectives in fiction.
Having come late in life to the books, I think Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe is my all-time favourite now.
The real hero of Rex Stout's wonderful series is Archie Goodwin, not Nero Wolfe, which is what makes it so special. That and the orchids.
BTW PG Wodehouse was a huge Rex Stout fan - which shows just how good he was.
And, finally, yes, Wimsey is annoying. The Nine Tailors sees him at his best, and his presence is muted by the greatness of the picture of fen life in 1930 somewhere on the borders of Lincs, Cambs and Norfolk. Not all that far from Algarkirk.
I agree with you -- the most interesting portions of 'The Nine Tailors' are the descriptions of Fenland life.
Harriet Vane is more interesting than the absurd Wimsey & the feudal Bunter. The best of DLS's books is Gaudy Night where Vane (& female education) is centre stage.
I was on the side of the bedder who attacks all the dons and I was heartbroken when she was caught by the wretched monocled Wimsey.
Goodwin & Wolfe are an incredible combo. I prefer Wolfe to Goodwin. Both Aunt Dahlia and Bertie Wooster were big fans, as was their creator.
I think the Nero Wolfe novels are stylistically very close to PG Wodehouse -- in that they create a highly artificial, yet enchanting & somehow believable, Universe in the brownstone on West 35th Street.
I mean, there is no-one who ever lived who was anything like Nero Wolfe. Or Archie Goodwin.
Just like there was no-one who ever lived who was anything like Jeeves. Or Bertie Wooster.
Sorry: just to make sure that there's no mistake here.
You supported the "bedder" who attacked the dons because she was opposed to female education?
I want to make absolutely sure there's no misunderstanding here.
I am always on the side of the degraded in the gutter because they have been thrown there.
The bedder's final speech is deranged and magnificent. The dons are shocked to silence by its emotional power.
Nevertheless, her reign of terror was because she was opposed to female education.
Motivated by an injustice -- which even the perpetrator accepted was unjust by the end of the novel.
The dons were too stupid to catch her.
I am on the side of anyone who can organise a reign of terror within the sedate confines of an Oxford College.
She did not go far enough -- assassination of the Senior Tutor & burning down the Chapel are necessary for a true reign of terror.
Yes. But was 'woke' ever not derogatory? I always understood it as a term of the social conservative* to diss the socially progressive*, the modern day equivalent of 'political correctness'
*for want of better terms - I'm aware that 'progressive' in itself is loaded (who wants to be regressive?) but can't think of a better term
ETA: To some extent it's regression to the mean, or regression to the centre to become electable. People have other issues, so a party obsessed with wokeness (on either side) is unlikely to command wide enough support to win.
“Woke” originates within the Black activist community in the US back in the 1930s. If you were woke, you had become truly aware of the persistent nature of white supremacy & the work done by the state to prevent black people from prospering.
I’m not sure when it took on a wider social justice meaning, sometime post 2000 I think - I certainly never heard it as a teenager at university, but maybe I didn’t move in the right activist circles?
Like many social justice terms it then hopped over to the right as a prejudicial term, a route that echoes that took by “politically correct” in earlier times.
Thanks. I first heard of it as a term used by the right, fairly recently; clearly I missed the (long) history of different use.
It's just evolved to fit the same ecological niche as Politically Correct (gone mad), with an extra dose of moral panic. In a few years' time there will be another word along to displace it.
As with so many features of both the left and right of politics, anything (like PC or woke) that is capable of existing on a spectrum from the perfectly reasonable to the certifiably bonkers will trigger culture war because the opposite side will see and comment on the certifiably bonkers material, while the reasonable stuff stays invisible.
Yes. But was 'woke' ever not derogatory? I always understood it as a term of the social conservative* to diss the socially progressive*, the modern day equivalent of 'political correctness'
*for want of better terms - I'm aware that 'progressive' in itself is loaded (who wants to be regressive?) but can't think of a better term
ETA: To some extent it's regression to the mean, or regression to the centre to become electable. People have other issues, so a party obsessed with wokeness (on either side) is unlikely to command wide enough support to win.
My comically woke sister-in-law-in-law used 'woke' in a vaguely approving way in trying to describe what the word meant to our mother-in-law in a conversation back in 2019. I doubt she would now.
Absolutely. The FBI are completely certain that it was a lab leak and are universally recognised by the international community as the final arbiters of scientific truth. Leon is vindicated.
Yes, we must all accept this now. Which is disappointing for me, as my pet theory was that Leon was doing something dodgy with a pangolin in Wuhan in late 2019 and his 'lab leak!' stuff was all a coverup
Here's the actual timeline:
1. Scientists develop a killer virus through gain of function research in Wuhan 2. They entrust the biosecurity of the lab to Isabel Oakeshott 3. Global pandemic
For Pete's sake this already happened even in the EU with cars. Car manufacturers are quite capable of making Right Hand Drive vehicles for the UK and Eire market, and Left Hand Drive vehicles for the Continental Europe market. Just because standards diverge, doesn't mean you can't ensure your exports are to the correct standards for the market you're exporting to.
I bet if you asked the car manufactureres they'd massively prefer the hypothetical world where they could make LHD vehicles only for everywhere, though! It would be a lot less work.
But then you’d have to get the worlds first and fourth most populous countries to change, along with all of Southern Africa and a couple of other islands:
Yes safer, keeping our right hands for our trusty swords when passing adversaries coming in the other direction.
Historically yes, and nowadays keeping our right hand for the steering wheel and right eye for oncoming traffic.
A shame for the lefties perhaps, but the majority of the country and the majority of the world is both right hand and right eye dominant.
That most of the world uses the more dangerous version of driving on the right, and has statistically more traffic accidents and fatalities as a result, is not a reason for us to change.
No, and it won’t happen, but it would be objectively better for the consumer to have access to an entire world worth of second hand cars.
Objectively better?
I think its objectively better for the consumer to have access to both new and plenty of second hand cars that have an objectively proven and better safety record and lower fatality rate.
Lol come on…
You come on.
The UK and right hand drive (aka drive on the left) nations have a better safety record and lower fatality rate, objectively proven, precisely because right hand drive is safer for the reasons we've been discussing.
Most of the country is right handed and most of the country is right eye dominant. So having the right hand be on the steering wheel more, and oncoming traffic in the right hand lane, is far, far safer than the left hand controlling the steering wheel more and the oncoming traffic in the left hand lane.
If you want to sacrifice that safety bonus for a few extra second hand cars in the market, which won't be many considering most people trading second hand stay fairly local anyway, then that's an idea but its not "objectively" better. The safety record of the UK and right hand drive in general is "objectively" better though.
That is all true.
HOWEVER.
I'd really like to bring my Rivian back to the UK from the US. I can deal with the lack of charging infrastructure, but the left hand drive thing is a big problem.
So... if everyone could change to driving on the other side of the road for my convenience, I would really appreciate that.
One thing the Tories have never got around to privatising is the road network. So why not sell it off? The IEA reckons it could raise £150bn. Then it would just be up to the owners of each road whether they wanted left or right hand drive and people could choose which roads they prefer to drive on.
The other option is to just make the UK into a massive one-way system. Much simpler and safer.
The logical solution, which the Tories will surely come up with in time, is to mandate all British vehicles to drive in reverse. Then we'd be driving on the right without having to change any vehicle, and visitors from our European friends could slot in by driving forwards as normal?
Do to drivers what the Tories are doing to the whole country... simples!
"FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday that the Covid pandemic was probably the result of a laboratory leak in China, providing the first public confirmation of the bureau’s classified judgment of how the virus..first emerged. "
Does anyone apart from certified morons still believe this “came from a pangolin crossed with.a zebra in a market”
It’s over. Now we need trials
I've asked before - which type of lab leak?
A) a sample, collected from nature, incorrectly contained and becoming the source
OR
a genetically altered/engineered (e.g. gain of function) virus
If A, its unfortunate (yes really), but I don't know who you want to put on trial?
If B, and crimes have been committed, which crimes, by who, and where?
Calling A unfortunate when 20+ million are dead, hundreds of millions have been ill, and billions infected, and that's before we consider the economic cost, seems a tad understated. It's a Lab Leak with consequences on a par with a World War. If negligence was the cause we probably should execute those responsible to set a precedent.
There's more than one way a lab leak can occur: but just to check, you are proposing that we execute people for the consequences of negligence?
The bigger issue (to me) is
1) ban on research of this kind 2) the response is to offshore the research 3) to China - a country with a terrible history on human rights in the medical sphere.
Offshoring unethical and banned research to third world countries has been massively attacked for obvious reasons. At least when private companies do it.
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
The only problem with that book was that her knowledge of campanology was a bit ropey.
Well that, and DLS's invasive snobbishness & pretentiousness.
Wimsey is one of the most irritating detectives in fiction.
Having come late in life to the books, I think Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe is my all-time favourite now.
The real hero of Rex Stout's wonderful series is Archie Goodwin, not Nero Wolfe, which is what makes it so special. That and the orchids.
BTW PG Wodehouse was a huge Rex Stout fan - which shows just how good he was.
And, finally, yes, Wimsey is annoying. The Nine Tailors sees him at his best, and his presence is muted by the greatness of the picture of fen life in 1930 somewhere on the borders of Lincs, Cambs and Norfolk. Not all that far from Algarkirk.
I agree with you -- the most interesting portions of 'The Nine Tailors' are the descriptions of Fenland life.
Harriet Vane is more interesting than the absurd Wimsey & the feudal Bunter. The best of DLS's books is Gaudy Night where Vane (& female education) is centre stage.
I was on the side of the bedder who attacks all the dons and I was heartbroken when she was caught by the wretched monocled Wimsey.
Goodwin & Wolfe are an incredible combo. I prefer Wolfe to Goodwin. Both Aunt Dahlia and Bertie Wooster were big fans, as was their creator.
I think the Nero Wolfe novels are stylistically very close to PG Wodehouse -- in that they create a highly artificial, yet enchanting & somehow believable, Universe in the brownstone on West 35th Street.
I mean, there is no-one who ever lived who was anything like Nero Wolfe. Or Archie Goodwin.
Just like there was no-one who ever lived who was anything like Jeeves. Or Bertie Wooster.
An interesting difference, in my opinion, is that no-one can successfully imitate Wodehouse (in that he is like Chandler) but I do admire (and recommend) Goldsborough's Nero Wolfe continuations.
Aunt Dahlia throws a volume of Wolfe at Bertie at some point I think.
PS If AI can successfully imitate Wodehouse I shall have to think about whether it is sentient.
Aunt Dahlia throws a volume of Wolfe at Bertie at some point I think.
Its is Brexit (in part). Plus the CoL (UK producers not wanting to heat greenhouses at exorbitant cost). Plus the weather in Africa (on part). Plus UK supermarkets, who have spent decades driving down prices (I believe UK fruit and veg is vastly cheaper than on the continent) are now finding it harder to source the products.
Just as saying Brexit voters are all racists and Remainers are all EU loving wets, making complicated situations simple is great for twatter, less good for proper analysis.
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
That's a great book. When I walked the coast, one (of several) reasons I walked clockwise was to avoid walking it widdershins.
The only person I know of who failed to complete the walk (he fell off cliffs at Tintagel, which didn't do him much good) was walking it widdershins. In fact, he had several issues: he went into a toilet at a beach, and someone stole his pack which he had left outside; his girlfriend split up with him in the middle of the walk, and then he had his fall.
Just sayin'
In one of England's Gothic cathedrals - I can't remember which one - a guide approached me as soon as I entered and said in patronising customer services type fashion something like we always recommend that our guests walk around anticlockwise. Trying to make out it was just a personal foible, I smiled and said thanks but I always walk round churches clockwise. I made sure not to say deosil.
PS @Leon - It's not just churches. The same idea attaches for example to the Wellington Monument in Somerset.
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
The only problem with that book was that her knowledge of campanology was a bit ropey.
Well that, and DLS's invasive snobbishness & pretentiousness.
Wimsey is one of the most irritating detectives in fiction.
Having come late in life to the books, I think Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe is my all-time favourite now.
The real hero of Rex Stout's wonderful series is Archie Goodwin, not Nero Wolfe, which is what makes it so special. That and the orchids.
BTW PG Wodehouse was a huge Rex Stout fan - which shows just how good he was.
And, finally, yes, Wimsey is annoying. The Nine Tailors sees him at his best, and his presence is muted by the greatness of the picture of fen life in 1930 somewhere on the borders of Lincs, Cambs and Norfolk. Not all that far from Algarkirk.
I agree with you -- the most interesting portions of 'The Nine Tailors' are the descriptions of Fenland life.
Harriet Vane is more interesting than the absurd Wimsey & the feudal Bunter. The best of DLS's books is Gaudy Night where Vane (& female education) is centre stage.
I was on the side of the bedder who attacks all the dons and I was heartbroken when she was caught by the wretched monocled Wimsey.
Goodwin & Wolfe are an incredible combo. I prefer Wolfe to Goodwin. Both Aunt Dahlia and Bertie Wooster were big fans, as was their creator.
I think the Nero Wolfe novels are stylistically very close to PG Wodehouse -- in that they create a highly artificial, yet enchanting & somehow believable, Universe in the brownstone on West 35th Street.
I mean, there is no-one who ever lived who was anything like Nero Wolfe. Or Archie Goodwin.
Just like there was no-one who ever lived who was anything like Jeeves. Or Bertie Wooster.
Sorry: just to make sure that there's no mistake here.
You supported the "bedder" who attacked the dons because she was opposed to female education?
I want to make absolutely sure there's no misunderstanding here.
I am always on the side of the degraded in the gutter because they have been thrown there.
The bedder's final speech is deranged and magnificent. The dons are shocked to silence by its emotional power.
Nevertheless, her reign of terror was because she was opposed to female education.
Motivated by an injustice -- which even the perpetrator accepted was unjust by the end of the novel.
The dons were too stupid to catch her.
I am on the side of anyone who can organise a reign of terror within the sedate confines of an Oxford College.
She did not go far enough -- assassination of the Senior Tutor & burning down the Chapel are necessary for a true reign of terror.
The injustice was that her husband was sacked and stripped of his degree for forging a historical thesis.
Which is unjust only in the sense it doesn't happen today which is why the likes of Richard Carrier, Robert Price and Naomi Wolfe continue to boast of their doctorates. Even though they should have them withdrawn.
But it wasn't acknowledged to be unjust. Anything but. The only thing they felt was wrong was neglecting him afterwards. 'Miss Lydgate would have acted as I did: but she would also have made it her business to enquire into what became of that unhappy man.'
Is Twitter down or has Musk just disabled it for anyone not yet paying him money ?
I've noticed a lot more pro-Russian material (or at least Ukraine-sceptic) appearing on my timeline recently. Really noticeable. That must be either because a. Western commentators are turning against Ukraine, b. the Twitter algorithm has been tweaked to bring me more pro-Kremlin material, or c. the algorithm has been tweaked to give more prominence to right wing US content, which has a side-effect of containing pro-Kremlin messaging.
For Pete's sake this already happened even in the EU with cars. Car manufacturers are quite capable of making Right Hand Drive vehicles for the UK and Eire market, and Left Hand Drive vehicles for the Continental Europe market. Just because standards diverge, doesn't mean you can't ensure your exports are to the correct standards for the market you're exporting to.
I bet if you asked the car manufactureres they'd massively prefer the hypothetical world where they could make LHD vehicles only for everywhere, though! It would be a lot less work.
But then you’d have to get the worlds first and fourth most populous countries to change, along with all of Southern Africa and a couple of other islands:
Yes safer, keeping our right hands for our trusty swords when passing adversaries coming in the other direction.
Historically yes, and nowadays keeping our right hand for the steering wheel and right eye for oncoming traffic.
A shame for the lefties perhaps, but the majority of the country and the majority of the world is both right hand and right eye dominant.
That most of the world uses the more dangerous version of driving on the right, and has statistically more traffic accidents and fatalities as a result, is not a reason for us to change.
No, and it won’t happen, but it would be objectively better for the consumer to have access to an entire world worth of second hand cars.
Objectively better?
I think its objectively better for the consumer to have access to both new and plenty of second hand cars that have an objectively proven and better safety record and lower fatality rate.
Lol come on…
You come on.
The UK and right hand drive (aka drive on the left) nations have a better safety record and lower fatality rate, objectively proven, precisely because right hand drive is safer for the reasons we've been discussing.
Most of the country is right handed and most of the country is right eye dominant. So having the right hand be on the steering wheel more, and oncoming traffic in the right hand lane, is far, far safer than the left hand controlling the steering wheel more and the oncoming traffic in the left hand lane.
If you want to sacrifice that safety bonus for a few extra second hand cars in the market, which won't be many considering most people trading second hand stay fairly local anyway, then that's an idea but its not "objectively" better. The safety record of the UK and right hand drive in general is "objectively" better though.
That is all true.
HOWEVER.
I'd really like to bring my Rivian back to the UK from the US. I can deal with the lack of charging infrastructure, but the left hand drive thing is a big problem.
So... if everyone could change to driving on the other side of the road for my convenience, I would really appreciate that.
One thing the Tories have never got around to privatising is the road network. So why not sell it off? The IEA reckons it could raise £150bn. Then it would just be up to the owners of each road whether they wanted left or right hand drive and people could choose which roads they prefer to drive on.
The other option is to just make the UK into a massive one-way system. Much simpler and safer.
I think Preston City Council have beaten you to it. That seems to be exactly what they're trying to do.
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
The only problem with that book was that her knowledge of campanology was a bit ropey.
Well that, and DLS's invasive snobbishness & pretentiousness.
Wimsey is one of the most irritating detectives in fiction.
Having come late in life to the books, I think Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe is my all-time favourite now.
The real hero of Rex Stout's wonderful series is Archie Goodwin, not Nero Wolfe, which is what makes it so special. That and the orchids.
BTW PG Wodehouse was a huge Rex Stout fan - which shows just how good he was.
And, finally, yes, Wimsey is annoying. The Nine Tailors sees him at his best, and his presence is muted by the greatness of the picture of fen life in 1930 somewhere on the borders of Lincs, Cambs and Norfolk. Not all that far from Algarkirk.
I agree with you -- the most interesting portions of 'The Nine Tailors' are the descriptions of Fenland life.
Harriet Vane is more interesting than the absurd Wimsey & the feudal Bunter. The best of DLS's books is Gaudy Night where Vane (& female education) is centre stage.
I was on the side of the bedder who attacks all the dons and I was heartbroken when she was caught by the wretched monocled Wimsey.
Goodwin & Wolfe are an incredible combo. I prefer Wolfe to Goodwin. Both Aunt Dahlia and Bertie Wooster were big fans, as was their creator.
I think the Nero Wolfe novels are stylistically very close to PG Wodehouse -- in that they create a highly artificial, yet enchanting & somehow believable, Universe in the brownstone on West 35th Street.
I mean, there is no-one who ever lived who was anything like Nero Wolfe. Or Archie Goodwin.
Just like there was no-one who ever lived who was anything like Jeeves. Or Bertie Wooster.
Sorry: just to make sure that there's no mistake here.
You supported the "bedder" who attacked the dons because she was opposed to female education?
I want to make absolutely sure there's no misunderstanding here.
I am always on the side of the degraded in the gutter because they have been thrown there.
The bedder's final speech is deranged and magnificent. The dons are shocked to silence by its emotional power.
Nevertheless, her reign of terror was because she was opposed to female education.
Motivated by an injustice -- which even the perpetrator accepted was unjust by the end of the novel.
The dons were too stupid to catch her.
I am on the side of anyone who can organise a reign of terror within the sedate confines of an Oxford College.
She did not go far enough -- assassination of the Senior Tutor & burning down the Chapel are necessary for a true reign of terror.
“THERE were two “Reigns of Terror,” if we would but remember it and consider it; the one wrought murder in hot passion, the other in heartless cold blood; the one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years; the one inflicted death upon a handful of Dons, the other upon millions; but our shudders are all for the “horrors” of the minor Terror, the momentary Terror, so to speak; whereas, what is the horror of swift death , compared with lifelong death from hunger, cold, insult, cruelty, and heart-break? ... all Oxford could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror—that unspeakably bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see in its vastness or pity as it deserves.”
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
The only problem with that book was that her knowledge of campanology was a bit ropey.
Well that, and DLS's invasive snobbishness & pretentiousness.
Wimsey is one of the most irritating detectives in fiction.
Having come late in life to the books, I think Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe is my all-time favourite now.
The real hero of Rex Stout's wonderful series is Archie Goodwin, not Nero Wolfe, which is what makes it so special. That and the orchids.
BTW PG Wodehouse was a huge Rex Stout fan - which shows just how good he was.
And, finally, yes, Wimsey is annoying. The Nine Tailors sees him at his best, and his presence is muted by the greatness of the picture of fen life in 1930 somewhere on the borders of Lincs, Cambs and Norfolk. Not all that far from Algarkirk.
I agree with you -- the most interesting portions of 'The Nine Tailors' are the descriptions of Fenland life.
Harriet Vane is more interesting than the absurd Wimsey & the feudal Bunter. The best of DLS's books is Gaudy Night where Vane (& female education) is centre stage.
I was on the side of the bedder who attacks all the dons and I was heartbroken when she was caught by the wretched monocled Wimsey.
Goodwin & Wolfe are an incredible combo. I prefer Wolfe to Goodwin. Both Aunt Dahlia and Bertie Wooster were big fans, as was their creator.
I think the Nero Wolfe novels are stylistically very close to PG Wodehouse -- in that they create a highly artificial, yet enchanting & somehow believable, Universe in the brownstone on West 35th Street.
I mean, there is no-one who ever lived who was anything like Nero Wolfe. Or Archie Goodwin.
Just like there was no-one who ever lived who was anything like Jeeves. Or Bertie Wooster.
Sweet Poison is great.
I love the jury forewoman who really doesn't care whether Harriet killed her boyfriend or not, because the man was a cad, and deserved it.
Strong Poison.
The portrayal of the venomous solicitor confirms all my prejudices about the legal profession, so I do like the book.
Generally, the more Vane and the less Bunter the better.
I would agree with that, and would note that of the three strongest DLS books (IMHO Strong Poison, Murder Must Advertise and Gaudy Night), two feature Ms Vane.
That said, the one set in Cornwall (?) and which is almost entirely through Ms Vane's eyes is not that great.
The worst is The Five Red Herrings -- the one set in Galloway with lots of pantomime Scotsmen. It is Vane-less.
I agree with your choice of the best three, though MMA is mainly interesting for the working conditions in the advertising agency.
I would agree that Five Red Herrings is practically unreadable.
Some of the early ones are quite fun little period pieces. I've always been fond of Clouds of Witness, for example.
The one merit of the unmemorable Five Red Herrings is that it is set in a part of the world generally no-one knows. (Part of Freeman Wills Crofts 'Sir John Magill's last journey' is set in the same world. But it is a pretty third rate effort with staggering absurdities)
The Nine Tailors does the same with the fens but is a proper novel in that it creates an entire and peopled world, much more convincing than the plot.
Just got the dreaded BT mid-contract price increase email. 14% ffs.
I got 24% with Virgin!
Sky offering me a "discounted" renewal for TV/Broadband which is +16% more than current. Going to trial Starlink and threaten to walk away from TV completely (as we stream most stuff we watch anyway)
I hope Hancock sues Oakeshott, loses in court is bankrupted and humiliated (Though it's difficult to imagine how much further he could be...
Can they somehow both lose, while both being bankrupted and humiliated?
E.g. Hancock loses but can only pay 30% of the costs and damages before bankruptcy while the judge brands Oakeshott a deranged fanatsist who made up eight of the nine claims?
I hope Hancock sues Oakeshott, loses in court is bankrupted and humiliated (Though it's difficult to imagine how much further he could be...
Can they somehow both lose, while both being bankrupted and humiliated?
E.g. Hancock loses but can only pay 30% of the costs and damages before bankruptcy while the judge brands Oakeshott a deranged fanatsist who made up eight of the nine claims?
The best would be if Hancock sues and gets awarded £1 damages, leaving both parties with huge legal bills.
I hope Hancock sues Oakeshott, loses in court is bankrupted and humiliated (Though it's difficult to imagine how much further he could be...
Can they somehow both lose, while both being bankrupted and humiliated?
E.g. Hancock loses but can only pay 30% of the costs and damages before bankruptcy while the judge brands Oakeshott a deranged fanatsist who made up eight of the nine claims?
The best would be if Hancock sues and gets awarded £1 damages, leaving both parties with huge legal bills.
If you get an award like that, doesn't the winning party have to pay all costs?
Is Twitter down or has Musk just disabled it for anyone not yet paying him money ?
I've noticed a lot more pro-Russian material (or at least Ukraine-sceptic) appearing on my timeline recently. Really noticeable. That must be either because a. Western commentators are turning against Ukraine, b. the Twitter algorithm has been tweaked to bring me more pro-Kremlin material, or c. the algorithm has been tweaked to give more prominence to right wing US content, which has a side-effect of containing pro-Kremlin messaging.
The problem with things like YouTube, Facebook and especially Twitter, is that the content delivered is individually curated (*) for you. I see what I see on my feed, but have no idea if my experience is common to others. If I'm seeing an increase in right-wing content, is that because I've liked someone who themselves likes right-wing content, or is it a bias in the algorithms?
But given Musk's recent shenanigans, I'm fairly happy calling out Twitter as becoming increasingly a right-wing cesspool. I have an account, but have never tweeted, and follow just 26 accounts. I've given precisely two likes to tweets. Most of the people I follow would be classed as left-wing (mainly because many are into trains).
So why am I getting American right-wingers on my twitter feed?
Yes. But was 'woke' ever not derogatory? I always understood it as a term of the social conservative* to diss the socially progressive*, the modern day equivalent of 'political correctness'
*for want of better terms - I'm aware that 'progressive' in itself is loaded (who wants to be regressive?) but can't think of a better term
ETA: To some extent it's regression to the mean, or regression to the centre to become electable. People have other issues, so a party obsessed with wokeness (on either side) is unlikely to command wide enough support to win.
“Woke” originates within the Black activist community in the US back in the 1930s. If you were woke, you had become truly aware of the persistent nature of white supremacy & the work done by the state to prevent black people from prospering.
I’m not sure when it took on a wider social justice meaning, sometime post 2000 I think - I certainly never heard it as a teenager at university, but maybe I didn’t move in the right activist circles?
Like many social justice terms it then hopped over to the right as a prejudicial term, a route that echoes that took by “politically correct” in earlier times.
I hope Hancock sues Oakeshott, loses in court is bankrupted and humiliated (Though it's difficult to imagine how much further he could be...
Can they somehow both lose, while both being bankrupted and humiliated?
E.g. Hancock loses but can only pay 30% of the costs and damages before bankruptcy while the judge brands Oakeshott a deranged fanatsist who made up eight of the nine claims?
The best would be if Hancock sues and gets awarded £1 damages, leaving both parties with huge legal bills.
If you get an award like that, doesn't the winning party have to pay all costs?
Usually not. Costs are at the discretion of the judge.
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
The only problem with that book was that her knowledge of campanology was a bit ropey.
Well that, and DLS's invasive snobbishness & pretentiousness.
Wimsey is one of the most irritating detectives in fiction.
Having come late in life to the books, I think Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe is my all-time favourite now.
The real hero of Rex Stout's wonderful series is Archie Goodwin, not Nero Wolfe, which is what makes it so special. That and the orchids.
BTW PG Wodehouse was a huge Rex Stout fan - which shows just how good he was.
And, finally, yes, Wimsey is annoying. The Nine Tailors sees him at his best, and his presence is muted by the greatness of the picture of fen life in 1930 somewhere on the borders of Lincs, Cambs and Norfolk. Not all that far from Algarkirk.
I agree with you -- the most interesting portions of 'The Nine Tailors' are the descriptions of Fenland life.
Harriet Vane is more interesting than the absurd Wimsey & the feudal Bunter. The best of DLS's books is Gaudy Night where Vane (& female education) is centre stage.
I was on the side of the bedder who attacks all the dons and I was heartbroken when she was caught by the wretched monocled Wimsey.
Goodwin & Wolfe are an incredible combo. I prefer Wolfe to Goodwin. Both Aunt Dahlia and Bertie Wooster were big fans, as was their creator.
I think the Nero Wolfe novels are stylistically very close to PG Wodehouse -- in that they create a highly artificial, yet enchanting & somehow believable, Universe in the brownstone on West 35th Street.
I mean, there is no-one who ever lived who was anything like Nero Wolfe. Or Archie Goodwin.
Just like there was no-one who ever lived who was anything like Jeeves. Or Bertie Wooster.
Sorry: just to make sure that there's no mistake here.
You supported the "bedder" who attacked the dons because she was opposed to female education?
I want to make absolutely sure there's no misunderstanding here.
I am always on the side of the degraded in the gutter because they have been thrown there.
The bedder's final speech is deranged and magnificent. The dons are shocked to silence by its emotional power.
Nevertheless, her reign of terror was because she was opposed to female education.
Motivated by an injustice -- which even the perpetrator accepted was unjust by the end of the novel.
The dons were too stupid to catch her.
I am on the side of anyone who can organise a reign of terror within the sedate confines of an Oxford College.
She did not go far enough -- assassination of the Senior Tutor & burning down the Chapel are necessary for a true reign of terror.
The injustice was that her husband was sacked and stripped of his degree for forging a historical thesis.
Which is unjust only in the sense it doesn't happen today which is why the likes of Richard Carrier, Robert Price and Naomi Wolfe continue to boast of their doctorates. Even though they should have them withdrawn.
But it wasn't acknowledged to be unjust. Anything but. The only thing they felt was wrong was neglecting him afterwards. 'Miss Lydgate would have acted as I did: but she would also have made it her business to enquire into what became of that unhappy man.'
Yup. For a modern version…
IIRC a journalist ran a plagiarism detector against theses of a number of prominent German politicians.
The resulting efforts to *not* find them guilty of plagiarism are quite inspiring. In a way.
I hope Hancock sues Oakeshott, loses in court is bankrupted and humiliated (Though it's difficult to imagine how much further he could be...
Can they somehow both lose, while both being bankrupted and humiliated?
E.g. Hancock loses but can only pay 30% of the costs and damages before bankruptcy while the judge brands Oakeshott a deranged fanatsist who made up eight of the nine claims?
The best would be if Hancock sues and gets awarded £1 damages, leaving both parties with huge legal bills.
If you get an award like that, doesn't the winning party have to pay all costs?
Usually not. Costs are at the discretion of the judge.
So, we can assume they will award them in the stupidest way imaginable and upset everyone?
Is Twitter down or has Musk just disabled it for anyone not yet paying him money ?
I've noticed a lot more pro-Russian material (or at least Ukraine-sceptic) appearing on my timeline recently. Really noticeable. That must be either because a. Western commentators are turning against Ukraine, b. the Twitter algorithm has been tweaked to bring me more pro-Kremlin material, or c. the algorithm has been tweaked to give more prominence to right wing US content, which has a side-effect of containing pro-Kremlin messaging.
The problem with things like YouTube, Facebook and especially Twitter, is that the content delivered is individually curated (*) for you. I see what I see on my feed, but have no idea if my experience is common to others. If I'm seeing an increase in right-wing content, is that because I've liked someone who themselves likes right-wing content, or is it a bias in the algorithms?
But given Musk's recent shenanigans, I'm fairly happy calling out Twitter as becoming increasingly a right-wing cesspool. I have an account, but have never tweeted, and follow just 26 accounts. I've given precisely two likes to tweets. Most of the people I follow would be classed as left-wing (mainly because many are into trains).
So why am I getting American right-wingers on my twitter feed?
(*) Is that the correct word?
Because the algorithm wants you to argue with them.
I hope Hancock sues Oakeshott, loses in court is bankrupted and humiliated (Though it's difficult to imagine how much further he could be...
Can they somehow both lose, while both being bankrupted and humiliated?
E.g. Hancock loses but can only pay 30% of the costs and damages before bankruptcy while the judge brands Oakeshott a deranged fanatsist who made up eight of the nine claims?
The best would be if Hancock sues and gets awarded £1 damages, leaving both parties with huge legal bills.
I'd have thought the Telegraph would pick up Oakeshott's tab. Maybe Matt could ask Rishi
Yes. But was 'woke' ever not derogatory? I always understood it as a term of the social conservative* to diss the socially progressive*, the modern day equivalent of 'political correctness'
*for want of better terms - I'm aware that 'progressive' in itself is loaded (who wants to be regressive?) but can't think of a better term
ETA: To some extent it's regression to the mean, or regression to the centre to become electable. People have other issues, so a party obsessed with wokeness (on either side) is unlikely to command wide enough support to win.
My comically woke sister-in-law-in-law used 'woke' in a vaguely approving way in trying to describe what the word meant to our mother-in-law in a conversation back in 2019. I doubt she would now.
Modern usage came in five or so years ago - boosted by BLM movement (see link).
Then it became commonly used (roughly two or so years ago with Floyd death) solely by a sector of the left who used it to compliment themselves and chide others.
Since then, two things have happened.
Firstly, the term has been broadened massively to capture lefty irrational illiberalness in many disguises (cancel culture, identity politics in its many forms, victim culture, snowflakery etc). This is regrettable as it distorts the original meaning of the word.
Secondly, liberals and conservatives have picked up the broadened usage to mock the left, which has in turn led to mockery of those critics BY the left for (they say) inventing/exaggerating the problem.
The result is a word which in my view has lost all usefulness and created abuse in all directions.
Best I think to tackle irrationality on a case by case basis rather than shouting woke.
Bit of a shame in a way because the original meaning was useful "continued awareness of issues concerning racial injustice" but the word itself sound ridiculous and ripe for mockery I guess.
Is Twitter down or has Musk just disabled it for anyone not yet paying him money ?
I've noticed a lot more pro-Russian material (or at least Ukraine-sceptic) appearing on my timeline recently. Really noticeable. That must be either because a. Western commentators are turning against Ukraine, b. the Twitter algorithm has been tweaked to bring me more pro-Kremlin material, or c. the algorithm has been tweaked to give more prominence to right wing US content, which has a side-effect of containing pro-Kremlin messaging.
The problem with things like YouTube, Facebook and especially Twitter, is that the content delivered is individually curated (*) for you. I see what I see on my feed, but have no idea if my experience is common to others. If I'm seeing an increase in right-wing content, is that because I've liked someone who themselves likes right-wing content, or is it a bias in the algorithms?
But given Musk's recent shenanigans, I'm fairly happy calling out Twitter as becoming increasingly a right-wing cesspool. I have an account, but have never tweeted, and follow just 26 accounts. I've given precisely two likes to tweets. Most of the people I follow would be classed as left-wing (mainly because many are into trains).
So why am I getting American right-wingers on my twitter feed?
Is Twitter down or has Musk just disabled it for anyone not yet paying him money ?
I've noticed a lot more pro-Russian material (or at least Ukraine-sceptic) appearing on my timeline recently. Really noticeable. That must be either because a. Western commentators are turning against Ukraine, b. the Twitter algorithm has been tweaked to bring me more pro-Kremlin material, or c. the algorithm has been tweaked to give more prominence to right wing US content, which has a side-effect of containing pro-Kremlin messaging.
The problem with things like YouTube, Facebook and especially Twitter, is that the content delivered is individually curated (*) for you. I see what I see on my feed, but have no idea if my experience is common to others. If I'm seeing an increase in right-wing content, is that because I've liked someone who themselves likes right-wing content, or is it a bias in the algorithms?
But given Musk's recent shenanigans, I'm fairly happy calling out Twitter as becoming increasingly a right-wing cesspool. I have an account, but have never tweeted, and follow just 26 accounts. I've given precisely two likes to tweets. Most of the people I follow would be classed as left-wing (mainly because many are into trains).
So why am I getting American right-wingers on my twitter feed?
(*) Is that the correct word?
Because the algorithm wants you to argue with them.
That's an assumption. In which case I'd expect right-wingers to get lots of leftists.
And that's the problem: as everyone's experience is individual on these platforms, and are ruled by the Holy RNGorithm, it's hard to know if what I see is typical or not.
I hope Hancock sues Oakeshott, loses in court is bankrupted and humiliated (Though it's difficult to imagine how much further he could be...
Can they somehow both lose, while both being bankrupted and humiliated?
E.g. Hancock loses but can only pay 30% of the costs and damages before bankruptcy while the judge brands Oakeshott a deranged fanatsist who made up eight of the nine claims?
The best would be if Hancock sues and gets awarded £1 damages, leaving both parties with huge legal bills.
If you get an award like that, doesn't the winning party have to pay all costs?
Only if the defendant has already offered to settle for that amount or more.
Or the judge decides on how costs are apportioned.
Yes. But was 'woke' ever not derogatory? I always understood it as a term of the social conservative* to diss the socially progressive*, the modern day equivalent of 'political correctness'
*for want of better terms - I'm aware that 'progressive' in itself is loaded (who wants to be regressive?) but can't think of a better term
ETA: To some extent it's regression to the mean, or regression to the centre to become electable. People have other issues, so a party obsessed with wokeness (on either side) is unlikely to command wide enough support to win.
“Woke” originates within the Black activist community in the US back in the 1930s. If you were woke, you had become truly aware of the persistent nature of white supremacy & the work done by the state to prevent black people from prospering.
I’m not sure when it took on a wider social justice meaning, sometime post 2000 I think - I certainly never heard it as a teenager at university, but maybe I didn’t move in the right activist circles?
Like many social justice terms it then hopped over to the right as a prejudicial term, a route that echoes that took by “politically correct” in earlier times.
Only problem is the majority of white Americans have never supported "white supremacy", even in the 1930s.
I hope Hancock sues Oakeshott, loses in court is bankrupted and humiliated (Though it's difficult to imagine how much further he could be...
Can they somehow both lose, while both being bankrupted and humiliated?
E.g. Hancock loses but can only pay 30% of the costs and damages before bankruptcy while the judge brands Oakeshott a deranged fanatsist who made up eight of the nine claims?
The best would be if Hancock sues and gets awarded £1 damages, leaving both parties with huge legal bills.
If you get an award like that, doesn't the winning party have to pay all costs?
Depends. A defendant often pays into court a small sum (acceptance of which settles the case). If he loses and the damages are lower than than the payment into court, the winner bears the costs normally from the date of payment in. It is a very important tactic in some defamation cases.
Is Twitter down or has Musk just disabled it for anyone not yet paying him money ?
I've noticed a lot more pro-Russian material (or at least Ukraine-sceptic) appearing on my timeline recently. Really noticeable. That must be either because a. Western commentators are turning against Ukraine, b. the Twitter algorithm has been tweaked to bring me more pro-Kremlin material, or c. the algorithm has been tweaked to give more prominence to right wing US content, which has a side-effect of containing pro-Kremlin messaging.
The problem with things like YouTube, Facebook and especially Twitter, is that the content delivered is individually curated (*) for you. I see what I see on my feed, but have no idea if my experience is common to others. If I'm seeing an increase in right-wing content, is that because I've liked someone who themselves likes right-wing content, or is it a bias in the algorithms?
But given Musk's recent shenanigans, I'm fairly happy calling out Twitter as becoming increasingly a right-wing cesspool. I have an account, but have never tweeted, and follow just 26 accounts. I've given precisely two likes to tweets. Most of the people I follow would be classed as left-wing (mainly because many are into trains).
So why am I getting American right-wingers on my twitter feed?
(*) Is that the correct word?
Because the algorithm wants you to argue with them.
That's an assumption. In which case I'd expect right-wingers to get lots of leftists.
And that's the problem: as everyone's experience is individual on these platforms, and are ruled by the Holy RNGorithm, it's hard to know if what I see is typical or not.
That’s exactly what happens.
And if you express opinions, the algorithms tend to serve up “similar but harder line views” for you to agree with as well.
The later is considered to be a big part of self radicalisation - in conjunction with the first.
You are presented with a world full of scary people you hate - and a nice comfort zone of people with the right idea, if a bit hard core..
Is Twitter down or has Musk just disabled it for anyone not yet paying him money ?
I've noticed a lot more pro-Russian material (or at least Ukraine-sceptic) appearing on my timeline recently. Really noticeable. That must be either because a. Western commentators are turning against Ukraine, b. the Twitter algorithm has been tweaked to bring me more pro-Kremlin material, or c. the algorithm has been tweaked to give more prominence to right wing US content, which has a side-effect of containing pro-Kremlin messaging.
The problem with things like YouTube, Facebook and especially Twitter, is that the content delivered is individually curated (*) for you. I see what I see on my feed, but have no idea if my experience is common to others. If I'm seeing an increase in right-wing content, is that because I've liked someone who themselves likes right-wing content, or is it a bias in the algorithms?
But given Musk's recent shenanigans, I'm fairly happy calling out Twitter as becoming increasingly a right-wing cesspool. I have an account, but have never tweeted, and follow just 26 accounts. I've given precisely two likes to tweets. Most of the people I follow would be classed as left-wing (mainly because many are into trains).
So why am I getting American right-wingers on my twitter feed?
(*) Is that the correct word?
You could try setting up another account and seeing how what you get differs.
"Curate" may well be the word they use for selecting material, to make it sound as if choosing advertisements and opinions that influence you and millions of others in the way they want is not at all vulgar but is akin to an artistic, educational, or scholarly endeavour.
Is Twitter down or has Musk just disabled it for anyone not yet paying him money ?
I've noticed a lot more pro-Russian material (or at least Ukraine-sceptic) appearing on my timeline recently. Really noticeable. That must be either because a. Western commentators are turning against Ukraine, b. the Twitter algorithm has been tweaked to bring me more pro-Kremlin material, or c. the algorithm has been tweaked to give more prominence to right wing US content, which has a side-effect of containing pro-Kremlin messaging.
The problem with things like YouTube, Facebook and especially Twitter, is that the content delivered is individually curated (*) for you. I see what I see on my feed, but have no idea if my experience is common to others. If I'm seeing an increase in right-wing content, is that because I've liked someone who themselves likes right-wing content, or is it a bias in the algorithms?
But given Musk's recent shenanigans, I'm fairly happy calling out Twitter as becoming increasingly a right-wing cesspool. I have an account, but have never tweeted, and follow just 26 accounts. I've given precisely two likes to tweets. Most of the people I follow would be classed as left-wing (mainly because many are into trains).
So why am I getting American right-wingers on my twitter feed?
(*) Is that the correct word?
(Emphasis added by me) Is that a typo for 'trans' or are train enthusiasts known for being left-wing? Thinking of PB, the out* train enthusiasts do seem to be more left-leaning.
* of the... goods shed? I allow that we may still have some closet goods shed train enthusiasts
Always remember that “Cloud” = someone else’s computer.
Storing all your passwords on someone else’s computer, has always been a bad idea.
There aren't any good solutions to password security, though, are there? Anything is limited by either the capactiy of the human brain or the average user's lack of give-a-damn.
For most people, who aren’t going to have state-level actors trying to crack their security, a password-protected spreadsheet is more than good enough. Keep a hard copy in a safe as backup, in case you get hit by a bus and your other half needs it. The important rule is not to use the same password for multiple services.
I have a YubiKey token for 2FA, which is the next level up. Avoid things that rely on SMS for 2FA, if possible.
Yes, that is the critical rule, but widely ignored. A frighteningly large number of my acquaintances do indeed use the same password for multiple services. The danger of doing so was brought home to me a while back:
Some time ago, I had to create an account on a small company's in-house system in order to be able to invoice them. The web portal to the system didn't inspire a great deal of confidence, and, lo and behold, a couple of years later I was contacted by scammers who had broken into their system and obtained my email and password. They tried to blackmail me into giving them money with threats that they would use my password to access my other accounts. Thankfully, though, I hadn't used that password or any variant of it for my other accounts, so I could safely ignore their threats. I'd hate to think what would have happened otherwise.
TL;DR: Don't ever use the same password (or variant thereof) for multiple accounts!
I use the same password on lots of services, but only those that aren't important. Similarly for webpages that make you sign up to browse the site etc . . . If I sign up for a web game or similar I use the same password every time. If I get hacked and lose access to a game, its not that important, and I can't be bothered remembering a new password for every site or creating a list secured elsewhere that does so.
My email, online banking, work and other secure sites have a unique password each which I can remember, rather than trying to remember hundreds for loads of crap that honestly why does it matter?
I find keepass works well for me, local password file so not stored on anyone elses computer and I can store the password file on multiple devices as needed and just a script to push keystore changes out to all devices on my local network.
"just a script" definitely fails the "average user give-a-damn" test...
most users will likely only have 2 devices or at most 3 they need it on so a manual copy and paste once a week does the trick
And that fails the same test. I think you have too high expectations of the average user.
As a software developer I can assure you my expectations of users is correspondingly low. We put PEBKAC on support tickets for a reason (Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair)
Ganesh is transitioning from young fogey to old fogey with effortless ease. He'll be writing for the Telegraph in ten years. Nice bloke though.
He says some interesting things though I don't always agree with him.
Yes I don't want to be too rude about him. I always look out for his pieces. He does have interesting things to say, but once you know where he's coming from his arguments tend to be fairly predictable. Maybe that's true of all or at least most columnists.
Always remember that “Cloud” = someone else’s computer.
Storing all your passwords on someone else’s computer, has always been a bad idea.
There aren't any good solutions to password security, though, are there? Anything is limited by either the capactiy of the human brain or the average user's lack of give-a-damn.
For most people, who aren’t going to have state-level actors trying to crack their security, a password-protected spreadsheet is more than good enough. Keep a hard copy in a safe as backup, in case you get hit by a bus and your other half needs it. The important rule is not to use the same password for multiple services.
I have a YubiKey token for 2FA, which is the next level up. Avoid things that rely on SMS for 2FA, if possible.
Yes, that is the critical rule, but widely ignored. A frighteningly large number of my acquaintances do indeed use the same password for multiple services. The danger of doing so was brought home to me a while back:
Some time ago, I had to create an account on a small company's in-house system in order to be able to invoice them. The web portal to the system didn't inspire a great deal of confidence, and, lo and behold, a couple of years later I was contacted by scammers who had broken into their system and obtained my email and password. They tried to blackmail me into giving them money with threats that they would use my password to access my other accounts. Thankfully, though, I hadn't used that password or any variant of it for my other accounts, so I could safely ignore their threats. I'd hate to think what would have happened otherwise.
TL;DR: Don't ever use the same password (or variant thereof) for multiple accounts!
I use the same password on lots of services, but only those that aren't important. Similarly for webpages that make you sign up to browse the site etc . . . If I sign up for a web game or similar I use the same password every time. If I get hacked and lose access to a game, its not that important, and I can't be bothered remembering a new password for every site or creating a list secured elsewhere that does so.
My email, online banking, work and other secure sites have a unique password each which I can remember, rather than trying to remember hundreds for loads of crap that honestly why does it matter?
I find keepass works well for me, local password file so not stored on anyone elses computer and I can store the password file on multiple devices as needed and just a script to push keystore changes out to all devices on my local network.
"just a script" definitely fails the "average user give-a-damn" test...
most users will likely only have 2 devices or at most 3 they need it on so a manual copy and paste once a week does the trick
And that fails the same test. I think you have too high expectations of the average user.
As a software developer I can assure you my expectations of users is correspondingly low. We put PEBKAC on support tickets for a reason (Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair)
PICNIC is more elegant.
Problem In Chair Not In Computer
Especially in speech, it's also the ID ten T error code.
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
The only problem with that book was that her knowledge of campanology was a bit ropey.
Well that, and DLS's invasive snobbishness & pretentiousness.
Wimsey is one of the most irritating detectives in fiction.
Having come late in life to the books, I think Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe is my all-time favourite now.
The real hero of Rex Stout's wonderful series is Archie Goodwin, not Nero Wolfe, which is what makes it so special. That and the orchids.
BTW PG Wodehouse was a huge Rex Stout fan - which shows just how good he was.
And, finally, yes, Wimsey is annoying. The Nine Tailors sees him at his best, and his presence is muted by the greatness of the picture of fen life in 1930 somewhere on the borders of Lincs, Cambs and Norfolk. Not all that far from Algarkirk.
I agree with you -- the most interesting portions of 'The Nine Tailors' are the descriptions of Fenland life.
Harriet Vane is more interesting than the absurd Wimsey & the feudal Bunter. The best of DLS's books is Gaudy Night where Vane (& female education) is centre stage.
I was on the side of the bedder who attacks all the dons and I was heartbroken when she was caught by the wretched monocled Wimsey.
Goodwin & Wolfe are an incredible combo. I prefer Wolfe to Goodwin. Both Aunt Dahlia and Bertie Wooster were big fans, as was their creator.
I think the Nero Wolfe novels are stylistically very close to PG Wodehouse -- in that they create a highly artificial, yet enchanting & somehow believable, Universe in the brownstone on West 35th Street.
I mean, there is no-one who ever lived who was anything like Nero Wolfe. Or Archie Goodwin.
Just like there was no-one who ever lived who was anything like Jeeves. Or Bertie Wooster.
Sorry: just to make sure that there's no mistake here.
You supported the "bedder" who attacked the dons because she was opposed to female education?
I want to make absolutely sure there's no misunderstanding here.
I am always on the side of the degraded in the gutter because they have been thrown there.
The bedder's final speech is deranged and magnificent. The dons are shocked to silence by its emotional power.
Nevertheless, her reign of terror was because she was opposed to female education.
Motivated by an injustice -- which even the perpetrator accepted was unjust by the end of the novel.
The dons were too stupid to catch her.
I am on the side of anyone who can organise a reign of terror within the sedate confines of an Oxford College.
She did not go far enough -- assassination of the Senior Tutor & burning down the Chapel are necessary for a true reign of terror.
The injustice was that her husband was sacked and stripped of his degree for forging a historical thesis.
Which is unjust only in the sense it doesn't happen today which is why the likes of Richard Carrier, Robert Price and Naomi Wolfe continue to boast of their doctorates. Even though they should have them withdrawn.
But it wasn't acknowledged to be unjust. Anything but. The only thing they felt was wrong was neglecting him afterwards. 'Miss Lydgate would have acted as I did: but she would also have made it her business to enquire into what became of that unhappy man.'
Yup. For a modern version…
IIRC a journalist ran a plagiarism detector against theses of a number of prominent German politicians.
The resulting efforts to *not* find them guilty of plagiarism are quite inspiring. In a way.
Does paying someone else to write the thesis count as plagiarism? I knew of a case where an Iranian emigré who'd been close to the Shah did that. He had so much money he didn't know what to do with it, and he felt like getting a PhD the way he might buy a block of flats or a yacht... Nothing happened to him, despite at least one member of the Higher Degrees Committee being fully aware of what he'd done.
Is Twitter down or has Musk just disabled it for anyone not yet paying him money ?
I've noticed a lot more pro-Russian material (or at least Ukraine-sceptic) appearing on my timeline recently. Really noticeable. That must be either because a. Western commentators are turning against Ukraine, b. the Twitter algorithm has been tweaked to bring me more pro-Kremlin material, or c. the algorithm has been tweaked to give more prominence to right wing US content, which has a side-effect of containing pro-Kremlin messaging.
The problem with things like YouTube, Facebook and especially Twitter, is that the content delivered is individually curated (*) for you. I see what I see on my feed, but have no idea if my experience is common to others. If I'm seeing an increase in right-wing content, is that because I've liked someone who themselves likes right-wing content, or is it a bias in the algorithms?
But given Musk's recent shenanigans, I'm fairly happy calling out Twitter as becoming increasingly a right-wing cesspool. I have an account, but have never tweeted, and follow just 26 accounts. I've given precisely two likes to tweets. Most of the people I follow would be classed as left-wing (mainly because many are into trains).
So why am I getting American right-wingers on my twitter feed?
(*) Is that the correct word?
(Emphasis added by me) Is that a typo for 'trans' or are train enthusiasts known for being left-wing? Thinking of PB, the out* train enthusiasts do seem to be more left-leaning.
* of the... goods shed? I allow that we may still have some closet goods shed train enthusiasts
Anyone into trains is a good egg in my book. These algorithms are quite powerful, they seem to have figured out my proclivities and push Deltics, Westerns, Hoovers and Tractors on me quite aggressively on FB. Not that I'm complaining - nothing makes me happier than seeing some diesel in rail blue powering through the 1970s British countryside. It is my own harmless form of nostalgia.
Always remember that “Cloud” = someone else’s computer.
Storing all your passwords on someone else’s computer, has always been a bad idea.
There aren't any good solutions to password security, though, are there? Anything is limited by either the capactiy of the human brain or the average user's lack of give-a-damn.
For most people, who aren’t going to have state-level actors trying to crack their security, a password-protected spreadsheet is more than good enough. Keep a hard copy in a safe as backup, in case you get hit by a bus and your other half needs it. The important rule is not to use the same password for multiple services.
I have a YubiKey token for 2FA, which is the next level up. Avoid things that rely on SMS for 2FA, if possible.
Yes, that is the critical rule, but widely ignored. A frighteningly large number of my acquaintances do indeed use the same password for multiple services. The danger of doing so was brought home to me a while back:
Some time ago, I had to create an account on a small company's in-house system in order to be able to invoice them. The web portal to the system didn't inspire a great deal of confidence, and, lo and behold, a couple of years later I was contacted by scammers who had broken into their system and obtained my email and password. They tried to blackmail me into giving them money with threats that they would use my password to access my other accounts. Thankfully, though, I hadn't used that password or any variant of it for my other accounts, so I could safely ignore their threats. I'd hate to think what would have happened otherwise.
TL;DR: Don't ever use the same password (or variant thereof) for multiple accounts!
I use the same password on lots of services, but only those that aren't important. Similarly for webpages that make you sign up to browse the site etc . . . If I sign up for a web game or similar I use the same password every time. If I get hacked and lose access to a game, its not that important, and I can't be bothered remembering a new password for every site or creating a list secured elsewhere that does so.
My email, online banking, work and other secure sites have a unique password each which I can remember, rather than trying to remember hundreds for loads of crap that honestly why does it matter?
I find keepass works well for me, local password file so not stored on anyone elses computer and I can store the password file on multiple devices as needed and just a script to push keystore changes out to all devices on my local network.
"just a script" definitely fails the "average user give-a-damn" test...
most users will likely only have 2 devices or at most 3 they need it on so a manual copy and paste once a week does the trick
And that fails the same test. I think you have too high expectations of the average user.
As a software developer I can assure you my expectations of users is correspondingly low. We put PEBKAC on support tickets for a reason (Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair)
Forgive me for saying this but whenever someone urges me to try some new techie thing my response is always "well it won't work" and eyebrows are raised.
I'm proved right more often than not of course.
I think the problem is that whoever invented the damned thing (whatever it is) comes from the basis of understanding things that they think are obvious when they are not obvious to a non-techie brain.
For me, in addition to being non-techie I am supremely uninterested which is a double-whammy.
Yes. But was 'woke' ever not derogatory? I always understood it as a term of the social conservative* to diss the socially progressive*, the modern day equivalent of 'political correctness'
*for want of better terms - I'm aware that 'progressive' in itself is loaded (who wants to be regressive?) but can't think of a better term
ETA: To some extent it's regression to the mean, or regression to the centre to become electable. People have other issues, so a party obsessed with wokeness (on either side) is unlikely to command wide enough support to win.
“Woke” originates within the Black activist community in the US back in the 1930s. If you were woke, you had become truly aware of the persistent nature of white supremacy & the work done by the state to prevent black people from prospering.
I’m not sure when it took on a wider social justice meaning, sometime post 2000 I think - I certainly never heard it as a teenager at university, but maybe I didn’t move in the right activist circles?
Like many social justice terms it then hopped over to the right as a prejudicial term, a route that echoes that took by “politically correct” in earlier times.
Only problem is the majority of white Americans have never supported "white supremacy", even in the 1930s.
More accurate to say they assumed it. And lots still do.
Is Twitter down or has Musk just disabled it for anyone not yet paying him money ?
I've noticed a lot more pro-Russian material (or at least Ukraine-sceptic) appearing on my timeline recently. Really noticeable. That must be either because a. Western commentators are turning against Ukraine, b. the Twitter algorithm has been tweaked to bring me more pro-Kremlin material, or c. the algorithm has been tweaked to give more prominence to right wing US content, which has a side-effect of containing pro-Kremlin messaging.
The problem with things like YouTube, Facebook and especially Twitter, is that the content delivered is individually curated (*) for you. I see what I see on my feed, but have no idea if my experience is common to others. If I'm seeing an increase in right-wing content, is that because I've liked someone who themselves likes right-wing content, or is it a bias in the algorithms?
But given Musk's recent shenanigans, I'm fairly happy calling out Twitter as becoming increasingly a right-wing cesspool. I have an account, but have never tweeted, and follow just 26 accounts. I've given precisely two likes to tweets. Most of the people I follow would be classed as left-wing (mainly because many are into trains).
So why am I getting American right-wingers on my twitter feed?
(*) Is that the correct word?
(Emphasis added by me) Is that a typo for 'trans' or are train enthusiasts known for being left-wing? Thinking of PB, the out* train enthusiasts do seem to be more left-leaning.
* of the... goods shed? I allow that we may still have some closet goods shed train enthusiasts
Anyone into trains is a good egg in my book. These algorithms are quite powerful, they seem to have figured out my proclivities and push Deltics, Westerns, Hoovers and Tractors on me quite aggressively on FB. Not that I'm complaining - nothing makes me happier than seeing some diesel in rail blue powering through the 1970s British countryside. It is my own harmless form of nostalgia.
Good algorithm. Keeps the Sulzer stuff out of your feed!
In Dorothy L Sayers masterpiece 'The Nine Tailors' her detective, Peter Wimsey, avoids walking round a church anticlockwise for this very reason.
The only problem with that book was that her knowledge of campanology was a bit ropey.
Well that, and DLS's invasive snobbishness & pretentiousness.
Wimsey is one of the most irritating detectives in fiction.
Having come late in life to the books, I think Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe is my all-time favourite now.
The real hero of Rex Stout's wonderful series is Archie Goodwin, not Nero Wolfe, which is what makes it so special. That and the orchids.
BTW PG Wodehouse was a huge Rex Stout fan - which shows just how good he was.
And, finally, yes, Wimsey is annoying. The Nine Tailors sees him at his best, and his presence is muted by the greatness of the picture of fen life in 1930 somewhere on the borders of Lincs, Cambs and Norfolk. Not all that far from Algarkirk.
I agree with you -- the most interesting portions of 'The Nine Tailors' are the descriptions of Fenland life.
Harriet Vane is more interesting than the absurd Wimsey & the feudal Bunter. The best of DLS's books is Gaudy Night where Vane (& female education) is centre stage.
I was on the side of the bedder who attacks all the dons and I was heartbroken when she was caught by the wretched monocled Wimsey.
Goodwin & Wolfe are an incredible combo. I prefer Wolfe to Goodwin. Both Aunt Dahlia and Bertie Wooster were big fans, as was their creator.
I think the Nero Wolfe novels are stylistically very close to PG Wodehouse -- in that they create a highly artificial, yet enchanting & somehow believable, Universe in the brownstone on West 35th Street.
I mean, there is no-one who ever lived who was anything like Nero Wolfe. Or Archie Goodwin.
Just like there was no-one who ever lived who was anything like Jeeves. Or Bertie Wooster.
Sorry: just to make sure that there's no mistake here.
You supported the "bedder" who attacked the dons because she was opposed to female education?
I want to make absolutely sure there's no misunderstanding here.
I am always on the side of the degraded in the gutter because they have been thrown there.
The bedder's final speech is deranged and magnificent. The dons are shocked to silence by its emotional power.
Nevertheless, her reign of terror was because she was opposed to female education.
Motivated by an injustice -- which even the perpetrator accepted was unjust by the end of the novel.
The dons were too stupid to catch her.
I am on the side of anyone who can organise a reign of terror within the sedate confines of an Oxford College.
She did not go far enough -- assassination of the Senior Tutor & burning down the Chapel are necessary for a true reign of terror.
The injustice was that her husband was sacked and stripped of his degree for forging a historical thesis.
Which is unjust only in the sense it doesn't happen today which is why the likes of Richard Carrier, Robert Price and Naomi Wolfe continue to boast of their doctorates. Even though they should have them withdrawn.
But it wasn't acknowledged to be unjust. Anything but. The only thing they felt was wrong was neglecting him afterwards. 'Miss Lydgate would have acted as I did: but she would also have made it her business to enquire into what became of that unhappy man.'
Yup. For a modern version…
IIRC a journalist ran a plagiarism detector against theses of a number of prominent German politicians.
The resulting efforts to *not* find them guilty of plagiarism are quite inspiring. In a way.
Does paying someone else to write the thesis count as plagiarism? I knew of a case where an Iranian emigré who'd been close to the Shah did that. He had so much money he didn't know what to do with it, and he felt like getting a PhD the way he might buy a block of flats or a yacht... Nothing happened to him, despite at least one member of the Higher Degrees Committee being fully aware of what he'd done.
Would be reasonably hard to do that here with viva voce examinations for PhD - you'd need to at least understand what the other person had written for you (and reasons behind it) to be able to defend it.
ETA: Definitely against University Ethics. Might get away with it at Kent
Is Twitter down or has Musk just disabled it for anyone not yet paying him money ?
I've noticed a lot more pro-Russian material (or at least Ukraine-sceptic) appearing on my timeline recently. Really noticeable. That must be either because a. Western commentators are turning against Ukraine, b. the Twitter algorithm has been tweaked to bring me more pro-Kremlin material, or c. the algorithm has been tweaked to give more prominence to right wing US content, which has a side-effect of containing pro-Kremlin messaging.
The problem with things like YouTube, Facebook and especially Twitter, is that the content delivered is individually curated (*) for you. I see what I see on my feed, but have no idea if my experience is common to others. If I'm seeing an increase in right-wing content, is that because I've liked someone who themselves likes right-wing content, or is it a bias in the algorithms?
But given Musk's recent shenanigans, I'm fairly happy calling out Twitter as becoming increasingly a right-wing cesspool. I have an account, but have never tweeted, and follow just 26 accounts. I've given precisely two likes to tweets. Most of the people I follow would be classed as left-wing (mainly because many are into trains).
So why am I getting American right-wingers on my twitter feed?
(*) Is that the correct word?
Because the algorithm wants you to argue with them.
That's an assumption. In which case I'd expect right-wingers to get lots of leftists.
And that's the problem: as everyone's experience is individual on these platforms, and are ruled by the Holy RNGorithm, it's hard to know if what I see is typical or not.
That’s exactly what happens.
And if you express opinions, the algorithms tend to serve up “similar but harder line views” for you to agree with as well.
The later is considered to be a big part of self radicalisation - in conjunction with the first.
You are presented with a world full of scary people you hate - and a nice comfort zone of people with the right idea, if a bit hard core..
Mostly yes where bullshit discussion is concerned, but not where certain opinions are concerned on live news stories, when Reddit will shadowban you. Live news stories are like a live edge.
Is Twitter down or has Musk just disabled it for anyone not yet paying him money ?
I've noticed a lot more pro-Russian material (or at least Ukraine-sceptic) appearing on my timeline recently. Really noticeable. That must be either because a. Western commentators are turning against Ukraine, b. the Twitter algorithm has been tweaked to bring me more pro-Kremlin material, or c. the algorithm has been tweaked to give more prominence to right wing US content, which has a side-effect of containing pro-Kremlin messaging.
The problem with things like YouTube, Facebook and especially Twitter, is that the content delivered is individually curated (*) for you. I see what I see on my feed, but have no idea if my experience is common to others. If I'm seeing an increase in right-wing content, is that because I've liked someone who themselves likes right-wing content, or is it a bias in the algorithms?
But given Musk's recent shenanigans, I'm fairly happy calling out Twitter as becoming increasingly a right-wing cesspool. I have an account, but have never tweeted, and follow just 26 accounts. I've given precisely two likes to tweets. Most of the people I follow would be classed as left-wing (mainly because many are into trains).
So why am I getting American right-wingers on my twitter feed?
(*) Is that the correct word?
(Emphasis added by me) Is that a typo for 'trans' or are train enthusiasts known for being left-wing? Thinking of PB, the out* train enthusiasts do seem to be more left-leaning.
* of the... goods shed? I allow that we may still have some closet goods shed train enthusiasts
There are plenty of right wingers over on Rail Forums. Anti-union, pro-privatisation, etc.
Is Twitter down or has Musk just disabled it for anyone not yet paying him money ?
I've noticed a lot more pro-Russian material (or at least Ukraine-sceptic) appearing on my timeline recently. Really noticeable. That must be either because a. Western commentators are turning against Ukraine, b. the Twitter algorithm has been tweaked to bring me more pro-Kremlin material, or c. the algorithm has been tweaked to give more prominence to right wing US content, which has a side-effect of containing pro-Kremlin messaging.
The problem with things like YouTube, Facebook and especially Twitter, is that the content delivered is individually curated (*) for you. I see what I see on my feed, but have no idea if my experience is common to others. If I'm seeing an increase in right-wing content, is that because I've liked someone who themselves likes right-wing content, or is it a bias in the algorithms?
But given Musk's recent shenanigans, I'm fairly happy calling out Twitter as becoming increasingly a right-wing cesspool. I have an account, but have never tweeted, and follow just 26 accounts. I've given precisely two likes to tweets. Most of the people I follow would be classed as left-wing (mainly because many are into trains).
So why am I getting American right-wingers on my twitter feed?
(*) Is that the correct word?
(Emphasis added by me) Is that a typo for 'trans' or are train enthusiasts known for being left-wing? Thinking of PB, the out* train enthusiasts do seem to be more left-leaning.
* of the... goods shed? I allow that we may still have some closet goods shed train enthusiasts
Anyone into trains is a good egg in my book. These algorithms are quite powerful, they seem to have figured out my proclivities and push Deltics, Westerns, Hoovers and Tractors on me quite aggressively on FB. Not that I'm complaining - nothing makes me happier than seeing some diesel in rail blue powering through the 1970s British countryside. It is my own harmless form of nostalgia.
As long as the algorithm keeps serving my Tesla videos to more and more people, I will be happy!
Comments
I expect he will be viewed like Major was. A decent guy with ultimately a hospital pass of a Premiership.
Though personally I wouldn't be in favour of it.
Leondamus no more ?
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/lab-leak-most-likely-led-to-covid-pandemic-fbi-director-says/ar-AA184SbM
https://www.ft.com/content/6f69ea55-32c6-477e-93d2-598bbd6e761a?segmentId=b385c2ad-87ed-d8ff-aaec-0f8435cd42d9
The portrayal of the venomous solicitor confirms all my prejudices about the legal profession, so I do like the book.
Generally, the more Vane and the less Bunter the better.
You supported the "bedder" who attacked the dons because she was opposed to female education?
I want to make absolutely sure there's no misunderstanding here.
Sammy Wilson, a senior DUP MP, told Times Radio that the Stormont brake, the mechanism by which Northern Ireland can reject changes to EU goods rules, “is not really a brake at all”.
He said in reality the UK government would have the final say over whether the Northern Ireland assembly could veto a law, but he predicted it would be reluctant to do so because it would be “fearful of the consequences of trade for the rest of the United Kingdom” and “retaliatory action” from the EU.
*for want of better terms - I'm aware that 'progressive' in itself is loaded (who wants to be regressive?) but can't think of a better term
ETA: To some extent it's regression to the mean, or regression to the centre to become electable. People have other issues, so a party obsessed with wokeness (on either side) is unlikely to command wide enough support to win.
That said, the one set in Cornwall (?) and which is almost entirely through Ms Vane's eyes is not that great.
It was comedy gold, for hours and hours.
(A) leak of a naturally obtained virus
OR
(B) a genetically altered (e.g. gain of function) virus, tinkered about by man
Surely @leon knows? Huge implications if its (B). Less if its (A).
It's a bit like when Madame Caillaux in 1914 shot dead a newspaper editor who was running a campaign against her husband. She was terrified that he would challenge the editor to a duel and be killed. So, she did what any good wife does and murdered the editor.
On trial for murder, and potentially facing the guillotine if found guilty, her advocate secured her acquittal by arguing that women were fundamentally irrational, and she could not be held responsible for her actions.
The bedder's final speech is deranged and magnificent. The dons are shocked to silence by its emotional power.
I’m not sure when it took on a wider social justice meaning, sometime post 2000 I think - I certainly never heard it as a teenager at university, but maybe I didn’t move in the right activist circles?
Like many social justice terms it then hopped over to the right as a prejudicial term, a route that echoes that took by “politically correct” in earlier times.
The final speech always seemed to me an example of "my lived experience outweighs all the facts. And rules that we create in society".
I agree with your choice of the best three, though MMA is mainly interesting for the working conditions in the advertising agency.
We're never going to agree to return to Stormont
Because we will never serve under Sinn Fein
So this Stormont Brake is beyond our reach
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_weapon
Just not by bell-ringing.
Some of the early ones are quite fun little period pieces. I've always been fond of Clouds of Witness, for example.
On the train from Barcelona to Paris. Quite a lot of Americans on board. £128, 6 hours 47 mins. Doesn't seem to be going particularly fast so far, but only 2 hours into the journey.
Aunt Dahlia throws a volume of Wolfe at Bertie at some point I think.
PS If AI can successfully imitate Wodehouse I shall have to think about whether it is sentient.
The dons were too stupid to catch her.
I am on the side of anyone who can organise a reign of terror within the sedate confines of an Oxford College.
She did not go far enough -- assassination of the Senior Tutor & burning down the Chapel are necessary for a true reign of terror.
As with so many features of both the left and right of politics, anything (like PC or woke) that is capable of existing on a spectrum from the perfectly reasonable to the certifiably bonkers will trigger culture war because the opposite side will see and comment on the certifiably bonkers material, while the reasonable stuff stays invisible.
1. Scientists develop a killer virus through gain of function research in Wuhan
2. They entrust the biosecurity of the lab to Isabel Oakeshott
3. Global pandemic
Do to drivers what the Tories are doing to the whole country... simples!
1) ban on research of this kind
2) the response is to offshore the research
3) to China - a country with a terrible history on human rights in the medical sphere.
Offshoring unethical and banned research to third world countries has been massively attacked for obvious reasons. At least when private companies do it.
Including by Faucci.
A hardback, I hope.
Just as saying Brexit voters are all racists and Remainers are all EU loving wets, making complicated situations simple is great for twatter, less good for proper analysis.
OPG are also taking longer than usual to process at the moment, theirs will have taken about three months if the latest estimate proves correct.
PS @Leon - It's not just churches. The same idea attaches for example to the Wellington Monument in Somerset.
Which is unjust only in the sense it doesn't happen today which is why the likes of Richard Carrier, Robert Price and Naomi Wolfe continue to boast of their doctorates. Even though they should have them withdrawn.
But it wasn't acknowledged to be unjust. Anything but. The only thing they felt was wrong was neglecting him afterwards. 'Miss Lydgate would have acted as I did: but she would also have made it her business to enquire into what became of that unhappy man.'
"China lab leak most likely source of Covid pandemic, says FBI director"
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/covid-fbi-director-china-wuhan-lab-leak-likely-qd7zszcxp
I've been to the dentist.
Prices up 15%.
The Nine Tailors does the same with the fens but is a proper novel in that it creates an entire and peopled world, much more convincing than the plot.
E.g. Hancock loses but can only pay 30% of the costs and damages before bankruptcy while the judge brands Oakeshott a deranged fanatsist who made up eight of the nine claims?
But given Musk's recent shenanigans, I'm fairly happy calling out Twitter as becoming increasingly a right-wing cesspool. I have an account, but have never tweeted, and follow just 26 accounts. I've given precisely two likes to tweets. Most of the people I follow would be classed as left-wing (mainly because many are into trains).
So why am I getting American right-wingers on my twitter feed?
(*) Is that the correct word?
Or Banks v Cadwaldr
IIRC a journalist ran a plagiarism detector against theses of a number of prominent German politicians.
The resulting efforts to *not* find them guilty of plagiarism are quite inspiring. In a way.
My prediction of England losing by 100 looking unfortunately all too accurate.
Then it became commonly used (roughly two or so years ago with Floyd death) solely by a sector of the left who used it to compliment themselves and chide others.
Since then, two things have happened.
Firstly, the term has been broadened massively to capture lefty irrational illiberalness in many disguises (cancel culture, identity politics in its many forms, victim culture, snowflakery etc). This is regrettable as it distorts the original meaning of the word.
Secondly, liberals and conservatives have picked up the broadened usage to mock the left, which has in turn led to mockery of those critics BY the left for (they say) inventing/exaggerating the problem.
The result is a word which in my view has lost all usefulness and created abuse in all directions.
Best I think to tackle irrationality on a case by case basis rather than shouting woke.
Bit of a shame in a way because the original meaning was useful "continued awareness of issues concerning racial injustice" but the word itself sound ridiculous and ripe for mockery I guess.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stay_Woke:_The_Black_Lives_Matter_Movement
No doubt explains the Putin propaganda, too.
And that's the problem: as everyone's experience is individual on these platforms, and are ruled by the Holy RNGorithm, it's hard to know if what I see is typical or not.
Or the judge decides on how costs are apportioned.
And if you express opinions, the algorithms tend to serve up “similar but harder line views” for you to agree with as well.
The later is considered to be a big part of self radicalisation - in conjunction with the first.
You are presented with a world full of scary people you hate - and a nice comfort zone of people with the right idea, if a bit hard core..
"Curate" may well be the word they use for selecting material, to make it sound as if choosing advertisements and opinions that influence you and millions of others in the way they want is not at all vulgar but is akin to an artistic, educational, or scholarly endeavour.
Is that a typo for 'trans' or are train enthusiasts known for being left-wing? Thinking of PB, the out* train enthusiasts do seem to be more left-leaning.
* of the... goods shed? I allow that we may still have some closet goods shed train enthusiasts
Problem In Chair Not In Computer
I knew of a case where an Iranian emigré who'd been close to the Shah did that. He had so much money he didn't know what to do with it, and he felt like getting a PhD the way he might buy a block of flats or a yacht... Nothing happened to him, despite at least one member of the Higher Degrees Committee being fully aware of what he'd done.
I'm proved right more often than not of course.
I think the problem is that whoever invented the damned thing (whatever it is) comes from the basis of understanding things that they think are obvious when they are not obvious to a non-techie brain.
For me, in addition to being non-techie I am supremely uninterested which is a double-whammy.
A more tricky one to decide the winner is Ind vs Aust, 3rd Test. On paper Australia have the advantage but I sense an Indian victory here.
ETA: Definitely against University Ethics. Might get away with it at Kent
Here’s the Scottish:
https://www.publicguardian-scotland.gov.uk/power-of-attorney
… and N Ireland:
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/managing-your-affairs-and-enduring-power-attorney