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Rishi’s integrity problem – politicalbetting.com

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Comments

  • pm215pm215 Posts: 1,158

    Heathener said:

    felix said:

    Let's remember that Rishi was in Johnson's Cabinet from the beginning until vanishingly close to the end.

    Given that track record, what's the evidence that he can notice lack of integrity, unprofessionalism or unaccountability, let alone be able to do anything about them?

    And Starmer stuck with Corbyn right till the end......
    I'm less vexed about this than other things about Keir Starmer. I can see the point of working inside a cabinet or shadow cabinet to try and moderate it. I don't have a problem with that.

    I dislike Jeremy Corbyn's views on many issues but lack of integrity, flagrant dishonesty, and lying aren't his hallmarks. Which they are of the Conservative reprobates TSE wrote about.
    4 legs good, 2 legs bad
    I have read Animal Farm several times. Nonetheless I don't have a Scooby Doo as to what that post is telling me.
    It’s wrong for Sunak to serve in Johnson’s cabinet but ok for Starmer to sit in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet because… *reasons*

    @Heathener is saying it’s ok when her side does it

    Hence four legs good, two legs bad

    (And remember where it ended up)

    But you've quoted person A saying "bad that Sunak was in Johnson's cabinet" and person B saying "OK that Starmer was in Corbyn's cabinet". That's not hypocrisy or "ok when our side does it", it's just two people having different opinions on the "try to moderate from within vs don't associate on principle" question.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 51,177
    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Farooq said:

    Leon said:

    I've just spent the weekend in Ibiza with a mad array of super intelligent people, from billionaire investors to maverick bohemian psychonauts to world famous real estate developers to UN policy wonks with too much money

    They are ALL obsessed with AI. Everyone

    AI-wise, we're near the Peak of Inflated Expectations right now. Soon, we'll be in the Trough of Disillusionment.
    Others demur


    "Elon Musk has warned that in the next two to three decades, artificial intelligence will change society so much that it will go beyond recognition. He also predicts that the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) is not far away, possibly only three to six years"

    https://twitter.com/LucySyarahlyana/status/1662791952402726912?s=20
    The solution is probably to let him have more money and power, and stop interferring with his businesses I bet.
    It is hard to place too much credibility in Elon Musk given the number of wrong predictions he has made to date and recent events has shown him to have wildly poor judgment.
    it doesn't really matter whether you believe Musk or not

    The fact is - as my experience in Ibiza revealed - people who are paid to think and make predictions about this stuff, or people who have so much money they can influence or benefit from this stuff, to people who are free thinking weirdos with massive Twitter followings, are all OBSESSED with AI

    It was like being parachuted into my intellectual home. My kind of dudes. AI, AI, AI - then some more excellent wine - then back to AI
    You haven't told us why they're obsessed with AI.
    Because they all think it is about to transform human society in multiple ways. Some are excited and optimistic, some are excited and pessimistic. But they are all excited and obsessed
    I admit I have a mix of 'whoa - cool.' and 'dear god, stop' when I see things like this being published :

    https://twitter.com/ZijiaoC/status/1660470518569639937

    "🧵🧠 We're witnessing incredible scientific progress in image & text reconstruction from fMRI nowadays. But what about reconstructing video from fMRI? Allow me to introduce our recent preprint: Mind-Video "
    Jeez. They are making those videos by scanning brains?!
    Yeah - train the model for 24hrs before hand on the person in question. Then reconstruct away to their hearts content 'live' from the signals in their visual cortex from the fMRI scanner.

    Not sure how much training they'll need to get a more universal model. Or if we'll find out that everyone is actually unique (which might be more interesting).
    This is a plot device - IIRC - of “Quatermass and the Pit” - scanning brains and turning thoughts into images and videos

    At the time I watched it, this was one of the most far fetched elements in a very speculative movie. Yet now: here it is

    We are living at an incredible moment when sci-fi becomes real in multiple ways
    If you've not seen it there's a 90s film by Wim Wenders that explores a lot of the issues (and takes a rather darker turn towards the end).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Until_the_End_of_the_World

    The state - or mega corporations with advanced AI - will literally be able to read your thoughts

    It’s not hard to see that taking a darker turn

    😱
    Better yet, an idiot will claim the reconstructed images are truth, and use them as criminal evidence. See “lie detectors”.

    From a short perusal of that video, I wouldn’t hang a dead dog on the “evidence”.
  • Beibheirli_CBeibheirli_C Posts: 8,188
    Nigelb said:

    A useful lesson - for now.
    For how much longer is an open question.

    https://twitter.com/cwhowell123/status/1662501821133254656
    So I followed @GaryMarcus's suggestion and had my undergrad class use ChatGPT for a critical assignment. I had them all generate an essay using a prompt I gave them, and then their job was to "grade" it--look for hallucinated info and critique its analysis. *All 63* essays had hallucinated information. Fake quotes, fake sources, or real sources misunderstood and mischaracterized. Every single assignment. I was stunned--I figured the rate would be high, but not that high.

    The biggest takeaway from this was that the students all learned that it isn't fully reliable. Before doing it, many of them were under the impression it was always right. Their feedback largely focused on how shocked they were that it could mislead them. Probably 50% of them were unaware it could do this. All of them expressed fears and concerns about mental atrophy and the possibility for misinformation/fake news. One student was worried that their neural pathways formed from critical thinking would start to degrade or weaken...


    A good example of why I do not waste 30 seconds on using AI. I am far more concerned about some idiot putting this faulty cr*p into one of Boston Dynamics's killer robots...
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,417
    dixiedean said:

    Leon said:

    Everton surviving. Boring

    We sure are.
    Guilty on both counts.
    Leicester's finances are far worse than Everton iirc. Everton near enough cert to go straight back up whereas Leicester might turn into another QPR type side.
    So I'd prefer Leicester to go down.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 72,281
    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Farooq said:

    Leon said:

    I've just spent the weekend in Ibiza with a mad array of super intelligent people, from billionaire investors to maverick bohemian psychonauts to world famous real estate developers to UN policy wonks with too much money

    They are ALL obsessed with AI. Everyone

    AI-wise, we're near the Peak of Inflated Expectations right now. Soon, we'll be in the Trough of Disillusionment.
    Others demur


    "Elon Musk has warned that in the next two to three decades, artificial intelligence will change society so much that it will go beyond recognition. He also predicts that the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) is not far away, possibly only three to six years"

    https://twitter.com/LucySyarahlyana/status/1662791952402726912?s=20
    The solution is probably to let him have more money and power, and stop interferring with his businesses I bet.
    It is hard to place too much credibility in Elon Musk given the number of wrong predictions he has made to date and recent events has shown him to have wildly poor judgment.
    it doesn't really matter whether you believe Musk or not

    The fact is - as my experience in Ibiza revealed - people who are paid to think and make predictions about this stuff, or people who have so much money they can influence or benefit from this stuff, to people who are free thinking weirdos with massive Twitter followings, are all OBSESSED with AI

    It was like being parachuted into my intellectual home. My kind of dudes. AI, AI, AI - then some more excellent wine - then back to AI
    You haven't told us why they're obsessed with AI.
    Because they all think it is about to transform human society in multiple ways. Some are excited and optimistic, some are excited and pessimistic. But they are all excited and obsessed
    I admit I have a mix of 'whoa - cool.' and 'dear god, stop' when I see things like this being published :

    https://twitter.com/ZijiaoC/status/1660470518569639937

    "🧵🧠 We're witnessing incredible scientific progress in image & text reconstruction from fMRI nowadays. But what about reconstructing video from fMRI? Allow me to introduce our recent preprint: Mind-Video "
    Jeez. They are making those videos by scanning brains?!
    Yeah - train the model for 24hrs before hand on the person in question. Then reconstruct away to their hearts content 'live' from the signals in their visual cortex from the fMRI scanner.

    Not sure how much training they'll need to get a more universal model. Or if we'll find out that everyone is actually unique (which might be more interesting).
    This is a plot device - IIRC - of “Quatermass and the Pit” - scanning brains and turning thoughts into images and videos

    At the time I watched it, this was one of the most far fetched elements in a very speculative movie. Yet now: here it is

    We are living at an incredible moment when sci-fi becomes real in multiple ways
    If you've not seen it there's a 90s film by Wim Wenders that explores a lot of the issues (and takes a rather darker turn towards the end).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Until_the_End_of_the_World

    The state - or mega corporations with advanced AI - will literally be able to read your thoughts

    It’s not hard to see that taking a darker turn

    😱
    Luckily we developed the tinfoil hat some time back.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 28,443

    Ominous for Trump?

    Trump issues an urgent demand yesterday not to impeach Ken Paxton, which was read on the Floor by a Member before the vote, and virtually the entire Texas Republican House just ignored him.


    https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1662847462476750850

    Not in itself but more intriguingly, Trump must have known that would happen, so is he playing 4d-chess or is his judgement deteriorating?
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,424
    Leon said:

    viewcode said:

    WillG said:

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Farooq said:

    Leon said:

    I've just spent the weekend in Ibiza with a mad array of super intelligent people, from billionaire investors to maverick bohemian psychonauts to world famous real estate developers to UN policy wonks with too much money

    They are ALL obsessed with AI. Everyone

    AI-wise, we're near the Peak of Inflated Expectations right now. Soon, we'll be in the Trough of Disillusionment.
    Others demur


    "Elon Musk has warned that in the next two to three decades, artificial intelligence will change society so much that it will go beyond recognition. He also predicts that the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) is not far away, possibly only three to six years"

    https://twitter.com/LucySyarahlyana/status/1662791952402726912?s=20
    The solution is probably to let him have more money and power, and stop interferring with his businesses I bet.
    It is hard to place too much credibility in Elon Musk given the number of wrong predictions he has made to date and recent events has shown him to have wildly poor judgment.
    it doesn't really matter whether you believe Musk or not

    The fact is - as my experience in Ibiza revealed - people who are paid to think and make predictions about this stuff, or people who have so much money they can influence or benefit from this stuff, to people who are free thinking weirdos with massive Twitter followings, are all OBSESSED with AI

    It was like being parachuted into my intellectual home. My kind of dudes. AI, AI, AI - then some more excellent wine - then back to AI
    You give far too much credibility to people with status. Most of them just repeat what they hear from each other until they fall for the human bias to utterly believe something you hear from three sources you trust.
    This is unfortunately true. Our Blessed Author Of Many Names believes things that rich high people tell him at parties. Which is worrying.
    At least I get to go to the parties
    I'm not sure that's an advantage, but to each his own
  • CorrectHorseBatCorrectHorseBat Posts: 1,761
    Rishi Sunak is good.

    The problem is that he's not any better than SKS. But SKS doesn't have thirteen years of failure.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 51,177

    ping said:

    This makes me more and more angry.

    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/drugs-kingpin-who-planned-flood-26999629

    Unless it’s a cover to protect other sources, why did it take the french and dutch police to catch him out, before the British police bought him to justice?

    There should be fucking riots on the streets about this. The conservatives did this to us. How fucking dare they?

    I enabled this man, with my Tory vote back in 2012. I won’t make the same mistake again.

    The article says that it makes no suggestion his mother was aware of her son’s criminal activities. What is your reason for blaming the Tories for the failure of the police?
    He's making the not unreasonable assumption that Mum is likely to have known something.

    Not sure where the connection with the Tories comes from though. Seems to me the malaise in the Police Force goes back more than thirteen years and has structural origins that appear to be beyond all Parties.
    Without evidence that’s quite close to accusing her of criminal neglect in demonstrating favouritism. She is is responsible for the police in her area.

    Having experienced the parent-child dynamic, it would have been remarkable if she had known.

    Son has a business, seems to be doing well. You don’t run an audit on family….
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,591

    Ominous for Trump?

    Trump issues an urgent demand yesterday not to impeach Ken Paxton, which was read on the Floor by a Member before the vote, and virtually the entire Texas Republican House just ignored him.


    https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1662847462476750850

    Not in itself but more intriguingly, Trump must have known that would happen, so is he playing 4d-chess or is his judgement deteriorating?
    He is getting a bit one note - railing against the Texas House of Representatives as being full of RINOs, that sort of thing.
  • solarflaresolarflare Posts: 3,752

    Nigelb said:

    A useful lesson - for now.
    For how much longer is an open question.

    https://twitter.com/cwhowell123/status/1662501821133254656
    So I followed @GaryMarcus's suggestion and had my undergrad class use ChatGPT for a critical assignment. I had them all generate an essay using a prompt I gave them, and then their job was to "grade" it--look for hallucinated info and critique its analysis. *All 63* essays had hallucinated information. Fake quotes, fake sources, or real sources misunderstood and mischaracterized. Every single assignment. I was stunned--I figured the rate would be high, but not that high.

    The biggest takeaway from this was that the students all learned that it isn't fully reliable. Before doing it, many of them were under the impression it was always right. Their feedback largely focused on how shocked they were that it could mislead them. Probably 50% of them were unaware it could do this. All of them expressed fears and concerns about mental atrophy and the possibility for misinformation/fake news. One student was worried that their neural pathways formed from critical thinking would start to degrade or weaken...


    A good example of why I do not waste 30 seconds on using AI. I am far more concerned about some idiot putting this faulty cr*p into one of Boston Dynamics's killer robots...
    As long as the killer robots are only writing shite essays, we'll be fine!
  • nico679nico679 Posts: 6,277
    Erdogan wins a free but not fair election .

    With 90% of the media in his corner it was always an uphill struggle for the opposition. Unless Erdogan can get a change to the constitution then this will be his last term .
  • VerulamiusVerulamius Posts: 1,550
    Nigelb said:

    kjh said:

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    Leon said:

    If all goes well, in about a year you will all learn what these people were doing in the Balearics because it will be in the news

    Potentially it will be seriously headline news

    Its the same thing people that do Davos every year. People with status getting a special glow from each other for being part of an exclusive, luxury event.
    No, it really isn't. There were Davos types there - I don't deny it - but the purpose was much more exciting and forensic than just waffling away about ecology and trade
    It's easy to mock you, and there's obviously an element of sour grapes, because I am sure it was far more glamorous than most other peoples' weekends. However, I must say it does all just sound a little sad. Anyway, glad you're there to report back to us, and that you're enjoying it.
    Oh I don't know, I nearly saw a fight break out between a ukulele band and the Punch and Judy act who were drowning each other out.
    I went to a performance of Missa Solemnis.
    Not dissimilar to Leon's experience (and perhaps yours), as it's very loud, and more than a little bit mad.

    Not all that often performed these days.
    An enjoyable but exhausting sing.

    Performed it twice so far, would like to again.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,591

    Rishi Sunak is good.

    The problem is that he's not any better than SKS. But SKS doesn't have thirteen years of failure.

    That's a pretty decent summary. Or, if people prefer, 13 years of baggage to defend vs only a few years.
  • Peter_the_PunterPeter_the_Punter Posts: 14,477

    ping said:

    This makes me more and more angry.

    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/drugs-kingpin-who-planned-flood-26999629

    Unless it’s a cover to protect other sources, why did it take the french and dutch police to catch him out, before the British police bought him to justice?

    There should be fucking riots on the streets about this. The conservatives did this to us. How fucking dare they?

    I enabled this man, with my Tory vote back in 2012. I won’t make the same mistake again.

    The article says that it makes no suggestion his mother was aware of her son’s criminal activities. What is your reason for blaming the Tories for the failure of the police?
    He's making the not unreasonable assumption that Mum is likely to have known something.

    Not sure where the connection with the Tories comes from though. Seems to me the malaise in the Police Force goes back more than thirteen years and has structural origins that appear to be beyond all Parties.
    Without evidence that’s quite close to accusing her of criminal neglect in demonstrating favouritism. She is is responsible for the police in her area.

    Evidence?

    The report gives ample evidence of the kind of lifestyle that is unlikely to have been funded by a successful furniture removal business. That's not proof, of course, but a reasonable suspicion that Mum might have had her suspicions? That's not exactly stretching it.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,156
    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Farooq said:

    Leon said:

    I've just spent the weekend in Ibiza with a mad array of super intelligent people, from billionaire investors to maverick bohemian psychonauts to world famous real estate developers to UN policy wonks with too much money

    They are ALL obsessed with AI. Everyone

    AI-wise, we're near the Peak of Inflated Expectations right now. Soon, we'll be in the Trough of Disillusionment.
    Others demur


    "Elon Musk has warned that in the next two to three decades, artificial intelligence will change society so much that it will go beyond recognition. He also predicts that the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) is not far away, possibly only three to six years"

    https://twitter.com/LucySyarahlyana/status/1662791952402726912?s=20
    The solution is probably to let him have more money and power, and stop interferring with his businesses I bet.
    It is hard to place too much credibility in Elon Musk given the number of wrong predictions he has made to date and recent events has shown him to have wildly poor judgment.
    it doesn't really matter whether you believe Musk or not

    The fact is - as my experience in Ibiza revealed - people who are paid to think and make predictions about this stuff, or people who have so much money they can influence or benefit from this stuff, to people who are free thinking weirdos with massive Twitter followings, are all OBSESSED with AI

    It was like being parachuted into my intellectual home. My kind of dudes. AI, AI, AI - then some more excellent wine - then back to AI
    You haven't told us why they're obsessed with AI.
    Because they all think it is about to transform human society in multiple ways. Some are excited and optimistic, some are excited and pessimistic. But they are all excited and obsessed
    I admit I have a mix of 'whoa - cool.' and 'dear god, stop' when I see things like this being published :

    https://twitter.com/ZijiaoC/status/1660470518569639937

    "🧵🧠 We're witnessing incredible scientific progress in image & text reconstruction from fMRI nowadays. But what about reconstructing video from fMRI? Allow me to introduce our recent preprint: Mind-Video "
    Jeez. They are making those videos by scanning brains?!
    Yeah - train the model for 24hrs before hand on the person in question. Then reconstruct away to their hearts content 'live' from the signals in their visual cortex from the fMRI scanner.

    Not sure how much training they'll need to get a more universal model. Or if we'll find out that everyone is actually unique (which might be more interesting).
    This is a plot device - IIRC - of “Quatermass and the Pit” - scanning brains and turning thoughts into images and videos

    At the time I watched it, this was one of the most far fetched elements in a very speculative movie. Yet now: here it is

    We are living at an incredible moment when sci-fi becomes real in multiple ways
    If you've not seen it there's a 90s film by Wim Wenders that explores a lot of the issues (and takes a rather darker turn towards the end).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Until_the_End_of_the_World

    Death's Door by Depeche Mode was on the soundtrack :)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iyZRt_6V54
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,476
    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Farooq said:

    Leon said:

    I've just spent the weekend in Ibiza with a mad array of super intelligent people, from billionaire investors to maverick bohemian psychonauts to world famous real estate developers to UN policy wonks with too much money

    They are ALL obsessed with AI. Everyone

    AI-wise, we're near the Peak of Inflated Expectations right now. Soon, we'll be in the Trough of Disillusionment.
    Others demur


    "Elon Musk has warned that in the next two to three decades, artificial intelligence will change society so much that it will go beyond recognition. He also predicts that the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) is not far away, possibly only three to six years"

    https://twitter.com/LucySyarahlyana/status/1662791952402726912?s=20
    The solution is probably to let him have more money and power, and stop interferring with his businesses I bet.
    It is hard to place too much credibility in Elon Musk given the number of wrong predictions he has made to date and recent events has shown him to have wildly poor judgment.
    it doesn't really matter whether you believe Musk or not

    The fact is - as my experience in Ibiza revealed - people who are paid to think and make predictions about this stuff, or people who have so much money they can influence or benefit from this stuff, to people who are free thinking weirdos with massive Twitter followings, are all OBSESSED with AI

    It was like being parachuted into my intellectual home. My kind of dudes. AI, AI, AI - then some more excellent wine - then back to AI
    You haven't told us why they're obsessed with AI.
    Because they all think it is about to transform human society in multiple ways. Some are excited and optimistic, some are excited and pessimistic. But they are all excited and obsessed
    I admit I have a mix of 'whoa - cool.' and 'dear god, stop' when I see things like this being published :

    https://twitter.com/ZijiaoC/status/1660470518569639937

    "🧵🧠 We're witnessing incredible scientific progress in image & text reconstruction from fMRI nowadays. But what about reconstructing video from fMRI? Allow me to introduce our recent preprint: Mind-Video "
    Jeez. They are making those videos by scanning brains?!
    Yeah - train the model for 24hrs before hand on the person in question. Then reconstruct away to their hearts content 'live' from the signals in their visual cortex from the fMRI scanner.

    Not sure how much training they'll need to get a more universal model. Or if we'll find out that everyone is actually unique (which might be more interesting).
    This is a plot device - IIRC - of “Quatermass and the Pit” - scanning brains and turning thoughts into images and videos

    At the time I watched it, this was one of the most far fetched elements in a very speculative movie. Yet now: here it is

    We are living at an incredible moment when sci-fi becomes real in multiple ways
    If you've not seen it there's a 90s film by Wim Wenders that explores a lot of the issues (and takes a rather darker turn towards the end).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Until_the_End_of_the_World

    The state - or mega corporations with advanced AI - will literally be able to read your thoughts

    It’s not hard to see that taking a darker turn

    😱
    Oh God, yes!

    There is no way I’d want to read your thoughts! 🫣🤮

  • LeonLeon Posts: 56,606

    Nigelb said:

    kjh said:

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    Leon said:

    If all goes well, in about a year you will all learn what these people were doing in the Balearics because it will be in the news

    Potentially it will be seriously headline news

    Its the same thing people that do Davos every year. People with status getting a special glow from each other for being part of an exclusive, luxury event.
    No, it really isn't. There were Davos types there - I don't deny it - but the purpose was much more exciting and forensic than just waffling away about ecology and trade
    It's easy to mock you, and there's obviously an element of sour grapes, because I am sure it was far more glamorous than most other peoples' weekends. However, I must say it does all just sound a little sad. Anyway, glad you're there to report back to us, and that you're enjoying it.
    Oh I don't know, I nearly saw a fight break out between a ukulele band and the Punch and Judy act who were drowning each other out.
    I went to a performance of Missa Solemnis.
    Not dissimilar to Leon's experience (and perhaps yours), as it's very loud, and more than a little bit mad.

    Not all that often performed these days.
    An enjoyable but exhausting sing.

    Performed it twice so far, would like to again.
    Missa Solemnis is about half an hour too long. Needs editing. But it contains some of the greatest music ever written

  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,591

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Farooq said:

    Leon said:

    I've just spent the weekend in Ibiza with a mad array of super intelligent people, from billionaire investors to maverick bohemian psychonauts to world famous real estate developers to UN policy wonks with too much money

    They are ALL obsessed with AI. Everyone

    AI-wise, we're near the Peak of Inflated Expectations right now. Soon, we'll be in the Trough of Disillusionment.
    Others demur


    "Elon Musk has warned that in the next two to three decades, artificial intelligence will change society so much that it will go beyond recognition. He also predicts that the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) is not far away, possibly only three to six years"

    https://twitter.com/LucySyarahlyana/status/1662791952402726912?s=20
    The solution is probably to let him have more money and power, and stop interferring with his businesses I bet.
    It is hard to place too much credibility in Elon Musk given the number of wrong predictions he has made to date and recent events has shown him to have wildly poor judgment.
    it doesn't really matter whether you believe Musk or not

    The fact is - as my experience in Ibiza revealed - people who are paid to think and make predictions about this stuff, or people who have so much money they can influence or benefit from this stuff, to people who are free thinking weirdos with massive Twitter followings, are all OBSESSED with AI

    It was like being parachuted into my intellectual home. My kind of dudes. AI, AI, AI - then some more excellent wine - then back to AI
    You haven't told us why they're obsessed with AI.
    Because they all think it is about to transform human society in multiple ways. Some are excited and optimistic, some are excited and pessimistic. But they are all excited and obsessed
    I admit I have a mix of 'whoa - cool.' and 'dear god, stop' when I see things like this being published :

    https://twitter.com/ZijiaoC/status/1660470518569639937

    "🧵🧠 We're witnessing incredible scientific progress in image & text reconstruction from fMRI nowadays. But what about reconstructing video from fMRI? Allow me to introduce our recent preprint: Mind-Video "
    Jeez. They are making those videos by scanning brains?!
    Yeah - train the model for 24hrs before hand on the person in question. Then reconstruct away to their hearts content 'live' from the signals in their visual cortex from the fMRI scanner.

    Not sure how much training they'll need to get a more universal model. Or if we'll find out that everyone is actually unique (which might be more interesting).
    This is a plot device - IIRC - of “Quatermass and the Pit” - scanning brains and turning thoughts into images and videos

    At the time I watched it, this was one of the most far fetched elements in a very speculative movie. Yet now: here it is

    We are living at an incredible moment when sci-fi becomes real in multiple ways
    If you've not seen it there's a 90s film by Wim Wenders that explores a lot of the issues (and takes a rather darker turn towards the end).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Until_the_End_of_the_World

    The state - or mega corporations with advanced AI - will literally be able to read your thoughts

    It’s not hard to see that taking a darker turn

    😱
    Oh God, yes!

    There is no way I’d want to read your thoughts! 🫣🤮

    I think we get those produced on here without a filter already.
  • FishingFishing Posts: 5,136

    ydoethur said:

    The AfD are approaching second place in the German polls.

    image

    One thought that does occur to me about Starmer is pretty much every other soft left wing European party seems to be either on the defensive or actively imploding with its votes haemorrhaging off to other parties, as we see here with the SPD. Labour isn't.

    Sure, it may have been lucky the obvious alternatives in the LDs and SNP decided to self-immolate in spectacular fashion. But it's still an interesting bucking of the general trend.

    And it's not so long ago that Labour were part of it, as well.
    Labour were in pole position as far as exploding left of centre organisations were concerned. I am old enough to remember December 2019.
    Yes. They have been saved by a combination of

    - dishonesty: a leader who served in the Shadow Cabinet then ran for office pledging extreme left-wing policies, then chucking them down the toilet as soon as he could
    - opportunism: adopting policies just right-wing enough to be vaguely plausible to commentators and the market, doubtless without really intending to implement any more of them than they absolutely have to
    - cowardice: abject surrenders to the trans mob, BLM, or whatever the loudest mob on Twitter are saying that day.

    Of course, it worked for Blair, and, sadly, given a relatively favourable press and their opponents' blunders, these might just be enough to win next time.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,721
    Pulpstar said:

    dixiedean said:

    Leon said:

    Everton surviving. Boring

    We sure are.
    Guilty on both counts.
    Leicester's finances are far worse than Everton iirc. Everton near enough cert to go straight back up whereas Leicester might turn into another QPR type side.
    So I'd prefer Leicester to go down.
    That’s a bit hard on Foxy!
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 72,281

    ping said:

    This makes me more and more angry.

    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/drugs-kingpin-who-planned-flood-26999629

    Unless it’s a cover to protect other sources, why did it take the french and dutch police to catch him out, before the British police bought him to justice?

    There should be fucking riots on the streets about this. The conservatives did this to us. How fucking dare they?

    I enabled this man, with my Tory vote back in 2012. I won’t make the same mistake again.

    The article says that it makes no suggestion his mother was aware of her son’s criminal activities. What is your reason for blaming the Tories for the failure of the police?
    He's making the not unreasonable assumption that Mum is likely to have known something.

    Not sure where the connection with the Tories comes from though. Seems to me the malaise in the Police Force goes back more than thirteen years and has structural origins that appear to be beyond all Parties.
    Without evidence that’s quite close to accusing her of criminal neglect in demonstrating favouritism. She is is responsible for the police in her area.

    Having experienced the parent-child dynamic, it would have been remarkable if she had known.

    Son has a business, seems to be doing well. You don’t run an audit on family….
    "Pretending to run a furniture removal business". .. She had to be either exceptionally incurious and trusting, or rather thick.

    Perhaps not the ideal person to occupy the post she did.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,981
    Pulpstar said:

    dixiedean said:

    Leon said:

    Everton surviving. Boring

    We sure are.
    Guilty on both counts.
    Leicester's finances are far worse than Everton iirc. Everton near enough cert to go straight back up whereas Leicester might turn into another QPR type side.
    So I'd prefer Leicester to go down.
    Have you seen Everton's accounts?

    Going concern warning on the last accounts.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,476
    DougSeal said:

    Leon said:

    DougSeal said:

    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    kjh said:

    Leon said:

    kjh said:

    Leon said:

    kjh said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    Leon said:

    If all goes well, in about a year you will all learn what these people were doing in the Balearics because it will be in the news

    Potentially it will be seriously headline news

    Its the same thing people that do Davos every year. People with status getting a special glow from each other for being part of an exclusive, luxury event.
    No, it really isn't. There were Davos types there - I don't deny it - but the purpose was much more exciting and forensic than just waffling away about ecology and trade
    It's easy to mock you, and there's obviously an element of sour grapes, because I am sure it was far more glamorous than most other peoples' weekends. However, I must say it does all just sound a little sad. Anyway, glad you're there to report back to us, and that you're enjoying it.
    I genuinely wish I could tell you the purpose of the gathering. It is the opposite of "sad". It is one of the most compelling, uplifting and intriguing endeavours I have ever encountered. It is absolutely extraordinary. A proper mind fuck. Off the dial

    But I can't tell you for multiple reasons and so I will have to allow your opinions to go unchallenged. Hopefully some time in the next 6-18 months I will be able to say: Yeah, that was it, that's the Thing

    If it all fails, I shall just pretend I never said any of this

    Why can't you tell us? Are you working for MI5 now? And re your other post how is it forensic?
    Because I've agreed to stay shtoom (as have others) - that's part of the price for joining the endeavour

    It is the single most interesting project I have ever been engaged with, by some margin. It leads to hair-raising conversations in taxis across Majorca, where world changing stuff is casually discussed
    So we need to ask a taxi driver then?
    Not when they are self driving

    HINT
    Well if that is it I don't think that is far off. I was gobsmaked by what my new car can do. I can park it while not in the car and it self steers while doing so.. It brakes if it detects a possible collision in front of if I pull out into traffic. It corrects the steering (which is annoying). I can give it verbal commands, eg open the boot. Etc. I mean that isn't far off is it?
    Take that and read across to......

    GAH

    I really can't say. It is bigger than that. Is all

    I accept that this all sounds like delusional wank so I will shut up
    Yes, probably best because it sounds like you've been entrusted with something huge.
    Thanks. At least SOMEONE understands

    Imagine if you were privy to a secret which could change your lifelong world of chartered accountancy forever, you’d be bursting to tell everyone

    But you’ve sworn to keep it under wraps. Painful
    Indeed. If there was a secret I wanted to keep I’d certainly entrust it to a travel journalist whose main hobbies include drinking and posting on a political message board.
    Have I revealed anything? Nope
    You’ve revealed that there is a secret. Not exactly tradecraft is it?
    Wrong analysis. You’ve made an important assumption without validating it.

    Assuming @Leon ia being truthful, all we know for sure is that he was *told* there is a secret
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,476

    ping said:

    This makes me more and more angry.

    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/drugs-kingpin-who-planned-flood-26999629

    Unless it’s a cover to protect other sources, why did it take the french and dutch police to catch him out, before the British police bought him to justice?

    There should be fucking riots on the streets about this. The conservatives did this to us. How fucking dare they?

    I enabled this man, with my Tory vote back in 2012. I won’t make the same mistake again.

    The article says that it makes no suggestion his mother was aware of her son’s criminal activities. What is your reason for blaming the Tories for the failure of the police?
    He's making the not unreasonable assumption that Mum is likely to have known something.

    Not sure where the connection with the Tories comes from though. Seems to me the malaise in the Police Force goes back more than thirteen years and has structural origins that appear to be beyond all Parties.
    Without evidence that’s quite close to accusing her of criminal neglect in demonstrating favouritism. She is is responsible for the police in her area.

    Having experienced the parent-child dynamic, it would have been remarkable if she had known.

    Son has a business, seems to be doing well. You don’t run an audit on family….
    @kinabalu might…
  • CorrectHorseBatCorrectHorseBat Posts: 1,761
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-12132385/WES-STREETING-real-reason-immigration-control.html

    Labour has found a niche on immigration and they are leaning into it.

    I hate the Daily Mail
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 72,281

    Nigelb said:

    kjh said:

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    Leon said:

    If all goes well, in about a year you will all learn what these people were doing in the Balearics because it will be in the news

    Potentially it will be seriously headline news

    Its the same thing people that do Davos every year. People with status getting a special glow from each other for being part of an exclusive, luxury event.
    No, it really isn't. There were Davos types there - I don't deny it - but the purpose was much more exciting and forensic than just waffling away about ecology and trade
    It's easy to mock you, and there's obviously an element of sour grapes, because I am sure it was far more glamorous than most other peoples' weekends. However, I must say it does all just sound a little sad. Anyway, glad you're there to report back to us, and that you're enjoying it.
    Oh I don't know, I nearly saw a fight break out between a ukulele band and the Punch and Judy act who were drowning each other out.
    I went to a performance of Missa Solemnis.
    Not dissimilar to Leon's experience (and perhaps yours), as it's very loud, and more than a little bit mad.

    Not all that often performed these days.
    An enjoyable but exhausting sing.

    Performed it twice so far, would like to again.
    The tenor (Andrew Staples) was well up for the challenge. Tremendous voice.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,476

    ping said:

    This makes me more and more angry.

    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/drugs-kingpin-who-planned-flood-26999629

    Unless it’s a cover to protect other sources, why did it take the french and dutch police to catch him out, before the British police bought him to justice?

    There should be fucking riots on the streets about this. The conservatives did this to us. How fucking dare they?

    I enabled this man, with my Tory vote back in 2012. I won’t make the same mistake again.

    The article says that it makes no suggestion his mother was aware of her son’s criminal activities. What is your reason for blaming the Tories for the failure of the police?
    He's making the not unreasonable assumption that Mum is likely to have known something.

    Not sure where the connection with the Tories comes from though. Seems to me the malaise in the Police Force goes back more than thirteen years and has structural origins that appear to be beyond all Parties.
    Without evidence that’s quite close to accusing her of criminal neglect in demonstrating favouritism. She is is responsible for the police in her area.

    Evidence?

    The report gives ample evidence of the kind of lifestyle that is unlikely to have been funded by a successful furniture removal business. That's not proof, of course, but a reasonable suspicion that Mum might have had her suspicions? That's not exactly stretching it.
    The problem is she is part of the law enforcement hierarchy. She has a duty to report suspicions. Failure to do so would be criminal neglect - what @ping is implicitly accusing her of
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,476
    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Farooq said:

    Leon said:

    I've just spent the weekend in Ibiza with a mad array of super intelligent people, from billionaire investors to maverick bohemian psychonauts to world famous real estate developers to UN policy wonks with too much money

    They are ALL obsessed with AI. Everyone

    AI-wise, we're near the Peak of Inflated Expectations right now. Soon, we'll be in the Trough of Disillusionment.
    Others demur


    "Elon Musk has warned that in the next two to three decades, artificial intelligence will change society so much that it will go beyond recognition. He also predicts that the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) is not far away, possibly only three to six years"

    https://twitter.com/LucySyarahlyana/status/1662791952402726912?s=20
    The solution is probably to let him have more money and power, and stop interferring with his businesses I bet.
    It is hard to place too much credibility in Elon Musk given the number of wrong predictions he has made to date and recent events has shown him to have wildly poor judgment.
    it doesn't really matter whether you believe Musk or not

    The fact is - as my experience in Ibiza revealed - people who are paid to think and make predictions about this stuff, or people who have so much money they can influence or benefit from this stuff, to people who are free thinking weirdos with massive Twitter followings, are all OBSESSED with AI

    It was like being parachuted into my intellectual home. My kind of dudes. AI, AI, AI - then some more excellent wine - then back to AI
    You haven't told us why they're obsessed with AI.
    Because they all think it is about to transform human society in multiple ways. Some are excited and optimistic, some are excited and pessimistic. But they are all excited and obsessed
    I admit I have a mix of 'whoa - cool.' and 'dear god, stop' when I see things like this being published :

    https://twitter.com/ZijiaoC/status/1660470518569639937

    "🧵🧠 We're witnessing incredible scientific progress in image & text reconstruction from fMRI nowadays. But what about reconstructing video from fMRI? Allow me to introduce our recent preprint: Mind-Video "
    Jeez. They are making those videos by scanning brains?!
    Yeah - train the model for 24hrs before hand on the person in question. Then reconstruct away to their hearts content 'live' from the signals in their visual cortex from the fMRI scanner.

    Not sure how much training they'll need to get a more universal model. Or if we'll find out that everyone is actually unique (which might be more interesting).
    This is a plot device - IIRC - of “Quatermass and the Pit” - scanning brains and turning thoughts into images and videos

    At the time I watched it, this was one of the most far fetched elements in a very speculative movie. Yet now: here it is

    We are living at an incredible moment when sci-fi becomes real in multiple ways
    If you've not seen it there's a 90s film by Wim Wenders that explores a lot of the issues (and takes a rather darker turn towards the end).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Until_the_End_of_the_World

    The state - or mega corporations with advanced AI - will literally be able to read your thoughts

    It’s not hard to see that taking a darker turn

    😱
    Oh God, yes!

    There is no way I’d want to read your thoughts! 🫣🤮

    I think we get those produced on here without a filter already.
    But what if this *is* the filtered version?!

  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 72,281

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Farooq said:

    Leon said:

    I've just spent the weekend in Ibiza with a mad array of super intelligent people, from billionaire investors to maverick bohemian psychonauts to world famous real estate developers to UN policy wonks with too much money

    They are ALL obsessed with AI. Everyone

    AI-wise, we're near the Peak of Inflated Expectations right now. Soon, we'll be in the Trough of Disillusionment.
    Others demur


    "Elon Musk has warned that in the next two to three decades, artificial intelligence will change society so much that it will go beyond recognition. He also predicts that the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) is not far away, possibly only three to six years"

    https://twitter.com/LucySyarahlyana/status/1662791952402726912?s=20
    The solution is probably to let him have more money and power, and stop interferring with his businesses I bet.
    It is hard to place too much credibility in Elon Musk given the number of wrong predictions he has made to date and recent events has shown him to have wildly poor judgment.
    it doesn't really matter whether you believe Musk or not

    The fact is - as my experience in Ibiza revealed - people who are paid to think and make predictions about this stuff, or people who have so much money they can influence or benefit from this stuff, to people who are free thinking weirdos with massive Twitter followings, are all OBSESSED with AI

    It was like being parachuted into my intellectual home. My kind of dudes. AI, AI, AI - then some more excellent wine - then back to AI
    You haven't told us why they're obsessed with AI.
    Because they all think it is about to transform human society in multiple ways. Some are excited and optimistic, some are excited and pessimistic. But they are all excited and obsessed
    I admit I have a mix of 'whoa - cool.' and 'dear god, stop' when I see things like this being published :

    https://twitter.com/ZijiaoC/status/1660470518569639937

    "🧵🧠 We're witnessing incredible scientific progress in image & text reconstruction from fMRI nowadays. But what about reconstructing video from fMRI? Allow me to introduce our recent preprint: Mind-Video "
    Jeez. They are making those videos by scanning brains?!
    Yeah - train the model for 24hrs before hand on the person in question. Then reconstruct away to their hearts content 'live' from the signals in their visual cortex from the fMRI scanner.

    Not sure how much training they'll need to get a more universal model. Or if we'll find out that everyone is actually unique (which might be more interesting).
    This is a plot device - IIRC - of “Quatermass and the Pit” - scanning brains and turning thoughts into images and videos

    At the time I watched it, this was one of the most far fetched elements in a very speculative movie. Yet now: here it is

    We are living at an incredible moment when sci-fi becomes real in multiple ways
    If you've not seen it there's a 90s film by Wim Wenders that explores a lot of the issues (and takes a rather darker turn towards the end).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Until_the_End_of_the_World

    The state - or mega corporations with advanced AI - will literally be able to read your thoughts

    It’s not hard to see that taking a darker turn

    😱
    Oh God, yes!

    There is no way I’d want to read your thoughts! 🫣🤮

    I think we get those produced on here without a filter already.
    But what if this *is* the filtered version?!

    Then I'd be afraid for the mind reading AI.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,424
    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Farooq said:

    Leon said:

    I've just spent the weekend in Ibiza with a mad array of super intelligent people, from billionaire investors to maverick bohemian psychonauts to world famous real estate developers to UN policy wonks with too much money

    They are ALL obsessed with AI. Everyone

    AI-wise, we're near the Peak of Inflated Expectations right now. Soon, we'll be in the Trough of Disillusionment.
    Others demur


    "Elon Musk has warned that in the next two to three decades, artificial intelligence will change society so much that it will go beyond recognition. He also predicts that the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) is not far away, possibly only three to six years"

    https://twitter.com/LucySyarahlyana/status/1662791952402726912?s=20
    The solution is probably to let him have more money and power, and stop interferring with his businesses I bet.
    It is hard to place too much credibility in Elon Musk given the number of wrong predictions he has made to date and recent events has shown him to have wildly poor judgment.
    it doesn't really matter whether you believe Musk or not

    The fact is - as my experience in Ibiza revealed - people who are paid to think and make predictions about this stuff, or people who have so much money they can influence or benefit from this stuff, to people who are free thinking weirdos with massive Twitter followings, are all OBSESSED with AI

    It was like being parachuted into my intellectual home. My kind of dudes. AI, AI, AI - then some more excellent wine - then back to AI
    You haven't told us why they're obsessed with AI.
    Because they all think it is about to transform human society in multiple ways. Some are excited and optimistic, some are excited and pessimistic. But they are all excited and obsessed
    I admit I have a mix of 'whoa - cool.' and 'dear god, stop' when I see things like this being published :

    https://twitter.com/ZijiaoC/status/1660470518569639937

    "🧵🧠 We're witnessing incredible scientific progress in image & text reconstruction from fMRI nowadays. But what about reconstructing video from fMRI? Allow me to introduce our recent preprint: Mind-Video "
    Jeez. They are making those videos by scanning brains?!
    Yeah - train the model for 24hrs before hand on the person in question. Then reconstruct away to their hearts content 'live' from the signals in their visual cortex from the fMRI scanner.

    Not sure how much training they'll need to get a more universal model. Or if we'll find out that everyone is actually unique (which might be more interesting).
    This is a plot device - IIRC - of “Quatermass and the Pit” - scanning brains and turning thoughts into images and videos

    At the time I watched it, this was one of the most far fetched elements in a very speculative movie. Yet now: here it is

    We are living at an incredible moment when sci-fi becomes real in multiple ways
    If you've not seen it there's a 90s film by Wim Wenders that explores a lot of the issues (and takes a rather darker turn towards the end).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Until_the_End_of_the_World

    The state - or mega corporations with advanced AI - will literally be able to read your thoughts

    It’s not hard to see that taking a darker turn

    😱
    So basically, Project Brainstorm
  • Peter_the_PunterPeter_the_Punter Posts: 14,477

    ping said:

    This makes me more and more angry.

    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/drugs-kingpin-who-planned-flood-26999629

    Unless it’s a cover to protect other sources, why did it take the french and dutch police to catch him out, before the British police bought him to justice?

    There should be fucking riots on the streets about this. The conservatives did this to us. How fucking dare they?

    I enabled this man, with my Tory vote back in 2012. I won’t make the same mistake again.

    The article says that it makes no suggestion his mother was aware of her son’s criminal activities. What is your reason for blaming the Tories for the failure of the police?
    He's making the not unreasonable assumption that Mum is likely to have known something.

    Not sure where the connection with the Tories comes from though. Seems to me the malaise in the Police Force goes back more than thirteen years and has structural origins that appear to be beyond all Parties.
    Without evidence that’s quite close to accusing her of criminal neglect in demonstrating favouritism. She is is responsible for the police in her area.

    Evidence?

    The report gives ample evidence of the kind of lifestyle that is unlikely to have been funded by a successful furniture removal business. That's not proof, of course, but a reasonable suspicion that Mum might have had her suspicions? That's not exactly stretching it.
    The problem is she is part of the law enforcement hierarchy. She has a duty to report suspicions. Failure to do so would be criminal neglect - what @ping is implicitly accusing her of
    Suspecting, not accusing. It's not an unreasonable thought in the circumstances.
  • BlancheLivermoreBlancheLivermore Posts: 6,015

    ping said:

    This makes me more and more angry.

    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/drugs-kingpin-who-planned-flood-26999629

    Unless it’s a cover to protect other sources, why did it take the french and dutch police to catch him out, before the British police bought him to justice?

    There should be fucking riots on the streets about this. The conservatives did this to us. How fucking dare they?

    I enabled this man, with my Tory vote back in 2012. I won’t make the same mistake again.

    The article says that it makes no suggestion his mother was aware of her son’s criminal activities. What is your reason for blaming the Tories for the failure of the police?
    He's making the not unreasonable assumption that Mum is likely to have known something.

    Not sure where the connection with the Tories comes from though. Seems to me the malaise in the Police Force goes back more than thirteen years and has structural origins that appear to be beyond all Parties.
    Without evidence that’s quite close to accusing her of criminal neglect in demonstrating favouritism. She is is responsible for the police in her area.

    Evidence?

    The report gives ample evidence of the kind of lifestyle that is unlikely to have been funded by a successful furniture removal business. That's not proof, of course, but a reasonable suspicion that Mum might have had her suspicions? That's not exactly stretching it.
    The problem is she is part of the law enforcement hierarchy. She has a duty to report suspicions. Failure to do so would be criminal neglect - what @ping is implicitly accusing her of
    Suspecting, not accusing. It's not an unreasonable thought in the circumstances.
    Still a fucking huge stretch to blame the drug smuggling on the Tories
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,481
    Jordan Pickford!
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,679
    Fishing said:

    ydoethur said:

    The AfD are approaching second place in the German polls.

    image

    One thought that does occur to me about Starmer is pretty much every other soft left wing European party seems to be either on the defensive or actively imploding with its votes haemorrhaging off to other parties, as we see here with the SPD. Labour isn't.

    Sure, it may have been lucky the obvious alternatives in the LDs and SNP decided to self-immolate in spectacular fashion. But it's still an interesting bucking of the general trend.

    And it's not so long ago that Labour were part of it, as well.
    Labour were in pole position as far as exploding left of centre organisations were concerned. I am old enough to remember December 2019.
    Yes. They have been saved by a combination of

    - dishonesty: a leader who served in the Shadow Cabinet then ran for office pledging extreme left-wing policies, then chucking them down the toilet as soon as he could
    - opportunism: adopting policies just right-wing enough to be vaguely plausible to commentators and the market, doubtless without really intending to implement any more of them than they absolutely have to
    - cowardice: abject surrenders to the trans mob, BLM, or whatever the loudest mob on Twitter are saying that day.

    Of course, it worked for Blair, and, sadly, given a relatively favourable press and their opponents' blunders, these might just be enough to win next time.
    Are all election victories down to dishonesty, opportunism and cowardice or just Labour ones?
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,476

    ping said:

    This makes me more and more angry.

    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/drugs-kingpin-who-planned-flood-26999629

    Unless it’s a cover to protect other sources, why did it take the french and dutch police to catch him out, before the British police bought him to justice?

    There should be fucking riots on the streets about this. The conservatives did this to us. How fucking dare they?

    I enabled this man, with my Tory vote back in 2012. I won’t make the same mistake again.

    The article says that it makes no suggestion his mother was aware of her son’s criminal activities. What is your reason for blaming the Tories for the failure of the police?
    He's making the not unreasonable assumption that Mum is likely to have known something.

    Not sure where the connection with the Tories comes from though. Seems to me the malaise in the Police Force goes back more than thirteen years and has structural origins that appear to be beyond all Parties.
    Without evidence that’s quite close to accusing her of criminal neglect in demonstrating favouritism. She is is responsible for the police in her area.

    Evidence?

    The report gives ample evidence of the kind of lifestyle that is unlikely to have been funded by a successful furniture removal business. That's not proof, of course, but a reasonable suspicion that Mum might have had her suspicions? That's not exactly stretching it.
    The problem is she is part of the law enforcement hierarchy. She has a duty to report suspicions. Failure to do so would be criminal neglect - what @ping is implicitly accusing her of
    Suspecting, not accusing. It's not an unreasonable thought in the circumstances.
    Not where libel is concerned

  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,481
    We are staying up.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,657
    dixiedean said:

    We are staying up.

    Well done
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,156
    Everton stay up, Leicester, Leeds go down.
  • londonpubmanlondonpubman Posts: 3,640
    dixiedean said:

    We are staying up.

    Well done. Commiserations to @Foxy and @woolliedyed
  • Peter_the_PunterPeter_the_Punter Posts: 14,477

    ping said:

    This makes me more and more angry.

    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/drugs-kingpin-who-planned-flood-26999629

    Unless it’s a cover to protect other sources, why did it take the french and dutch police to catch him out, before the British police bought him to justice?

    There should be fucking riots on the streets about this. The conservatives did this to us. How fucking dare they?

    I enabled this man, with my Tory vote back in 2012. I won’t make the same mistake again.

    The article says that it makes no suggestion his mother was aware of her son’s criminal activities. What is your reason for blaming the Tories for the failure of the police?
    He's making the not unreasonable assumption that Mum is likely to have known something.

    Not sure where the connection with the Tories comes from though. Seems to me the malaise in the Police Force goes back more than thirteen years and has structural origins that appear to be beyond all Parties.
    Without evidence that’s quite close to accusing her of criminal neglect in demonstrating favouritism. She is is responsible for the police in her area.

    Evidence?

    The report gives ample evidence of the kind of lifestyle that is unlikely to have been funded by a successful furniture removal business. That's not proof, of course, but a reasonable suspicion that Mum might have had her suspicions? That's not exactly stretching it.
    The problem is she is part of the law enforcement hierarchy. She has a duty to report suspicions. Failure to do so would be criminal neglect - what @ping is implicitly accusing her of
    Suspecting, not accusing. It's not an unreasonable thought in the circumstances.
    Not where libel is concerned

    Who's been libelled? Where?

    Listen, if any of my kids had been living that kind of lifestyle without any obvious means of supporting it, I'd have been asking a few question - and I'm not especially suspicious, nor in a sensitive public role. Of course she may have been oblivious, but she couldn't be surprised if others wondered.


  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,914
    Fishing said:

    ydoethur said:

    The AfD are approaching second place in the German polls.

    image

    One thought that does occur to me about Starmer is pretty much every other soft left wing European party seems to be either on the defensive or actively imploding with its votes haemorrhaging off to other parties, as we see here with the SPD. Labour isn't.

    Sure, it may have been lucky the obvious alternatives in the LDs and SNP decided to self-immolate in spectacular fashion. But it's still an interesting bucking of the general trend.

    And it's not so long ago that Labour were part of it, as well.
    Labour were in pole position as far as exploding left of centre organisations were concerned. I am old enough to remember December 2019.
    Yes. They have been saved by a combination of

    - dishonesty: a leader who served in the Shadow Cabinet then ran for office pledging extreme left-wing policies, then chucking them down the toilet as soon as he could
    - opportunism: adopting policies just right-wing enough to be vaguely plausible to commentators and the market, doubtless without really intending to implement any more of them than they absolutely have to
    - cowardice: abject surrenders to the trans mob, BLM, or whatever the loudest mob on Twitter are saying that day.

    Of course, it worked for Blair, and, sadly, given a relatively favourable press and their opponents' blunders, these might just be enough to win next time.
    "Relatively favourable press"! You're having a giraffe. All but the Graun, Mirror and maybe the FT on Team Rishi, GBNews firmly on side with the little guy, and the Beeb always loyal to the incumbent, with ITN and Sky not so sure.
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541

    DougSeal said:

    Leon said:

    DougSeal said:

    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    kjh said:

    Leon said:

    kjh said:

    Leon said:

    kjh said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    Leon said:

    If all goes well, in about a year you will all learn what these people were doing in the Balearics because it will be in the news

    Potentially it will be seriously headline news

    Its the same thing people that do Davos every year. People with status getting a special glow from each other for being part of an exclusive, luxury event.
    No, it really isn't. There were Davos types there - I don't deny it - but the purpose was much more exciting and forensic than just waffling away about ecology and trade
    It's easy to mock you, and there's obviously an element of sour grapes, because I am sure it was far more glamorous than most other peoples' weekends. However, I must say it does all just sound a little sad. Anyway, glad you're there to report back to us, and that you're enjoying it.
    I genuinely wish I could tell you the purpose of the gathering. It is the opposite of "sad". It is one of the most compelling, uplifting and intriguing endeavours I have ever encountered. It is absolutely extraordinary. A proper mind fuck. Off the dial

    But I can't tell you for multiple reasons and so I will have to allow your opinions to go unchallenged. Hopefully some time in the next 6-18 months I will be able to say: Yeah, that was it, that's the Thing

    If it all fails, I shall just pretend I never said any of this

    Why can't you tell us? Are you working for MI5 now? And re your other post how is it forensic?
    Because I've agreed to stay shtoom (as have others) - that's part of the price for joining the endeavour

    It is the single most interesting project I have ever been engaged with, by some margin. It leads to hair-raising conversations in taxis across Majorca, where world changing stuff is casually discussed
    So we need to ask a taxi driver then?
    Not when they are self driving

    HINT
    Well if that is it I don't think that is far off. I was gobsmaked by what my new car can do. I can park it while not in the car and it self steers while doing so.. It brakes if it detects a possible collision in front of if I pull out into traffic. It corrects the steering (which is annoying). I can give it verbal commands, eg open the boot. Etc. I mean that isn't far off is it?
    Take that and read across to......

    GAH

    I really can't say. It is bigger than that. Is all

    I accept that this all sounds like delusional wank so I will shut up
    Yes, probably best because it sounds like you've been entrusted with something huge.
    Thanks. At least SOMEONE understands

    Imagine if you were privy to a secret which could change your lifelong world of chartered accountancy forever, you’d be bursting to tell everyone

    But you’ve sworn to keep it under wraps. Painful
    Indeed. If there was a secret I wanted to keep I’d certainly entrust it to a travel journalist whose main hobbies include drinking and posting on a political message board.
    Have I revealed anything? Nope
    You’ve revealed that there is a secret. Not exactly tradecraft is it?
    Wrong analysis. You’ve made an important assumption without validating it.

    Assuming @Leon ia being truthful, all we know for sure is that he was *told* there is a secret
    Fair. Makes sense too. If I wanted everyone to THINK there was a secret, Leon’s definitely who I’d tell.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 11,947

    kjh said:

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    Leon said:

    If all goes well, in about a year you will all learn what these people were doing in the Balearics because it will be in the news

    Potentially it will be seriously headline news

    Its the same thing people that do Davos every year. People with status getting a special glow from each other for being part of an exclusive, luxury event.
    No, it really isn't. There were Davos types there - I don't deny it - but the purpose was much more exciting and forensic than just waffling away about ecology and trade
    It's easy to mock you, and there's obviously an element of sour grapes, because I am sure it was far more glamorous than most other peoples' weekends. However, I must say it does all just sound a little sad. Anyway, glad you're there to report back to us, and that you're enjoying it.
    Oh I don't know, I nearly saw a fight break out between a ukulele band and the Punch and Judy act who were drowning each other out.
    Do you mean the fight happened and you nearly saw it? Or no fight actually happened, it just got close?

    The latter. The Punch and Judy man was being an arse, ringing his handbell next to the ukulele performance. The leader of the ukulele group confronted him. They then just tried to drown each other out. I believe Tom Cruise will be playing the leader of the ukulele group in the film adaptation.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,914

    Heathener said:

    felix said:

    Let's remember that Rishi was in Johnson's Cabinet from the beginning until vanishingly close to the end.

    Given that track record, what's the evidence that he can notice lack of integrity, unprofessionalism or unaccountability, let alone be able to do anything about them?

    And Starmer stuck with Corbyn right till the end......
    I'm less vexed about this than other things about Keir Starmer. I can see the point of working inside a cabinet or shadow cabinet to try and moderate it. I don't have a problem with that.

    I dislike Jeremy Corbyn's views on many issues but lack of integrity, flagrant dishonesty, and lying aren't his hallmarks. Which they are of the Conservative reprobates TSE wrote about.
    4 legs good, 2 legs bad
    I have read Animal Farm several times. Nonetheless I don't have a Scooby Doo as to what that post is telling me.
    It’s wrong for Sunak to serve in Johnson’s cabinet but ok for Starmer to sit in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet because… *reasons*

    @Heathener is saying it’s ok when her side does it

    Hence four legs good, two legs bad

    (And remember where it ended up)

    Well knock me down with a feather. If I had a pound for every time someone posted on here Starmer is unfit for office because he served in Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet, I could purchase several suitcases full of spirits from Tesco Metro.
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541
    My brother’s a huge Everton fan so glad they stayed up but a large part of me wonders if it might not have been better in the long term for them to have spent a season in the second tier. They would have come straight back up and the board needs a huge wake up call. This can’t go on.
  • CorrectHorseBatCorrectHorseBat Posts: 1,761
    Who cares what cabinet you sat in or anything else.

    This is very "New Labour New Danger" vibes.

    Sunak is the PM now, I care about what he is doing now. He's had 5+ years to think, he's not doing much now that he can.

    SKS is the LOTO now. I care about what he is doing now.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 11,491
    Farooq said:

    Leon said:

    I've just spent the weekend in Ibiza with a mad array of super intelligent people, from billionaire investors to maverick bohemian psychonauts to world famous real estate developers to UN policy wonks with too much money

    They are ALL obsessed with AI. Everyone

    AI-wise, we're near the Peak of Inflated Expectations right now. Soon, we'll be in the Trough of Disillusionment.
    Winter is coming? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_winter
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 72,281
    edited May 2023
    You'd hope so* at a million a pop.
    Hope they picked the targets well.

    Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov has announced that the long-range Storm Shadow missiles supplied by the UK hit 100% of the targets identified by the command...
    https://twitter.com/Hromadske/status/1662878781789417474

    *Unlike some more expensive Russian kit.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,045

    ping said:

    This makes me more and more angry.

    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/drugs-kingpin-who-planned-flood-26999629

    Unless it’s a cover to protect other sources, why did it take the french and dutch police to catch him out, before the British police bought him to justice?

    There should be fucking riots on the streets about this. The conservatives did this to us. How fucking dare they?

    I enabled this man, with my Tory vote back in 2012. I won’t make the same mistake again.

    The article says that it makes no suggestion his mother was aware of her son’s criminal activities. What is your reason for blaming the Tories for the failure of the police?
    He's making the not unreasonable assumption that Mum is likely to have known something.

    Not sure where the connection with the Tories comes from though. Seems to me the malaise in the Police Force goes back more than thirteen years and has structural origins that appear to be beyond all Parties.
    He knows nothing about the situation between parent and child. They could be completely estranged for all we know.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,591
    Nigelb said:

    You'd hope so* at a million a pop.
    Hope they picked the targets well.

    Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov has announced that the long-range Storm Shadow missiles supplied by the UK hit 100% of the targets identified by the command...
    https://twitter.com/Hromadske/status/1662878781789417474

    *Unlike some more expensive Russian kit.

    Can't think we have many of them to give, either. Hopefully more about unlocking willingness of the US to gift their presumably more numerous supplies.
  • Peter_the_PunterPeter_the_Punter Posts: 14,477
    DougSeal said:

    My brother’s a huge Everton fan so glad they stayed up but a large part of me wonders if it might not have been better in the long term for them to have spent a season in the second tier. They would have come straight back up and the board needs a huge wake up call. This can’t go on.

    Don't they have a stadium to finance, Doug? Difficult to do that from the Campionship, and rebuild a team at the same time.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 72,281

    Who cares what cabinet you sat in or anything else.

    This is very "New Labour New Danger" vibes.

    Sunak is the PM now, I care about what he is doing now. He's had 5+ years to think, he's not doing much now that he can....

    Managing to sit in the cabinets of three different administrations without an intervening election, let alone a spell in opposition, is quite *special*.
  • MiklosvarMiklosvar Posts: 1,855

    ping said:

    This makes me more and more angry.

    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/drugs-kingpin-who-planned-flood-26999629

    Unless it’s a cover to protect other sources, why did it take the french and dutch police to catch him out, before the British police bought him to justice?

    There should be fucking riots on the streets about this. The conservatives did this to us. How fucking dare they?

    I enabled this man, with my Tory vote back in 2012. I won’t make the same mistake again.

    The article says that it makes no suggestion his mother was aware of her son’s criminal activities. What is your reason for blaming the Tories for the failure of the police?
    He's making the not unreasonable assumption that Mum is likely to have known something.

    Not sure where the connection with the Tories comes from though. Seems to me the malaise in the Police Force goes back more than thirteen years and has structural origins that appear to be beyond all Parties.
    Without evidence that’s quite close to accusing her of criminal neglect in demonstrating favouritism. She is is responsible for the police in her area.

    Evidence?

    The report gives ample evidence of the kind of lifestyle that is unlikely to have been funded by a successful furniture removal business. That's not proof, of course, but a reasonable suspicion that Mum might have had her suspicions? That's not exactly stretching it.
    "...he jetted off to Dubai to drive Ferraris and live the high life. He flaunted expensive watches and even new teeth funded by crime." Smeary stuff. he wasn't parking a lambo with personal plates outside his mum's house, he was afawk hiring ferraris in dubai, and how would she know about that? You can get a new entry level rolex (leaving aside the shortage issues) and a set of veneers from a Turkish dentist for I would think 15k all in. If it was me, I would expect a successful furniture moving business to generate that sort of profit and think my son was a dick, not a criminal.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 4,034

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    Farooq said:

    Leon said:

    I've just spent the weekend in Ibiza with a mad array of super intelligent people, from billionaire investors to maverick bohemian psychonauts to world famous real estate developers to UN policy wonks with too much money

    They are ALL obsessed with AI. Everyone

    AI-wise, we're near the Peak of Inflated Expectations right now. Soon, we'll be in the Trough of Disillusionment.
    Others demur


    "Elon Musk has warned that in the next two to three decades, artificial intelligence will change society so much that it will go beyond recognition. He also predicts that the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) is not far away, possibly only three to six years"

    https://twitter.com/LucySyarahlyana/status/1662791952402726912?s=20
    The solution is probably to let him have more money and power, and stop interferring with his businesses I bet.
    It is hard to place too much credibility in Elon Musk given the number of wrong predictions he has made to date and recent events has shown him to have wildly poor judgment.
    it doesn't really matter whether you believe Musk or not

    The fact is - as my experience in Ibiza revealed - people who are paid to think and make predictions about this stuff, or people who have so much money they can influence or benefit from this stuff, to people who are free thinking weirdos with massive Twitter followings, are all OBSESSED with AI

    It was like being parachuted into my intellectual home. My kind of dudes. AI, AI, AI - then some more excellent wine - then back to AI
    You haven't told us why they're obsessed with AI.
    Because they all think it is about to transform human society in multiple ways. Some are excited and optimistic, some are excited and pessimistic. But they are all excited and obsessed
    I admit I have a mix of 'whoa - cool.' and 'dear god, stop' when I see things like this being published :

    https://twitter.com/ZijiaoC/status/1660470518569639937

    "🧵🧠 We're witnessing incredible scientific progress in image & text reconstruction from fMRI nowadays. But what about reconstructing video from fMRI? Allow me to introduce our recent preprint: Mind-Video "
    Jeez. They are making those videos by scanning brains?!
    Yeah - train the model for 24hrs before hand on the person in question. Then reconstruct away to their hearts content 'live' from the signals in their visual cortex from the fMRI scanner.

    Not sure how much training they'll need to get a more universal model. Or if we'll find out that everyone is actually unique (which might be more interesting).
    This is a plot device - IIRC - of “Quatermass and the Pit” - scanning brains and turning thoughts into images and videos

    At the time I watched it, this was one of the most far fetched elements in a very speculative movie. Yet now: here it is

    We are living at an incredible moment when sci-fi becomes real in multiple ways
    If you've not seen it there's a 90s film by Wim Wenders that explores a lot of the issues (and takes a rather darker turn towards the end).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Until_the_End_of_the_World

    Death's Door by Depeche Mode was on the soundtrack :)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iyZRt_6V54
    The soundtrack is quite something. Depeche Mode, U2, Talking Heads, Lou Reed, Julee Cruise - and my favourite KD Lang :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFQs1WEvgrI
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 72,281
    edited May 2023
    kle4 said:

    Nigelb said:

    You'd hope so* at a million a pop.
    Hope they picked the targets well.

    Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov has announced that the long-range Storm Shadow missiles supplied by the UK hit 100% of the targets identified by the command...
    https://twitter.com/Hromadske/status/1662878781789417474

    *Unlike some more expensive Russian kit.

    Can't think we have many of them to give, either. Hopefully more about unlocking willingness of the US to gift their presumably more numerous supplies.
    Several hundred.
    And they don't last forever.

    The French were said to have used some in Syria by choice because it cost too much to store their surplus missiles.

    https://www.iiss.org/online-analysis/online-analysis/2023/05/uk-to-supply-storm-shadow-missile-to-ukraine/
    ...The UK is supplying an unknown number of weapons, but the figure is likely small given that it has not recapitalised its LACM stockpile since receiving the first delivery of an estimated 900–1,000 missiles in 2003, despite usage in Iraq, Libya and Syria...
  • CookieCookie Posts: 14,081

    dixiedean said:

    We are staying up.

    Well done
    Hi Big G - I've been in your neck of the woods today - absolutely glorious day on the beach in Llandudno, highlight of which was seeing my thirteen year old daughter improbably reverse sweep my eleven year old in a game of beach cricket. Funished with a trip up the Orme to look at the view. Fairly sure we could see to the Lake District.
    Discussed our perceptions of how sunny it is in N Wales - largely because it's only somewhere we ever go when it's sunny. Probably there's a wider lesson in there.
  • Peter_the_PunterPeter_the_Punter Posts: 14,477
    edited May 2023
    RobD said:

    ping said:

    This makes me more and more angry.

    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/drugs-kingpin-who-planned-flood-26999629

    Unless it’s a cover to protect other sources, why did it take the french and dutch police to catch him out, before the British police bought him to justice?

    There should be fucking riots on the streets about this. The conservatives did this to us. How fucking dare they?

    I enabled this man, with my Tory vote back in 2012. I won’t make the same mistake again.

    The article says that it makes no suggestion his mother was aware of her son’s criminal activities. What is your reason for blaming the Tories for the failure of the police?
    He's making the not unreasonable assumption that Mum is likely to have known something.

    Not sure where the connection with the Tories comes from though. Seems to me the malaise in the Police Force goes back more than thirteen years and has structural origins that appear to be beyond all Parties.
    He knows nothing about the situation between parent and child. They could be completely estranged for all we know.
    Sure. But mostly parents have some inkling of what's going in their kids' lives, and we're not talking here about a very successful whelk stall the guy was running. Running a billion dollar international drug biz takes a bit of doing and is likely to leave a bit of a trail.

    Mum may have been estranged: she may have been gullible: she may have been lots of things. She sure as hell can't be surprised though if one or two people raise an eyebrow and wonder whether she can really say 'Well I never!'
  • WestieWestie Posts: 426
    Off-topic, and IQ is a complete load of cobblers (nice to see UCL have denamed Francis Galton) but this article is hilarious regardless:

    https://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland-lags-europe-in-iq-league-2470181

    Av IQ in Scotland is supposedly 5 points below av for London and SE England. ROFL!
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,694
    Cookie said:

    dixiedean said:

    We are staying up.

    Well done
    Hi Big G - I've been in your neck of the woods today - absolutely glorious day on the beach in Llandudno, highlight of which was seeing my thirteen year old daughter improbably reverse sweep my eleven year old in a game of beach cricket. Funished with a trip up the Orme to look at the view. Fairly sure we could see to the Lake District.
    Discussed our perceptions of how sunny it is in N Wales - largely because it's only somewhere we ever go when it's sunny. Probably there's a wider lesson in there.
    The first time I took the wife to the lakes, it had been dry for months and was sunny.

    She took away a very unrealistic idea of Lake District holidays…

    Subsequent visits have tended back to the mean.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,481
    We are staying up.

    DougSeal said:

    My brother’s a huge Everton fan so glad they stayed up but a large part of me wonders if it might not have been better in the long term for them to have spent a season in the second tier. They would have come straight back up and the board needs a huge wake up call. This can’t go on.

    Don't they have a stadium to finance, Doug? Difficult to do that from the Campionship, and rebuild a team at the same time.
    Today's result means the stadium will be financed.
    The increase in matchday revenue (the hospitality facilities at Goodison are antediluvian) will pay for it in time.
  • Peter_the_PunterPeter_the_Punter Posts: 14,477
    Cookie said:

    dixiedean said:

    We are staying up.

    Well done
    Hi Big G - I've been in your neck of the woods today - absolutely glorious day on the beach in Llandudno, highlight of which was seeing my thirteen year old daughter improbably reverse sweep my eleven year old in a game of beach cricket. Funished with a trip up the Orme to look at the view. Fairly sure we could see to the Lake District.
    Discussed our perceptions of how sunny it is in N Wales - largely because it's only somewhere we ever go when it's sunny. Probably there's a wider lesson in there.
    Brilliant, Cookie.

    I can report that things were hardly less delightful in sunny North Norfolk this morning. Watching the sun rise over Holkham Beach this morning was a bit special.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,657
    Cookie said:

    dixiedean said:

    We are staying up.

    Well done
    Hi Big G - I've been in your neck of the woods today - absolutely glorious day on the beach in Llandudno, highlight of which was seeing my thirteen year old daughter improbably reverse sweep my eleven year old in a game of beach cricket. Funished with a trip up the Orme to look at the view. Fairly sure we could see to the Lake District.
    Discussed our perceptions of how sunny it is in N Wales - largely because it's only somewhere we ever go when it's sunny. Probably there's a wider lesson in there.
    I am so pleased you had a lovely day here in Llandudno and the weather has been wonderful for a while now

    You may have seen the RNLI inshore boat out on a shout at 14.44 today, but I have not heard about the outcome yet (our son is a crew member) though it did search the shoreline to the pier and back towards the boathouse

    Llandudno with its Victorian promenade and Great and Little Ormes is our little secret, but we are delighted for visitors to come and enjoy it with us
  • CookieCookie Posts: 14,081

    Cookie said:

    dixiedean said:

    We are staying up.

    Well done
    Hi Big G - I've been in your neck of the woods today - absolutely glorious day on the beach in Llandudno, highlight of which was seeing my thirteen year old daughter improbably reverse sweep my eleven year old in a game of beach cricket. Funished with a trip up the Orme to look at the view. Fairly sure we could see to the Lake District.
    Discussed our perceptions of how sunny it is in N Wales - largely because it's only somewhere we ever go when it's sunny. Probably there's a wider lesson in there.
    I am so pleased you had a lovely day here in Llandudno and the weather has been wonderful for a while now

    You may have seen the RNLI inshore boat out on a shout at 14.44 today, but I have not heard about the outcome yet (our son is a crew member) though it did search the shoreline to the pier and back towards the boathouse

    Llandudno with its Victorian promenade and Great and Little Ormes is our little secret, but we are delighted for visitors to come and enjoy it with us
    I did see a lifeboat out, about then, yes! Fingers crossed for a positive outcome.

    It's a wonderful town. Presumably at one time all Victorian seaside resorts were that well kept, but I don't think I can think of another quite so spick and span. And the setting is superb.
  • pm215pm215 Posts: 1,158
    edited May 2023

    Llandudno with its Victorian promenade and Great and Little Ormes is our little secret, but we are delighted for visitors to come and enjoy it with us

    I was there a couple of years back. The Bronze Age copper mine on the Great Orme is seriously impressive work for something dug out with stone and bone tools four thousand years ago...
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,156

    Cookie said:

    dixiedean said:

    We are staying up.

    Well done
    Hi Big G - I've been in your neck of the woods today - absolutely glorious day on the beach in Llandudno, highlight of which was seeing my thirteen year old daughter improbably reverse sweep my eleven year old in a game of beach cricket. Funished with a trip up the Orme to look at the view. Fairly sure we could see to the Lake District.
    Discussed our perceptions of how sunny it is in N Wales - largely because it's only somewhere we ever go when it's sunny. Probably there's a wider lesson in there.
    I am so pleased you had a lovely day here in Llandudno and the weather has been wonderful for a while now

    You may have seen the RNLI inshore boat out on a shout at 14.44 today, but I have not heard about the outcome yet (our son is a crew member) though it did search the shoreline to the pier and back towards the boathouse

    Llandudno with its Victorian promenade and Great and Little Ormes is our little secret, but we are delighted for visitors to come and enjoy it with us
    Don't forget the tram! I did it back in 2017.
  • FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,929
    dixiedean said:

    We are staying up.

    DougSeal said:

    My brother’s a huge Everton fan so glad they stayed up but a large part of me wonders if it might not have been better in the long term for them to have spent a season in the second tier. They would have come straight back up and the board needs a huge wake up call. This can’t go on.

    Don't they have a stadium to finance, Doug? Difficult to do that from the Campionship, and rebuild a team at the same time.
    Today's result means the stadium will be financed.
    The increase in matchday revenue (the hospitality facilities at Goodison are antediluvian) will pay for it in time.
    Given it's half built 'the stadium will be financed' is the least one would be hoping for. Could it really have been left half constructed?
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,721

    Cookie said:

    dixiedean said:

    We are staying up.

    Well done
    Hi Big G - I've been in your neck of the woods today - absolutely glorious day on the beach in Llandudno, highlight of which was seeing my thirteen year old daughter improbably reverse sweep my eleven year old in a game of beach cricket. Funished with a trip up the Orme to look at the view. Fairly sure we could see to the Lake District.
    Discussed our perceptions of how sunny it is in N Wales - largely because it's only somewhere we ever go when it's sunny. Probably there's a wider lesson in there.
    The first time I took the wife to the lakes, it had been dry for months and was sunny.

    She took away a very unrealistic idea of Lake District holidays…

    Subsequent visits have tended back to the mean.

    Cookie said:

    dixiedean said:

    We are staying up.

    Well done
    Hi Big G - I've been in your neck of the woods today - absolutely glorious day on the beach in Llandudno, highlight of which was seeing my thirteen year old daughter improbably reverse sweep my eleven year old in a game of beach cricket. Funished with a trip up the Orme to look at the view. Fairly sure we could see to the Lake District.
    Discussed our perceptions of how sunny it is in N Wales - largely because it's only somewhere we ever go when it's sunny. Probably there's a wider lesson in there.
    The first time I took the wife to the lakes, it had been dry for months and was sunny.

    She took away a very unrealistic idea of Lake District holidays…

    Subsequent visits have tended back to the mean.
    I had a similar experience 60+ years ago in N Manchester. My girlfriend, later fiancée lived that area. I visited for odd weekends and so on for about 18 months, and the weather was excellent. Then when we both finished college I went to work in the area and it rained at least part of every day for a month!
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,424
    edited May 2023
    viewcode said:

    Speaking of stations, this one slipped quietly under the radar:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_Green_Park_railway_station

    I was expecting Geoff Marshall to be a first day poster, but he wasn't last time I checked. Some TrainTubers did upload: I'll see if I can find some links.
    @Sunil_Prasannan FPT, here are some. Nothing from Geoff Marshall yet, which is worrying

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbyEorPsGbM
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpoYhP-Vl6Y
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYu3NhoEM5s
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I6E7os8GRA
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDLoivhJxGg

  • FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,929
    Michael Clarke was suggesting we give the Ukrainians all of the Storm Shadow missiles and who am I to disagree with him? Do we have one thousand in total?
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 17,246

    RobD said:

    ping said:

    This makes me more and more angry.

    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/drugs-kingpin-who-planned-flood-26999629

    Unless it’s a cover to protect other sources, why did it take the french and dutch police to catch him out, before the British police bought him to justice?

    There should be fucking riots on the streets about this. The conservatives did this to us. How fucking dare they?

    I enabled this man, with my Tory vote back in 2012. I won’t make the same mistake again.

    The article says that it makes no suggestion his mother was aware of her son’s criminal activities. What is your reason for blaming the Tories for the failure of the police?
    He's making the not unreasonable assumption that Mum is likely to have known something.

    Not sure where the connection with the Tories comes from though. Seems to me the malaise in the Police Force goes back more than thirteen years and has structural origins that appear to be beyond all Parties.
    He knows nothing about the situation between parent and child. They could be completely estranged for all we know.
    Sure. But mostly parents have some inkling of what's going in their kids' lives, and we're not talking here about a very successful whelk stall the guy was running. Running a billion dollar international drug biz takes a bit of doing and is likely to leave a bit of a trail.

    Mum may have been estranged: she may have been gullible: she may have been lots of things. She sure as hell can't be surprised though if one or two people raise an eyebrow and wonder whether she can really say 'Well I never!'
    I would think the questions go wider than whether mum had a feeling her son had gone off the straight and narrow. Son was running an industrial scale drugs import business through his removal company. Presumably dozens of people within the company were involved. Did the police have a good inkling of what was going on? If not, why not? Did anyone within the police make the link with the Deputy Commissioner, his mum? Did she know that he was under suspicion?
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,045

    RobD said:

    ping said:

    This makes me more and more angry.

    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/drugs-kingpin-who-planned-flood-26999629

    Unless it’s a cover to protect other sources, why did it take the french and dutch police to catch him out, before the British police bought him to justice?

    There should be fucking riots on the streets about this. The conservatives did this to us. How fucking dare they?

    I enabled this man, with my Tory vote back in 2012. I won’t make the same mistake again.

    The article says that it makes no suggestion his mother was aware of her son’s criminal activities. What is your reason for blaming the Tories for the failure of the police?
    He's making the not unreasonable assumption that Mum is likely to have known something.

    Not sure where the connection with the Tories comes from though. Seems to me the malaise in the Police Force goes back more than thirteen years and has structural origins that appear to be beyond all Parties.
    He knows nothing about the situation between parent and child. They could be completely estranged for all we know.
    Sure. But mostly parents have some inkling of what's going in their kids' lives, and we're not talking here about a very successful whelk stall the guy was running. Running a billion dollar international drug biz takes a bit of doing and is likely to leave a bit of a trail.

    Mum may have been estranged: she may have been gullible: she may have been lots of things. She sure as hell can't be surprised though if one or two people raise an eyebrow and wonder whether she can really say 'Well I never!'
    Most, but not all. At the moment it's pure speculation and insinuation.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,871

    Michael Clarke was suggesting we give the Ukrainians all of the Storm Shadow missiles and who am I to disagree with him? Do we have one thousand in total?

    Demilitarising the UK to chuck stuff at Ukraine is disgracefully reckless.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,961
    nico679 said:

    Erdogan wins a free but not fair election .

    With 90% of the media in his corner it was always an uphill struggle for the opposition. Unless Erdogan can get a change to the constitution then this will be his last term .

    Of course he'll change the constitution in order to run again.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,481
    edited May 2023

    dixiedean said:

    We are staying up.

    DougSeal said:

    My brother’s a huge Everton fan so glad they stayed up but a large part of me wonders if it might not have been better in the long term for them to have spent a season in the second tier. They would have come straight back up and the board needs a huge wake up call. This can’t go on.

    Don't they have a stadium to finance, Doug? Difficult to do that from the Campionship, and rebuild a team at the same time.
    Today's result means the stadium will be financed.
    The increase in matchday revenue (the hospitality facilities at Goodison are antediluvian) will pay for it in time.
    Given it's half built 'the stadium will be financed' is the least one would be hoping for. Could it really have been left half constructed?
    That was the fear, yes.
    Or rather. That it would be stadium and administration, points deductions and long spell in the lower leagues.
    Or no stadium.
    Folk will always put money into a Premier League club.
    Especially one that's almost built a 53k stadium. And sold it out, too.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,045
    FF43 said:

    RobD said:

    ping said:

    This makes me more and more angry.

    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/drugs-kingpin-who-planned-flood-26999629

    Unless it’s a cover to protect other sources, why did it take the french and dutch police to catch him out, before the British police bought him to justice?

    There should be fucking riots on the streets about this. The conservatives did this to us. How fucking dare they?

    I enabled this man, with my Tory vote back in 2012. I won’t make the same mistake again.

    The article says that it makes no suggestion his mother was aware of her son’s criminal activities. What is your reason for blaming the Tories for the failure of the police?
    He's making the not unreasonable assumption that Mum is likely to have known something.

    Not sure where the connection with the Tories comes from though. Seems to me the malaise in the Police Force goes back more than thirteen years and has structural origins that appear to be beyond all Parties.
    He knows nothing about the situation between parent and child. They could be completely estranged for all we know.
    Sure. But mostly parents have some inkling of what's going in their kids' lives, and we're not talking here about a very successful whelk stall the guy was running. Running a billion dollar international drug biz takes a bit of doing and is likely to leave a bit of a trail.

    Mum may have been estranged: she may have been gullible: she may have been lots of things. She sure as hell can't be surprised though if one or two people raise an eyebrow and wonder whether she can really say 'Well I never!'
    I would think the questions go wider than whether mum had a feeling her son had gone off the straight and narrow. Son was running an industrial scale drugs import business through his removal company. Presumably dozens of people within the company were involved. Did the police have a good inkling of what was going on? If not, why not? Did anyone within the police make the link with the Deputy Commissioner, his mum? Did she know that he was under suspicion?
    If the police found out something, why would they care if there was a link to the deputy commissioner or not? Surely the first thing they would do is report it to the actual commissioner. You too are massively overestimating their clout and influence.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,156
    viewcode said:

    viewcode said:

    Speaking of stations, this one slipped quietly under the radar:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_Green_Park_railway_station

    I was expecting Geoff Marshall to be a first day poster, but he wasn't last time I checked. Some TrainTubers did upload: I'll see if I can find some links.
    @Sunil_Prasannan FPT, here are some. Nothing from Geoff Marshall yet, which is worrying

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbyEorPsGbM
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpoYhP-Vl6Y
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYu3NhoEM5s
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I6E7os8GRA
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDLoivhJxGg

    Maybe he does mostly London stuff?
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,961

    viewcode said:

    viewcode said:

    Speaking of stations, this one slipped quietly under the radar:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_Green_Park_railway_station

    I was expecting Geoff Marshall to be a first day poster, but he wasn't last time I checked. Some TrainTubers did upload: I'll see if I can find some links.
    @Sunil_Prasannan FPT, here are some. Nothing from Geoff Marshall yet, which is worrying

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbyEorPsGbM
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpoYhP-Vl6Y
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYu3NhoEM5s
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I6E7os8GRA
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDLoivhJxGg

    Maybe he does mostly London stuff?
    No, he travels all over the country. He was doing the new Inverness Airport station a few weeks ago.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 4,034

    From John Redwood's blog:

    "I have long been critical of some UK plans to take us on the road to net zero. They entail making it very dear to use energy here so we import high energy using products from abroad. They stop us getting out our own oil and gas so we import more from overseas. They run down our food production from home farms, only to bring in more from abroad.

    All those who do think getting world CO2 down is a crucial priority should attack these plans, as they mean more CO 2 produced in shipping all the things to us. If we bring in more LNG gas that produces far more CO 2 in its compression, shipping and conversion than our own gas down a pipe. If we import German or Chinese steel they may produce more CO 2 in its manufacture than we do, but they will certainly produce more CO 2 in its transport.

    Today I want to concentrate on the damage these policies do to our state finances. They lose us lots of revenue, by substituting foreign for domestic production. All the super taxes paid on oil and gas output go to a foreign producer government not to the Treasury. All the taxes on wages and profits in making things go to overseas governments where the exporting factories lie. There is a major drain on our balance of payments which means the country has to borrow more from overseas to pay the bills in foreign currencies, leading to a higher debt interest burden. This is economic self harm on a grand scale... "

    Why do we live in a UK where these sorts of basic facts need to be spelled out as if to a 5yr old? Germany also has to grapple with Net Zero, but when it comes to keeping their economy on the rails, they're pulling down towns to dig coal mines.

    Satire of the highest order. Top stuff.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,424

    viewcode said:

    viewcode said:

    Speaking of stations, this one slipped quietly under the radar:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_Green_Park_railway_station

    I was expecting Geoff Marshall to be a first day poster, but he wasn't last time I checked. Some TrainTubers did upload: I'll see if I can find some links.
    @Sunil_Prasannan FPT, here are some. Nothing from Geoff Marshall yet, which is worrying

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbyEorPsGbM
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpoYhP-Vl6Y
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYu3NhoEM5s
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I6E7os8GRA
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDLoivhJxGg

    Maybe he does mostly London stuff?
    Reading is very close to London in train terms. It's less than 30mins from LPAD by 125
  • CorrectHorseBatCorrectHorseBat Posts: 1,761
    Reading is so close to London by train.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,045

    Reading is so close to London by train.

    Have I subscribed to train facts by mistake? :)
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,424
    edited May 2023
    Andy_JS said:

    viewcode said:

    viewcode said:

    Speaking of stations, this one slipped quietly under the radar:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_Green_Park_railway_station

    I was expecting Geoff Marshall to be a first day poster, but he wasn't last time I checked. Some TrainTubers did upload: I'll see if I can find some links.
    @Sunil_Prasannan FPT, here are some. Nothing from Geoff Marshall yet, which is worrying

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbyEorPsGbM
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpoYhP-Vl6Y
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYu3NhoEM5s
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I6E7os8GRA
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDLoivhJxGg

    Maybe he does mostly London stuff?
    No, he travels all over the country. He was doing the new Inverness Airport station a few weeks ago.
    Plus his latest one was a bit worrying
  • CorrectHorseBatCorrectHorseBat Posts: 1,761
    RobD said:

    Reading is so close to London by train.

    Have I subscribed to train facts by mistake? :)
    What is the only Tube line to cross the Thames by bridge?
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541

    Michael Clarke was suggesting we give the Ukrainians all of the Storm Shadow missiles and who am I to disagree with him? Do we have one thousand in total?

    Demilitarising the UK to chuck stuff at Ukraine is disgracefully reckless.
    I hope the suggestion was not to chuck the missiles at them.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 28,972
    2nd Red flag at the Indy 500
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 52,303
    edited May 2023

    Michael Clarke was suggesting we give the Ukrainians all of the Storm Shadow missiles and who am I to disagree with him? Do we have one thousand in total?

    Demilitarising the UK to chuck stuff at Ukraine is disgracefully reckless.
    Do you treat all arms exports as a form of demilitarisation?
  • BlancheLivermoreBlancheLivermore Posts: 6,015

    2nd Red flag at the Indy 500

    Why are rednecks singing a socialist song?
  • FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,929

    Michael Clarke was suggesting we give the Ukrainians all of the Storm Shadow missiles and who am I to disagree with him? Do we have one thousand in total?

    Demilitarising the UK to chuck stuff at Ukraine is disgracefully reckless.
    Come on. You're not even TRYING to be taken seriously.

    £1m each. So 1000 would be £1bn or something like that. Hardly talking national bankruptcy are we.
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 17,246
    edited May 2023
    RobD said:

    FF43 said:

    RobD said:

    ping said:

    This makes me more and more angry.

    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/drugs-kingpin-who-planned-flood-26999629

    Unless it’s a cover to protect other sources, why did it take the french and dutch police to catch him out, before the British police bought him to justice?

    There should be fucking riots on the streets about this. The conservatives did this to us. How fucking dare they?

    I enabled this man, with my Tory vote back in 2012. I won’t make the same mistake again.

    The article says that it makes no suggestion his mother was aware of her son’s criminal activities. What is your reason for blaming the Tories for the failure of the police?
    He's making the not unreasonable assumption that Mum is likely to have known something.

    Not sure where the connection with the Tories comes from though. Seems to me the malaise in the Police Force goes back more than thirteen years and has structural origins that appear to be beyond all Parties.
    He knows nothing about the situation between parent and child. They could be completely estranged for all we know.
    Sure. But mostly parents have some inkling of what's going in their kids' lives, and we're not talking here about a very successful whelk stall the guy was running. Running a billion dollar international drug biz takes a bit of doing and is likely to leave a bit of a trail.

    Mum may have been estranged: she may have been gullible: she may have been lots of things. She sure as hell can't be surprised though if one or two people raise an eyebrow and wonder whether she can really say 'Well I never!'
    I would think the questions go wider than whether mum had a feeling her son had gone off the straight and narrow. Son was running an industrial scale drugs import business through his removal company. Presumably dozens of people within the company were involved. Did the police have a good inkling of what was going on? If not, why not? Did anyone within the police make the link with the Deputy Commissioner, his mum? Did she know that he was under suspicion?
    If the police found out something, why would they care if there was a link to the deputy commissioner or not? Surely the first thing they would do is report it to the actual commissioner. You too are massively overestimating their clout and influence.
    Would beg yet another question in that case. Son of one of our senior officials is a Mr Big Drug Baron, why should that bother us? No problem. Nothing to see here.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,806

    Cookie said:

    dixiedean said:

    We are staying up.

    Well done
    Hi Big G - I've been in your neck of the woods today - absolutely glorious day on the beach in Llandudno, highlight of which was seeing my thirteen year old daughter improbably reverse sweep my eleven year old in a game of beach cricket. Funished with a trip up the Orme to look at the view. Fairly sure we could see to the Lake District.
    Discussed our perceptions of how sunny it is in N Wales - largely because it's only somewhere we ever go when it's sunny. Probably there's a wider lesson in there.
    The first time I took the wife to the lakes, it had been dry for months and was sunny.

    She took away a very unrealistic idea of Lake District holidays…

    Subsequent visits have tended back to the mean.

    Cookie said:

    dixiedean said:

    We are staying up.

    Well done
    Hi Big G - I've been in your neck of the woods today - absolutely glorious day on the beach in Llandudno, highlight of which was seeing my thirteen year old daughter improbably reverse sweep my eleven year old in a game of beach cricket. Funished with a trip up the Orme to look at the view. Fairly sure we could see to the Lake District.
    Discussed our perceptions of how sunny it is in N Wales - largely because it's only somewhere we ever go when it's sunny. Probably there's a wider lesson in there.
    The first time I took the wife to the lakes, it had been dry for months and was sunny.

    She took away a very unrealistic idea of Lake District holidays…

    Subsequent visits have tended back to the mean.
    I had a similar experience 60+ years ago in N Manchester. My girlfriend, later fiancée lived that area. I visited for odd weekends and so on for about 18 months, and the weather was excellent. Then when we both finished college I went to work in the area and it rained at least part of every day for a month!
    I had the opposite experience when I met Mrs P whose family home was in Somerset. Every time we visited her parents it rained, so I dubbed it the Wet Country*.

    Having lived down here for 15 years though I now recognise I was just unlucky all those years ago - we get pretty much the same amount of rain as most of England, indeed the climate is rather lovely overall.

    (* Yes, I was pretty hilarious guy, even 45 years ago.)
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541

    RobD said:

    Reading is so close to London by train.

    Have I subscribed to train facts by mistake? :)
    What is the only Tube line to cross the Thames by bridge?
    The District
  • CorrectHorseBatCorrectHorseBat Posts: 1,761
    DougSeal said:

    RobD said:

    Reading is so close to London by train.

    Have I subscribed to train facts by mistake? :)
    What is the only Tube line to cross the Thames by bridge?
    The District
    Which bridge?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 56,606
    edited May 2023
    Westie said:

    Off-topic, and IQ is a complete load of cobblers (nice to see UCL have denamed Francis Galton) but this article is hilarious regardless:

    https://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland-lags-europe-in-iq-league-2470181

    Av IQ in Scotland is supposedly 5 points below av for London and SE England. ROFL!

    I am amazed Richard Lynn (a man I have chatted with) is still allowed to do this kind of IQ research. It is so UnWoke

    He is probably right about Scotland. The Empire has surely led to a degradation of local IQs, then Nationalism and the midges and the rain have drained it further, and Scotland is not - like some other parts of the UK - being replenished by immigration from high IQ countries

    London likely has the highest IQ in Europe
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541

    DougSeal said:

    RobD said:

    Reading is so close to London by train.

    Have I subscribed to train facts by mistake? :)
    What is the only Tube line to cross the Thames by bridge?
    The District
    Which bridge?
    Putney. Or Putney Bridge Station needs to be reported to trading standards.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,961
    viewcode said:

    Andy_JS said:

    viewcode said:

    viewcode said:

    Speaking of stations, this one slipped quietly under the radar:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_Green_Park_railway_station

    I was expecting Geoff Marshall to be a first day poster, but he wasn't last time I checked. Some TrainTubers did upload: I'll see if I can find some links.
    @Sunil_Prasannan FPT, here are some. Nothing from Geoff Marshall yet, which is worrying

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbyEorPsGbM
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpoYhP-Vl6Y
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYu3NhoEM5s
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I6E7os8GRA
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDLoivhJxGg

    Maybe he does mostly London stuff?
    No, he travels all over the country. He was doing the new Inverness Airport station a few weeks ago.
    Plus his latest one was a bit worrying
    He's talked about mental health many times before, so I'm not too worried about it.
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541
    Leon said:

    Westie said:

    Off-topic, and IQ is a complete load of cobblers (nice to see UCL have denamed Francis Galton) but this article is hilarious regardless:

    https://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland-lags-europe-in-iq-league-2470181

    Av IQ in Scotland is supposedly 5 points below av for London and SE England. ROFL!

    I am amazed Richard Lynn (a man I have chatted with) is still allowed to do this kind of IQ research. It is so UnWoke

    He is probably right about Scotland. The Empire has surely led to a degradation of local IQs, then Nationalism and the midges and the rain have drained it further, and Scotland is not - like some other parts of the UK - being replenished by immigration from high IQ countries

    London likely has the highest IQ in Europe
    Only when you’re on holiday.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,961
    Nigelb said:

    A useful lesson - for now.
    For how much longer is an open question.

    https://twitter.com/cwhowell123/status/1662501821133254656
    So I followed @GaryMarcus's suggestion and had my undergrad class use ChatGPT for a critical assignment. I had them all generate an essay using a prompt I gave them, and then their job was to "grade" it--look for hallucinated info and critique its analysis. *All 63* essays had hallucinated information. Fake quotes, fake sources, or real sources misunderstood and mischaracterized. Every single assignment. I was stunned--I figured the rate would be high, but not that high.

    The biggest takeaway from this was that the students all learned that it isn't fully reliable. Before doing it, many of them were under the impression it was always right. Their feedback largely focused on how shocked they were that it could mislead them. Probably 50% of them were unaware it could do this. All of them expressed fears and concerns about mental atrophy and the possibility for misinformation/fake news. One student was worried that their neural pathways formed from critical thinking would start to degrade or weaken...


    I flagged this up a couple of months ago IIRC, by pointing out how ChatGPT invented election result information. For example it said that George HW Bush carried D.C. in 1992 when in fact he won 9% of the vote.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,045
    FF43 said:

    RobD said:

    FF43 said:

    RobD said:

    ping said:

    This makes me more and more angry.

    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/drugs-kingpin-who-planned-flood-26999629

    Unless it’s a cover to protect other sources, why did it take the french and dutch police to catch him out, before the British police bought him to justice?

    There should be fucking riots on the streets about this. The conservatives did this to us. How fucking dare they?

    I enabled this man, with my Tory vote back in 2012. I won’t make the same mistake again.

    The article says that it makes no suggestion his mother was aware of her son’s criminal activities. What is your reason for blaming the Tories for the failure of the police?
    He's making the not unreasonable assumption that Mum is likely to have known something.

    Not sure where the connection with the Tories comes from though. Seems to me the malaise in the Police Force goes back more than thirteen years and has structural origins that appear to be beyond all Parties.
    He knows nothing about the situation between parent and child. They could be completely estranged for all we know.
    Sure. But mostly parents have some inkling of what's going in their kids' lives, and we're not talking here about a very successful whelk stall the guy was running. Running a billion dollar international drug biz takes a bit of doing and is likely to leave a bit of a trail.

    Mum may have been estranged: she may have been gullible: she may have been lots of things. She sure as hell can't be surprised though if one or two people raise an eyebrow and wonder whether she can really say 'Well I never!'
    I would think the questions go wider than whether mum had a feeling her son had gone off the straight and narrow. Son was running an industrial scale drugs import business through his removal company. Presumably dozens of people within the company were involved. Did the police have a good inkling of what was going on? If not, why not? Did anyone within the police make the link with the Deputy Commissioner, his mum? Did she know that he was under suspicion?
    If the police found out something, why would they care if there was a link to the deputy commissioner or not? Surely the first thing they would do is report it to the actual commissioner. You too are massively overestimating their clout and influence.
    Would beg yet another question in that case. Son of one of our senior officials is a Mr Big Drug Baron, why should that bother us? No problem. Nothing to see here.
    If the police were acting properly, and there is no evidence to suggest they weren’t, this is exactly the attitude they should take. Their investigations should have continued regardless of wether he was the son of a deputy commissioner or not.

    The most likely scenario is that he simply wasn’t under suspicion, and that there wasn’t a conspiracy to not arrest him because of who his mother was.
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