Re Bitcoin, as the only man on here to have bought it at $3, and as I still hang on to well... half a bitcoin... it is worth remembering that it has one massive flaw:
The way it is architected allows it to only process about 5 to 7 transactions a second.
And another smaller one... It typically takes 15 to 30 minutes to get confirmation of a transaction having been completed, during which the sender could (in theory) walk back the transaction.
Together, these don't matter, if everyone is just buying it and sitting on it, but it doesn't really allow for it to be used for regular purchases, or indeed to replace "fiat" money or payment networks like Western Union, PayPal or Visa.
Have you seen the 'physical' bitcoins?
It's a USB stick that you can load coin onto, and give it to someone, who can give it to someone else.
If you want to spend the coin online you need to snap it to reveal the key
So funny to think of the Guardian seeing sense before so many of the lemons on here.
It’s a fair argument, to turn Brexit back upon those who advocated it purely to line their own pockets at our expense. And would play happily into the - so far remarkably low key - calls for a more caring world to emerge from the virus crisis.
My guess is that the Republicans win both. But then you already know that.
If the Dems do win both, then Mitch McConnell needs to take some of the blame. His "obstruct at all costs" tactics would probably motivate me to go out and vote Dem.
Trump surely would have the personal blame. His disgraceful and undemocratic behaviour since November 5th must have riled up his opponents like nothing else. Hopefully, if it happens, it kills the idea that he might be a candidate in 2024 (always seriously far fetched) stone dead.
Trump's problem is that he claims elections are rigged but still calls on voters to participate in them.
Its a bit like urging someone to make a bet on something you believe is fixed.
I'm torn on whether he believes it himself. On the one hand he admitted after winning the republican primaries in 2012 that he used to call it rigged but stopped as he won, that is the outcome proves whether he'll claim it for real, on the other he really does seem to believe anything he reads online .
The Republicans are fatally split between Trump supporters and the old guard. They cannot abide each other.
Should be easily enough to allow the democrats to win Georgia handily.
After that, well, all bets are off. America is wide open to the radical left. Green deals, mass immigration, huge tax hikes, identity politics with a vengeance, lockdowns, reparations,
I suggest bitcoin. Touched 29,000 a little while ago. Still in the foothills. Still at the beginning.
Bitcoin is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time. I wouldn't put a penny into it.
It is fundamentally worthless. The technology is interesting but this application of it is not.
Edit: If you're worried about fiat currency then buy gold, not magic beans.
Bitcoin has a purpose that gold doesn't have - which is that you can use it as a transfer of wealth across national borders with little risk.
Well it might if the value of Bitcoin was stable and predictable.
Considering its advocates rage against fiat currency, fiat currency is far more stable, secure and predicable in value. Bitcoin may serve a purpose in allowing drug dealers to move money, but I'm not convinced there's a stable future in it.
The very soaring nature of it "$29,000 and just in the foothills" is precisely why it is nothing but one of the most technically elaborate Ponzi schemes ever.
The volatility of cryptocurrencies has been their biggest weakness by far. A currency should be a store of value and you should be reasonably confident what that value is at any given point. If any of them can achieve that stability they might well give debauched fiat currencies a run for their money but not until then.
The low transaction capacity of the Bitcoin network pretty much ensures appalling volatility.
By the time it was politically possible to do so (late March), it wouldn't have made much difference, as only 0.5% of cases were imported from overseas.
The "it's too late to do anything about it now" argument.
How's that worked out?
Guernsey (which enforced border control/quarantine on March 18th and has maintained it ever since) has had the UK equivalent of 13,000 deaths.
People have known since the Black Death that disease moves with people.
The Republicans are fatally split between Trump supporters and the old guard. They cannot abide each other.
Should be easily enough to allow the democrats to win Georgia handily.
After that, well, all bets are off. America is wide open to the radical left. Green deals, mass immigration, huge tax hikes, identity politics with a vengeance, lockdowns, reparations,
I suggest bitcoin. Touched 29,000 a little while ago. Still in the foothills. Still at the beginning.
Bitcoin is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time. I wouldn't put a penny into it.
It is fundamentally worthless. The technology is interesting but this application of it is not.
Edit: If you're worried about fiat currency then buy gold, not magic beans.
Bitcoin has a purpose that gold doesn't have - which is that you can use it as a transfer of wealth across national borders with little risk.
A few years ago a great-nephew decided that academia, in the sense of Uni, wasn't for him and went to work in a bank. No, not in the City . Oop North. There one of his colleagues persuaded him to invest in Bitcoin which must have been low or low-is at the time. He appears to have got in and out at the right times because he was able to buy a couple of houses; not remarkable, in need of some work, but within his and his father's capabilities. He now lives in one, and the other one is let.However both a now, apparently neat and tidy, and all paid for. Makes you wonder.
Re Bitcoin, as the only man on here to have bought it at $3, and as I still hang on to well... half a bitcoin... it is worth remembering that it has one massive flaw:
The way it is architected allows it to only process about 5 to 7 transactions a second.
And another smaller one... It typically takes 15 to 30 minutes to get confirmation of a transaction having been completed, during which the sender could (in theory) walk back the transaction.
Together, these don't matter, if everyone is just buying it and sitting on it, but it doesn't really allow for it to be used for regular purchases, or indeed to replace "fiat" money or payment networks like Western Union, PayPal or Visa.
I get the occasional twinge - I was doing GOPU research back in the day. Had the most powerful GPU yet made on early release from NVIDIA. Fired up BitCoin mining for a laugh. Left it running - by accident - at work over the weekend. This was when mining on a single machine was spewing bitcoins....
Deleted all the data on Monday and did some real work.
I ordered a Butterfly Labs bitcoin miner on-line, the very first produced.
It was shipped to me in the UK, but by a twist of fate Fedex lost it for six weeks. In that period Bitcoin mining difficulty increased more than four times.
I then sold it on eBay to someone.
They used it to generate Bitcoin for two months. Then they claimed it didn't work, and returned it. I made a complain to eBay, but they weren't interested. That person basically stole £2,000 from me.
Re Bitcoin, as the only man on here to have bought it at $3, and as I still hang on to well... half a bitcoin... it is worth remembering that it has one massive flaw:
The way it is architected allows it to only process about 5 to 7 transactions a second.
And another smaller one... It typically takes 15 to 30 minutes to get confirmation of a transaction having been completed, during which the sender could (in theory) walk back the transaction.
Together, these don't matter, if everyone is just buying it and sitting on it, but it doesn't really allow for it to be used for regular purchases, or indeed to replace "fiat" money or payment networks like Western Union, PayPal or Visa.
Have you seen the 'physical' bitcoins?
It's a USB stick that you can load coin onto, and give it to someone, who can give it to someone else.
If you want to spend the coin online you need to snap it to reveal the key
Both Bitcoin and Gold have become religous cults for their followers.There are pros and cons with both.In terms of risk reward Platinum and Silver are much better precious metal trades than Gold. In terms of currencies opposing the US dollar may not have the potential upside of Bitcoin but there is far less downside.I am shorting the $ against the Yen,Canadian Dollar,New Zealand Dollar & Swiss Franc via spreadbetting.
By the time it was politically possible to do so (late March), it wouldn't have made much difference, as only 0.5% of cases were imported from overseas.
The "it's too late to do anything about it now" argument.
How's that worked out?
Guernsey (which enforced border control/quarantine on March 18th and has maintained it ever since) has had the UK equivalent of 13,000 deaths.
People have known since the Black Death that disease moves with people.
My sister is in hospital in Guernsey. Been moved from one on the mainland. And she's been quarantined, although it's now finished. However, they have no other bed for her, so she's got to stay in the isolation room.
What is this "ready to testify" nonsense? I am happy to believe the story that the advice was given and (wrongly) rejected, but that's what happens: advisers advise, other advisers advise different, those they advise decide. What does testimony on oath add to the claim, other than reminding the reader that they wouldn't believe good ol' eye test Dom if he swore on the Bible and on his children's heads that the sun rose in the East?
Re Bitcoin, as the only man on here to have bought it at $3, and as I still hang on to well... half a bitcoin... it is worth remembering that it has one massive flaw:
The way it is architected allows it to only process about 5 to 7 transactions a second.
And another smaller one... It typically takes 15 to 30 minutes to get confirmation of a transaction having been completed, during which the sender could (in theory) walk back the transaction.
Together, these don't matter, if everyone is just buying it and sitting on it, but it doesn't really allow for it to be used for regular purchases, or indeed to replace "fiat" money or payment networks like Western Union, PayPal or Visa.
I get the occasional twinge - I was doing GOPU research back in the day. Had the most powerful GPU yet made on early release from NVIDIA. Fired up BitCoin mining for a laugh. Left it running - by accident - at work over the weekend. This was when mining on a single machine was spewing bitcoins....
Deleted all the data on Monday and did some real work.
I ordered a Butterfly Labs bitcoin miner on-line, the very first produced.
It was shipped to me in the UK, but by a twist of fate Fedex lost it for six weeks. In that period Bitcoin mining difficulty increased more than four times.
I then sold it on eBay to someone.
They used it to generate Bitcoin for two months. Then they claimed it didn't work, and returned it. I made a complain to eBay, but they weren't interested. That person basically stole £2,000 from me.
The whole BitCoin mining thing reminded me of the stories of various gold rushes. The people who made the money sold spades, picks and other supplies.... the miners themselves often ended up poorer
Re Bitcoin, as the only man on here to have bought it at $3, and as I still hang on to well... half a bitcoin... it is worth remembering that it has one massive flaw:
The way it is architected allows it to only process about 5 to 7 transactions a second.
And another smaller one... It typically takes 15 to 30 minutes to get confirmation of a transaction having been completed, during which the sender could (in theory) walk back the transaction.
Together, these don't matter, if everyone is just buying it and sitting on it, but it doesn't really allow for it to be used for regular purchases, or indeed to replace "fiat" money or payment networks like Western Union, PayPal or Visa.
Have you seen the 'physical' bitcoins?
It's a USB stick that you can load coin onto, and give it to someone, who can give it to someone else.
If you want to spend the coin online you need to snap it to reveal the key
I am not saying her tweet isn't true, but she has an agenda and she has been pushing it for years e.g. At the start of the year she was making wild claims about how Hancock was on a mission to destroy NHS GPs.
By the time it was politically possible to do so (late March), it wouldn't have made much difference, as only 0.5% of cases were imported from overseas.
The "it's too late to do anything about it now" argument.
How's that worked out?
Guernsey (which enforced border control/quarantine on March 18th and has maintained it ever since) has had the UK equivalent of 13,000 deaths.
People have known since the Black Death that disease moves with people.
My sister is in hospital in Guernsey. Been moved from one on the mainland. And she's been quarantined, although it's now finished. However, they have no other bed for her, so she's got to stay in the isolation room.
Sorry to hear that (though I suspect the PEH is a better option than Southampton Gen!). There was one COVID patient in hospital but they no longer appear to be - either having been discharged, or recovered. When asked about the patient at the news conference the CMO refused absolutely to comment.
Half a million fewer tests done in Germany last week compared to the week before, a fall of about a third.
Given the holidays, so?
So: 1. I believe there was not such a big drop off in the uk 2. There are a lot of extra people celebrating New Year unaware that they have coronavirus, or have been in contact with someone with coronavirus.
From what we already know about isolation post testing this would happen either way. In all of Europe the testing system is little more than expensive monitoring of virus trends.
Which makes it slightly unfortunate that our entire education strategy to reopen schools is based on the least accurate form of it.
My daughter teaches in a sixth form college. She's been pretty sanguine about everything since March - but over the last few days she's been more and more stressed about going back to work. The virus is rampant in the area, and loads of 16-19s have tested positive (and loads more will have it without knowing it of course). I understand her stress - the risks seems pretty high. Is this worry common now among teachers?
PS: Williamson is a complete arse and the whole thing about schools is a monstrous debacle, of course.
Re Bitcoin, as the only man on here to have bought it at $3, and as I still hang on to well... half a bitcoin... it is worth remembering that it has one massive flaw:
The way it is architected allows it to only process about 5 to 7 transactions a second.
And another smaller one... It typically takes 15 to 30 minutes to get confirmation of a transaction having been completed, during which the sender could (in theory) walk back the transaction.
Together, these don't matter, if everyone is just buying it and sitting on it, but it doesn't really allow for it to be used for regular purchases, or indeed to replace "fiat" money or payment networks like Western Union, PayPal or Visa.
I get the occasional twinge - I was doing GOPU research back in the day. Had the most powerful GPU yet made on early release from NVIDIA. Fired up BitCoin mining for a laugh. Left it running - by accident - at work over the weekend. This was when mining on a single machine was spewing bitcoins....
Deleted all the data on Monday and did some real work.
I ordered a Butterfly Labs bitcoin miner on-line, the very first produced.
It was shipped to me in the UK, but by a twist of fate Fedex lost it for six weeks. In that period Bitcoin mining difficulty increased more than four times.
I then sold it on eBay to someone.
They used it to generate Bitcoin for two months. Then they claimed it didn't work, and returned it. I made a complain to eBay, but they weren't interested. That person basically stole £2,000 from me.
The whole BitCoin mining thing reminded me of the stories of various gold rushes. The people who made the money sold spades, picks and other supplies.... the miners themselves often ended up poorer
Or ran 'hotels' for one night (or shorter) stays as Donald Trumps grandfather apparently did.
The Republicans are fatally split between Trump supporters and the old guard. They cannot abide each other.
Should be easily enough to allow the democrats to win Georgia handily.
After that, well, all bets are off. America is wide open to the radical left. Green deals, mass immigration, huge tax hikes, identity politics with a vengeance, lockdowns, reparations,
I suggest bitcoin. Touched 29,000 a little while ago. Still in the foothills. Still at the beginning.
Bitcoin is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time. I wouldn't put a penny into it.
It is fundamentally worthless. The technology is interesting but this application of it is not.
Edit: If you're worried about fiat currency then buy gold, not magic beans.
Bitcoin has a purpose that gold doesn't have - which is that you can use it as a transfer of wealth across national borders with little risk.
Well it might if the value of Bitcoin was stable and predictable.
Considering its advocates rage against fiat currency, fiat currency is far more stable, secure and predicable in value. Bitcoin may serve a purpose in allowing drug dealers to move money, but I'm not convinced there's a stable future in it.
The very soaring nature of it "$29,000 and just in the foothills" is precisely why it is nothing but one of the most technically elaborate Ponzi schemes ever.
When a big investment firm recently made a bitcoin investment, they did so, they said on the basis it was a hedge against the devaluation of the world's major currencies.
And that's all it is really, a hedge, and the only way I would suggest anybody takes a look at it, as one among a wide range of investments.
Now why would the world's major currencies devalue? well, they have been printing money like its going out of fashion and will continue to do so, and the rates offered for some investments in theses currencies are zero or in some cases negative.
You should look up Tether if you want to talk about printing money.
I am not saying her tweet isn't true, but she has an agenda and she has been pushing it for years. At the start of the year she was making wild claims about how Hancock was going to destroy GPs.
My guess is that the Republicans win both. But then you already know that.
That is my guess too. That being said, I do wonder if Georgia is about to become a Purple state.
I think Georgia will be purple only quite briefly. It is following the Virginia pattern - fast growing, highly educated and increasingly diverse Atlanta metropolitan area that will quite quickly come to dominate more traditional small towns and rural areas. In Virginia, Bill Clinton fell short while winning two pretty convincing landslides, while Hillary lost while winning the state comfortably.
My guess is that perhaps by 2028 and certainly 2032 Georgia won't even be viewed as a battleground in a close election given forecasted growth in Atlanta over the next couple of decades.
Of course, these things go in both directions. Missouri was the definitive purple state for a while but isn't part of any Democrat's realistic path to 270 now - it'd only go blue in a big landslide election.
What is this "ready to testify" nonsense? I am happy to believe the story that the advice was given and (wrongly) rejected, but that's what happens: advisers advise, other advisers advise different, those they advise decide. What does testimony on oath add to the claim, other than reminding the reader that they wouldn't believe good ol' eye test Dom if he swore on the Bible and on his children's heads that the sun rose in the East?
Testifying to the Health Select Committee, chairman one Jeremy Hunt.
I think the nation will be more mightily confused to hear that Cummings was and is pro lockdown.
The spin that maybe that Johnson prioritised the economy over the health of the nation, because he couldn't lose two Chancellors in a year.
Re Bitcoin, as the only man on here to have bought it at $3, and as I still hang on to well... half a bitcoin... it is worth remembering that it has one massive flaw:
The way it is architected allows it to only process about 5 to 7 transactions a second.
And another smaller one... It typically takes 15 to 30 minutes to get confirmation of a transaction having been completed, during which the sender could (in theory) walk back the transaction.
Together, these don't matter, if everyone is just buying it and sitting on it, but it doesn't really allow for it to be used for regular purchases, or indeed to replace "fiat" money or payment networks like Western Union, PayPal or Visa.
I get the occasional twinge - I was doing GOPU research back in the day. Had the most powerful GPU yet made on early release from NVIDIA. Fired up BitCoin mining for a laugh. Left it running - by accident - at work over the weekend. This was when mining on a single machine was spewing bitcoins....
Deleted all the data on Monday and did some real work.
I ordered a Butterfly Labs bitcoin miner on-line, the very first produced.
It was shipped to me in the UK, but by a twist of fate Fedex lost it for six weeks. In that period Bitcoin mining difficulty increased more than four times.
I then sold it on eBay to someone.
They used it to generate Bitcoin for two months. Then they claimed it didn't work, and returned it. I made a complain to eBay, but they weren't interested. That person basically stole £2,000 from me.
The whole BitCoin mining thing reminded me of the stories of various gold rushes. The people who made the money sold spades, picks and other supplies.... the miners themselves often ended up poorer
The appeal is surely that Bitcoin is finite and more difficult for authorities to keep tabs on than fiat.
Investors are doing the maths. The great money printing adventure can only last so long.
Even the most conservative Western governments will be coming for middle class money soon. Big Time. What else can they do?
What is this "ready to testify" nonsense? I am happy to believe the story that the advice was given and (wrongly) rejected, but that's what happens: advisers advise, other advisers advise different, those they advise decide. What does testimony on oath add to the claim, other than reminding the reader that they wouldn't believe good ol' eye test Dom if he swore on the Bible and on his children's heads that the sun rose in the East?
I think testifying to the Health Select Committee, chairman one Jeremy Hunt.
I think the nation will be more mightily confused to hear that Cummings was and is pro lockdown.
Luke 15:7 refers: I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
By the time it was politically possible to do so (late March), it wouldn't have made much difference, as only 0.5% of cases were imported from overseas.
The "it's too late to do anything about it now" argument.
How's that worked out?
Guernsey (which enforced border control/quarantine on March 18th and has maintained it ever since) has had the UK equivalent of 13,000 deaths.
People have known since the Black Death that disease moves with people.
My sister is in hospital in Guernsey. Been moved from one on the mainland. And she's been quarantined, although it's now finished. However, they have no other bed for her, so she's got to stay in the isolation room.
Sorry to hear that (though I suspect the PEH is a better option than Southampton Gen!). There was one COVID patient in hospital but they no longer appear to be - either having been discharged, or recovered. When asked about the patient at the news conference the CMO refused absolutely to comment.
She started in Salisbury for plastic surgery. Her daughter, who was her only allowed visitor wasn't overly impressed, so while my sister has few visitors in PEH it seems better for her. Visiting is difficult because her home is on Alderney, so anyone who might visit has to fly over.
Who wouldn't want, in the middle of a massive health crisis stretching the medical system to it's limits, a number of untrained clowns wandering around the wards demanding to know "How do you feel?"
Half a million fewer tests done in Germany last week compared to the week before, a fall of about a third.
Given the holidays, so?
So: 1. I believe there was not such a big drop off in the uk 2. There are a lot of extra people celebrating New Year unaware that they have coronavirus, or have been in contact with someone with coronavirus.
From what we already know about isolation post testing this would happen either way. In all of Europe the testing system is little more than expensive monitoring of virus trends.
Which makes it slightly unfortunate that our entire education strategy to reopen schools is based on the least accurate form of it.
My daughter teaches in a sixth form college. She's been pretty sanguine about everything since March - but over the last few days she's been more and more stressed about going back to work. The virus is rampant in the area, and loads of 16-19s have tested positive (and loads more will have it without knowing it of course). I understand her stress - the risks seems pretty high. Is this worry common now among teachers?
PS: Williamson is a complete arse and the whole thing about schools is a monstrous debacle, of course.
I wouldn’t know. But they were all fuming at what happened before Christmas and they are likely to be incandescent now. A potentially more interesting question is how many children will not want to go back. Most of them don’t like school at the best of times, which this is not.
One thing the DfE has not thought through is that it does sort of rely on teachers to function. After their role in acting as superspreaders, for example, it is a safe bet that in future no teacher will talk to or in any way cooperate with OFSTED, meaning they will be unable to conduct proper inspections. Similarly, no initiative from the DfE will be implemented short of court orders. Possibly not even then. Rendering them more than slightly redundant.
I must take issue though with your description of Williamson. If he were a complete arse, he would have a brain. Not having that, he is definitely an incomplete arse.
What is this "ready to testify" nonsense? I am happy to believe the story that the advice was given and (wrongly) rejected, but that's what happens: advisers advise, other advisers advise different, those they advise decide. What does testimony on oath add to the claim, other than reminding the reader that they wouldn't believe good ol' eye test Dom if he swore on the Bible and on his children's heads that the sun rose in the East?
I think testifying to the Health Select Committee, chairman one Jeremy Hunt.
I think the nation will be more mightily confused to hear that Cummings was and is pro lockdown.
Luke 15:7 refers: I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
I wonder if Dom will go all Luke 22: 59-62.
About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean." Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.
Who wouldn't want, in the middle of a massive health crisis stretching the medical system to it's limits, a number of untrained clowns wandering around the wards demanding to know "How do you feel?"
I've often wondered how one became a 'medical correspondent'.
What is this "ready to testify" nonsense? I am happy to believe the story that the advice was given and (wrongly) rejected, but that's what happens: advisers advise, other advisers advise different, those they advise decide. What does testimony on oath add to the claim, other than reminding the reader that they wouldn't believe good ol' eye test Dom if he swore on the Bible and on his children's heads that the sun rose in the East?
Testifying to the Health Select Committee, chairman one Jeremy Hunt.
I think the nation will be more mightily confused to hear that Cummings was and is pro lockdown.
The spin that maybe that Johnson prioritised the economy over the health of the nation, because he couldn't lose two Chancellors in a year.
Why would he be called to testify? After he misled the last SC he spoke to nobody would believe him so it wouldn’t be worth the effort.
Who wouldn't want, in the middle of a massive health crisis stretching the medical system to it's limits, a number of untrained clowns wandering around the wards demanding to know "How do you feel?"
I've often wondered how one became a 'medical correspondent'.
Who wouldn't want, in the middle of a massive health crisis stretching the medical system to it's limits, a number of untrained clowns wandering around the wards demanding to know "How do you feel?"
I've often wondered how one became a 'medical correspondent'.
I presume you need to demonstrate
- You are suitably high in the media hierarchy - You lack any knowledge of medicine - You display a suitable inability to learn about medicine - You can appear to be really caring on camera
Half a million fewer tests done in Germany last week compared to the week before, a fall of about a third.
Given the holidays, so?
So: 1. I believe there was not such a big drop off in the uk 2. There are a lot of extra people celebrating New Year unaware that they have coronavirus, or have been in contact with someone with coronavirus.
From what we already know about isolation post testing this would happen either way. In all of Europe the testing system is little more than expensive monitoring of virus trends.
Which makes it slightly unfortunate that our entire education strategy to reopen schools is based on the least accurate form of it.
My daughter teaches in a sixth form college. She's been pretty sanguine about everything since March - but over the last few days she's been more and more stressed about going back to work. The virus is rampant in the area, and loads of 16-19s have tested positive (and loads more will have it without knowing it of course). I understand her stress - the risks seems pretty high. Is this worry common now among teachers?
PS: Williamson is a complete arse and the whole thing about schools is a monstrous debacle, of course.
I wouldn’t know. But they were all fuming at what happened before Christmas and they are likely to be incandescent now. A potentially more interesting question is how many children will not want to go back. Most of them don’t like school at the best of times, which this is not.
One thing the DfE has not thought through is that it does sort of rely on teachers to function. After their role in acting as superspreaders, for example, it is a safe bet that in future no teacher will talk to or in any way cooperate with OFSTED, meaning they will be unable to conduct proper inspections. Similarly, no initiative from the DfE will be implemented short of court orders. Possibly not even then. Rendering them more than slightly redundant.
I must take issue though with your description of Williamson. If he were a complete arse, he would have a brain. Not having that, he is definitely an incomplete arse.
In mid March, Ofsted visited the school mine went to. One of them told me "The Infector came into my class."
Re Bitcoin, as the only man on here to have bought it at $3, and as I still hang on to well... half a bitcoin... it is worth remembering that it has one massive flaw:
The way it is architected allows it to only process about 5 to 7 transactions a second.
And another smaller one... It typically takes 15 to 30 minutes to get confirmation of a transaction having been completed, during which the sender could (in theory) walk back the transaction.
Together, these don't matter, if everyone is just buying it and sitting on it, but it doesn't really allow for it to be used for regular purchases, or indeed to replace "fiat" money or payment networks like Western Union, PayPal or Visa.
I get the occasional twinge - I was doing GOPU research back in the day. Had the most powerful GPU yet made on early release from NVIDIA. Fired up BitCoin mining for a laugh. Left it running - by accident - at work over the weekend. This was when mining on a single machine was spewing bitcoins....
Deleted all the data on Monday and did some real work.
I ordered a Butterfly Labs bitcoin miner on-line, the very first produced.
It was shipped to me in the UK, but by a twist of fate Fedex lost it for six weeks. In that period Bitcoin mining difficulty increased more than four times.
I then sold it on eBay to someone.
They used it to generate Bitcoin for two months. Then they claimed it didn't work, and returned it. I made a complain to eBay, but they weren't interested. That person basically stole £2,000 from me.
The whole BitCoin mining thing reminded me of the stories of various gold rushes. The people who made the money sold spades, picks and other supplies.... the miners themselves often ended up poorer
My GG grandfather did quite well out of the Australian gold rush. He was a Presbyterian minister on Sundays, and banker during the week. Many of the miners were Scots, and as minister he was considered trustworthy (correctly). He wrote a book about it which is quite ofter cited in histories of colonial Australia.
What is this "ready to testify" nonsense? I am happy to believe the story that the advice was given and (wrongly) rejected, but that's what happens: advisers advise, other advisers advise different, those they advise decide. What does testimony on oath add to the claim, other than reminding the reader that they wouldn't believe good ol' eye test Dom if he swore on the Bible and on his children's heads that the sun rose in the East?
I think testifying to the Health Select Committee, chairman one Jeremy Hunt.
I think the nation will be more mightily confused to hear that Cummings was and is pro lockdown.
Luke 15:7 refers: I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
I wonder if Dom will go all Luke 22: 59-62.
About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean." Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.
I have a feeling that Boris already knows, even perhaps from introspection, that if you want a faithful friend in politics you get a dog.
BTW you need to get to the end of the story to get to the heart of Peter. Dominic Cummings is no Peter.
Who wouldn't want, in the middle of a massive health crisis stretching the medical system to it's limits, a number of untrained clowns wandering around the wards demanding to know "How do you feel?"
I've often wondered how one became a 'medical correspondent'.
I presume you need to demonstrate
- You are suitably high in the media hierarchy - You lack any knowledge of medicine - You display a suitable inability to learn about medicine - You can appear to be really caring on camera
LOL!!! Not cynical are you? Not even the tiniest little bit!
Half a million fewer tests done in Germany last week compared to the week before, a fall of about a third.
Given the holidays, so?
So: 1. I believe there was not such a big drop off in the uk 2. There are a lot of extra people celebrating New Year unaware that they have coronavirus, or have been in contact with someone with coronavirus.
From what we already know about isolation post testing this would happen either way. In all of Europe the testing system is little more than expensive monitoring of virus trends.
Which makes it slightly unfortunate that our entire education strategy to reopen schools is based on the least accurate form of it.
My daughter teaches in a sixth form college. She's been pretty sanguine about everything since March - but over the last few days she's been more and more stressed about going back to work. The virus is rampant in the area, and loads of 16-19s have tested positive (and loads more will have it without knowing it of course). I understand her stress - the risks seems pretty high. Is this worry common now among teachers?
PS: Williamson is a complete arse and the whole thing about schools is a monstrous debacle, of course.
I wouldn’t know. But they were all fuming at what happened before Christmas and they are likely to be incandescent now. A potentially more interesting question is how many children will not want to go back. Most of them don’t like school at the best of times, which this is not.
One thing the DfE has not thought through is that it does sort of rely on teachers to function. After their role in acting as superspreaders, for example, it is a safe bet that in future no teacher will talk to or in any way cooperate with OFSTED, meaning they will be unable to conduct proper inspections. Similarly, no initiative from the DfE will be implemented short of court orders. Possibly not even then. Rendering them more than slightly redundant.
I must take issue though with your description of Williamson. If he were a complete arse, he would have a brain. Not having that, he is definitely an incomplete arse.
In mid March, Ofsted visited the school mine went to. One of them told me "The Infector came into my class."
Oh, how we laughed...
Positively prescient, given their recent performance.
The Republicans are fatally split between Trump supporters and the old guard. They cannot abide each other.
Should be easily enough to allow the democrats to win Georgia handily.
After that, well, all bets are off. America is wide open to the radical left. Green deals, mass immigration, huge tax hikes, identity politics with a vengeance, lockdowns, reparations,
I suggest bitcoin. Touched 29,000 a little while ago. Still in the foothills. Still at the beginning.
Bitcoin is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time. I wouldn't put a penny into it.
It is fundamentally worthless. The technology is interesting but this application of it is not.
Edit: If you're worried about fiat currency then buy gold, not magic beans.
Bitcoin has a purpose that gold doesn't have - which is that you can use it as a transfer of wealth across national borders with little risk.
Well it might if the value of Bitcoin was stable and predictable.
Considering its advocates rage against fiat currency, fiat currency is far more stable, secure and predicable in value. Bitcoin may serve a purpose in allowing drug dealers to move money, but I'm not convinced there's a stable future in it.
The very soaring nature of it "$29,000 and just in the foothills" is precisely why it is nothing but one of the most technically elaborate Ponzi schemes ever.
When a big investment firm recently made a bitcoin investment, they did so, they said on the basis it was a hedge against the devaluation of the world's major currencies.
And that's all it is really, a hedge, and the only way I would suggest anybody takes a look at it, as one among a wide range of investments.
Now why would the world's major currencies devalue? well, they have been printing money like its going out of fashion and will continue to do so, and the rates offered for some investments in theses currencies are zero or in some cases negative.
You should look up Tether if you want to talk about printing money.
Think I want to invest in this stuff? Absolutely not. I am thinking about the amount of debt the government is racking up, how hopelessly adrift of any fiscal responsibility it is, how far it is from ever making ends meet in the foreseeable future, vaccine or no vaccine.
Who is left to pay? the 54 new billionaires COVID has made? do me a favour. Middle class people with something but not a great deal, that's who. There's nobody else.
What is this "ready to testify" nonsense? I am happy to believe the story that the advice was given and (wrongly) rejected, but that's what happens: advisers advise, other advisers advise different, those they advise decide. What does testimony on oath add to the claim, other than reminding the reader that they wouldn't believe good ol' eye test Dom if he swore on the Bible and on his children's heads that the sun rose in the East?
Testifying to the Health Select Committee, chairman one Jeremy Hunt.
I think the nation will be more mightily confused to hear that Cummings was and is pro lockdown.
The spin that maybe that Johnson prioritised the economy over the health of the nation, because he couldn't lose two Chancellors in a year.
Why would he be called to testify? After he misled the last SC he spoke to nobody would believe him so it wouldn’t be worth the effort.
This is Cummings attempt to get revenge for being sacked?
What is this "ready to testify" nonsense? I am happy to believe the story that the advice was given and (wrongly) rejected, but that's what happens: advisers advise, other advisers advise different, those they advise decide. What does testimony on oath add to the claim, other than reminding the reader that they wouldn't believe good ol' eye test Dom if he swore on the Bible and on his children's heads that the sun rose in the East?
Testifying to the Health Select Committee, chairman one Jeremy Hunt.
I think the nation will be more mightily confused to hear that Cummings was and is pro lockdown.
The spin that maybe that Johnson prioritised the economy over the health of the nation, because he couldn't lose two Chancellors in a year.
I see all that, I was just objecting to Peston's cackhandedness in emphasizing the "on oath" point.
I don't think there is much in the loss of two chancellors point. Rishi is an ambitious little toad of flexible principles (or he wouldn't have taken the gig in the first place) with the example before him of Sajid who? to remind him how very little ice a resigned-on-principle former CotE cuts.
What is this "ready to testify" nonsense? I am happy to believe the story that the advice was given and (wrongly) rejected, but that's what happens: advisers advise, other advisers advise different, those they advise decide. What does testimony on oath add to the claim, other than reminding the reader that they wouldn't believe good ol' eye test Dom if he swore on the Bible and on his children's heads that the sun rose in the East?
Testifying to the Health Select Committee, chairman one Jeremy Hunt.
I think the nation will be more mightily confused to hear that Cummings was and is pro lockdown.
The spin that maybe that Johnson prioritised the economy over the health of the nation, because he couldn't lose two Chancellors in a year.
As a connoisseur of hypocrisy, if Cummings does testify against Boris et (in whatever venue), the re-invention by the Guardian et al of Cummings as a Sword Of Truth will be magnificent.
Remember what happened to Julian Assange - Hero for publishing US intelligence data that embarrassed George Bush, villain for publishing data that embarrassed Hillary Clinton.
The Republicans are fatally split between Trump supporters and the old guard. They cannot abide each other.
Should be easily enough to allow the democrats to win Georgia handily.
After that, well, all bets are off. America is wide open to the radical left. Green deals, mass immigration, huge tax hikes, identity politics with a vengeance, lockdowns, reparations,
I suggest bitcoin. Touched 29,000 a little while ago. Still in the foothills. Still at the beginning.
Bitcoin is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time. I wouldn't put a penny into it.
It is fundamentally worthless. The technology is interesting but this application of it is not.
Edit: If you're worried about fiat currency then buy gold, not magic beans.
Bitcoin has a purpose that gold doesn't have - which is that you can use it as a transfer of wealth across national borders with little risk.
Well it might if the value of Bitcoin was stable and predictable.
Considering its advocates rage against fiat currency, fiat currency is far more stable, secure and predicable in value. Bitcoin may serve a purpose in allowing drug dealers to move money, but I'm not convinced there's a stable future in it.
The very soaring nature of it "$29,000 and just in the foothills" is precisely why it is nothing but one of the most technically elaborate Ponzi schemes ever.
When a big investment firm recently made a bitcoin investment, they did so, they said on the basis it was a hedge against the devaluation of the world's major currencies.
And that's all it is really, a hedge, and the only way I would suggest anybody takes a look at it, as one among a wide range of investments.
Now why would the world's major currencies devalue? well, they have been printing money like its going out of fashion and will continue to do so, and the rates offered for some investments in theses currencies are zero or in some cases negative.
Shock news as Investment Fund talks own book!
Anyone considering a serious investment in Bitcoin should take a long hard look at Tether first. The company controlling Tether has about two weeks before they finally get hauled up in court in NY. I personally suspect things may get a little “interesting” for the world of cryptocurrency afterwards, but I could be wrong: dyor.
What is this "ready to testify" nonsense? I am happy to believe the story that the advice was given and (wrongly) rejected, but that's what happens: advisers advise, other advisers advise different, those they advise decide. What does testimony on oath add to the claim, other than reminding the reader that they wouldn't believe good ol' eye test Dom if he swore on the Bible and on his children's heads that the sun rose in the East?
Testifying to the Health Select Committee, chairman one Jeremy Hunt.
I think the nation will be more mightily confused to hear that Cummings was and is pro lockdown.
The spin that maybe that Johnson prioritised the economy over the health of the nation, because he couldn't lose two Chancellors in a year.
Why would he be called to testify? After he misled the last SC he spoke to nobody would believe him so it wouldn’t be worth the effort.
This is Cummings attempt to get revenge for being sacked?
Or new manoeuvres from Gove? Gove might feel that if he can discredit Boris, he is better placed in the battle against SINDY.
We seem on track to lose another 50, 60k lives this year.
Quite easily. We are in a race between the virus and vaccination, and as bad as things will be here they will almost certainly be much worse in many other countries.
What is this "ready to testify" nonsense? I am happy to believe the story that the advice was given and (wrongly) rejected, but that's what happens: advisers advise, other advisers advise different, those they advise decide. What does testimony on oath add to the claim, other than reminding the reader that they wouldn't believe good ol' eye test Dom if he swore on the Bible and on his children's heads that the sun rose in the East?
I think testifying to the Health Select Committee, chairman one Jeremy Hunt.
I think the nation will be more mightily confused to hear that Cummings was and is pro lockdown.
Luke 15:7 refers: I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
I wonder if Dom will go all Luke 22: 59-62.
About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean." Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.
I have a feeling that Boris already knows, even perhaps from introspection, that if you want a faithful friend in politics you get a dog.
BTW you need to get to the end of the story to get to the heart of Peter. Dominic Cummings is no Peter.
Well there's a lot of people who would like to see Dom receive the same end as Saint Peter.
I do remember one former SPAD telling me there was a reason Cummings and Gove got on so well, 'It is because neither of them has an enemy in the world, even their friends think they are c*nts.'
One of the City's most prominent hedge fund managers is preparing to invest millions of pounds in GB News, the fledgling current affairs broadcasting company which is targeting a launch into British homes next year.
Sky News has learnt that Sir Paul Marshall, the co-founder of Marshall Wace, is in advanced talks about injecting approximately £10m into GB News.
I really don't see this. The likes of Sky News gets tiny audiences. There is already the BBC, who have the size to smash most competition and a range of smaller competition from Sky, to Talk Radio, to Times Radio to LBC, and big bad Uncle Rupert is launching News UK.
Apparently, there are only 3 pubs open in England today, all on the Scilly Isles.
Pubs have been closed on a few hours notice thus losing any stock they had bought in for NY because the government could not be arsed to announce the change before the last day for making orders, something which would have been obvious to anyone with a calendar and the wit to ring somebody up in this business. So clearly well beyond the grasp of this government.
They cannot claim on insurance and pubs in England get far less help than those in Wales and Scotland. Even the grants announced back in November have still to be paid out. The government seems to expect everyone working in this sector to live permanently on 80% of their previous wages. The grants which have been announced don't go remotely near covering fixed costs. Basically every closed pub and hotel and restaurant and other hospitality venue is now loss-making.
Whether they will ever reopen again depends on whether (a) they have any savings to use and (b) they whether they think it worth using up their savings. The latter depends trusting the government to manage the vaccination programme effectively so that venues can reopen by Easter latest.
Effectiveness is not the word one first associates with this government, however.
I thought if you when I saw Cumbria was going from tier 2 to tier 4. Not good, and as you say, awful timing.
FWIW, I think the vaccination program will be fine despite the government. As Nick pointed out earlier, the long established infrastructure of the NHS is very well organised to deliver vaccinations and would make it hard for any government to truly fuck up. Easter is tight, but I think it should happen.
What worries me is the difference between promises of 4 million doses and Hancock admitting that they have only actually received half a million.
NHS infrastructure may be fine but if the doses don't actually arrive on time and/or in the quantities needed, what use is the infrastructure.
I hope to be proved wrong.
Be careful mixing up numbers. The MHRA only just issued authorisation.
Half a million are approved and ready to use next week.
About 4 million have already been bottled up but they need authorisation.
About 15 million doses have already been produced and need bottling up and authorising.
That sounds more positive.
Source?
Source would be interesting
Just to be clear, the MHRA doesn’t get involved from hereonin
I assume when you say 4m are bottled and need authorisation you are referring to QA/QC release? Entirely within the manufacturers control assuming the products are in spec
What is this "ready to testify" nonsense? I am happy to believe the story that the advice was given and (wrongly) rejected, but that's what happens: advisers advise, other advisers advise different, those they advise decide. What does testimony on oath add to the claim, other than reminding the reader that they wouldn't believe good ol' eye test Dom if he swore on the Bible and on his children's heads that the sun rose in the East?
Testifying to the Health Select Committee, chairman one Jeremy Hunt.
I think the nation will be more mightily confused to hear that Cummings was and is pro lockdown.
The spin that maybe that Johnson prioritised the economy over the health of the nation, because he couldn't lose two Chancellors in a year.
Why would he be called to testify? After he misled the last SC he spoke to nobody would believe him so it wouldn’t be worth the effort.
This is Cummings attempt to get revenge for being sacked?
Or new manoeuvres from Gove? Gove might feel that if he can discredit Boris, he is better placed in the battle against SINDY.
Who wouldn't want, in the middle of a massive health crisis stretching the medical system to it's limits, a number of untrained clowns wandering around the wards demanding to know "How do you feel?"
I've often wondered how one became a 'medical correspondent'.
I presume you need to demonstrate
- You are suitably high in the media hierarchy - You lack any knowledge of medicine - You display a suitable inability to learn about medicine - You can appear to be really caring on camera
LOL!!! Not cynical are you? Not even the tiniest little bit!
Haven'y you observed the pecking order in the media?
Expert journalists exist - but are pushed out of the way for the celebrity talking heads. I(t's the old British obsession with generalists vs specialists. A journalist with a medical degree/medical experience would be considered a bit... not odd, but not "proper" to represent a big outlet at a major press conference.
The Republicans are fatally split between Trump supporters and the old guard. They cannot abide each other.
Should be easily enough to allow the democrats to win Georgia handily.
After that, well, all bets are off. America is wide open to the radical left. Green deals, mass immigration, huge tax hikes, identity politics with a vengeance, lockdowns, reparations,
I suggest bitcoin. Touched 29,000 a little while ago. Still in the foothills. Still at the beginning.
Bitcoin is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time. I wouldn't put a penny into it.
It is fundamentally worthless. The technology is interesting but this application of it is not.
Edit: If you're worried about fiat currency then buy gold, not magic beans.
Bitcoin has a purpose that gold doesn't have - which is that you can use it as a transfer of wealth across national borders with little risk.
Well it might if the value of Bitcoin was stable and predictable.
Considering its advocates rage against fiat currency, fiat currency is far more stable, secure and predicable in value. Bitcoin may serve a purpose in allowing drug dealers to move money, but I'm not convinced there's a stable future in it.
The very soaring nature of it "$29,000 and just in the foothills" is precisely why it is nothing but one of the most technically elaborate Ponzi schemes ever.
When a big investment firm recently made a bitcoin investment, they did so, they said on the basis it was a hedge against the devaluation of the world's major currencies.
And that's all it is really, a hedge, and the only way I would suggest anybody takes a look at it, as one among a wide range of investments.
Now why would the world's major currencies devalue? well, they have been printing money like its going out of fashion and will continue to do so, and the rates offered for some investments in theses currencies are zero or in some cases negative.
Shock news as Investment Fund talks own book!
Anyone considering a serious investment in Bitcoin should take a long hard look at Tether first. The company controlling Tether has about two weeks before they finally get hauled up in court in NY. I personally suspect things may get a little “interesting” for the world of cryptocurrency afterwards, but I could be wrong: dyor.
Hang on:
Tether was a fraud based around the idea that it was a cryptocurrency tied to the USD. When, in fact, it involved people stealing the money. (If they'd been smart, they would have invested the money, and taken the profits.)
Bitcoin's value comes from its inherent scarcity. There cannot be more than 21 million bitcoin. Of course, this leads some people to (stupidly) think that the price can only go up.
Be careful mixing up numbers. The MHRA only just issued authorisation.
Half a million are approved and ready to use next week.
About 4 million have already been bottled up but they need authorisation.
About 15 million doses have already been produced and need bottling up and authorising.
That sounds more positive.
Source?
Source would be interesting
Just to be clear, the MHRA doesn’t get involved from hereonin
I assume when you say 4m are bottled and need authorisation you are referring to QA/QC release? Entirely within the manufacturers control assuming the products are in spec
I posted this a few threads ago, already lost to the mists of time.
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed that AstraZeneca "have bottled four million doses but have not gone through the safety checks for all the batches", adding: "The nuance is they do have four million ready to go, but without knowing the exact conditions the MHRA have set I don't think it is feasible to check four million doses in one go."
Mr Johnson promised that "tens of millions" of doses would be available by the end of March, and The Telegraph understands that AstraZeneca already has 15 million doses waiting to be put into vials as soon as required. That could be done in a matter of days at specialist factories in the UK and Europe.
I know quite a few front line workers not wanting the vaccine, mostly because they have had confirmed Covid-19, so have antibodies. It doesn't mean they are nutters.
One of the City's most prominent hedge fund managers is preparing to invest millions of pounds in GB News, the fledgling current affairs broadcasting company which is targeting a launch into British homes next year.
Sky News has learnt that Sir Paul Marshall, the co-founder of Marshall Wace, is in advanced talks about injecting approximately £10m into GB News.
I really don't see this. The likes of Sky News gets tiny audiences. There is already the BBC, who have the size to smash most competition and a range of smaller competition from Sky, to Talk Radio, to Times Radio to LBC, and big bad Uncle Rupert is launching News UK.
They may aim to build up an audience by being very partisan, like Fox News or OANN in America. It will be harder with the UK's current broadcasting regulations, but possible.
Re Bitcoin, as the only man on here to have bought it at $3, and as I still hang on to well... half a bitcoin... it is worth remembering that it has one massive flaw:
The way it is architected allows it to only process about 5 to 7 transactions a second.
And another smaller one... It typically takes 15 to 30 minutes to get confirmation of a transaction having been completed, during which the sender could (in theory) walk back the transaction.
Together, these don't matter, if everyone is just buying it and sitting on it, but it doesn't really allow for it to be used for regular purchases, or indeed to replace "fiat" money or payment networks like Western Union, PayPal or Visa.
Have you seen the 'physical' bitcoins?
It's a USB stick that you can load coin onto, and give it to someone, who can give it to someone else.
If you want to spend the coin online you need to snap it to reveal the key
That still doesn't really solve any of the fundamental problems with Bitcoin.
I'm sceptical the fundamental problems can be solved.
The technology itself could be useful in other areas but a currency it is not.
Lightning is a very interesting attempt to graft scalability onto Bitcoin. Before I set up my auto insurer, I considered getting into that space. The issue was that - to make it work - you'd need to work with some seriously scummy people. And I quite like living and not going to jail.
Or new manoeuvres from Gove? Gove might feel that if he can discredit Boris, he is better placed in the battle against SINDY.
Gove defenestrating BoZo, "more in sorrow than in anger", would be an entertaining start to the year
Yet IIRC from a poll and discussion here a few weeks back almost the only person more unpopular in Scotland than Mr Johnson is Mr Gove. Except with the fisherfolk, possibly - but now they want to go back to the CFP.
One of the City's most prominent hedge fund managers is preparing to invest millions of pounds in GB News, the fledgling current broadcasting company which is targeting a launch into British homes next year.
Sky News has learnt that Sir Paul Marshall, the co-founder of Marshall Wace, is in advanced talks about injecting approximately £10m into GB News.
I really don't see this. The likes of Sky News gets tiny audiences. There is already the BBC, who have the size to smash most competition and a range of smaller competition from Sky, to Talk Radio, to Times Radio to LBC, and big bad Uncle Rupert is launching News UK.
I’m not quite sure how the economics work either, but perhaps the channel itself is merely a loss-making way to produce covidiot and brexity culture war fodder for more profitable use elsewhere.
One of the City's most prominent hedge fund managers is preparing to invest millions of pounds in GB News, the fledgling current affairs broadcasting company which is targeting a launch into British homes next year.
Sky News has learnt that Sir Paul Marshall, the co-founder of Marshall Wace, is in advanced talks about injecting approximately £10m into GB News.
I really don't see this. The likes of Sky News gets tiny audiences. There is already the BBC, who have the size to smash most competition and a range of smaller competition from Sky, to Talk Radio, to Times Radio to LBC, and big bad Uncle Rupert is launching News UK.
They may aim to build up an audience by being very partisan, like Fox News or OANN in America. It will be harder with the UK's current broadcasting regulations, but possible.
Is there any evidence that there is a massive market for this? Talk Radio and LBC are very partisan already.
Is that the same lockdown in march he went on to break, or a different one?
How many times? He did not break lockdown. He broke quarantine.
The Police cleared him of that. Hence all the complaints about Barnard Castle, which was a lockdown issue.
Am I therefore mistaken in thinking he did not go into work when his wife had Covid symptoms, and he did not drive to Durham while displaying them himself?
Re Bitcoin, as the only man on here to have bought it at $3, and as I still hang on to well... half a bitcoin... it is worth remembering that it has one massive flaw:
The way it is architected allows it to only process about 5 to 7 transactions a second.
And another smaller one... It typically takes 15 to 30 minutes to get confirmation of a transaction having been completed, during which the sender could (in theory) walk back the transaction.
Together, these don't matter, if everyone is just buying it and sitting on it, but it doesn't really allow for it to be used for regular purchases, or indeed to replace "fiat" money or payment networks like Western Union, PayPal or Visa.
I get the occasional twinge - I was doing GOPU research back in the day. Had the most powerful GPU yet made on early release from NVIDIA. Fired up BitCoin mining for a laugh. Left it running - by accident - at work over the weekend. This was when mining on a single machine was spewing bitcoins....
Deleted all the data on Monday and did some real work.
I ordered a Butterfly Labs bitcoin miner on-line, the very first produced.
It was shipped to me in the UK, but by a twist of fate Fedex lost it for six weeks. In that period Bitcoin mining difficulty increased more than four times.
I then sold it on eBay to someone.
They used it to generate Bitcoin for two months. Then they claimed it didn't work, and returned it. I made a complain to eBay, but they weren't interested. That person basically stole £2,000 from me.
The whole BitCoin mining thing reminded me of the stories of various gold rushes. The people who made the money sold spades, picks and other supplies.... the miners themselves often ended up poorer
The appeal is surely that Bitcoin is finite and more difficult for authorities to keep tabs on than fiat.
Investors are doing the maths. The great money printing adventure can only last so long.
Even the most conservative Western governments will be coming for middle class money soon. Big Time. What else can they do?
I tend to agree that governments are going to lean ever more on the magic money printing machine.
And at some point, that will inevitably lead to inflation.
But I couldn't tell you if that happens in 2021 or 2051.
Remember that Japan has been furiously printing money for about two decades now, and the BOJ now owns debt equivalent to well over 100% of Japanese GDP, and that hasn't resulted in a single drop of inflation.
One of the City's most prominent hedge fund managers is preparing to invest millions of pounds in GB News, the fledgling current affairs broadcasting company which is targeting a launch into British homes next year.
Sky News has learnt that Sir Paul Marshall, the co-founder of Marshall Wace, is in advanced talks about injecting approximately £10m into GB News.
I really don't see this. The likes of Sky News gets tiny audiences. There is already the BBC, who have the size to smash most competition and a range of smaller competition from Sky, to Talk Radio, to Times Radio to LBC, and big bad Uncle Rupert is launching News UK.
They may aim to build up an audience by being very partisan, like Fox News or OANN in America. It will be harder with the UK's current broadcasting regulations, but possible.
Is there any evidence that there is a massive market for this? Talk Radio and LBC are very partisan already.
But they have mixed voices, partly due to the UK's broadcasting regulations. They're not like Fox, so the key would be whether the government wants to change those regulations, as some have assumed.
Yet IIRC from a poll and discussion here a few weeks back almost the only person more unpopular in Scotland than Mr Johnson is Mr Gove. Except with the fisherfolk, possibly - but now they want to go back to the CFP.
Perhaps
But now that Brexit is "done", the discussion will move onto why the sunlit uplands look more like a waterlogged lorry park in Kent...
Since Brexit itself can never be the problem, the fault must surely lie with the implementer of it.
Gove can repeat the speech he gave that torpedoed BoZo the first time round
The Republicans are fatally split between Trump supporters and the old guard. They cannot abide each other.
Should be easily enough to allow the democrats to win Georgia handily.
After that, well, all bets are off. America is wide open to the radical left. Green deals, mass immigration, huge tax hikes, identity politics with a vengeance, lockdowns, reparations,
I suggest bitcoin. Touched 29,000 a little while ago. Still in the foothills. Still at the beginning.
Bitcoin is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time. I wouldn't put a penny into it.
It is fundamentally worthless. The technology is interesting but this application of it is not.
Edit: If you're worried about fiat currency then buy gold, not magic beans.
Bitcoin has a purpose that gold doesn't have - which is that you can use it as a transfer of wealth across national borders with little risk.
Well it might if the value of Bitcoin was stable and predictable.
Considering its advocates rage against fiat currency, fiat currency is far more stable, secure and predicable in value. Bitcoin may serve a purpose in allowing drug dealers to move money, but I'm not convinced there's a stable future in it.
The very soaring nature of it "$29,000 and just in the foothills" is precisely why it is nothing but one of the most technically elaborate Ponzi schemes ever.
When a big investment firm recently made a bitcoin investment, they did so, they said on the basis it was a hedge against the devaluation of the world's major currencies.
And that's all it is really, a hedge, and the only way I would suggest anybody takes a look at it, as one among a wide range of investments.
Now why would the world's major currencies devalue? well, they have been printing money like its going out of fashion and will continue to do so, and the rates offered for some investments in theses currencies are zero or in some cases negative.
Shock news as Investment Fund talks own book!
Anyone considering a serious investment in Bitcoin should take a long hard look at Tether first. The company controlling Tether has about two weeks before they finally get hauled up in court in NY. I personally suspect things may get a little “interesting” for the world of cryptocurrency afterwards, but I could be wrong: dyor.
Hang on:
Tether was a fraud based around the idea that it was a cryptocurrency tied to the USD. When, in fact, it involved people stealing the money. (If they'd been smart, they would have invested the money, and taken the profits.)
Bitcoin's value comes from its inherent scarcity. There cannot be more than 21 million bitcoin. Of course, this leads some people to (stupidly) think that the price can only go up.
1) Bitcoin supply is inflationary for the natural lifetime of anyone buying it today, even if miners don’t collude to change the protocol, which given that mining is concentrated into the hands of a single digit number of entities (possibly fewer, it’s hard to know for sure), they’re at liberty to do any time they like.
2) Tether is /the/ stablecoin for the majority of crypto-currency exchanges. The BTC/Tether pair is the most heavily traded pair IIRC.
3) Tether has been printing like crazy the last few months. Sure, that might be real $ inflows. /Or/ it might be rampant printing from an outfit that knows the SEC has it in it’s sights & is looking to print, buy BTC and sell out as much as possible before the shoe finally drops.
Re 3: From the outside, it’s impossible to tell. If you’re buying into BTC right now, you’re making a bet that you’re not being used as a bag-holder by Tether insiders. Do you feel lucky?
Comments
It's a USB stick that you can load coin onto, and give it to someone, who can give it to someone else.
If you want to spend the coin online you need to snap it to reveal the key
https://opendime.com
Revolting as he may be, I bet Cummings is handy in a knife fight.
https://twitter.com/Samfr/status/1344671032553181184?s=19
How's that worked out?
Guernsey (which enforced border control/quarantine on March 18th and has maintained it ever since) has had the UK equivalent of 13,000 deaths.
People have known since the Black Death that disease moves with people.
Its desperate to get its own story out.
Makes you wonder.
https://twitter.com/JujuliaGrace/status/1344262970851917826?s=19
Smells like bovine manure.
It was shipped to me in the UK, but by a twist of fate Fedex lost it for six weeks. In that period Bitcoin mining difficulty increased more than four times.
I then sold it on eBay to someone.
They used it to generate Bitcoin for two months. Then they claimed it didn't work, and returned it. I made a complain to eBay, but they weren't interested. That person basically stole £2,000 from me.
In terms of currencies opposing the US dollar may not have the potential upside of Bitcoin but there is far less downside.I am shorting the $ against the Yen,Canadian Dollar,New Zealand Dollar & Swiss Franc via spreadbetting.
Dr Julia Patterson of campaign group EveryDoctor tells why she quit health service ‘cut back to its very bones
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/sep/29/doctors-quit-nhs-austerity-stress-staff-shortages
https://twitter.com/BBCSangita/status/1344675017649500161?s=20
Actually, I'd have thought a select committee is more likely.
The technology itself could be useful in other areas but a currency it is not.
PS: Williamson is a complete arse and the whole thing about schools is a monstrous debacle, of course.
My guess is that perhaps by 2028 and certainly 2032 Georgia won't even be viewed as a battleground in a close election given forecasted growth in Atlanta over the next couple of decades.
Of course, these things go in both directions. Missouri was the definitive purple state for a while but isn't part of any Democrat's realistic path to 270 now - it'd only go blue in a big landslide election.
I think the nation will be more mightily confused to hear that Cummings was and is pro lockdown.
The spin that maybe that Johnson prioritised the economy over the health of the nation, because he couldn't lose two Chancellors in a year.
Investors are doing the maths. The great money printing adventure can only last so long.
Even the most conservative Western governments will be coming for middle class money soon. Big Time. What else can they do?
One thing the DfE has not thought through is that it does sort of rely on teachers to function. After their role in acting as superspreaders, for example, it is a safe bet that in future no teacher will talk to or in any way cooperate with OFSTED, meaning they will be unable to conduct proper inspections. Similarly, no initiative from the DfE will be implemented short of court orders. Possibly not even then. Rendering them more than slightly redundant.
I must take issue though with your description of Williamson. If he were a complete arse, he would have a brain. Not having that, he is definitely an incomplete arse.
There are a hardcore of Brexity trolls on here though that seem keen to make a wider point.
About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean." Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.
- You are suitably high in the media hierarchy
- You lack any knowledge of medicine
- You display a suitable inability to learn about medicine
- You can appear to be really caring on camera
Oh, how we laughed...
BTW you need to get to the end of the story to get to the heart of Peter. Dominic Cummings is no Peter.
Is that the same lockdown in march he went on to break, or a different one?
Who is left to pay? the 54 new billionaires COVID has made? do me a favour. Middle class people with something but not a great deal, that's who. There's nobody else.
We seem on track to lose another 50, 60k lives this year.
I don't think there is much in the loss of two chancellors point. Rishi is an ambitious little toad of flexible principles (or he wouldn't have taken the gig in the first place) with the example before him of Sajid who? to remind him how very little ice a resigned-on-principle former CotE cuts.
Remember what happened to Julian Assange - Hero for publishing US intelligence data that embarrassed George Bush, villain for publishing data that embarrassed Hillary Clinton.
Anyone considering a serious investment in Bitcoin should take a long hard look at Tether first. The company controlling Tether has about two weeks before they finally get hauled up in court in NY. I personally suspect things may get a little “interesting” for the world of cryptocurrency afterwards, but I could be wrong: dyor.
Gove might feel that if he can discredit Boris, he is better placed in the battle against SINDY.
I do remember one former SPAD telling me there was a reason Cummings and Gove got on so well, 'It is because neither of them has an enemy in the world, even their friends think they are c*nts.'
Sky News has learnt that Sir Paul Marshall, the co-founder of Marshall Wace, is in advanced talks about injecting approximately £10m into GB News.
https://news.sky.com/story/city-tycoon-marshall-tunes-into-60m-gb-news-fundraising-12176428
I really don't see this. The likes of Sky News gets tiny audiences. There is already the BBC, who have the size to smash most competition and a range of smaller competition from Sky, to Talk Radio, to Times Radio to LBC, and big bad Uncle Rupert is launching News UK.
Just to be clear, the MHRA doesn’t get involved from hereonin
I assume when you say 4m are bottled and need authorisation you are referring to QA/QC release? Entirely within the manufacturers control assuming the products are in spec
Expert journalists exist - but are pushed out of the way for the celebrity talking heads. I(t's the old British obsession with generalists vs specialists. A journalist with a medical degree/medical experience would be considered a bit... not odd, but not "proper" to represent a big outlet at a major press conference.
https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1344678741075750915?s=20
Tether was a fraud based around the idea that it was a cryptocurrency tied to the USD. When, in fact, it involved people stealing the money. (If they'd been smart, they would have invested the money, and taken the profits.)
Bitcoin's value comes from its inherent scarcity. There cannot be more than 21 million bitcoin. Of course, this leads some people to (stupidly) think that the price can only go up.
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed that AstraZeneca "have bottled four million doses but have not gone through the safety checks for all the batches", adding: "The nuance is they do have four million ready to go, but without knowing the exact conditions the MHRA have set I don't think it is feasible to check four million doses in one go."
Mr Johnson promised that "tens of millions" of doses would be available by the end of March, and The Telegraph understands that AstraZeneca already has 15 million doses waiting to be put into vials as soon as required. That could be done in a matter of days at specialist factories in the UK and Europe.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/12/30/britain-races-roll-covid-vaccines-bid-avoid-third-lockdown/
Today
Yesterday
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jun/26/brexit-is-the-rejection-of-globalisation
Today
Yesterday
From case data
From hospitalisation data
Because if so, he made an error in his statement.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/dominic-cummings-statement-speech-transcript-durham-full-text-read-lockdown-a9531856.html
And at some point, that will inevitably lead to inflation.
But I couldn't tell you if that happens in 2021 or 2051.
Remember that Japan has been furiously printing money for about two decades now, and the BOJ now owns debt equivalent to well over 100% of Japanese GDP, and that hasn't resulted in a single drop of inflation.
But now that Brexit is "done", the discussion will move onto why the sunlit uplands look more like a waterlogged lorry park in Kent...
Since Brexit itself can never be the problem, the fault must surely lie with the implementer of it.
Gove can repeat the speech he gave that torpedoed BoZo the first time round
https://twitter.com/TiceRichard/status/1344648440333160450
2) Tether is /the/ stablecoin for the majority of crypto-currency exchanges. The BTC/Tether pair is the most heavily traded pair IIRC.
3) Tether has been printing like crazy the last few months. Sure, that might be real $ inflows. /Or/ it might be rampant printing from an outfit that knows the SEC has it in it’s sights & is looking to print, buy BTC and sell out as much as possible before the shoe finally drops.
Re 3: From the outside, it’s impossible to tell. If you’re buying into BTC right now, you’re making a bet that you’re not being used as a bag-holder by Tether insiders. Do you feel lucky?
I have heard anecdotally that Gove has doubts that Boris Johnson is the man to keep the Union together.
Gove to save (sic) the Union.
Shows the Scots the Tories love the Union, look we've elected a Scot to be our leader/PM.