Finally, the SNP are picking up on our brilliant energy position. John Swinney reads PB confirmed.
I would hope and expect that all parties read PB. There aren’t many widely contributed to blogs that have such a wide range of mainstream political views, expressed intelligently and sometimes eloquently. They won’t learn the views of potential voters from only reading echo chambers.
Israel plans to permanently occupy about a third of Gaza.
Israeli troops will remain in Gaza 'security zones' after war, minister says https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g2775v853o Israel's defence minister has said troops will remain in so-called security zones they have established by seizing large areas of Gaza even after an end to the war. Israel Katz said the zones would provide a "buffer" to protect Israeli communities "in any temporary or permanent situation", and that "tens of per cent" of the Palestinian territory had been added since the Israeli offensive resumed three weeks ago. Israel would continue its six-week blockade of humanitarian aid to pressure Hamas to release hostages, he said, despite the UN warning of "devastating" consequences...
In the meantime, they're having a go a negotiation by starvation.
It's only seven hundred trillion miles away from us.
Trump: "So you mean we can see if they will hold our prisoners there instead of El Salvador? Supreme Court ain't ever getting them back from THERE..."
This exact discovery - via the James Webb Telescope - was predicted by a correspondent on The Spectator. So incredibly accurately you wonder if he has some kind of extrapolative gift
Why do you insist on promoting that drongo's idiocy? And two days running now. Cut it out.
If you predict everything, some of it will happen .
See Trump's comments on eg a federal abortion ban.
But that journalist specifically predicts (in January 2024) that we will soon see a study, likely via the james Webb telescope, almost-confirming the existence of non-Earth life forms
That is exactly what has happened. On a site dedicated to predictions that is surely worthy of note, even in a detestable right wing rag like the spectator
What’s more the journalist concerned seems to have gained this insight simply by carefully watching a couple of news items and comments, putting 2 and 9 together, and extrapolating
It was hardly an original prediction; indeed, detection of biomarkers was one of the things the JWST was developed to look for!
And there's a *really* long way to go before this is even "almost confirmed". As the Venusian phosphine situation shows well. As ever, you're seeing certainty or near-certainty where there is not any.
Israel plans to permanently occupy about a third of Gaza.
Israeli troops will remain in Gaza 'security zones' after war, minister says https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g2775v853o Israel's defence minister has said troops will remain in so-called security zones they have established by seizing large areas of Gaza even after an end to the war. Israel Katz said the zones would provide a "buffer" to protect Israeli communities "in any temporary or permanent situation", and that "tens of per cent" of the Palestinian territory had been added since the Israeli offensive resumed three weeks ago. Israel would continue its six-week blockade of humanitarian aid to pressure Hamas to release hostages, he said, despite the UN warning of "devastating" consequences...
In the meantime, they're having a go a negotiation by starvation.
They will in the end occupy the whole Strip and force the Gazans out
Jennifer Williams @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social · 1h Reply to Jennifer Williams
In conclusion, if we end with Reform councils, there will be thousands of words written about What This Means For Morgan McSweeney and Kemi Badenoch and far fewer written about the politics of bins and council tax. Then everyone will move on and local govt will continue its death spiral unhindered
It's only seven hundred trillion miles away from us.
Trump: "So you mean we can see if they will hold our prisoners there instead of El Salvador? Supreme Court ain't ever getting them back from THERE..."
This exact discovery - via the James Webb Telescope - was predicted by a correspondent on The Spectator. So incredibly accurately you wonder if he has some kind of extrapolative gift
Why do you insist on promoting that drongo's idiocy? And two days running now. Cut it out.
If you predict everything, some of it will happen .
See Trump's comments on eg a federal abortion ban.
But that journalist specifically predicts (in January 2024) that we will soon see a study, likely via the james Webb telescope, almost-confirming the existence of non-Earth life forms
That is exactly what has happened. On a site dedicated to predictions that is surely worthy of note, even in a detestable right wing rag like the spectator
What’s more the journalist concerned seems to have gained this insight simply by carefully watching a couple of news items and comments, putting 2 and 9 together, and extrapolating
It was hardly an original prediction; indeed, detection of biomarkers was one of the things the JWST was developed to look for!
And there's a *really* long way to go before this is even "almost confirmed". As the Venusian phosphine situation shows well. As ever, you're seeing certainty or near-certainty where there is not any.
But this time it’s not just some excitable fool on the Spectator - look at the multiple comments out of Cambridge university (in the telegraph piece on this)
They clearly believe this is it. That doesn’t mean they’re right but they’re not holding back
The problem is that even if we got a reasonable deal withe US it wouldn't be worth the paper it was written on.
He would threaten to cancel it every time be wanted to bully us into doing something, probably on a weakly basis.
We need to just bite the bullet and give the US a very wide berth for the forseeable future (trade, foreign policy, travel)
I would also add that Reform voters being so pro-Trump puts a very definite ceiling on their polling
The polling results as shown in the header show that Reform supporters should be identified by antipathy to Europe, rather than traditional left and right. It’s why they can’t be assumed to be ex Tory, ex Labour, etc. It’s why they may also pick up SNP voters from the Alba wing; the ones that want Scotland to be independent of every other country, and voted for Brexit.
The statements from Cambridge University are remarkably unambiguous
“Prof Nikku Madhusudhan, from Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, said: “There is no mechanism that can explain what we are seeing without life.
“Given everything we know about this planet, a world with an ocean that is teeming with life is the scenario that best fits the data we have.
He added: “What we are seeing right now are the first hints of an alien world that is possibly inhabited, and this is a revolutionary moment”
Given the normal caution of these scientists that is… mind blowing. They’re saying THIS IS PROBABLY IT
WE ARE NOT ALONE
And it will all go unnoticed as humans argue about blokes using the wrong bogs
Also from the BBC article:
"But even if the Cambridge team obtains a five sigma result, that won't be conclusive proof that life exists on the planet, according to Prof Catherine Heymans of Edinburgh University and Scotland's Astronomer Royal, who is independent of the research team.
"Even with that certainty, there is still the question of what is the origin of this gas," she told BBC News.
"On Earth it is produced by microorganisms in the ocean, but even with perfect data we can't say for sure that this is of a biological origin on an alien world because loads of strange things happen in the Universe and we don't know what other geological activity could be happening on this planet that might produce the molecules.""
The Welsh team who discovered Venusian phosphine apparently spent a long time ruling out all non-life causes for the gas in the atmosphere. That was difficult enough (and people still argue for atmospheric or geological causes...) on Venus, a planet we have a lot of data for. We have far less certainty about this new planet.
This new discovery is intriguing, and interesting, but is far from proof of extraterrestrial life. Hopefully it will lead to much more science, though.
I was joking yesterday about Liz Truss becoming a tech titan, but maybe it’s a serious possibility. There’s something of the Elizabeth Holmes about her. She could be the UK’s next billionaire.
Regarding the pronoun debate - I am bemused. I very rarely see pronouns shown, even from the public sector (contrary to claims) so I did a review of my emails where there was a personal sign off. Not one had a pronoun. They were from UCL, Royal Surrey Hospital, Doctor, Dentist, HMRC, DVLA, L&G, Standard Life, umpteen MPs.
From memory I can only recall one use of a pronoun in the past in an email and that was from Daisy Cooper (she/her).
Bizarrely it can be useful with unusual names. Even not so unusual names. My wife has a Scottish name that seems obviously female to me, but seems to confuse some and also being a Doctor her prefix of Dr does not help. So many assume she is male. So it could help. Not that she or I use pronouns.
You are a despicable liar. "Everyone is passively pressured to do that, and comply with gender identity ideology, on pain of otherwise being accused of being a bigot."
Its true. You're in denial. Everyone has to do it. Even on here.
Ian (He/Him)
Right, I've done a 10-minute very non-scientific study of my inbox.
- The majority of people in my organisation have pronouns in their email signatures. However, the incidence of people not using pronouns is probably higher than I'd imagined. - Interestingly, a similar scan through a random sample (this week, three years ago) seems to suggest fewer pronouns than a few years ago. - That said, this is difficult to evaluate fully because, also possibly interestingly, there are far more emails without signatures at all - It's hard to tell objectively to what extent we have been 'pressured' - certainly I remember emails from HR asking us to add pronouns to signatures, though this is hard to dig out with a simple search of the word 'pronoun' because the word 'pronoun' features in the signature of so many emails - but clearly many people such as me haven't: this isn't necessarily a principled objection, but could equally well be reluctance to do a very low-priority admin task - external emails from other public sector organisations are also majoritavely pronouned - external emails from people trying to sell things to the public sector through spam are almost entirely pronouned - external emails from consultants (and - while I don't know who @Casino_Royale is in real life, I think I know what industry he works in - and particularly from consultants his industry) are almost entirely pronouned. - external emails from the general public almost entirely unpronouned.
However, I'm perfectly willing to believe e.g. Foxy that he rarely sees pronouns. Maybe we're all telling the truth and it varies from industry to industry.
I've just done a very unscientific survey of my organisation - private sector but does a lot of business with public sector. We have had some gentle encouragement but it is clear it is genuinely voluntary.
A lot of my emails are replies so don't have email sigs but I counted back 15 different people, none had pronouns. Including several people where it would have been helpful, and the DEI Officer!
One of my best friends runs a DEI consultancy and doesn’t use pronouns, though some of his colleagues do.
Hardly anyone in the firm I work for use them, although a few Americans do. I wonder if this is another American culture war import that has little relevance to British life.
Looking at my LinkedIn contacts and emails, there are very few. No pronouns for any of the senior Treasury, HMRC or DBT contacts, nor for 90% of my clients. I’ve never used them myself because it’s pretty obvious someone called Tim is male.
In my last post in a school before I retired, no one used pronouns in email signatures.
I wonder if this is one of CRs little temper rants.
I'm an elected member of Surrey County Council and the use of pronouns (+phonetic pronounciation of their names!) was near universal in officers' emails.
But today, I had another look over most recent correspondence and they've all but disappeared. So perhaps a change in policy (by the new Chief Exec?)....but speculating as Councillors don't get involved in that kind of issue.
If we HAVE located life on one random planet, then statistically it must be all over the Universe. (So will say the Drake equation.)
The idea of it just being us was always Humanoid Exceptionalism taken to the nth degree.
This is pretty much my view. Which brings us onto the Fermi Paradox (the question as to why, if life is everywhere, why have we not seen any signs of it?). My preferred response to that is: space is vast, we are only looking for certain signals, and we are too boring to routinely visit, even if they have interstellar travel.
That's a suitably boring answer compared to some of the others...
I think I'm rather in the opposite camp, my suspicion being that the evolution of complex, intelligent life is wildly improbable, requiring a very particular series of circumstances in order to occur. On the other hand, I reckon that the evolution of simpler life forms, such as might be required to explain a particular atmospheric composition, may not be so uncommon. After all, such life has existed on Earth for most of the time of the planet's existence.
And that's a fair position. Except in the one case where we can say life formed - our own planet - we can also say that intelligent life developed. So that's a 100% hit rate. Until we discover other planets where we are sure life is present or has developed, it seems reasonable to say that, if the planet is old enough and life forms, intelligent life is possible, or even probable.
I don't like the idea that we, or Earth, is exceptional. We're probably just boringly mundane.
I'm not sure I agree with you on the likelihood of intelligent life developing from simple life. Until very recently, intelligent life had failed to develop on Earth despite plenty of opportunities to do so. For most of its history, Earth would have been a 0% hit rate for the evolution of intelligent life from simple life.
Now it’s reverting away from intelligent life, starting with the USA.
The statements from Cambridge University are remarkably unambiguous
“Prof Nikku Madhusudhan, from Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, said: “There is no mechanism that can explain what we are seeing without life.
“Given everything we know about this planet, a world with an ocean that is teeming with life is the scenario that best fits the data we have.
He added: “What we are seeing right now are the first hints of an alien world that is possibly inhabited, and this is a revolutionary moment”
Given the normal caution of these scientists that is… mind blowing. They’re saying THIS IS PROBABLY IT
WE ARE NOT ALONE
And it will all go unnoticed as humans argue about blokes using the wrong bogs
Also from the BBC article:
"But even if the Cambridge team obtains a five sigma result, that won't be conclusive proof that life exists on the planet, according to Prof Catherine Heymans of Edinburgh University and Scotland's Astronomer Royal, who is independent of the research team.
"Even with that certainty, there is still the question of what is the origin of this gas," she told BBC News.
"On Earth it is produced by microorganisms in the ocean, but even with perfect data we can't say for sure that this is of a biological origin on an alien world because loads of strange things happen in the Universe and we don't know what other geological activity could be happening on this planet that might produce the molecules.""
The Welsh team who discovered Venusian phosphine apparently spent a long time ruling out all non-life causes for the gas in the atmosphere. That was difficult enough (and people still argue for atmospheric or geological causes...) on Venus, a planet we have a lot of data for. We have far less certainty about this new planet.
This new discovery is intriguing, and interesting, but is far from proof of extraterrestrial life. Hopefully it will lead to much more science, though.
Maybe we can send our travel correspondent up there to have a closer look?
The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, "Too Late" Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete "mess!" Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!
The statements from Cambridge University are remarkably unambiguous
“Prof Nikku Madhusudhan, from Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, said: “There is no mechanism that can explain what we are seeing without life.
“Given everything we know about this planet, a world with an ocean that is teeming with life is the scenario that best fits the data we have.
He added: “What we are seeing right now are the first hints of an alien world that is possibly inhabited, and this is a revolutionary moment”
Given the normal caution of these scientists that is… mind blowing. They’re saying THIS IS PROBABLY IT
WE ARE NOT ALONE
And it will all go unnoticed as humans argue about blokes using the wrong bogs
Also from the BBC article:
"But even if the Cambridge team obtains a five sigma result, that won't be conclusive proof that life exists on the planet, according to Prof Catherine Heymans of Edinburgh University and Scotland's Astronomer Royal, who is independent of the research team.
"Even with that certainty, there is still the question of what is the origin of this gas," she told BBC News.
"On Earth it is produced by microorganisms in the ocean, but even with perfect data we can't say for sure that this is of a biological origin on an alien world because loads of strange things happen in the Universe and we don't know what other geological activity could be happening on this planet that might produce the molecules.""
The Welsh team who discovered Venusian phosphine apparently spent a long time ruling out all non-life causes for the gas in the atmosphere. That was difficult enough (and people still argue for atmospheric or geological causes...) on Venus, a planet we have a lot of data for. We have far less certainty about this new planet.
This new discovery is intriguing, and interesting, but is far from proof of extraterrestrial life. Hopefully it will lead to much more science, though.
Whatever the answer, it’s a lot more interesting than fhe bloody trans debate - which I hope will now go away forever. So so dull. Society was hijacked by a few cranks. Insane
Regarding the pronoun debate - I am bemused. I very rarely see pronouns shown, even from the public sector (contrary to claims) so I did a review of my emails where there was a personal sign off. Not one had a pronoun. They were from UCL, Royal Surrey Hospital, Doctor, Dentist, HMRC, DVLA, L&G, Standard Life, umpteen MPs.
From memory I can only recall one use of a pronoun in the past in an email and that was from Daisy Cooper (she/her).
Bizarrely it can be useful with unusual names. Even not so unusual names. My wife has a Scottish name that seems obviously female to me, but seems to confuse some and also being a Doctor her prefix of Dr does not help. So many assume she is male. So it could help. Not that she or I use pronouns.
You are a despicable liar. "Everyone is passively pressured to do that, and comply with gender identity ideology, on pain of otherwise being accused of being a bigot."
Its true. You're in denial. Everyone has to do it. Even on here.
Ian (He/Him)
Right, I've done a 10-minute very non-scientific study of my inbox.
- The majority of people in my organisation have pronouns in their email signatures. However, the incidence of people not using pronouns is probably higher than I'd imagined. - Interestingly, a similar scan through a random sample (this week, three years ago) seems to suggest fewer pronouns than a few years ago. - That said, this is difficult to evaluate fully because, also possibly interestingly, there are far more emails without signatures at all - It's hard to tell objectively to what extent we have been 'pressured' - certainly I remember emails from HR asking us to add pronouns to signatures, though this is hard to dig out with a simple search of the word 'pronoun' because the word 'pronoun' features in the signature of so many emails - but clearly many people such as me haven't: this isn't necessarily a principled objection, but could equally well be reluctance to do a very low-priority admin task - external emails from other public sector organisations are also majoritavely pronouned - external emails from people trying to sell things to the public sector through spam are almost entirely pronouned - external emails from consultants (and - while I don't know who @Casino_Royale is in real life, I think I know what industry he works in - and particularly from consultants his industry) are almost entirely pronouned. - external emails from the general public almost entirely unpronouned.
However, I'm perfectly willing to believe e.g. Foxy that he rarely sees pronouns. Maybe we're all telling the truth and it varies from industry to industry.
I've just done a very unscientific survey of my organisation - private sector but does a lot of business with public sector. We have had some gentle encouragement but it is clear it is genuinely voluntary.
A lot of my emails are replies so don't have email sigs but I counted back 15 different people, none had pronouns. Including several people where it would have been helpful, and the DEI Officer!
One of my best friends runs a DEI consultancy and doesn’t use pronouns, though some of his colleagues do.
Hardly anyone in the firm I work for use them, although a few Americans do. I wonder if this is another American culture war import that has little relevance to British life.
Looking at my LinkedIn contacts and emails, there are very few. No pronouns for any of the senior Treasury, HMRC or DBT contacts, nor for 90% of my clients. I’ve never used them myself because it’s pretty obvious someone called Tim is male.
In the West of Scotland, a Tim could be a female kafflik.
The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, "Too Late" Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete "mess!" Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!
Good to see him respecting the Fed's independence.
The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, "Too Late" Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete "mess!" Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!
Donald Trump setting interest rates is going to be a hoot!
The statements from Cambridge University are remarkably unambiguous
“Prof Nikku Madhusudhan, from Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, said: “There is no mechanism that can explain what we are seeing without life.
“Given everything we know about this planet, a world with an ocean that is teeming with life is the scenario that best fits the data we have.
He added: “What we are seeing right now are the first hints of an alien world that is possibly inhabited, and this is a revolutionary moment”
Given the normal caution of these scientists that is… mind blowing. They’re saying THIS IS PROBABLY IT
WE ARE NOT ALONE
And it will all go unnoticed as humans argue about blokes using the wrong bogs
Also from the BBC article:
"But even if the Cambridge team obtains a five sigma result, that won't be conclusive proof that life exists on the planet, according to Prof Catherine Heymans of Edinburgh University and Scotland's Astronomer Royal, who is independent of the research team.
"Even with that certainty, there is still the question of what is the origin of this gas," she told BBC News.
"On Earth it is produced by microorganisms in the ocean, but even with perfect data we can't say for sure that this is of a biological origin on an alien world because loads of strange things happen in the Universe and we don't know what other geological activity could be happening on this planet that might produce the molecules.""
The Welsh team who discovered Venusian phosphine apparently spent a long time ruling out all non-life causes for the gas in the atmosphere. That was difficult enough (and people still argue for atmospheric or geological causes...) on Venus, a planet we have a lot of data for. We have far less certainty about this new planet.
This new discovery is intriguing, and interesting, but is far from proof of extraterrestrial life. Hopefully it will lead to much more science, though.
I'm just glad they've amended the article to include the distance in light-years (124), which is actually a lot more meaningful in this context than the distance in miles (700 trillion). Now I know it's not a close neighbour of ours, but is still in the same neighbourhood of the Milky Way.
It's only seven hundred trillion miles away from us.
Trump: "So you mean we can see if they will hold our prisoners there instead of El Salvador? Supreme Court ain't ever getting them back from THERE..."
This exact discovery - via the James Webb Telescope - was predicted by a correspondent on The Spectator. So incredibly accurately you wonder if he has some kind of extrapolative gift
Why do you insist on promoting that drongo's idiocy? And two days running now. Cut it out.
If you predict everything, some of it will happen .
See Trump's comments on eg a federal abortion ban.
But that journalist specifically predicts (in January 2024) that we will soon see a study, likely via the james Webb telescope, almost-confirming the existence of non-Earth life forms
That is exactly what has happened. On a site dedicated to predictions that is surely worthy of note, even in a detestable right wing rag like the spectator
What’s more the journalist concerned seems to have gained this insight simply by carefully watching a couple of news items and comments, putting 2 and 9 together, and extrapolating
It was hardly an original prediction; indeed, detection of biomarkers was one of the things the JWST was developed to look for!
And there's a *really* long way to go before this is even "almost confirmed". As the Venusian phosphine situation shows well. As ever, you're seeing certainty or near-certainty where there is not any.
But this time it’s not just some excitable fool on the Spectator - look at the multiple comments out of Cambridge university (in the telegraph piece on this)
They clearly believe this is it. That doesn’t mean they’re right but they’re not holding back
Again, I ask you to look at what happened five years ago with the Venusian phosphine discovery. A very intriguing discovery was shown in a competently-researched and written paper. Other scientists ripped that paper to shreds (for good and bad reasons...) and someone discovered an issue that still showed the gas was present, but in far smaller amounts than the paper showed. Since then, various studies have either confirmed the gasses presence, or not found it.
The result? No-one knows if phosphine is present in Venus's atmosphere, and people just pick the studies that confirm their view. This probably will not get settled until we send probes to Venus specifically designed to detect phosphine and similar gasses.
This paper, too, will be ripped to shreds. Problems may or may not be found: but hopefully there will be much grater work and effort put into this area.
I like exobiology.
I'd also ask you to look for a reputable source, not he Telegraph or Spectator.
Regarding the pronoun debate - I am bemused. I very rarely see pronouns shown, even from the public sector (contrary to claims) so I did a review of my emails where there was a personal sign off. Not one had a pronoun. They were from UCL, Royal Surrey Hospital, Doctor, Dentist, HMRC, DVLA, L&G, Standard Life, umpteen MPs.
From memory I can only recall one use of a pronoun in the past in an email and that was from Daisy Cooper (she/her).
Bizarrely it can be useful with unusual names. Even not so unusual names. My wife has a Scottish name that seems obviously female to me, but seems to confuse some and also being a Doctor her prefix of Dr does not help. So many assume she is male. So it could help. Not that she or I use pronouns.
You are a despicable liar. "Everyone is passively pressured to do that, and comply with gender identity ideology, on pain of otherwise being accused of being a bigot."
Its true. You're in denial. Everyone has to do it. Even on here.
Ian (He/Him)
Right, I've done a 10-minute very non-scientific study of my inbox.
- The majority of people in my organisation have pronouns in their email signatures. However, the incidence of people not using pronouns is probably higher than I'd imagined. - Interestingly, a similar scan through a random sample (this week, three years ago) seems to suggest fewer pronouns than a few years ago. - That said, this is difficult to evaluate fully because, also possibly interestingly, there are far more emails without signatures at all - It's hard to tell objectively to what extent we have been 'pressured' - certainly I remember emails from HR asking us to add pronouns to signatures, though this is hard to dig out with a simple search of the word 'pronoun' because the word 'pronoun' features in the signature of so many emails - but clearly many people such as me haven't: this isn't necessarily a principled objection, but could equally well be reluctance to do a very low-priority admin task - external emails from other public sector organisations are also majoritavely pronouned - external emails from people trying to sell things to the public sector through spam are almost entirely pronouned - external emails from consultants (and - while I don't know who @Casino_Royale is in real life, I think I know what industry he works in - and particularly from consultants his industry) are almost entirely pronouned. - external emails from the general public almost entirely unpronouned.
However, I'm perfectly willing to believe e.g. Foxy that he rarely sees pronouns. Maybe we're all telling the truth and it varies from industry to industry.
I work in a university. I looked at a consecutive series of 20 emails (sent before the Supreme Court ruling). None of them gave pronouns. There were 12 internal and 8 external (mainly other universities and NHS). (This slightly surprised me. I thought a few would.)
The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, "Too Late" Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete "mess!" Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!
Donald Trump setting interest rates is going to be a hoot!
In the nineties, in the early days of the web, there was a brilliant exobiology/astrobiology website called something like the exobiology hub. I haven't been able to find it for decades.
I was joking yesterday about Liz Truss becoming a tech titan, but maybe it’s a serious possibility. There’s something of the Elizabeth Holmes about her...
You're not entirely wrong there. ..In the following year, as revelations of fraud about Theranos's claims began to surface, Forbes revised its estimate of Holmes's net worth to zero, and Fortune named her in its feature article on "The World's 19 Most Disappointing Leaders"...
Though it's more that she failed to "surprise on the upside", and I don't predict her eventual incarceration.
Regarding the pronoun debate - I am bemused. I very rarely see pronouns shown, even from the public sector (contrary to claims) so I did a review of my emails where there was a personal sign off. Not one had a pronoun. They were from UCL, Royal Surrey Hospital, Doctor, Dentist, HMRC, DVLA, L&G, Standard Life, umpteen MPs.
From memory I can only recall one use of a pronoun in the past in an email and that was from Daisy Cooper (she/her).
Bizarrely it can be useful with unusual names. Even not so unusual names. My wife has a Scottish name that seems obviously female to me, but seems to confuse some and also being a Doctor her prefix of Dr does not help. So many assume she is male. So it could help. Not that she or I use pronouns.
You are a despicable liar. "Everyone is passively pressured to do that, and comply with gender identity ideology, on pain of otherwise being accused of being a bigot."
Its true. You're in denial. Everyone has to do it. Even on here.
Ian (He/Him)
Right, I've done a 10-minute very non-scientific study of my inbox.
- The majority of people in my organisation have pronouns in their email signatures. However, the incidence of people not using pronouns is probably higher than I'd imagined. - Interestingly, a similar scan through a random sample (this week, three years ago) seems to suggest fewer pronouns than a few years ago. - That said, this is difficult to evaluate fully because, also possibly interestingly, there are far more emails without signatures at all - It's hard to tell objectively to what extent we have been 'pressured' - certainly I remember emails from HR asking us to add pronouns to signatures, though this is hard to dig out with a simple search of the word 'pronoun' because the word 'pronoun' features in the signature of so many emails - but clearly many people such as me haven't: this isn't necessarily a principled objection, but could equally well be reluctance to do a very low-priority admin task - external emails from other public sector organisations are also majoritavely pronouned - external emails from people trying to sell things to the public sector through spam are almost entirely pronouned - external emails from consultants (and - while I don't know who @Casino_Royale is in real life, I think I know what industry he works in - and particularly from consultants his industry) are almost entirely pronouned. - external emails from the general public almost entirely unpronouned.
However, I'm perfectly willing to believe e.g. Foxy that he rarely sees pronouns. Maybe we're all telling the truth and it varies from industry to industry.
I work in a university. I looked at a consecutive series of 20 emails (sent before the Supreme Court ruling). None of them gave pronouns. There were 12 internal and 8 external (mainly other universities and NHS). (This slightly surprised me. I thought a few would.)
I've just taken a look at my inbox:
Around 50% have no email signature, just their name.
Of those with a sig, none of the external emails have pronouns, and around half of the internal ones do.
I have them on my email sig, along with the letter jumble of quals after my name.
For anyone called Sandy, it is useful. For my wife, with a Punjabi Sikh name, it is also useful.
Regarding the pronoun debate - I am bemused. I very rarely see pronouns shown, even from the public sector (contrary to claims) so I did a review of my emails where there was a personal sign off. Not one had a pronoun. They were from UCL, Royal Surrey Hospital, Doctor, Dentist, HMRC, DVLA, L&G, Standard Life, umpteen MPs.
From memory I can only recall one use of a pronoun in the past in an email and that was from Daisy Cooper (she/her).
Bizarrely it can be useful with unusual names. Even not so unusual names. My wife has a Scottish name that seems obviously female to me, but seems to confuse some and also being a Doctor her prefix of Dr does not help. So many assume she is male. So it could help. Not that she or I use pronouns.
You are a despicable liar. "Everyone is passively pressured to do that, and comply with gender identity ideology, on pain of otherwise being accused of being a bigot."
Its true. You're in denial. Everyone has to do it. Even on here.
Ian (He/Him)
Right, I've done a 10-minute very non-scientific study of my inbox.
- The majority of people in my organisation have pronouns in their email signatures. However, the incidence of people not using pronouns is probably higher than I'd imagined. - Interestingly, a similar scan through a random sample (this week, three years ago) seems to suggest fewer pronouns than a few years ago. - That said, this is difficult to evaluate fully because, also possibly interestingly, there are far more emails without signatures at all - It's hard to tell objectively to what extent we have been 'pressured' - certainly I remember emails from HR asking us to add pronouns to signatures, though this is hard to dig out with a simple search of the word 'pronoun' because the word 'pronoun' features in the signature of so many emails - but clearly many people such as me haven't: this isn't necessarily a principled objection, but could equally well be reluctance to do a very low-priority admin task - external emails from other public sector organisations are also majoritavely pronouned - external emails from people trying to sell things to the public sector through spam are almost entirely pronouned - external emails from consultants (and - while I don't know who @Casino_Royale is in real life, I think I know what industry he works in - and particularly from consultants his industry) are almost entirely pronouned. - external emails from the general public almost entirely unpronouned.
However, I'm perfectly willing to believe e.g. Foxy that he rarely sees pronouns. Maybe we're all telling the truth and it varies from industry to industry.
I work in a university. I looked at a consecutive series of 20 emails (sent before the Supreme Court ruling). None of them gave pronouns. There were 12 internal and 8 external (mainly other universities and NHS). (This slightly surprised me. I thought a few would.)
I've just taken a look at my inbox:
Around 50% have no email signature, just their name.
Of those with a sig, none of the external emails have pronouns, and around half of the internal ones do.
I have them on my email sig, along with the letter jumble of quals after my name.
For anyone called Sandy, it is useful. For my wife, with a Punjabi Sikh name, it is also useful.
If we HAVE located life on one random planet, then statistically it must be all over the Universe. (So will say the Drake equation.)
The idea of it just being us was always Humanoid Exceptionalism taken to the nth degree.
Life on our planet includes, inter alia, us, plankton and squids. There's a good chance that life in another galaxy, far, far away, evolved or developed in an entirely different fashion.
The sheer diversity of lifeforms here on earth is staggering enough. What life developed on a different planet would be like is simply mind-blowing.
It is quite possible that if we stumbled across a life form on another planet that we wouldn't actually realise it was a lifeform. Just because life on earth is all carbon based doesn't mean there aren't other options such as silica based life forms
The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, "Too Late" Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete "mess!" Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!
Donald Trump setting interest rates is going to be a hoot!
Wait until he raises them to 124% because he’s fallen out with the boss of Fannie Mae.
I was joking yesterday about Liz Truss becoming a tech titan, but maybe it’s a serious possibility. There’s something of the Elizabeth Holmes about her. She could be the UK’s next billionaire.
You're thinking of Sherlock Holmes. Elizabeth Holmes is the one who went to prison, possibly in El Salvador. Ironically, her vision of multiple tests on a single blood sample is sort-of coming true.
The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, "Too Late" Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete "mess!" Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!
Donald Trump setting interest rates is going to be a hoot!
Wait until he raises them to 124% because he’s fallen out with the boss of Fannie Mae.
eggs are actually up 70% I read somewhere the other day.
If we HAVE located life on one random planet, then statistically it must be all over the Universe. (So will say the Drake equation.)
The idea of it just being us was always Humanoid Exceptionalism taken to the nth degree.
Life on our planet includes, inter alia, us, plankton and squids. There's a good chance that life in another galaxy, far, far away, evolved or developed in an entirely different fashion.
The sheer diversity of lifeforms here on earth is staggering enough. What life developed on a different planet would be like is simply mind-blowing.
It is quite possible that if we stumbled across a life form on another planet that we wouldn't actually realise it was a lifeform. Just because life on earth is all carbon based doesn't mean there aren't other options such as silica based life forms
While silicon-based life forms are a popular science fiction trope, they are pretty unlikely in reality because silicon doesn't combine with other elements to form the vast range of molecules that carbon does. And even if such life forms did arise, I think we'd probably recognise them fairly quickly given the basic requites of life such as the need to obtain energy and to reproduce.
If we HAVE located life on one random planet, then statistically it must be all over the Universe. (So will say the Drake equation.)
The idea of it just being us was always Humanoid Exceptionalism taken to the nth degree.
Life on our planet includes, inter alia, us, plankton and squids. There's a good chance that life in another galaxy, far, far away, evolved or developed in an entirely different fashion.
The sheer diversity of lifeforms here on earth is staggering enough. What life developed on a different planet would be like is simply mind-blowing.
It is quite possible that if we stumbled across a life form on another planet that we wouldn't actually realise it was a lifeform. Just because life on earth is all carbon based doesn't mean there aren't other options such as silica based life forms
Oh FFS. Sod off you Russian troll. We've just finished untold years of trans vs terfs over what is a woman? and now you want us to debate the definition of life.
Finally, the SNP are picking up on our brilliant energy position. John Swinney reads PB confirmed.
They seem to have forgotten that the promise was 'during the Parliament'.
I have seen SNP activists on the doorstep: "I can't get a doctor's appointment" - Independence! "Bills are too high" - Independence! "Schools are a mess" - Independence!
And then largely the door gets closed. Like the underpants gnomes before them, SNP activists can't explain the basics about how they get to independence where all the problems are wiped away.
Regarding the pronoun debate - I am bemused. I very rarely see pronouns shown, even from the public sector (contrary to claims) so I did a review of my emails where there was a personal sign off. Not one had a pronoun. They were from UCL, Royal Surrey Hospital, Doctor, Dentist, HMRC, DVLA, L&G, Standard Life, umpteen MPs.
From memory I can only recall one use of a pronoun in the past in an email and that was from Daisy Cooper (she/her).
Bizarrely it can be useful with unusual names. Even not so unusual names. My wife has a Scottish name that seems obviously female to me, but seems to confuse some and also being a Doctor her prefix of Dr does not help. So many assume she is male. So it could help. Not that she or I use pronouns.
You are a despicable liar. "Everyone is passively pressured to do that, and comply with gender identity ideology, on pain of otherwise being accused of being a bigot."
Its true. You're in denial. Everyone has to do it. Even on here.
Ian (He/Him)
Right, I've done a 10-minute very non-scientific study of my inbox.
- The majority of people in my organisation have pronouns in their email signatures. However, the incidence of people not using pronouns is probably higher than I'd imagined. - Interestingly, a similar scan through a random sample (this week, three years ago) seems to suggest fewer pronouns than a few years ago. - That said, this is difficult to evaluate fully because, also possibly interestingly, there are far more emails without signatures at all - It's hard to tell objectively to what extent we have been 'pressured' - certainly I remember emails from HR asking us to add pronouns to signatures, though this is hard to dig out with a simple search of the word 'pronoun' because the word 'pronoun' features in the signature of so many emails - but clearly many people such as me haven't: this isn't necessarily a principled objection, but could equally well be reluctance to do a very low-priority admin task - external emails from other public sector organisations are also majoritavely pronouned - external emails from people trying to sell things to the public sector through spam are almost entirely pronouned - external emails from consultants (and - while I don't know who @Casino_Royale is in real life, I think I know what industry he works in - and particularly from consultants his industry) are almost entirely pronouned. - external emails from the general public almost entirely unpronouned.
However, I'm perfectly willing to believe e.g. Foxy that he rarely sees pronouns. Maybe we're all telling the truth and it varies from industry to industry.
I work in a university. I looked at a consecutive series of 20 emails (sent before the Supreme Court ruling). None of them gave pronouns. There were 12 internal and 8 external (mainly other universities and NHS). (This slightly surprised me. I thought a few would.)
I've just taken a look at my inbox:
Around 50% have no email signature, just their name.
Of those with a sig, none of the external emails have pronouns, and around half of the internal ones do.
I have them on my email sig, along with the letter jumble of quals after my name.
For anyone called Sandy, it is useful. For my wife, with a Punjabi Sikh name, it is also useful.
Steve Bannon: “You (Britain) don’t make anything anymore,”...Sure you guys make automobiles but it is nothing in the grand scheme of things. They’re kind of bespoke Jaguars and Aston Martins.”
Bannon the latest in the “Britain doesn’t manufacture anything” brigade. It’s a boring trope you hear repeated in the media a lot.
In fact the UK remains the 8th or 9th biggest manufacturer in the world. 10% of our GDP with some of the most advanced manufacturing anywhere.
Manufacturing employs 2.6 million people in the UK. Just because relatively few elites (people like Bannon) would know any of those people, doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
Yet even so as the sixth largest economy in the world we clearly underperform on manufacturing relative to China, Japan and Germany and over perform on services
That depends on whether or not you think we need to be competitive in manufacturing cheap plastic crap. Let the poorer countries of the world make such stuff, where we need to compete is in higher value goods, and we do okay there. Nobody rational should want to onshore making low-value products that are easily made, the competition will be brutal, and you divert capital and labour from better uses. The US will end up learning this lesson if they aren't careful.
We know manufacturing jobs are increasingly replaced with automation. Even if the USA brings them back, they are still going to get replaced by automation instead of foreign countries in the next decade or two anyway. It is madness.
So tax companies which automate too much too
Luddites'r'us
Just the other day you were wondering why the Tories are no longer seen as the party of business.....
There won't be many votes left from business if they have automated most of their workers jobs
Regarding the pronoun debate - I am bemused. I very rarely see pronouns shown, even from the public sector (contrary to claims) so I did a review of my emails where there was a personal sign off. Not one had a pronoun. They were from UCL, Royal Surrey Hospital, Doctor, Dentist, HMRC, DVLA, L&G, Standard Life, umpteen MPs.
From memory I can only recall one use of a pronoun in the past in an email and that was from Daisy Cooper (she/her).
Bizarrely it can be useful with unusual names. Even not so unusual names. My wife has a Scottish name that seems obviously female to me, but seems to confuse some and also being a Doctor her prefix of Dr does not help. So many assume she is male. So it could help. Not that she or I use pronouns.
You are a despicable liar. "Everyone is passively pressured to do that, and comply with gender identity ideology, on pain of otherwise being accused of being a bigot."
Its true. You're in denial. Everyone has to do it. Even on here.
Ian (He/Him)
Right, I've done a 10-minute very non-scientific study of my inbox.
- The majority of people in my organisation have pronouns in their email signatures. However, the incidence of people not using pronouns is probably higher than I'd imagined. - Interestingly, a similar scan through a random sample (this week, three years ago) seems to suggest fewer pronouns than a few years ago. - That said, this is difficult to evaluate fully because, also possibly interestingly, there are far more emails without signatures at all - It's hard to tell objectively to what extent we have been 'pressured' - certainly I remember emails from HR asking us to add pronouns to signatures, though this is hard to dig out with a simple search of the word 'pronoun' because the word 'pronoun' features in the signature of so many emails - but clearly many people such as me haven't: this isn't necessarily a principled objection, but could equally well be reluctance to do a very low-priority admin task - external emails from other public sector organisations are also majoritavely pronouned - external emails from people trying to sell things to the public sector through spam are almost entirely pronouned - external emails from consultants (and - while I don't know who @Casino_Royale is in real life, I think I know what industry he works in - and particularly from consultants his industry) are almost entirely pronouned. - external emails from the general public almost entirely unpronouned.
However, I'm perfectly willing to believe e.g. Foxy that he rarely sees pronouns. Maybe we're all telling the truth and it varies from industry to industry.
I work in a university. I looked at a consecutive series of 20 emails (sent before the Supreme Court ruling). None of them gave pronouns. There were 12 internal and 8 external (mainly other universities and NHS). (This slightly surprised me. I thought a few would.)
I've just taken a look at my inbox:
Around 50% have no email signature, just their name.
Of those with a sig, none of the external emails have pronouns, and around half of the internal ones do.
I have them on my email sig, along with the letter jumble of quals after my name.
For anyone called Sandy, it is useful. For my wife, with a Punjabi Sikh name, it is also useful.
Regarding the pronoun debate - I am bemused. I very rarely see pronouns shown, even from the public sector (contrary to claims) so I did a review of my emails where there was a personal sign off. Not one had a pronoun. They were from UCL, Royal Surrey Hospital, Doctor, Dentist, HMRC, DVLA, L&G, Standard Life, umpteen MPs.
From memory I can only recall one use of a pronoun in the past in an email and that was from Daisy Cooper (she/her).
Bizarrely it can be useful with unusual names. Even not so unusual names. My wife has a Scottish name that seems obviously female to me, but seems to confuse some and also being a Doctor her prefix of Dr does not help. So many assume she is male. So it could help. Not that she or I use pronouns.
You are a despicable liar. "Everyone is passively pressured to do that, and comply with gender identity ideology, on pain of otherwise being accused of being a bigot."
Its true. You're in denial. Everyone has to do it. Even on here.
Ian (He/Him)
Right, I've done a 10-minute very non-scientific study of my inbox.
- The majority of people in my organisation have pronouns in their email signatures. However, the incidence of people not using pronouns is probably higher than I'd imagined. - Interestingly, a similar scan through a random sample (this week, three years ago) seems to suggest fewer pronouns than a few years ago. - That said, this is difficult to evaluate fully because, also possibly interestingly, there are far more emails without signatures at all - It's hard to tell objectively to what extent we have been 'pressured' - certainly I remember emails from HR asking us to add pronouns to signatures, though this is hard to dig out with a simple search of the word 'pronoun' because the word 'pronoun' features in the signature of so many emails - but clearly many people such as me haven't: this isn't necessarily a principled objection, but could equally well be reluctance to do a very low-priority admin task - external emails from other public sector organisations are also majoritavely pronouned - external emails from people trying to sell things to the public sector through spam are almost entirely pronouned - external emails from consultants (and - while I don't know who @Casino_Royale is in real life, I think I know what industry he works in - and particularly from consultants his industry) are almost entirely pronouned. - external emails from the general public almost entirely unpronouned.
However, I'm perfectly willing to believe e.g. Foxy that he rarely sees pronouns. Maybe we're all telling the truth and it varies from industry to industry.
I work in a university. I looked at a consecutive series of 20 emails (sent before the Supreme Court ruling). None of them gave pronouns. There were 12 internal and 8 external (mainly other universities and NHS). (This slightly surprised me. I thought a few would.)
I've just taken a look at my inbox:
Around 50% have no email signature, just their name.
Of those with a sig, none of the external emails have pronouns, and around half of the internal ones do.
I have them on my email sig, along with the letter jumble of quals after my name.
For anyone called Sandy, it is useful. For my wife, with a Punjabi Sikh name, it is also useful.
I’ve worked for three very large telecoms companies and not once have I ever felt the need to put my pronouns on an email. I never have and never will as I can’t personally see the point.
But if somebody wants to, isn’t that up to them? I agree we should not force people to do it but assuming that’s the case would you still have a problem with it?
This seems no different than forcing me to wear a suit. I’m glad that’s over.
They can stick their pronouns up their butts, I use name or him / her, rest of the bollox they can get stuffed.
Never used pronouns. For me or for anybody else. Never had to.
That's just the way it rolls down here in Devon.
But you’re all weirdos down there in the West Country calling everybody ‘my lover’.
When I was a callow 17 year old visiting the West Country for the first time getting called ‘my lover’ was a eye/ear opener, thank Allah my mother wasn’t there, the shock would have killed her.
If we HAVE located life on one random planet, then statistically it must be all over the Universe. (So will say the Drake equation.)
The idea of it just being us was always Humanoid Exceptionalism taken to the nth degree.
Life on our planet includes, inter alia, us, plankton and squids. There's a good chance that life in another galaxy, far, far away, evolved or developed in an entirely different fashion.
The sheer diversity of lifeforms here on earth is staggering enough. What life developed on a different planet would be like is simply mind-blowing.
It is quite possible that if we stumbled across a life form on another planet that we wouldn't actually realise it was a lifeform. Just because life on earth is all carbon based doesn't mean there aren't other options such as silica based life forms
Oh FFS. Sod off you Russian troll. We've just finished untold years of trans vs terfs over what is a woman? and now you want us to debate the definition of life.
@Pagan2 may have unorthodox views but he shows no evidence of being either 1. a troll, 2. Russian.
Plenty of trolls to choose from elsewhere, Russian or otherwise.
It's only seven hundred trillion miles away from us.
Trump: "So you mean we can see if they will hold our prisoners there instead of El Salvador? Supreme Court ain't ever getting them back from THERE..."
If you had a choice between being a bit of slime mould on planet Zarg N trillion miles away and Trump sending you to an El Salvador prison, which would you choose?
On other matters, I'm looking at the Canadian polling and I'm seeing telephone polls give better results for the Liberals than online polling. Like here, older Canadians tend to be Conservative, younger ones more Liberal with the NDP strongest among the 18-24 age group.
Did we have a debate on here once about the merits of polling techniques? Do we regard telephone polling as more accurate than online or Interactive Voice Response (IVR)?
Both Canada and Australia have had Leaders' Debates in the past 24 hours - will they shift polling? I'm not sure they do as it ends up more like baseline tennis. From what little I've seen and read, the Canadian debate was, not surprisingly, all about how to deal with Trump while in Australia, Liberal leader Peter Dutton has backtracked on his views on climate change which he apparently now accepts. Whether this Damascene conversion will help the struggling Liberal campaign is debatable.
The Aussie equivalent of PB, Pollbludger, gives a good flavour of the election debate.
The Canadian Liberals actually do best with pensioners, the Conservatives with the middle aged and NDP as you say with the young
If you look at the 2021 election numbers, the Conservatives led with all voters aged over 50. For those aged 50-69, the Conservative lead was about 3.5%. For those aged 70-79, the Conservative lead was 10 points and for those aged over 80, it was 15 points.
The strongest Liberal group was those aged 30-39 where the party led by nearly five points.
The NDP led among the 18-29 aged group with the Conservatives third.
The latest data (overall Liberal lead of two points) has regionsl sub samples and in Ontario (121 ridings) the Liberals led by seven (47-40).
The latest Nanos poll has Polievre's Conservatives on 42% with 35 to 54s compared to 32% with 55s and overs.
The Carney Liberals are on 52% with over 55s compared to 42% with 35-54s, the NDP still best with 18 to 34s on 14% compared to 8% Canada wide
If we HAVE located life on one random planet, then statistically it must be all over the Universe. (So will say the Drake equation.)
The idea of it just being us was always Humanoid Exceptionalism taken to the nth degree.
Life on our planet includes, inter alia, us, plankton and squids. There's a good chance that life in another galaxy, far, far away, evolved or developed in an entirely different fashion.
The sheer diversity of lifeforms here on earth is staggering enough. What life developed on a different planet would be like is simply mind-blowing.
It is quite possible that if we stumbled across a life form on another planet that we wouldn't actually realise it was a lifeform. Just because life on earth is all carbon based doesn't mean there aren't other options such as silica based life forms
Oh FFS. Sod off you Russian troll. We've just finished untold years of trans vs terfs over what is a woman? and now you want us to debate the definition of life.
@Pagan2 may have unorthodox views but he shows no evidence of being either 1. a troll, 2. Russian.
Plenty of trolls to choose from elsewhere, Russian or otherwise.
Especially since he made an entirely valid point too.
If we HAVE located life on one random planet, then statistically it must be all over the Universe. (So will say the Drake equation.)
The idea of it just being us was always Humanoid Exceptionalism taken to the nth degree.
This is pretty much my view. Which brings us onto the Fermi Paradox (the question as to why, if life is everywhere, why have we not seen any signs of it?). My preferred response to that is: space is vast, we are only looking for certain signals, and we are too boring to routinely visit, even if they have interstellar travel.
That's a suitably boring answer compared to some of the others...
I think I'm rather in the opposite camp, my suspicion being that the evolution of complex, intelligent life is wildly improbable, requiring a very particular series of circumstances in order to occur. On the other hand, I reckon that the evolution of simpler life forms, such as might be required to explain a particular atmospheric composition, may not be so uncommon. After all, such life has existed on Earth for most of the time of the planet's existence.
And that's a fair position. Except in the one case where we can say life formed - our own planet - we can also say that intelligent life developed. So that's a 100% hit rate. Until we discover other planets where we are sure life is present or has developed, it seems reasonable to say that, if the planet is old enough and life forms, intelligent life is possible, or even probable.
I don't like the idea that we, or Earth, is exceptional. We're probably just boringly mundane.
Given the vast vast vast size of the universe - which may actually be infinite, we do not know - it seems vanishingly unlikely that life developed on just one small planet in one star system in one galaxy amongst trillions of others
OR we are in a Simulation. OR I’m the only thing that exists
One of those three
The latter case being by far the most concerning, since the evolution of intelligent lifeforms would then still be work in progress.
If we HAVE located life on one random planet, then statistically it must be all over the Universe. (So will say the Drake equation.)
The idea of it just being us was always Humanoid Exceptionalism taken to the nth degree.
Life on our planet includes, inter alia, us, plankton and squids. There's a good chance that life in another galaxy, far, far away, evolved or developed in an entirely different fashion.
The sheer diversity of lifeforms here on earth is staggering enough. What life developed on a different planet would be like is simply mind-blowing.
It is quite possible that if we stumbled across a life form on another planet that we wouldn't actually realise it was a lifeform. Just because life on earth is all carbon based doesn't mean there aren't other options such as silica based life forms
Oh FFS. Sod off you Russian troll. We've just finished untold years of trans vs terfs over what is a woman? and now you want us to debate the definition of life.
@Pagan2 may have unorthodox views but he shows no evidence of being either 1. a troll, 2. Russian.
Plenty of trolls to choose from elsewhere, Russian or otherwise.
The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, "Too Late" Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete "mess!" Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!
Donald Trump setting interest rates is going to be a hoot!
Wait until he raises them to 124% because he’s fallen out with the boss of Fannie Mae.
eggs are actually up 70% I read somewhere the other day.
If we HAVE located life on one random planet, then statistically it must be all over the Universe. (So will say the Drake equation.)
The idea of it just being us was always Humanoid Exceptionalism taken to the nth degree.
Life on our planet includes, inter alia, us, plankton and squids. There's a good chance that life in another galaxy, far, far away, evolved or developed in an entirely different fashion.
The sheer diversity of lifeforms here on earth is staggering enough. What life developed on a different planet would be like is simply mind-blowing.
It is quite possible that if we stumbled across a life form on another planet that we wouldn't actually realise it was a lifeform. Just because life on earth is all carbon based doesn't mean there aren't other options such as silica based life forms
Oh FFS. Sod off you Russian troll. We've just finished untold years of trans vs terfs over what is a woman? and now you want us to debate the definition of life.
@Pagan2 may have unorthodox views but he shows no evidence of being either 1. a troll, 2. Russian.
Plenty of trolls to choose from elsewhere, Russian or otherwise.
I think DJL was joking
I think he was in that twilight zone between “joking” and “flippant”.
If we HAVE located life on one random planet, then statistically it must be all over the Universe. (So will say the Drake equation.)
The idea of it just being us was always Humanoid Exceptionalism taken to the nth degree.
Life on our planet includes, inter alia, us, plankton and squids. There's a good chance that life in another galaxy, far, far away, evolved or developed in an entirely different fashion.
The sheer diversity of lifeforms here on earth is staggering enough. What life developed on a different planet would be like is simply mind-blowing.
It is quite possible that if we stumbled across a life form on another planet that we wouldn't actually realise it was a lifeform. Just because life on earth is all carbon based doesn't mean there aren't other options such as silica based life forms
It will (eventually, long after we're dead) be fascinating as to whether there are elements of convergent evolution across planets.
I find it amazing how far humans have advanced as a society when we are a relatively short evolutionary jump from apes.
There will be many planets with fairly intelligent life where no one has made that jump. For 99.999% of earth's existence that was the case here as well.
... And likely others where a far more capable species than humans, from an intelligence perspective, has advanced.
The good thing is the universe is really fucking big and so we'll never meet these alien species. Which is very good because their version of viruses, bacteria etc might wipe out life on earth even if the intelligent ones are well meaning.
Steve Bannon: “You (Britain) don’t make anything anymore,”...Sure you guys make automobiles but it is nothing in the grand scheme of things. They’re kind of bespoke Jaguars and Aston Martins.”
Telegraph
Is he so stupid he doesn't know Jaguar are not making cars at the moment?
Sure they are. F-Pace is still in production on the Solihull line. I mean, nobody is buying the fucking thing but they are still building it.
Is that the X761 ?
The CSV, its shit. Poorly engineered and designed, cheaply bought tat. I worked on a part of it for a while.
It's only seven hundred trillion miles away from us.
Trump: "So you mean we can see if they will hold our prisoners there instead of El Salvador? Supreme Court ain't ever getting them back from THERE..."
If you had a choice between being a bit of slime mould on planet Zarg N trillion miles away and Trump sending you to an El Salvador prison, which would you choose?
Is it possible that Trump is a piece of planet Zarg slime mould?
The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, "Too Late" Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete "mess!" Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!
Donald Trump setting interest rates is going to be a hoot!
Wait until he raises them to 124% because he’s fallen out with the boss of Fannie Mae.
eggs are actually up 70% I read somewhere the other day.
Is it all ova for Trump?
It’s certainly not been over-easy getting those prices down.
If we HAVE located life on one random planet, then statistically it must be all over the Universe. (So will say the Drake equation.)
The idea of it just being us was always Humanoid Exceptionalism taken to the nth degree.
Life on our planet includes, inter alia, us, plankton and squids. There's a good chance that life in another galaxy, far, far away, evolved or developed in an entirely different fashion.
The sheer diversity of lifeforms here on earth is staggering enough. What life developed on a different planet would be like is simply mind-blowing.
It is quite possible that if we stumbled across a life form on another planet that we wouldn't actually realise it was a lifeform. Just because life on earth is all carbon based doesn't mean there aren't other options such as silica based life forms
It will (eventually, long after we're dead) be fascinating as to whether there are elements of convergent evolution across planets.
I find it amazing how far humans have advanced as a society when we are a relatively short evolutionary jump from apes.
There will be many planets with fairly intelligent life where no one has made that jump. For 99.999% of earth's existence that was the case here as well.
... And likely others where a far more capable species than humans, from an intelligence perspective, has advanced.
The good thing is the universe is really fucking big and so we'll never meet these alien species. Which is very good because their version of viruses, bacteria etc might wipe out life on earth even if the intelligent ones are well meaning.
It's just as well we're never likely to meet aliens. Can you imagine the arguments over which pronouns to use?
A true alienographer (it's a bit like a historiographer) keeps a list of political, business, and scientific leaders who have claimed to have been in contact with aliens or who have said curious stuff about aliens.
Not boring stuff such as that the idea has got to be looked into. Retired military and intelligence figures don't count either. They're two a penny. Nor does Laurance Rockefeller.
As for Nikola Tesla, I could say a lot but on the aliens I suspect William Thomson aka "Lord Kelvin" put him up to some of it. Then there's Guglielmo Marconi of course.
The Javier Perez de Cuellar job later last century was hilarious. He had to deny he'd ever been alien-abducted and therefore he doesn't make it into the same class as Ilyumzhinov for coolness.
Then there's anyone who goes on about Giordano Bruno too much...
...and [redacted] in the royal [redacted], [redacted] in North London, and Russian [redacted redacted redacted]...
Regarding the pronoun debate - I am bemused. I very rarely see pronouns shown, even from the public sector (contrary to claims) so I did a review of my emails where there was a personal sign off. Not one had a pronoun. They were from UCL, Royal Surrey Hospital, Doctor, Dentist, HMRC, DVLA, L&G, Standard Life, umpteen MPs.
From memory I can only recall one use of a pronoun in the past in an email and that was from Daisy Cooper (she/her).
Bizarrely it can be useful with unusual names. Even not so unusual names. My wife has a Scottish name that seems obviously female to me, but seems to confuse some and also being a Doctor her prefix of Dr does not help. So many assume she is male. So it could help. Not that she or I use pronouns.
You are a despicable liar. "Everyone is passively pressured to do that, and comply with gender identity ideology, on pain of otherwise being accused of being a bigot."
Its true. You're in denial. Everyone has to do it. Even on here.
Ian (He/Him)
Right, I've done a 10-minute very non-scientific study of my inbox.
- The majority of people in my organisation have pronouns in their email signatures. However, the incidence of people not using pronouns is probably higher than I'd imagined. - Interestingly, a similar scan through a random sample (this week, three years ago) seems to suggest fewer pronouns than a few years ago. - That said, this is difficult to evaluate fully because, also possibly interestingly, there are far more emails without signatures at all - It's hard to tell objectively to what extent we have been 'pressured' - certainly I remember emails from HR asking us to add pronouns to signatures, though this is hard to dig out with a simple search of the word 'pronoun' because the word 'pronoun' features in the signature of so many emails - but clearly many people such as me haven't: this isn't necessarily a principled objection, but could equally well be reluctance to do a very low-priority admin task - external emails from other public sector organisations are also majoritavely pronouned - external emails from people trying to sell things to the public sector through spam are almost entirely pronouned - external emails from consultants (and - while I don't know who @Casino_Royale is in real life, I think I know what industry he works in - and particularly from consultants his industry) are almost entirely pronouned. - external emails from the general public almost entirely unpronouned.
However, I'm perfectly willing to believe e.g. Foxy that he rarely sees pronouns. Maybe we're all telling the truth and it varies from industry to industry.
I've just done a very unscientific survey of my organisation - private sector but does a lot of business with public sector. We have had some gentle encouragement but it is clear it is genuinely voluntary.
A lot of my emails are replies so don't have email sigs but I counted back 15 different people, none had pronouns. Including several people where it would have been helpful, and the DEI Officer!
One of my best friends runs a DEI consultancy and doesn’t use pronouns, though some of his colleagues do.
Hardly anyone in the firm I work for use them, although a few Americans do. I wonder if this is another American culture war import that has little relevance to British life.
Looking at my LinkedIn contacts and emails, there are very few. No pronouns for any of the senior Treasury, HMRC or DBT contacts, nor for 90% of my clients. I’ve never used them myself because it’s pretty obvious someone called Tim is male.
In my last post in a school before I retired, no one used pronouns in email signatures.
I wonder if this is one of CRs little temper rants.
Are you kidding? In the world of the arts, pronouns are near-ubiquitous….
…. Or they were a year or two ago. In recent months I’ve noticed a distinct dialling down
I wonder if we will look back on 2022 or 23 as the year of Peak Woke, whence it all got driven into the sea
Finally, the SNP are picking up on our brilliant energy position. John Swinney reads PB confirmed.
They seem to have forgotten that the promise was 'during the Parliament'.
The SNP have been in a conundrum since the "oil will pay for everything" argument was shot down.
Now, at last, they have come up with its successor - "wind will pay for everything". Simple retail politics. Easy to understand and tricky to counter even though its bogus.
I remember, years ago, lefties of my acquaintance, arguing that scrapping Trident would pay for everything on their wish-list. Don't hear it quite so often now, to be fair.
The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, "Too Late" Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete "mess!" Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!
Donald Trump setting interest rates is going to be a hoot!
Wait until he raises them to 124% because he’s fallen out with the boss of Fannie Mae.
eggs are actually up 70% I read somewhere the other day.
If they come down too fast they'll make a right mess.
The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, "Too Late" Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete "mess!" Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!
Donald Trump setting interest rates is going to be a hoot!
Wait until he raises them to 124% because he’s fallen out with the boss of Fannie Mae.
eggs are actually up 70% I read somewhere the other day.
Is it all ova for Trump?
It’s certainly not been over-easy getting those prices down.
Not least because his behaviour shows his economic thinking is very scrambled.
The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, "Too Late" Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete "mess!" Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!
Part of the paper trail for the sectioning of Mad King Donald...
Dow Jones futures dropped 700 points in an hour. What happened?
Don has been on social media criticising the Fed Chair, market expectation is the Fed Chair is going to get sacked and Donny boy is going to start setting interest rates.
I was joking yesterday about Liz Truss becoming a tech titan, but maybe it’s a serious possibility. There’s something of the Elizabeth Holmes about her. She could be the UK’s next billionaire.
Can I get your medication William, would you like a lie down?
The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, "Too Late" Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete "mess!" Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!
Donald Trump setting interest rates is going to be a hoot!
Wait until he raises them to 124% because he’s fallen out with the boss of Fannie Mae.
eggs are actually up 70% I read somewhere the other day.
Is it all ova for Trump?
It’s certainly not been over-easy getting those prices down.
Not least because his behaviour shows his economic thinking is very scrambled.
I’ve worked for three very large telecoms companies and not once have I ever felt the need to put my pronouns on an email. I never have and never will as I can’t personally see the point.
But if somebody wants to, isn’t that up to them? I agree we should not force people to do it but assuming that’s the case would you still have a problem with it?
This seems no different than forcing me to wear a suit. I’m glad that’s over.
They can stick their pronouns up their butts, I use name or him / her, rest of the bollox they can get stuffed.
Never used pronouns. For me or for anybody else. Never had to.
That's just the way it rolls down here in Devon.
But you’re all weirdos down there in the West Country calling everybody ‘my lover’.
When I was a callow 17 year old visiting the West Country for the first time getting called ‘my lover’ was a eye/ear opener, thank Allah my mother wasn’t there, the shock would have killed her.
When I worked at Bombardier in Derby I got called Duck, or me duck, an awful lot. Quite disconcerting at first.
Quackers !
(Get's coat.)
Who is Get and what does his coat have to do with this?
It's the well known sequel to Get's Carter. It's yet another one about a gang who sometimes get apostrophe's in the wrong place's.
The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, "Too Late" Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete "mess!" Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!
Donald Trump setting interest rates is going to be a hoot!
Wait until he raises them to 124% because he’s fallen out with the boss of Fannie Mae.
eggs are actually up 70% I read somewhere the other day.
Is it all ova for Trump?
It’s certainly not been over-easy getting those prices down.
Not least because his behaviour shows his economic thinking is very scrambled.
I'm sure that pun has been poached...
Nah, it’s just me showing that I can do soufflé punning.
Dow Jones futures dropped 700 points in an hour. What happened?
Don has been on social media criticising the Fed Chair, market expectation is the Fed Chair is going to get sacked and Donny boy is going to start setting interest rates.
Forget the Dow Jones.
It's the bond market that will do for MAGA dreams.
Finally, the SNP are picking up on our brilliant energy position. John Swinney reads PB confirmed.
They seem to have forgotten that the promise was 'during the Parliament'.
The SNP have been in a conundrum since the "oil will pay for everything" argument was shot down.
Now, at last, they have come up with its successor - "wind will pay for everything". Simple retail politics. Easy to understand and tricky to counter even though its bogus.
I remember, years ago, lefties of my acquaintance, arguing that scrapping Trident would pay for everything on their wish-list. Don't hear it quite so often now, to be fair.
Tbf, they are right to some extent. If we went big on wind, solar and tidal it would make one hell of a difference to both the balance of payments and energy security. Both of which are highly desirable outcomes.
Good news - HMRC have processed the VAT refund for my toys business. Bad news - they have sent me a CHEQUE
WTF am I supposed to with a cheque? Its 2025.
Some of the banking apps allow you to pay them in via an image.
Indeed. I will have to open a new bank account to be able to pay this into.
Its 2025. Fintech banks wipe the floor with bricks and mortar banks. But do not accept payment of relics like cheques.
Or apparently I can write (yes, WRITE) to HMRC returning the cheque, asking them to instead pay it directly into our bank account. Whose details they have on file. Where they say they will pay into accounts on file instead of issuing cheques.
If we HAVE located life on one random planet, then statistically it must be all over the Universe. (So will say the Drake equation.)
The idea of it just being us was always Humanoid Exceptionalism taken to the nth degree.
Life on our planet includes, inter alia, us, plankton and squids. There's a good chance that life in another galaxy, far, far away, evolved or developed in an entirely different fashion.
The sheer diversity of lifeforms here on earth is staggering enough. What life developed on a different planet would be like is simply mind-blowing.
It is quite possible that if we stumbled across a life form on another planet that we wouldn't actually realise it was a lifeform. Just because life on earth is all carbon based doesn't mean there aren't other options such as silica based life forms
Oh FFS. Sod off you Russian troll. We've just finished untold years of trans vs terfs over what is a woman? and now you want us to debate the definition of life.
@Pagan2 may have unorthodox views but he shows no evidence of being either 1. a troll, 2. Russian.
Plenty of trolls to choose from elsewhere, Russian or otherwise.
How very PB to describe someone views that differ to the mainstream here as ‘unorthodox’.
If we HAVE located life on one random planet, then statistically it must be all over the Universe. (So will say the Drake equation.)
The idea of it just being us was always Humanoid Exceptionalism taken to the nth degree.
Life on our planet includes, inter alia, us, plankton and squids. There's a good chance that life in another galaxy, far, far away, evolved or developed in an entirely different fashion.
The sheer diversity of lifeforms here on earth is staggering enough. What life developed on a different planet would be like is simply mind-blowing.
It is quite possible that if we stumbled across a life form on another planet that we wouldn't actually realise it was a lifeform. Just because life on earth is all carbon based doesn't mean there aren't other options such as silica based life forms
Oh FFS. Sod off you Russian troll. We've just finished untold years of trans vs terfs over what is a woman? and now you want us to debate the definition of life.
@Pagan2 may have unorthodox views but he shows no evidence of being either 1. a troll, 2. Russian.
Plenty of trolls to choose from elsewhere, Russian or otherwise.
Good news - HMRC have processed the VAT refund for my toys business. Bad news - they have sent me a CHEQUE
WTF am I supposed to with a cheque? Its 2025.
For me it is a 200 yard walk to the village hall on Tuesday mornings where a post office intermittently operates. If it's under £100,000 I just tear it up.
On a related topic, in north Cumberland - a spot always either 30 years in front or 30 years behind, but you have to wait to find out which - a growing number of retailers/services/coffee shops etc have a discreet notice up saying 'cash preferred'. I have just seen a new one today in a bustling popular cafe. It is a 2025 trend.
If we HAVE located life on one random planet, then statistically it must be all over the Universe. (So will say the Drake equation.)
The idea of it just being us was always Humanoid Exceptionalism taken to the nth degree.
Life on our planet includes, inter alia, us, plankton and squids. There's a good chance that life in another galaxy, far, far away, evolved or developed in an entirely different fashion.
The sheer diversity of lifeforms here on earth is staggering enough. What life developed on a different planet would be like is simply mind-blowing.
It is quite possible that if we stumbled across a life form on another planet that we wouldn't actually realise it was a lifeform. Just because life on earth is all carbon based doesn't mean there aren't other options such as silica based life forms
It will (eventually, long after we're dead) be fascinating as to whether there are elements of convergent evolution across planets.
I find it amazing how far humans have advanced as a society when we are a relatively short evolutionary jump from apes.
There will be many planets with fairly intelligent life where no one has made that jump. For 99.999% of earth's existence that was the case here as well.
... And likely others where a far more capable species than humans, from an intelligence perspective, has advanced.
The good thing is the universe is really fucking big and so we'll never meet these alien species. Which is very good because their version of viruses, bacteria etc might wipe out life on earth even if the intelligent ones are well meaning.
It's just as well we're never likely to meet aliens. Can you imagine the arguments over which pronouns to use?
If we HAVE located life on one random planet, then statistically it must be all over the Universe. (So will say the Drake equation.)
The idea of it just being us was always Humanoid Exceptionalism taken to the nth degree.
Life on our planet includes, inter alia, us, plankton and squids. There's a good chance that life in another galaxy, far, far away, evolved or developed in an entirely different fashion.
The sheer diversity of lifeforms here on earth is staggering enough. What life developed on a different planet would be like is simply mind-blowing.
It is quite possible that if we stumbled across a life form on another planet that we wouldn't actually realise it was a lifeform. Just because life on earth is all carbon based doesn't mean there aren't other options such as silica based life forms
It will (eventually, long after we're dead) be fascinating as to whether there are elements of convergent evolution across planets.
I find it amazing how far humans have advanced as a society when we are a relatively short evolutionary jump from apes.
There will be many planets with fairly intelligent life where no one has made that jump. For 99.999% of earth's existence that was the case here as well.
... And likely others where a far more capable species than humans, from an intelligence perspective, has advanced.
The good thing is the universe is really fucking big and so we'll never meet these alien species. Which is very good because their version of viruses, bacteria etc might wipe out life on earth even if the intelligent ones are well meaning.
As a slight tangent something I have long speculated on though not sure how you would prove it or disprove it.
The evolution of human scale intelligence brings an end to the evolution of that species. Why I speculate it might be true is that evolution of a species is driven by adaption to the environment. Human scale intelligence allows a species to instead adapt the environment to themselves. As I said just a speculation on my part
I was joking yesterday about Liz Truss becoming a tech titan, but maybe it’s a serious possibility. There’s something of the Elizabeth Holmes about her. .
EH is doing 10+ years for fraud and conspiracy so let's hope same fate awaits Truss.
In the highly unlikely event thatisadisgracebook.com ever launches I 100% guarantee it will be a failure. And I know exactly fuck all about linkedin wanker bollocks.
Good news - HMRC have processed the VAT refund for my toys business. Bad news - they have sent me a CHEQUE
WTF am I supposed to with a cheque? Its 2025.
For me it is a 200 yard walk to the village hall on Tuesday mornings where a post office intermittently operates. If it's under £100,000 I just tear it up.
If you’re that rich I’m quite happy to pay them in for you for a modest commission - say 20%? Transport thrown in for free.
The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, "Too Late" Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete "mess!" Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!
Donald Trump setting interest rates is going to be a hoot!
Wait until he raises them to 124% because he’s fallen out with the boss of Fannie Mae.
eggs are actually up 70% I read somewhere the other day.
Is it all ova for Trump?
It’s certainly not been over-easy getting those prices down.
Not least because his behaviour shows his economic thinking is very scrambled.
I'm sure that pun has been poached...
Nah, it’s just me showing that I can do soufflé punning.
Good news - HMRC have processed the VAT refund for my toys business. Bad news - they have sent me a CHEQUE
WTF am I supposed to with a cheque? Its 2025.
For me it is a 200 yard walk to the village hall on Tuesday mornings where a post office intermittently operates. If it's under £100,000 I just tear it up.
If you’re that rich I’m quite happy to pay them in for you for a modest commission - say 20%? Transport thrown in for free.
I made that last bit up. My actual threshold is 50p.
Good news - HMRC have processed the VAT refund for my toys business. Bad news - they have sent me a CHEQUE
WTF am I supposed to with a cheque? Its 2025.
For me it is a 200 yard walk to the village hall on Tuesday mornings where a post office intermittently operates. If it's under £100,000 I just tear it up.
If you’re that rich I’m quite happy to pay them in for you for a modest commission - say 20%? Transport thrown in for free.
I made that last bit up. My actual threshold is 50p.
Dow Jones futures dropped 700 points in an hour. What happened?
Don has been on social media criticising the Fed Chair, market expectation is the Fed Chair is going to get sacked and Donny boy is going to start setting interest rates.
Steve Bannon: “You (Britain) don’t make anything anymore,”...Sure you guys make automobiles but it is nothing in the grand scheme of things. They’re kind of bespoke Jaguars and Aston Martins.”
Telegraph
Is he so stupid he doesn't know Jaguar are not making cars at the moment?
Sure they are. F-Pace is still in production on the Solihull line. I mean, nobody is buying the fucking thing but they are still building it.
Is that the X761 ?
The CSV, its shit. Poorly engineered and designed, cheaply bought tat. I worked on a part of it for a while.
I was joking yesterday about Liz Truss becoming a tech titan, but maybe it’s a serious possibility. There’s something of the Elizabeth Holmes about her. .
EH is doing 10+ years for fraud and conspiracy so let's hope same fate awaits Truss.
Good news - HMRC have processed the VAT refund for my toys business. Bad news - they have sent me a CHEQUE
WTF am I supposed to with a cheque? Its 2025.
Some of the banking apps allow you to pay them in via an image.
Indeed. I will have to open a new bank account to be able to pay this into.
Its 2025. Fintech banks wipe the floor with bricks and mortar banks. But do not accept payment of relics like cheques.
Or apparently I can write (yes, WRITE) to HMRC returning the cheque, asking them to instead pay it directly into our bank account. Whose details they have on file. Where they say they will pay into accounts on file instead of issuing cheques.
Gits.
They are certainly not the most helpful of organisations. OTOH, their clinging on to paper based systems is perhaps something of a defence against industrialised fraud ?
Good news - HMRC have processed the VAT refund for my toys business. Bad news - they have sent me a CHEQUE
WTF am I supposed to with a cheque? Its 2025.
For me it is a 200 yard walk to the village hall on Tuesday mornings where a post office intermittently operates. If it's under £100,000 I just tear it up.
On a related topic, in north Cumberland - a spot always either 30 years in front or 30 years behind, but you have to wait to find out which - a growing number of retailers/services/coffee shops etc have a discreet notice up saying 'cash preferred'. I have just seen a new one today in a bustling popular cafe. It is a 2025 trend.
There have always been some dodgepot businesses doing the cash scam. Cash can be cheaper to deposit than electronic payments - not always. But if you can pay expenses out of cash its effectively fee free.
In my case I can't deposit this cheque in any way because our bank does not allow the payment in of cheques because its 2025 and not 1985.
Sigh. Another faff to open a bricks and mortar account, pay the cheque in, then remember to close it before they start charging.
The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, "Too Late" Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete "mess!" Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!
Donald Trump setting interest rates is going to be a hoot!
Wait until he raises them to 124% because he’s fallen out with the boss of Fannie Mae.
eggs are actually up 70% I read somewhere the other day.
Is it all ova for Trump?
It’s certainly not been over-easy getting those prices down.
Not least because his behaviour shows his economic thinking is very scrambled.
I'm sure that pun has been poached...
Nah, it’s just me showing that I can do soufflé punning.
I’ve worked for three very large telecoms companies and not once have I ever felt the need to put my pronouns on an email. I never have and never will as I can’t personally see the point.
But if somebody wants to, isn’t that up to them? I agree we should not force people to do it but assuming that’s the case would you still have a problem with it?
This seems no different than forcing me to wear a suit. I’m glad that’s over.
They can stick their pronouns up their butts, I use name or him / her, rest of the bollox they can get stuffed.
Never used pronouns. For me or for anybody else. Never had to.
That's just the way it rolls down here in Devon.
But you’re all weirdos down there in the West Country calling everybody ‘my lover’.
When I was a callow 17 year old visiting the West Country for the first time getting called ‘my lover’ was a eye/ear opener, thank Allah my mother wasn’t there, the shock would have killed her.
When I worked at Bombardier in Derby I got called Duck, or me duck, an awful lot. Quite disconcerting at first.
Quackers !
(Get's coat.)
Who is Get and what does his coat have to do with this?
It's the well known sequel to Get's Carter. It's yet another one about a gang who sometimes get apostrophe's in the wrong place's.
If we HAVE located life on one random planet, then statistically it must be all over the Universe. (So will say the Drake equation.)
The idea of it just being us was always Humanoid Exceptionalism taken to the nth degree.
Life on our planet includes, inter alia, us, plankton and squids. There's a good chance that life in another galaxy, far, far away, evolved or developed in an entirely different fashion.
The sheer diversity of lifeforms here on earth is staggering enough. What life developed on a different planet would be like is simply mind-blowing.
It is quite possible that if we stumbled across a life form on another planet that we wouldn't actually realise it was a lifeform. Just because life on earth is all carbon based doesn't mean there aren't other options such as silica based life forms
It will (eventually, long after we're dead) be fascinating as to whether there are elements of convergent evolution across planets.
I find it amazing how far humans have advanced as a society when we are a relatively short evolutionary jump from apes.
There will be many planets with fairly intelligent life where no one has made that jump. For 99.999% of earth's existence that was the case here as well.
... And likely others where a far more capable species than humans, from an intelligence perspective, has advanced.
The good thing is the universe is really fucking big and so we'll never meet these alien species. Which is very good because their version of viruses, bacteria etc might wipe out life on earth even if the intelligent ones are well meaning.
That's why the god of the gaps left large gaps between places where life started. Next task for the god of the gaps: the size of car parking spaces now we have evolved to the point where everyone's battleship sized car bullies my Micra.
Good news - HMRC have processed the VAT refund for my toys business. Bad news - they have sent me a CHEQUE
WTF am I supposed to with a cheque? Its 2025.
For me it is a 200 yard walk to the village hall on Tuesday mornings where a post office intermittently operates. If it's under £100,000 I just tear it up.
On a related topic, in north Cumberland - a spot always either 30 years in front or 30 years behind, but you have to wait to find out which - a growing number of retailers/services/coffee shops etc have a discreet notice up saying 'cash preferred'. I have just seen a new one today in a bustling popular cafe. It is a 2025 trend.
There have always been some dodgepot businesses doing the cash scam. Cash can be cheaper to deposit than electronic payments - not always. But if you can pay expenses out of cash its effectively fee free.
In my case I can't deposit this cheque in any way because our bank does not allow the payment in of cheques because its 2025 and not 1985.
Sigh. Another faff to open a bricks and mortar account, pay the cheque in, then remember to close it before they start charging.
Good news - HMRC have processed the VAT refund for my toys business. Bad news - they have sent me a CHEQUE
WTF am I supposed to with a cheque? Its 2025.
For me it is a 200 yard walk to the village hall on Tuesday mornings where a post office intermittently operates. If it's under £100,000 I just tear it up.
On a related topic, in north Cumberland - a spot always either 30 years in front or 30 years behind, but you have to wait to find out which - a growing number of retailers/services/coffee shops etc have a discreet notice up saying 'cash preferred'. I have just seen a new one today in a bustling popular cafe. It is a 2025 trend.
I went into a local place yesterday called "Stitch Witchery".
"Good morning. Are you the stitch witch? Yes. etc." (We still have small service businesses here. She's opposite the Indoor Market, where she left when it was refurbed and rents went up.)
Cash only. In advance, So she's given me £8 credit for the repair instead. Which is pleasant.
Good news - HMRC have processed the VAT refund for my toys business. Bad news - they have sent me a CHEQUE
WTF am I supposed to with a cheque? Its 2025.
For me it is a 200 yard walk to the village hall on Tuesday mornings where a post office intermittently operates. If it's under £100,000 I just tear it up.
On a related topic, in north Cumberland - a spot always either 30 years in front or 30 years behind, but you have to wait to find out which - a growing number of retailers/services/coffee shops etc have a discreet notice up saying 'cash preferred'. I have just seen a new one today in a bustling popular cafe. It is a 2025 trend.
There have always been some dodgepot businesses doing the cash scam. Cash can be cheaper to deposit than electronic payments - not always. But if you can pay expenses out of cash its effectively fee free.
In my case I can't deposit this cheque in any way because our bank does not allow the payment in of cheques because its 2025 and not 1985.
Sigh. Another faff to open a bricks and mortar account, pay the cheque in, then remember to close it before they start charging.
If (unlikely) I have understood this correctly, in 2024 UK cheque payments amounted to the completely trivial sum of about £130 billion.
The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, "Too Late" Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete "mess!" Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!
Donald Trump setting interest rates is going to be a hoot!
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Israeli troops will remain in Gaza 'security zones' after war, minister says
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g2775v853o
Israel's defence minister has said troops will remain in so-called security zones they have established by seizing large areas of Gaza even after an end to the war.
Israel Katz said the zones would provide a "buffer" to protect Israeli communities "in any temporary or permanent situation", and that "tens of per cent" of the Palestinian territory had been added since the Israeli offensive resumed three weeks ago.
Israel would continue its six-week blockade of humanitarian aid to pressure Hamas to release hostages, he said, despite the UN warning of "devastating" consequences...
In the meantime, they're having a go a negotiation by starvation.
And there's a *really* long way to go before this is even "almost confirmed". As the Venusian phosphine situation shows well. As ever, you're seeing certainty or near-certainty where there is not any.
They clearly believe this is it. That doesn’t mean they’re right but they’re not holding back
"But even if the Cambridge team obtains a five sigma result, that won't be conclusive proof that life exists on the planet, according to Prof Catherine Heymans of Edinburgh University and Scotland's Astronomer Royal, who is independent of the research team.
"Even with that certainty, there is still the question of what is the origin of this gas," she told BBC News.
"On Earth it is produced by microorganisms in the ocean, but even with perfect data we can't say for sure that this is of a biological origin on an alien world because loads of strange things happen in the Universe and we don't know what other geological activity could be happening on this planet that might produce the molecules.""
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c39jj9vkr34o
The Welsh team who discovered Venusian phosphine apparently spent a long time ruling out all non-life causes for the gas in the atmosphere. That was difficult enough (and people still argue for atmospheric or geological causes...) on Venus, a planet we have a lot of data for. We have far less certainty about this new planet.
This new discovery is intriguing, and interesting, but is far from proof of extraterrestrial life. Hopefully it will lead to much more science, though.
But today, I had another look over most recent correspondence and they've all but disappeared. So perhaps a change in policy (by the new Chief Exec?)....but speculating as Councillors don't get involved in that kind of issue.
https://youtu.be/W8-54-9J9ns?si=yQ9yymUCzMdT7ctx
The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, "Too Late" Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete "mess!" Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!
The result? No-one knows if phosphine is present in Venus's atmosphere, and people just pick the studies that confirm their view. This probably will not get settled until we send probes to Venus specifically designed to detect phosphine and similar gasses.
This paper, too, will be ripped to shreds. Problems may or may not be found: but hopefully there will be much grater work and effort put into this area.
I like exobiology.
I'd also ask you to look for a reputable source, not he Telegraph or Spectator.
..In the following year, as revelations of fraud about Theranos's claims began to surface, Forbes revised its estimate of Holmes's net worth to zero, and Fortune named her in its feature article on "The World's 19 Most Disappointing Leaders"...
Though it's more that she failed to "surprise on the upside", and I don't predict her eventual incarceration.
Around 50% have no email signature, just their name.
Of those with a sig, none of the external emails have pronouns, and around half of the internal ones do.
I have them on my email sig, along with the letter jumble of quals after my name.
For anyone called Sandy, it is useful. For my wife, with a Punjabi Sikh name, it is also useful.
"I can't get a doctor's appointment" - Independence!
"Bills are too high" - Independence!
"Schools are a mess" - Independence!
And then largely the door gets closed. Like the underpants gnomes before them, SNP activists can't explain the basics about how they get to independence where all the problems are wiped away.
Young people today….
Plenty of trolls to choose from elsewhere, Russian or otherwise.
The Carney Liberals are on 52% with over 55s compared to 42% with 35-54s, the NDP still best with 18 to 34s on 14% compared to 8% Canada wide
https://nanos.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2025-2783-ELXN-FED-2025-04-15_Field-Ended.pdf
I find it amazing how far humans have advanced as a society when we are a relatively short evolutionary jump from apes.
There will be many planets with fairly intelligent life where no one has made that jump. For 99.999% of earth's existence that was the case here as well.
... And likely others where a far more capable species than humans, from an intelligence perspective, has advanced.
The good thing is the universe is really fucking big and so we'll never meet these alien species. Which is very good because their version of viruses, bacteria etc might wipe out life on earth even if the intelligent ones are well meaning.
Just our luck to make him our first contact...
What happened?
Not boring stuff such as that the idea has got to be looked into. Retired military and intelligence figures don't count either. They're two a penny. Nor does Laurance Rockefeller.
This guy counts:
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnedpGJx3Yk
So does this nutter:
Eric Gairy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Gairy
As for Nikola Tesla, I could say a lot but on the aliens I suspect William Thomson aka "Lord Kelvin" put him up to some of it. Then there's Guglielmo Marconi of course.
The Javier Perez de Cuellar job later last century was hilarious. He had to deny he'd ever been alien-abducted and therefore he doesn't make it into the same class as Ilyumzhinov for coolness.
Then there's anyone who goes on about Giordano Bruno too much...
...and [redacted] in the royal [redacted], [redacted] in North London, and Russian [redacted redacted redacted]...
Now, at last, they have come up with its successor - "wind will pay for everything". Simple retail politics. Easy to understand and tricky to counter even though its bogus.
I remember, years ago, lefties of my acquaintance, arguing that scrapping Trident would pay for everything on their wish-list. Don't hear it quite so often now, to be fair.
Bad news - they have sent me a CHEQUE
WTF am I supposed to with a cheque? Its 2025.
MTG trading ahead of the news.
It's the bond market that will do for MAGA dreams.
Its 2025. Fintech banks wipe the floor with bricks and mortar banks. But do not accept payment of relics like cheques.
Gits.
Pagan’s views really are quite common.
On a related topic, in north Cumberland - a spot always either 30 years in front or 30 years behind, but you have to wait to find out which - a growing number of retailers/services/coffee shops etc have a discreet notice up saying 'cash preferred'. I have just seen a new one today in a bustling popular cafe. It is a 2025 trend.
https://youtu.be/L0RHX4to62w?si=SbZg5PezZt2DFiK5
The evolution of human scale intelligence brings an end to the evolution of that species. Why I speculate it might be true is that evolution of a species is driven by adaption to the environment. Human scale intelligence allows a species to instead adapt the environment to themselves. As I said just a speculation on my part
In the highly unlikely event thatisadisgracebook.com ever launches I 100% guarantee it will be a failure. And I know exactly fuck all about linkedin wanker bollocks.
OTOH, their clinging on to paper based systems is perhaps something of a defence against industrialised fraud ?
In my case I can't deposit this cheque in any way because our bank does not allow the payment in of cheques because its 2025 and not 1985.
Sigh. Another faff to open a bricks and mortar account, pay the cheque in, then remember to close it before they start charging.
"Good morning. Are you the stitch witch? Yes. etc." (We still have small service businesses here. She's opposite the Indoor Market, where she left when it was refurbed and rents went up.)
Cash only. In advance, So she's given me £8 credit for the repair instead. Which is pleasant.
https://www.wearepay.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Quarterly-Statistical-Report-2024-Q1.pdf
A bank that doesn't take cheques isn't a bank.