I long ago stopped paying attention to "political statistics" - the statistics politicians speak. But I do pay more attention - and award more credibility to - "statistical statistics" - the statistics that professional record-keepers draw from their records.

There was a good example of the latter in last Saturday's Guardian: Could the global Covid death toll be millions higher than thought?

The article stresses that the figures suggested were drawn from "vital registration systems" - the underlying government records of, inter alia, births and deaths. The researchers put 'the real number [of deaths] closer to 16 million', so far.

Don't know how it is over there. Over here it is a patchwork of regulations, mostly because it is a patchwork of local government fiefdoms. In my very local fiefdom jabs or negative tests are required to go many, but not all crowd places and many, but not all public facing employees are required to be jabbed. There are stupid exceptions and there is essentially zero enforcement.

Some of you may know that I work in death care. All I know is we became so busy during the height, everyone was putting in overtime every day and we were refusing business because we were at capacity. We increased capacity a lot, pre we had 18 slots in our morgue, we now have 275. I also know that business is picking up again, but not near to the level it was.

As was said tonight at the pub, When you die you don't know it; When you are stupid you don't know it.

And here a second mp has been stabbed to death in five years.

https://nypost.com/2021/10/15/michigan-schools-cancel-halloween-and-valentines-day-to-be-inclusive/
Halloween and Valentine’s Day have been canceled for elementary-school students in a Michigan district over concerns about being “inclusive” and “equitable.”

The friend who posted this to me was wondering why children would be celebrating Valentine's Day, but then you have to wonder why children need to learn about diversity, inclusiveness and LHBTI+ feelings these days. Not sure if it gets taught in the US or the UK, but here in The Netherlands children are indeed taught at elementary school about all those wonderful new woke things, and what woke means.

Sometimes I wish I could go back to elementary school and learn these things as well.
And then still my old cultural identity gets broken down because there are others (usually in the minority) who feel upset and offended about it and then the only thing we apparently can do is retract it for everyone. Because Inclusive. Ugh.

So then, it's time to cancel Christmas too of course. Not everyone celebrates Christmas, so it's not "inclusive” and “equitable" either.
And of course we must cancel all birthday parties, since they are not "inclusive” and “equitable" either. Not everyone celebrates birthdays.
Cancel all holidays btw, since not everyone celebrates the same holidays, therefore no holidays are "inclusive” and “equitable".
Geeze, where is this world heading??

Edit: Come to think of it, cancel life too, since not everyone lives their lives the same, which means life in itself is not "inclusive” and “equitable".
Edit2: I'm going to pour out my tea now, since not everyone drinks tea, making tea drinking not "inclusive” and “equitable".

This so called "political correctness" is going to destroy the fabric of society, and create great social problems, as well as civil war in many regions of the world.
Thanks Dog, I'm not young any longer, and don't have to see the total destruction of society.

<sarcastic mode on>

Yeah baby! Exactly the same people that stepped down a year ago over their choices made in the allowance affair that caused several tens of thousands of people to lose their money, houses, children and in some cases even their lives, exactly those same people now presented themselves as the next new saviours of our country. We're getting the same cabinet that stepped down a year ago. Democracy in the Netherlands is dead.

<sarcastic mode off>

<sarcastic mode on>

Yeah baby! Exactly the same people that stepped down a year ago over their choices made in the allowance affair that caused several tens of thousands of people to lose their money, houses, children and in some cases even their lives, exactly those same people now presented themselves as the next new saviours of our country. We're getting the same cabinet that stepped down a year ago. Democracy in the Netherlands is dead.

<sarcastic mode off>

At least with a proportional system there was some life to begin with. Here FPTP has resulted in it being dead for years.

It begins to sound like one of those logic puzzles:

Johnson tells lies, Cummings tells lies, if x% of Tory MPs believe Johnson, y% believe Cummings and z% don't care who is lying as long as they hang on to power, how many days till enough members of the 1922 committee write the letters needed to trigger an election for said party?

When the answer becomes "nobody told me", the problem becomes "I've lost the ability to work things out for myself".

And that means it's time for the men in grey suits to pay him a visit.

Johnson tells lies

He must've looked at our PM, Rutte, and thought: hmmm, I can do that.

He must've looked at our PM, Rutte, and thought: hmmm, I can do that.

Johnson was telling lies long before 2010 when Rutte became prime minister of The Netherlands.

Johnson was telling lies long before 2010 when Rutte became prime minister of The Netherlands.

Perhaps, but he wasn't PM of the UK then. Rutte has been PM since 2010 and has lied and lied and lied and lied and gotten away with it every time. Even today he lied several times in debate with the House of Representatives. There's just no one who's sending him home.

... Johnson tells lies...

Here in the USA that is a mandatory prerequisite for being elected to any government office, including dog catcher.

PS: quotes start with the {quote} tage and end with the closing {/quote} tag. (exchange square brackets [ ] for squiggly brackets { } )

Pity somebody couldn't make this forum user friendly instead of us having to type code like back in the days of DOS.

MilkyWay works well on Windows, both CPU and GPU (with the right card, usually AMD).

I think it works on Nvidia (they can run OpenCL), but slower. I don't have any Nvidias to try, because they're rubbish.

I didn't mean to imply that Putin himself would bother with my computer. But there's an army of Russian miscreants out there who are wreaking cyber havoc on governmental, commercial and private networks.

Perhaps if the USA, the EU, and the UK would stop interfering in wars that are none of their business, using our tax dollars, the world would be a quieter place.

Who gets to if it is or is not [their business ?/]

Perhaps if the USA, the EU, and the UK would stop interfering in wars that are none of their business, using our tax dollars, the world would be a quieter place.

Who gets to [decide] if it is or is not their business?

We should take a leaf out of the Swiss book. Military is to defend yourself. Why should we pick sides on other people's wars? If you see a fight in the street, you don't pick a side and join in!

That's my little sister getting beaten up...

[/quote]

Feels like a few posts here belong in the politics thread in the lounge.