1

That CAN'T be true! / Re: Final evidence of a rigged election in 2020?

« on: Today at 17:48:04 »

If she didn't know whether the dog had voted in person or by post, she should be prosecuted for not keeping the dog under control.

And if she knew the dog had voted previously, she has conspired to conceal evidence of electoral fraud.

2

New Theories / Re: magnetic propeller

« on: Today at 17:44:31 »

Looking forward to it.

3

That CAN'T be true! / Re: Is Bill Gates seeking to monopolise the world food supply?

« on: Today at 14:20:39 »

starvation could be one of his tactics

So could nuclear devastation or just walking away and letting the people starve by themselves. Please replace "could be" with some evidence of something. 

I have heard it said that you might be an agent of Satan.

4

That CAN'T be true! / Re: Final evidence of a rigged election in 2020?

« on: Today at 14:14:03 »

I repeat:  did the dog vote in person or fill in a postal ballot form?

5

New Theories / Re: magnetic propeller

« on: Today at 14:10:33 »

Investors waiting. Bring me a working prototype.

6

Just Chat! / Re: Why should I be bothered with lockdown?

« on: Yesterday at 15:58:30 »

Your playing golf will not allow the electorate to go back to work and boost the shareholdings of Tory MPs. Your not playing golf will convince the electorate that "we are all in this together", blood sweat and tears, etc. Plus the only results of people playing golf are chronic back pain (more cost to the NHS) and the occasional death by lightning strike. Why ruin a good walk?

7

Just Chat! / Re: Is there a universal moral standard?

« on: Yesterday at 15:45:14 »

I distinguish between professionals and parasites.

How can a philosopher who teach about trolley problem becomes a parasite?

A philosopher is a parasite. All he has done so far is to waste your time.

8

That CAN'T be true! / Re: Final evidence of a rigged election in 2020?

« on: Yesterday at 15:38:04 »

"a woman saying her service dog microchp ID number was used as a Social Security number to register the pet and vote.

So did the dog vote in person or fill in a postal ballot form? Either way, he should be in a circus, or maybe the space program.

My grandmother used to cover the kitchen floor with newspaper whenever we left the dog in the house. One day she ran back and turned all the pages over. I asked why and she said "He can't read but he likes to look at the pictures."

9

That CAN'T be true! / Re: Is Bill Gates seeking to monopolise the world food supply?

« on: Yesterday at 15:29:19 »

The statistics, such as I can find, show the continuation of historical starvation in bits of Africa but, oddly, not in the areas where the Gates Foundation is working, apart from Nigeria.

10

COVID-19 / Re: What are the conspiracy theorists saying?

« on: Yesterday at 12:59:34 »

The one thing all conspiracy theorists have in common is ignorance. If they had evidence, they would prosecute.

11

That CAN'T be true! / Re: Final evidence of a rigged election in 2020?

« on: 26/02/2021 13:34:35 »

If you have access to the registration database, you don't register dogs at addresses you don't control, but Smiths Browns and Joneses at addresses where you can pick up their ballot papers. Ask any Republican.

12

Just Chat! / Re: Is there a universal moral standard?

« on: 26/02/2021 13:30:41 »

Let's not belittle someone else's professions.

I distinguish between professionals and parasites.

Engineers who built the tracks and train most likely had built safety precautions to prevent those kind of things. For example, the switch is designed not to react untill it's fully switched, and it doesn't react when a train is already in the mid of crossing the intersection.

Have you ever travelled by train? We are talking about large mechanical structures driven mostly by electric motors with worm gears, pneumatics (fairly quick but not instantaneous)  or, in the case of a goods yard where you are likely to encounter a loose driverless trolley, simple manual levers and pushrods.  The cool safety feature is usually a brake on the trolley which can only be released by a person standing on it or by being coupled to the train vacuum system. So my suggestion is far more realistic than any notion of brakeless trolleys and instantaneous switches.

13

That CAN'T be true! / Re: Is Bill Gates seeking to monopolise the world food supply?

« on: 26/02/2021 13:22:33 »

Reducing the population is the only way to make life tolerable and sustainable for our successors. Agriculture in many parts of Africa is already marginal despite a century or so of introducing modern farming methods. Famine is pretty much the norm thanks to unpredictable rainfall and a failure to control locust populations in areas where civil war has been raging for decades, so the priority areas for controlling the one variable that can be controlled (population) must be in such states.   

14

Just Chat! / Re: Is there a universal moral standard?

« on: 25/02/2021 23:42:17 »

It's not just a secret between us, either.

As I got into a  Dublin taxi the driver said "So you're a civil servant from London, then." I asked him how he knew. He said "You hailed the taxi like you were in charge of a flight deck."

15

That CAN'T be true! / Re: Is Bill Gates seeking to monopolise the world food supply?

« on: 25/02/2021 23:35:16 »

The suggestion that an African government might be corrupt is, frankly, outrageous. Never in the history of any African country has here been a case of a president or minister with his hand in the till. These guys are all of the highest moral caliber and integrity, who practice genocide and ignore election results because that is the proper way to do business.   

If the bank makes a mistake, the rain fails or the crop gets hijacked, that is clearly the fault of the man who invented Windows.

Whilst I have your attention, may I ask for a small favor that will be to our mutual advantage? My second cousin died in a freak accident in his Ugandan gold mine, leaving me with $25,000,000 in bullion in his will, with which to look after his starving wife and children.  I am entitled to a half share in this wealth but I need $150,000 immediately to pay the legal fees for probate and death duties. I will be pleased to refund the money plus 10% per annum interest and a 20% tax-free honorarium as soon as the  case is settled. Please send me a personal message with an authority to access your bank account. This offer is only open to correspondents on this forum as you are all known to be persons of honor and integrity.

16

That CAN'T be true! / Re: Final evidence of a rigged election in 2020?

« on: 25/02/2021 23:15:48 »

She checked the roles and found that her dog had actually voted in the last election.  That was her claim anyway.

Now why did she take it into her head to check whether her dog had been enrolled?
Since the electoral roll is compiled by householders responding to a postal enquiry, only she (or the dog) could have enrolled him - nobody else would have known the dog's name and entered it on the form that she signed as householder.
And why did she complain? Did Buster tell her he had voted Democrat in spite of her instructions? By turning up and putting a cross on the paper? Or did he fill in the postal ballot that was delivered to his address, sign it, and mail it? That's one hell of a valuable dog!

Is she admitting to repetitive electoral fraud, or do I detect a whiff of bullshit?

17

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Is a unit of energy the same, no matter how it is produced?

« on: 25/02/2021 23:06:55 »

Instead of reading the bible, you could look at the facts. Northern Ireland is run by an incompetent bunch of violent criminals who are a burden on the British taxpayer and an embarrassment to democracy. The Assembly has spent more time in suspension than actually meeting since it was formed, and has only been reinstated thanks to the joint intervention of  the Dublin and Westminster governments.

The Irish Republic is rapidly emerging from a medieval theocracy into quite a pleasant place to be, where government corruption is primarily financial rather than based on violence, politicians meet and argue instead of walking away in a childish huff every year or so, the level of official incompetence is marginally less embarrassing than north of the border, and it is a burden on the EU, not the UK.   

Having done business both sides of the border for many years, I haven't noticed any significant differences between the people I deal with in either country.

18

COVID-19 / Re: Why are Covid-19 cases falling worldwide?

« on: 25/02/2021 22:33:55 »

A small minority of people will catch the virus and die. But the vast majority won't  - they'll survive. As they always have throughout human history.  Otherwise we wouldn't be here.

Wrong. If you do nothing to prevent it, everyone will  be infected, 20% will need acute hospital treatment, 10% will suffer longterm disability and 5% will die. That's why we do what we can to prevent it.

Isn't all this modern faffing about with vaccines and "lockdowns" just wishful thinking?  As if we could immediately stop a virus from doing its thing.

To nobody's surprise, it works. As it has done for smallpox, polio, ebola,....That isn't my interpretation of wishful thinking.

We should just ride the wave, and go on into the future.  Where we can live together with Covid-19, as fellow biological organisms.-

Only politicians use "we" to mean "you".  And even Boris Johnson changed his tune once he had received a dose.

What's wrong with that?

So far, everything.

19

COVID-19 / Re: Why are Covid-19 cases falling worldwide?

« on: 25/02/2021 18:57:24 »

Your suggestion that "quarantines" would explain why the flu and coronaviruses tend to peak around December/January in the northern hemisphere is very dubious.

I made no such suggestion. This thread is specifically about COVID-19 and it is clear that wherever and whenever quarantine has been strictly imposed, the incidence of new cases has decreased sharply. This is entirely consistent with current scientific knowledge about the transmission of the disease between humans. 

Not too sure what you mean by "people like" me.  My name is a bit of a giveaway (archetypal British male) and I'm a healthcare scientist, but you didn't know that. Perhaps you could elucidate?

20

Just Chat! / Re: Is there a universal moral standard?

« on: 25/02/2021 16:50:49 »

A civil servant decided to spend a holiday working on a farm. On the first day the farmer decided to give him a simple indoor job.  They went to a barn containing a hundred tons of apples. The farmer said "We need to sort these. The big ones go to market and we crush the small ones for cider and pig food. We sort them by hand to avoid bruising the market apples. Just make two new heaps, please."

At the end of the day the farmer opened the barn and found the civil servant staring intently at an apple in his hand. He said "I picked up two apples and put the larger one on the left and the smaller one on the right. Now would you call this a big apple or a small apple?" 

It's good to meet a fellow civil servant, but not in a crisis.