Nice people thread part 3- Nice as pie

michaels

We will be paying 124.9 on our next fill up (sains 10p voucher) although Sains (and all the other local stations) did put their prices up on the day the vouchers started.

I can't entirely agree with you re hacking - I think there is an awful lot of News International bashing from those who dislike their power and influence and I am sure the others would be just as bad if they had thought of it first. However I follow the line that those who put themselves in to the public limelight should not complain about being probed but those who are thrust in to it (victims) should have their privacy protected and that the press have no right to pry.

I am worried that the rich and powerful will use this as an opportunity to change the law to protect themselves - like the situation that exists in France. Not good for democracy or the fight against corruption.

I will do a building update later. Main feature is that I seem to act as a conduit between the bank and the builder - more of a gusher than a trickle as well

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

If you ever need to travel East then the cheapest fuel is (usually):
In the shadow of the Beckton "Alp".
At the southern end of the Dartford crossing (but Tesco is nearer at the north end to M25).
In the area where the A127 drops into North Southend-o-s.
I'm diesel too but petrol is usually 2 - 3 p cheaper.
Diesel:
132.9 Surprisingly a scatter of Sains./Morris./Wait. in S.Essex with a
133.7 standardised ASDA lots of places (Have they discovered the others have to end in .9 ??)
132.7 yes the winner is ASDA Beckton:T:T


Sorry LiR it makes me feel ill - how is that for empathy with "earth mothers".

Is it just me - I cannot get worked up about the NoW - because I am not a bit surprised by having the behaviour confirmed.

I got beaten up on here some years ago for "revealing" that the phone companies record not just phone mail but all our mobile calls.
The information leaks out in court from time to time.
I am 95% convinced that the technology developed for monitoring the Russians etc. etc. at GCHQ is used to monitor the rest of us (for our own good of course, how many 7/7 do we want - I need roll eyes or some other irony key).

The NoW has transgressed by forgetting "you can look but you'd better not touch" - hubris borne of arrogance?

Generali

michaels wrote: »

I can't entirely agree with you re hacking - I think there is an awful lot of News International bashing from those who dislike their power and influence and I am sure the others would be just as bad if they had thought of it first. However I follow the line that those who put themselves in to the public limelight should not complain about being probed but those who are thrust in to it (victims) should have their privacy protected and that the press have no right to pry.

I am worried that the rich and powerful will use this as an opportunity to change the law to protect themselves - like the situation that exists in France. Not good for democracy or the fight against corruption.

I take your point but it's a bit hard to see how your arguement applies to people that fought and died in a war or had the misfortune to be murdered or their kids to be murdered.

John_Pierpoint

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Is that an underestimate of the rate of dying - I've been working on a figure of 2,000 a day? (perhaps that is based on 2,000 per working day?)

GDB2222 wrote: »

Well, I'm pleased you asked that question. It's unusual to find someone so interested in mortality statistics. The truth is that I quoted the approximate numbers without looking them up.

The best place to get the figures is the National Statistics website. This linky gives an overview: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/pop0611.pdf

It shows a population of the UK of 62 million, with deaths of 554,000 per year (which is around 1500 a day, 63 an hour). There are seasonal variations - more deaths in the winter than the summer. The 63 an hour figure represents almost exactly 1 death per million population.

Interestingly, nobody has yet pointed out the obvious flaw in my argument. You're obviously much too polite here.

I love hovering the mouse pointer over the countries in this display

http://www.breathingearth.net/

Try Yemen and then tell me what their "political" problem is.

The UK figure used is one death every 54.2 seconds which to two significant figures is 1,600 a day.

"Errors" in argument ?

Obviously the distribution of the aged (the ones likely to die soon) is not in proportion to the rest of the 62.5 million (tell a politician and he will think good and kick the pension time bomb into the long grass).

I wonder what proportion of the aged emigrate to die ? (Look out Spain? Look out Worthing they will be back, when the private health care refuses to cover them?).

To balance it up, I wonder what proportion immigrate to procreate?

Sorry this has not yet been updated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_the_United_Kingdom

[Mind you the census has bee skewed as long as memories of the poll tax were fresh - we got a personal visit from the census lady as we have two addresses - at least that system thinks we do - so I was able to point her in the direction of a few census dodgers and I 3/4's believed her when she said there was absolutely no connection with the council tax]

John_Pierpoint

Generali wrote: »

I take your point but it's a bit hard to see how your arguement applies to people that fought and died in a war or had the misfortune to be murdered or their kids to be murdered.

Yes it is arrogance, the NoW started getting a "masters of the universe" attitude - and we all know what (should) happen to such people.

They forgot to do the hand ringing hypocrisy act and forgot the 11th commandment "Thou shall not get caught".

I have no wish to see a change in the laws, they act as a check on the excesses of the illegal act; eg shooting an unarmed burglar in the back should remain a crime, it being up to the court to decide the line between murder and manslaughter and the degree of culpability involved being reflected in the sentence.

Up until yesterday, if I found nasty wrong doing I would have taken it to the Sun to get maximum immediate exposure; and possibly arrange publicly to give any "fee" to charity to further bolster the moral case.

A former colleague of mine took his story to the Sun and got a 7 figure settlement. The cynic in me says that being of Liverpool extract might have helped in the crafting of the story.

lostinrates

LydiaJ wrote: »

lir - I'm not an earth mother type either, but a section really isn't an easy option. It takes a lot longer to recover from, and the stats show it carries risks for the baby - although not as big a risk as an obstructed labour, of course. The easist option for non-Earth-mother wimp-types is vaginal delivery with epidural.
?

I was a Caeser Baby. My mother reckons my sister's problems were because her head must havre got too squashed oin the way out. My health problems, she reckons, probably were why nature didn't want me to come out the normal way...nature knew what noone else did for a couple of decades. What rot, eh? I was traumatised seeing my neice born, and the freakiest thing is my sister swears it was ''a wonderful experience''. It didn't look like it.

edit: it was tough on my mother. She hated the hospital and felt terribly homesick (first borth elsewhere with my sister was a vastly better experience). She kept finding the nurses giving me sugar and water, which she had said she didn't want me to have. They said she had to stay in for a while but she was truley, truely suffereing. My father said when she could perform a particular and unlikely to be acheived ''exercise'' He's bring her home against the doctors advice, thinking it would delay her. His next visit she was in that pose waiting for him and he had to bring us home.

GDB2222

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

"Errors" in argument ?

Obviously the distribution of the aged (the ones likely to die soon) is not in proportion to the rest of the 62.5 million (tell a politician and he will think good and kick the pension time bomb into the long grass).

The error in my argument is that I said the figures are for an average person. You can examine the proportions of people dying according to different causes, and it is clear that many of them are not in a position to buy a lottery ticket in the days before they die. So, people buying lottery tickets are not average.

OTOH accidental death rates for men under 75 are very roughly 250 deaths a year per 1 million population. So, that's about 1 accidental death per 1.5 million population over the course of a day. Compared to the probability of winning the lottery = 1 win per 12million tickets sold.

So, if you buy a lottery ticket a day before the draw, you are roughly 8 times more likely to be killed in an accident before the draw takes place than you are to win the lottery.

That's if you are a man. Women are less accident-prone, but they are still several times more likely to die in an accident than to win.

lostinrates

re hacking. There is a difference because we ''knew'' but for a short while living with my parents our phones were listened too. In a position of industry or celebrity you have to accept that what yousay/people say to you/your family say is of minor interest to some people for titliation or gain. This is an ENTIRELY different scenario to people whose children are missing, who are greiving, and who have no part in public or ''big scale'' commerce and the recompence should be longer and harder than listening to some celebs voicemail. Celebs voicemail is one days news, this is a defining chapter in life for these members of the public.

Frankly it makes me sick. The corrupt policemen (who had a field day under Blair) sicken me greatly. Greatly. And IMO, phone number sharing isn't where that ends.

It also makes me cross people who I doubt have ever bought NOTW saying ''they'll never buy it again''. They should simply say: they would never buy it...and perhaps forgo the (wonderful, I'll miss it I admit) Sunday Times, and the Times...at least till blame is laid. People are happy to point finger at the slum part of the empire.

lostinrates

oh, and I've definitely decided to go out tonight. I need to. A bit selfish, but sometimes one needs to be.

I'm making dh a lovely cauliflower curry and, not entirely complimentary, a peach pie. It occurs to me that he is almost never here alone, so he can enjoy that experience. And it saves me putting the chickens away early today.

edit: oh, and we're getting a goose and a gander on Friday (gift from fellow MSEer). I think you'll like what we're naming them.

GDB2222

Martin and Lewis?

Brinks and Matt?

silvercar

lost & found?