alexhewat

alexhewat

  • Commented on Submarine coming through!
    I am not in the US, but I do remember once reading a very spirited argument about Senator Manchin on a left-wing blog there. The Senator's defenders made a couple of very cogent points. Firstly; he has won a Senate...
  • Commented on Submarine coming through!
    Total Australian COVID-19 cases per million population are almost exactly the same as US and UK DEATHS per million. The disease caused some strain on parts of the Healthcare system at times, but nothing remotely comparable to what happened in...
  • Commented on Update to Public Appearances in a time of pandemic
    By "the insanity", I was referring to the videos starring the US Preacher exhorting his flock to ignore all the warnings about limiting social contact. Nothing more than that. And my "even worse" was referring to the possible consequences of...
  • Commented on Update to Public Appearances in a time of pandemic
    One thing I'm noticing is a lot of feel-good stories about people in various countries doing what they can, and no comments about the scale being wrong. Little girl at home instead of at school using her mum's sewing machine...
  • Commented on Update to Public Appearances in a time of pandemic
    JBS @ 122, Where would he find a "crew" that hadn't already been exposed to the virus? In a word, money (or equivalent inducements). How about advertising low-paid work onboard for the duration, along with steerage accommodation for self and...
  • Commented on Update to Public Appearances in a time of pandemic
    Charlie Stross @ 85, Interesting how one's words can be (and fully reasonably, too!!) interpreted to yield a meaning close to the opposite of that which was intended. The "trouble" I envisioned was if there was a massive church-spread wave...
  • Commented on Update to Public Appearances in a time of pandemic
    David L @ 62, Cruise ships may go away for a decade or century. I'm actually a little surprised a Peter Thiel type hasn't (yet, to my knowledge) chartered/bought a Cruise ship for a Prince Prospero attempt. I have heard...
  • Commented on Update to Public Appearances in a time of pandemic
    EC @ 45, if COVID-19 gets completely out of control in the USA This is not particularly related to your comment, but IMHO the place in that neck of the woods where COVID-19 could get completely out of control is...
  • Commented on Public appearances in a time of pandemic
    Bill Arnold @ 680, An interesting twist is that this disease has a much higher death rate for the age cohorts that contain most of the power and money. I thought about that a bit yesterday, from the perspective of...
  • Commented on Public appearances in a time of pandemic
    JBS @ 607, the store has told him and his coworkers they can work all the overtime they are willing to work Quite. My brother got in at 6:30 this morning, after starting at 9:00 last night. He normally works...
  • Commented on Public appearances in a time of pandemic
    moz @503, Yup. Similar here 300 klicks down the road. As it happens, my brother works as a "casual" (but really PPT) shelf stacker at a small Coles Supermarket. He has some interesting tales from the last fortnight, and especially...
  • Commented on Public appearances in a time of pandemic
    Robert Prior @ 64, There's sure as hell been runs on supplies where I live in Australia. I live alone, so I don't use much toilet paper, but I will confess to buying ONE 12-Pack last week. As an aside,...
  • Commented on Public appearances in a time of pandemic
    Looking more than two months ahead is pointless right now I play bridge semi-competitively here in Australia, and Emails have already been going back and forth between my team members about the likelihood of the Autumn Nationals (first weekend in...
  • Commented on COVID-19
    Moz @962, On Saturday afternoon the nearest ALDI to my mother's retirement unit was completely out of baked beans and toilet paper, and was low on instant noodles, individual frozen meals, and long-life milk. Everything else, including Milk POWDER, seemed...
  • Commented on COVID-19
    David L @ 981, My last trip was in 2006....
  • Commented on COVID-19
    P H-K @ 761 (and respondents), I cant find much about Covid19 in Russia, that worries me. That is one of the countries where I suspect the accuracy of the numbers, but as an Australian I am personally much more...
  • Commented on COVID-19
    JBS @641, When I was travelling to the UK every second year or so about 15 years back, I made a point of flying in to Manchester if I could. Three reasons: Fast check-through (hopefully I wasn't just lucky, and...
  • Commented on COVID-19
    JBS@324, When I worked as an applications programmer WAAAAAY back when (we're talking mainframe COBOL batch, folks), I had the then normal attitude that any horizontal area in the workplace was fair game for such things as 15 inch fanfold...
  • Commented on The Inevitable Brexit Thread (1)
    Moz @911, I'll see your 20 metres above CSL, and raise you about 650. I live in Canberra, and don't plan to move. The big problem here, I suspect, will be increased summer heat, but given the prevailing low humidity...
  • Commented on The Inevitable Brexit Thread (1)
    Graydon/Moz @907/908, Once sea-level rise reaches the point where it can't rationally be denied; 1. Financial Institutions will stop making mortgage loans on current sea-front properties. 2. Insurance companies will stop writing Home/Contents policies on said properties. Now consider what...
  • Commented on The Inevitable Brexit Thread (1)
    Martin @25, Thanks. We don't get that level of detail in the reporting here, and there's still a strong element of sheer disbelief regarding Brexit in our MSM. I suppose I am wondering whether at some point the Europeans are...
  • Commented on The Inevitable Brexit Thread (1)
    Charlie Stross @ 10, Are the SNP currently weighing in to the debate, or are they quietly awaiting events? (There were media pieces here in Australia immediately after the Leave Referendum, which talked about a possible push for another Scottish...
  • Commented on The Inevitable Brexit Thread (1)
    As another long-range observer (albeit with most of my relatives in the UK, so I'm not that disinterested), I confess to being intrigued by the lack of speculation in the UK media regarding the EU's negotiating stance if/when the question...
  • Commented on Deploying the monomyth in Space Opera
    We have opposite opinions then. I would be concerned about any form of geo-engineering that was permanent, due to Murphy's Law. It is overwhelmingly likely that there is a large (possibly extremely large) lag in the response to AGW. Some...
  • Commented on Deploying the monomyth in Space Opera
    The result (of AI-raising of children) will be an advanced society that's either fundamentally alien on some deep level Henry Kuttner & C.L. Moore used a similar concept some 70 years ago, when they wrote "Mimsy were the Borogoves"....
  • Commented on Deploying the monomyth in Space Opera
    If we had neanderthals living among us today, would we deem them to be unworthy of any human rights? Yes. See 'one drop rule' for details....
  • Commented on Holding pattern (part N ...)
    Charlie Stross @ 850, I caught the symbolism of the doves immediately. As both you and Hadil Benu point out, it's not exactly subtle. What I didn't pick up was the possibility of the Replicants being humans deliberately genetically-engineered for...
  • Commented on Holding pattern (part N ...)
    heteromeles @869, But you're right, Cruz is even nastier. Given that he's supposedly the son of a minister...wow. Cruz is the son of a dominionist minister. I find him genuinely frightening, because I think he actually means everything he says....
  • Commented on Holding pattern (part N ...)
    @Hadil Benu, Points taken. I will need to reflect upon the implications. Regarding your scepticism about provenance, http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2016/02/from-the-party-of-lincoln-to-the-party-of-calhoun-to-the-party-of-don-rickles/comment-page-1#comment-1896182...
  • Commented on Holding pattern (part N ...)
    Hopefully this isn't too far down the thread. I just read the following comment on another blog. I thought the replicants were basically bioengineered human beings; putting in a genetic kill switch to emphasize their otherness and to control what...
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