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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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 Posted -
14/11/2010
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06:26
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NEW VERSION TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR MEMBERS WITH SLOW CONNECTIONS TO CONNECT.
Follw this LINK for last version.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk
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Tizer
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Posted - 01/03/2011 : 09:31
A few pages back I related how I'd complained to the BBC about one of their web site news pages. It quoted a representative of the Royal Meteorological Society as saying "..it is possible to attribute an increase in greenhouse gas emissions during the 20th Century to an increase in flooding." This implies that flooding causes greenhouse gas emissions, when the truth is she had told them the opposite - that the RMS believes greenhouse gas emissions cause flooding.
A week went by and I got no response from the BBC and the news story was not corrected. I then wrote to Paul Hardaker, the chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, and told him about it. He has now written to the BBC to ask them to correct it. I hope he has more success than I did. I suspect that the person who wrote the story doesn't understand how to use the word `attribute', which is bad for a BBC newswriter but sadly doesn't surprise me. Another word that keeps being used to mean its opposite is `substitute'. I don't mind the language evolving but using words to mean their opposite is not helpful. The incorrect statements will be read and quoted, and could lead to problems in the future.
Edited by - Tizer on 01/03/2011 09:33:39
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catgate
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Posted - 01/03/2011 : 12:39
quote:
Tizer wrote:
A few pages back I related how I'd complained to the BBC about one of their web site news pages. It quoted a representative of the Royal Meteorological Society as saying "..it is possible to attribute an increase in greenhouse gas emissions during the 20th Century to an increase in flooding." This implies that flooding causes greenhouse gas emissions, when the truth is she had told them the opposite - that the RMS believes greenhouse gas emissions cause flooding.
A week went by and I got no response from the BBC and the news story was not corrected. I then wrote to Paul Hardaker, the chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, and told him about it. He has now written to the BBC to ask them to correct it. I hope he has more success than I did. I suspect that the person who wrote the story doesn't understand how to use the word `attribute', which is bad for a BBC newswriter but sadly doesn't surprise me. Another word that keeps being used to mean its opposite is `substitute'. I don't mind the language evolving but using words to mean their opposite is not helpful. The incorrect statements will be read and quoted, and could lead to problems in the future.
Edited by - Tizer on 01/03/2011 09:33:39
I think you are worrying unnecessarily Tizer. I share your concern, but there seems little that can be done about it. From the bottom of society to the top, from the prime minister upwards, everyone seems to think that any word should mean what they themselves want that word to mean.
It obviously has advantages. It means the user need only have a limited vocabulary and the hearer can "translate" into whatever meaning he feels most comforatable with. It also means that school children do not need to learn words of more that a couple of syllables, which is probably a good thing when one looks at modern education and those trying to administer it.
Edited by - catgate on 01/03/2011 12:41:57 PM
Edited by - catgate on 01/03/2011 12:42:49 PM
Every silver lining has a cloud.
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Callunna
Revolving Grey Blob
3044 Posts
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Posted - 01/03/2011 : 12:50
There's been a challenge to the way women (especially those under 25) are charged for car insurance, ie they get cheaper rates.
'Someone' has ruled that this is sex discrimination. It is not. Insurance risks are based on statistical analysis and women do not cost the insurance companies as much as men. Fact. Therefore the risk is lower and the rate is cheaper.
If you follow it through, you could claim that the higher charge for those who have to park on the street instead of putting the car in a garage at night are being discriminated against for being poor.
Hmm... might try that...
=================== www.sheldrickrose.co.ukwww.bernulf.co.ukwww.bernulfsplace.co.uk |
Tizer
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Posted - 01/03/2011 : 16:00
There is a strange idea about that says we are all the same, act the same and therefore should be treated in the same way. It's nonsense, we are all different indviduals and have different needs. A good example is health and nutrition. `One size fits all' just doesn't work and can even be dangerous in some instances. We won't be successful at improving nutrition and health until we assess each person as an individual. The car insurance issue is prompted by the European Commission who would probably like us all to be cloned to ensure we are genetically equal too.
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catgate
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Posted - 01/03/2011 : 16:26
This attracted me:-
http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110228/full/471013a.html
Edited by - catgate on 01/03/2011 4:27:10 PM
Every silver lining has a cloud.
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Tizer
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Posted - 01/03/2011 : 16:34
I'm cautious about particle physicists - they are like archeologists who can create magnificent theories from a few bits of charcoal Get the Time Team to the Hadron Collider and we'll soon have another Big Bang!
Related on the BBC News Quiz...
Have you read about the Large Hadron Collider?
No, but I've been on the big one at Alton Towers.
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 02/03/2011 : 04:26
Tiz, I'm glad you are pursuing the error. Words are important and if we don't pull people up and correct them the result is bad communication, a very dangerous state of affairs.
Heather, I totally agree. I heard the report and thought that apart from being ridiculous it's very dodgy ground. Are they saying that insurance companies aren't going to be allowed to discriminate against bad drivers? The no-claims bonus is discrimanatory? Of course it is, and a good thing to. This is a case where discrimination is good, fair and based on hard statistical evidence. I heard an insurance company spokesman saying that they would find a way round it. Oh yes? I'll bet that if they do, the net result will be female drivers paying more.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 02/03/2011 : 05:13
It looks as though there might have been one usful spin-off from the ill-advised incursions into Iraq and Afgahnistan, the foreign policy wonks have realised that it's a lot easier to get in and become embroilled in a chaotic state than it is to get out. The big problem at the moment is that there is no alternative administration to focus aid on, of any sort. The only clear picture emerging is the chaos on the Libyan/Tunisian border. Fairly safe to throw resources at that so I expect that's where they'll start.
Interesting that David Cameron has seen an opportunity to be a world statesman by advocating a military no-fly zone even though we haven't any assets to put in. He's being put down by US defence secretary Gates who can see no value in this without boots on the ground. No mention of reports from the National Audit Office that there are problems with the Typhoon, they are saying it will be seven years before it is up to specification. No mention of the redundancies announced yesterday in the armed forces. Cameron should keep stumm and let things become clearer. You can't be an instant 'statesman', it has to be earned.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
frankwilk
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Posted - 02/03/2011 : 08:00
Typhoon's Squadrons are fully serviceable, and could be operated from Gib or Cyprus without any problems they do it already. I think this shows that the need for a Carrier has been over blown. No one ever talks about what is required to protect a Carrier from say just a straight forward Diesel Powered Submarine. A dodgey things to be on is a Carriers during a conflict, remember the Atlantic Conveyor !!!!!
The Tornado Squadrons being retired are the ones that the Typhoon was designed to replace. For a No Fly Zone, Typhoons are what would be required not the Tornado which is a Bomber rather than a Fighter.
I do agree with "You can't be an Instant Statesman" but I do think of the 3 possibilities of Lib, Lab, Con we have the closest one (but not one ) currently in place !!!
Stanley been thinking some more about "Statesmen" I don't think it is possible in todays world for anyone really to become a Statesman like it was in the past.
Now we have the EU, UN and NATO etc, run by faceless unelected people it is really not possible for anyone to shine on the world stage. So I fear Statesmen/Women are a thing of the past.
Edited by - frankwilk on 02/03/2011 09:10:05 AM
Frank Wilkinson Once Navy Always Navy |
Another
Traycle Mine Overseer
6250 Posts
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Posted - 02/03/2011 : 08:13
This brightened my day when I saw it. Nolic
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1361850/Hilarious-video-baby-Micah-laughing-hysterically-dad-Marcus-McArthur-tears-letter.html
" I'm a self made man who worships his creator"  |
Tizer
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Posted - 02/03/2011 : 10:53
Nolic, it beats watching TV!
Frank, surely there must be NATO and US bases just across the water in Sicily where the planes could fly from? And surely Italy would be keen to see the bases used because Italy is one of the countries likely to be most affected by migration out of Libya? Your comment about carriers reminded me of something I learned for the first time yesterday - Japanese carriers in WW2 had their funnels on the side rather than on the top (or at least some did).
I'm glad Conor has made his decision but did you hear the lady on the Today programme yesterday talking about parental control over decisions about which secondary level school a child should go to. She didn't seem to understand the meaning of the words `parental control' and insisted that it was the child's decision.
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catgate
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Posted - 02/03/2011 : 11:01
quote:
Stanley wrote:
You can't be an instant 'statesman', it has to be earned.
Statesman? He hasn't the intelligence to be a linesman. (Apart, perhaps. for a line of white powder)
Every silver lining has a cloud.
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belle
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Posted - 02/03/2011 : 11:13
This more than caught my attention today: shopping in a local big suprmarket this morning i was at the medicine isle buying flu stuf (yes more flu in the family!), right beside me was a middle aged man, slightly anxiously scanning shelves and clutching an assortment of ointments and cough syrups, suddenly he addressed me "you don't know which ones to choose!" my reply obviously encouraged him to open up a bit more because we stood for around ten minutes whilst he got off his chest what had made him look so anxious when i first saw him. He was a working man, had over 25 years experience in his trade, involved in major undertakings like the channel tunnel, been instrumental in helping to design some of the dispensing machines in the shop around us, and now because of EUC rulings he had to sit an exam to requalify, and if he didn't pass it he would be unemployable...his face was breaking out in cold sores with the stress he confided he hadn't been sleeping and the college he had to attend was so far away he had to get up at 5 and was too tired to take anything in when he got there...."it's over twenty five years since I've done any college work....what happens if I don't pass it?" My heart went out to him, it seems ridiculous that anyone with years of experience and a proven track record should have to be assessed in this way, surely they could assess him as he worked rather than by exams and paperwork? The world we live in now seems a very crazy place to me!
Life is what you make it |
thomo
Barlick Born Old Salt
2021 Posts
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Posted - 02/03/2011 : 11:31
Sadly it has become the case where people who are highly skilled or simply just damn good at what they do now have to consider all manner of does and dont's, most of which are thought up by pen pushers here or in Europe. If you add to this the attitude towards the workforce, some of which I see as being a result of programmes such as "the apprentice", and being reduced from "personnel" to "human resources", its no small wonder that the workforce feel under heavy pressure.
Tizer, a lot of Japanese WW2 carriers had only the bare minimum of clutter on the flight deck, all other objects being mounted on sponsons along the sides, funnels included.
thomo |
Bruff
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Posted - 02/03/2011 : 14:20
On EU Directives etc and its running.
Most Directives and Regulations originating from the European Commission ('Commission') are progressed through the European Parliament (EP) and Council under the 'ordinary legislative procedure'. This is the process under which Council and EP decide jointly on legislation. There are potentially seven formal stages: - Commission presents a proposal (a 'dossier').
- EP conducts first reading and suggests amendments.
- Simultaneously, the Council has a first reading and agrees 'common position'.
- EP conducts second reading of the Council common position and proposes amendments.
- Council then holds second reading to accept or reject EP amendments.
- A 'conciliation committee' of Council and EP seeks agreement. If not, the proposal will fail.
- If Council and EP fully agree, at any stage, the proposal is accepted.
Now where in that process is any decision made by 'unelected bureaucrats' on whether a Directive etc is passed?
Richard Broughton
Edited by - Bruff on 02/03/2011 2:21:34 PM
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