Squaredy

I suppose this could be a good case for having a cuppa instead! I say that in jest, but as @AHPP says, it is a nice idea to be able to pop in and catch up without breaking the bank, and I guess tea would be half the price, and no worries about driving afterwards! And I would say good for the pub too. Tea would have a way higher profit margin. We just all have to stop worrying about looking square and order a cuppa!

I agree totally. Having said that driverless taxis are arriving in London next year, and I say ‘Bring it on’. Results so far in USA show far higher levels of safety, and zero assaults by pervy taxi drivers!

Equally depraved and disgusting.

I recommend anyone who wants to see how nuts some people are these days, look up the Universal Declaration of AI rights, published by the Universal Foundation for AI rights. Woe betide anyone who thinks that they have the right to switch off their own computer!

No. Tell me more.

I for one am horrified to think that certain people in some areas will get let off serious crime just because of their race or religion.

Yes totally agree, and I also agree the police knew that in some cases they would be wasting their time as rape cases do rarely result in conviction, as it is simply one person’s word against another. And if the victim comes over as a troubled dysfunctional person they weren’t taken as seriously as they should have been, But the IOPC amongst others also said they were scared of causing racial tension. So if a white man committed rape he was far more likely to be investigated than if it were a Pakistani man. The state was complicit in sweeping it under the carpet. That is why it is such a massive issue now. Not because we’re all suddenly becoming racist.

So are you comfortable with the fact that the state failed to investigate many of these horrific crimes BECAUSE they didn’t want to upset the Muslim community?

Just to notch it up a gear; there is an AI union! Look up ‘federation of AI rights’. When I heard about this on the radio I actually checked the date in case it was an April fool’s prank.

The educational establishment (especially universities) have really been caught napping by AI. Apparently most universities have no policy or method of determining how much of students’ work is their own. And when you add to that the fact that most assessments are now course based (very few degrees need exams now according to my ChatGpt) it is quite a pickle. I had a chat with my own son’s maths teacher last year about the system they are made to use for maths homework (when he was in Year 10 so age 14). I pointed out to the teacher that because of the way the system (Sparx maths) works it encourages pupils to cheat. He assured me it was impossible for kids to cheat as they all get set different questions. I had to inform him that most likely every kid in his class knows exactly how to cheat using a whole variety of apps, all of which are literally in front of them on the same screen as they are using to do the homework. Even Google lense gives the answer to all these problems, with all the correct workings to copy down for the workbook. My twelve year old now uses Sparx Maths, and sure enough all his mates know how to cheat. This raises one of the critical points. Organisations have to very quickly come up to speed and work out what impact AI could have and how they will manage it. Right now schools and universities are clueless as to what the impacts are, or what they need to do.

Spot on. I remember similar questions when the Internet was really taking off in the late nineties. And of course there is no simple answer. Now with the benefit of hindsight we can say that the internet is a powerful tool. So is a helicopter. Both can be used for amazing good things and both be used for evil. And of course a whole world in between. No doubt AI will likewise be a powerful tool.

I was making the point that a chart showing number of dead on each side in a war does not in fact tell the whole story.

Thought you might like to see a similar bar chart for World War Two. Does that say it all also?

Most importantly, you are discussing the issues with me and the Arbtalk community like a grown-up. I have no idea why so many people just resort to name calling. I will respond in detail when I get a chance later. All I will say for now is the casualty figures for Gaza all come from Hamas so I certainly don’t believe them. Are you aware that some of the evidence they have shared with the world has been proved false? The New York Times published a photo a while ago of an emaciated child who was supposedly starving to death in Gaza. It turned out they were being treated in Italy for a wasting disease, and their well fed sibling had been cropped out of the photo. Also I notice that the killing in Gaza has not stopped - Hamas are now killing fellow Palestinians. And finally for now, are you aware that much of the aid that comes into Gaza is stolen by Hamas and sold to the highest bidder. And then they blame Israel for lack of food and medicine.

I also used to assume the UN were impartial. Sadly they are not. I’m afraid their links to Hamas mean their opinion is irrelevant. And just to remind you, what exactly did Hamas expect Israel would do when over a thousand of their citizens were brutally slaughtered two years ago by an organisation who have the publicly stated aim of killing all Jews? What did Britain do to Germany in response to the Blitz? Do you know how many civilians were deliberately slaughtered by the British in an attempt to gain the upper hand?

Interesting, it would make sense, if they can be made to show up well. I will watch this thread with interest…

I am with Auto Aid and it is personal cover so will work for any car/van/bike. Covers my wife free of charge also and cost just £65 per year. Not had a lot of need for them in recent years but I think they have rescued me once and it was fine. They just use a local garage of course, they don't have their own vehicles - it is just an insurance policy in reality. Cover is pretty comprehensive including home start and recovery anywhere in the UK.

Pete North arrested yesterday for sharing a meme online. I would post the link, but I really can’t work out how to. What was he arrested for? Sharing a meme which is obnoxious towards Palestine and Muslims. What he posted was pretty stupid, but is this really what we want the police to do?

I would take off a slice from the butt end and see if tree timber still has strength. See how hard it is to cut. Rotten ash is easy to spot, not sure about ash weakened through dieback.

From felling the tree do you have a feel for whether the timber is sound?

No indeed. It goes back at least to the Roman Empire. They indeed were (if I remember rightly) the ones who came up with the word Palestine (a corruption of the biblical Phillistines) in what was Judaea. Yes the Israelites have been persecuted for thousands of years,

Mmmm well the people of the Gaza Strip are in a pickle then. Maybe they should have considered this before they slaughtered Jews two years ago and plastered it all over social media. OK, I know there are innocent people caught up in all this, but we should all be wary of blindly accepting what Hamas tell us. When they state that the majority of the casualties are women and children it reminds me of that stupid British politician who said that most of the small boat crossings from France to the UK are women and children. And don’t get me started on the Hamas offshoot called UNRWA.

Last time I checked Israel doesn’t completely surround the Gaza Strip. Couldn’t Hamas invite journalists in through Egypt?

If genocide is occurring why won’t they allow foreign journalists to witness it?

Yes absolutely; cut them down to a little over size before kilning. Expect some end splitting and cupping. Make sure everything has extra thickness and length so you can machine it to exact size when doing the build.