Brexit, for once some facts.

[Jesus H Christ]

I, ve said that all along. Do something wrong voters are doing themselves or don't see as important, feed info slowly to Starmer then release footage filmed by the miscrients themselves.. Starmer, media and many on here have fallen for it.. All up in arms about a quiz, party and get together from 12 months ago...
Mean time dodgy deals with Pfizer (no publishing of results???), failing vaccines, failing booster roll out and Omicron allowed to catch bus into UK.. Hardly a word.
Nothing will come of all arguing, protests, police reports and endless disgust on here. Boris has just weathered Storm. Yep, dropped a lot in polls but so what. We are years from GE..
Labour took bait hook line and sinker. Starmer has done job for them.
It's all been one great big distraction technique. Tories are masters at it.

I think they are in the process of putting together a five thousand million pound / year deal with Pfizer to supply 3 monthly vaccinations.

I’m no anti-vax nutcase, but the frequency of vaccination is starting to make me concerned. I’ve had the third, but if they suggest a fourth early in the New Year, I’ll need to do some research and think hard about that. This may be new and unproven territory with an unknown outcome on the immune system.

 

[Jesus H Christ]

Yep, all very odd. Massi wanted a racing finish for media... He did break rules. Should have let all cars unlap or none. He just moved ones in Verstappens way. But Merc were caught sleeping. I was thinking from lap 30 all RBR need is a safety car to close gap.
Been able to change tyres under safety car (and red flag) is utterly ridiculous. A pit stop should be equal for all. Under race conditions its about 23 secs. Under safety car it's 12 or so. Under red flag its zero. How on earth is that fair. Crazy.

For me, that’s the crux of it. By not letting all lapped cars through, Verstappen didn’t have to cover / defend an attack from Sainz. That may have occupied / distracted him sufficiently to make the pass for the lead much more difficult.

It seems like a conscious decision, calculated to award the title to the second placed man.

I don’t think Merc did anything wrong. The pace was adequate and tyre degradation wasn’t a problem. The guy crashing his billboard whist trying to overtake himself coupled with a poor / half arsed decision won it for the man in second place. A poor end to a great season.

 

[Danidl]

I think they are in the process of putting together a five thousand million pound / year deal with Pfizer to supply 3 monthly vaccinations.

I’m no anti-vax nutcase, but the frequency of vaccination is starting to make me concerned. I’ve had the third, but if they suggest a fourth early in the New Year, I’ll need to do some research and think hard about that. This may be new and unproven territory with an unknown outcome on the immune system.

jHC... How do I put this politely ... I suspect you are incompetent to do anything approaching research on this topic. As am I and everyone else on this forum .

 

[Jesus H Christ]

jHC... How do I put this politely ... I suspect you are incompetent to do anything approaching research on this topic. As am I and everyone else on this forum .

I think we are all capable of investing, seeking out and listening to information/ opinions.

Research;
To investigate systematically.
"she has spent the last five years researching her people's history"

 

[Danidl]

I think we are all capable of investing, seeking out and listening to information/ opinions.

Research;
To investigate systematically.
"she has spent the last five years researching her people's history"

Indeed we all are capable , but not necessarily competent. On topics in advanced biochemistry, immunology , we likely don't have the vocabulary to spell the words, let alone understanding of what these verbs and nouns entail, and more importantly how the various competing reactions interfere one with another. When you have put in the 5 years necessary to get to stage one, you can possibly follow the conversation, ..but not contribute, after another 3 years you can recognise the arguements, and after another 3 have a valid opinion and shape the argument ... Thats life.

 

[Woosh]

On topics in advanced biochemistry, immunology , we likely don't have the vocabulary to spell the words, let alone understanding of what these verbs and nouns entail, and more importantly how the various competing reactions interfere one with another.

What do you mean? you don't trust Dr Google then?

 

[oyster]

Indeed we all are capable , but not necessarily competent. On topics in advanced biochemistry, immunology , we likely don't have the vocabulary to spell the words, let alone understanding of what these verbs and nouns entail, and more importantly how the various competing reactions interfere one with another. When you have put in the 5 years necessary to get to stage one, you can possibly follow the conversation, ..but not contribute, after another 3 years you can recognise the arguements, and after another 3 have a valid opinion and shape the argument ... Thats life.

I disagree.

I read papers/abstracts most days. And I follow a lot of them reasonably well. But there is a flood of them which are not worth spending any time on at all. You can, all too often, dismiss the paper due to major deficiencies in the research and/or analysis. Sometimes the grounds are trivially obvious.

A single example. A biochemical test has a reference interval which varies by laboratory and analyser manufacturer.

A researcher combines the results of many patients, tested across many laboratories, and simply applies the reference interval in force at the lab with which they are familiar. Some patients' results will switch between below or above reference interval, or vice versa.

As soon as you realize that is what they have done, you can raise a huge red flag against everything they say.

 

[Jesus H Christ]

Indeed we all are capable , but not necessarily competent. On topics in advanced biochemistry, immunology , we likely don't have the vocabulary to spell the words, let alone understanding of what these verbs and nouns entail, and more importantly how the various competing reactions interfere one with another. When you have put in the 5 years necessary to get to stage one, you can possibly follow the conversation, ..but not contribute, after another 3 years you can recognise the arguements, and after another 3 have a valid opinion and shape the argument ... Thats life.

Here we go again.

I’m not talking about conducting my own laboratory research. I’m talking about investigating what medical opinion is out there, reading it and making a personal decision based on what I have read (what I’ve just described is the definition of research).

The research is for my own personal decision making. I’m not asking anyone to follow it.

How did you decide whether to accept the vaccine? You listened to information, sought out information and made a decision. You conducted research.

 

[flecc]

As soon as you realize that is what they have done, you can raise a huge red flag against everything they say.

And that is the crux of the matter, we are judging those involved as much as any highly technical issue.

And that includes the politicians who drive the decisions.
.

 

[Woosh]

I think they are in the process of putting together a five thousand million pound / year deal with Pfizer to supply 3 monthly vaccinations.

I’m no anti-vax nutcase, but the frequency of vaccination is starting to make me concerned. I’ve had the third, but if they suggest a fourth early in the New Year, I’ll need to do some research and think hard about that. This may be new and unproven territory with an unknown outcome on the immune system.

I am worried about the long term effect of constantly keeping the immune system overactive, ready to fight covid.

 

[Zlatan]

Think we, ve arrived at a salient point and it's one that does generate anti vax sentiment. I can see both sides of this.
My anti vax friend is absolutely convinced his research is valid and reliable (I listen to its logic and think BS, he won't use Google, insists its corrupted)
Are we qualified to make these decisions??
If I, m offered a 4th I, ll grab it. Almost no questions asked. (suspect it will be Omicron specific around April)
I remember doing Quantam Mechanics /Theory of Relativity at Uni. Also remember thinking what the hell is going on with this lot.. I couldnt offer any constructive opinions on any of it. (passed exam mind)
Think it's same with our immune systems.
I remember a good line from an Irish chap discussing UK and its understanding of Irish situation. He said"anybody who thinks they understand these issues hasn't started to even look at them "
I, ve disagreed with Danidl because it seemed his point was specifically at JHC. In truth I don't think any of us are actually qualified to make decisions around vaccine. Like I said, I spent 4 years studying physics degree and in reality knew nothing about Quantum Mechanics.
I, ve read a lot on Internet about vaccines etc but am I actually qualified to decide? I think not. I, ll just have it then. And put my faith in Sarah Gilbert??? (or who ever)
We do seem to have millions of virologist these days, all offering advice on Facebook, YouTube etc etc.
To my mind Boris is purely a messenger. He actually knows far less than any of us, in reality less than my 5 Yr old grandson.

 

[Danidl]

Here we go again.

I’m not talking about conducting my own laboratory research. I’m talking about investigating what medical opinion is out there, reading it and making a personal decision based on what I have read (what I’ve just described is the definition of research).

The research is for my own personal decision making. I’m not asking anyone to follow it.

How did you decide whether to accept the vaccine? You listened to information, sought out information and made a decision. You conducted research.

Nope!. Not really. I listened to the advice of the professionals. I have been around medical people my entire life .. . All my sisters were either Nurses,or Physios, Some married into others of like mind. My father was a GP. My son has been under specialist treatment for CF for 33 years , .. Back from the time it was a craft and not a science. I spent 6 months on my back, with Rheumatic fever , back when it was a thing. I never got into the medical game , . I took the easy option and Post grad Physics. And yes I have done peer reviewed research. But with my son, I had a lot of following the twists and turns of how medical opinion moves from a craft to science. ..and I no longer suffer fools gladly ... Politely maybe but not gladly.
Reading a few articles does not constitute research ... It may in sociology but not in anything scientific.

 

[Nev]

Do you know if your PCR was done at a lab that can detect all Omicron variants? There was a point at which it was said only around 35% of tests were picking up Omicron.

I don't really know, from what I have heard most people in North Wales have their testing done in a large lab in Manchester which does have the facility to test for Omicron, this is not the case in South Wales where some of the labs in use for down there can not do this.

I'm fairly sure he has got delta because the amount of contact we had with him when we assumed he had a cold would almost certain mean we would have caught it if it had been Omicron.

 

[Jesus H Christ]

Nope!. Not really. I listened to the advice of the professionals. I have been around medical people my entire life .. . All my sisters were either Nurses,or Physios, Some married into others of like mind. My father was a GP. My son has been under specialist treatment for CF for 33 years , .. Back from the time it was a craft and not a science. I spent 6 months on my back, with Rheumatic fever , back when it was a thing. I never got into the medical game , . I took the easy option and Post grad Physics. And yes I have done peer reviewed research. But with my son, I had a lot of following the twists and turns of how medical opinion moves from a craft to science. ..and I no longer suffer fools gladly ... Politely maybe but not gladly.
Reading a few articles does not constitute research ... It may in sociology but not in anything scientific.

Lots of words.

The bottom line is that we all do research. The quality of the research will vary, but we all do research at some level.

 

[oyster]

Back from the time it was a craft and not a science.

Afraid I find it difficult to think of medicine, as practised, as a science.

In the areas I very often read, one statistical issue affects probably a majority of papers which discuss the use of two medicines (rather than one alone). It is Simpson’s Paradox.

If we take "science" to include "mathematics and statistics", far too often, science is not understood and not applied (properly).

I think we need top flight statisticians to act as consultants and advisers across medicine - preferably up front, as approaches are being considered. Before any groundwork starts. And absolutely before anything is published.

 

[flecc]

I‘m not a fan of Verstappen or Hamilton, but I don’t think the natural result was achieved yesterday. It seems very synthetic and an entirely unsatisfactory end to an otherwise interesting season of racing.

Been able to change tyres under safety car (and red flag) is utterly ridiculous. A pit stop should be equal for all. Under race conditions its about 23 secs. Under safety car it's 12 or so. Under red flag its zero. How on earth is that fair. Crazy.

I abandoned following formula 1 many years ago, recognising how it has been fixed for many years. Originally the fixing was subtle and cleverly engineered, but over the years it has become more and more blatant.

Long, long ago when such as Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio raced each other, often in the same team, the cars were crude, narrow tyred with brute force and poor handling. Then it was mostly about driver skill, but gradually over the decades the car became relatively much more important, so confusing the issue.

Then with the addition of pit stops and pit crew skills there was a third vital element to winning a race. To that was added the ability of team management to alter the car's software during the race. Ever more restrictive car design rules and KERS both added the ability of Formula 1 authorities to influence race results.

The end result is that very often none of us could be certain who or what won a race, driver, car, pit crew, team manager, rule change or just plain fiddling as we've just seen, robbing it of interest and enthusiastic following.

It's all about desperately trying to keep it popular, or in the case of many wealthy countries where they've built tracks without wide public interest, to make it popular where it isn't.

Perhaps Formula E will eventually kill it off for ever.
.

 

[Zlatan]

I abandoned following formula 1 many years ago, recognising how it has been fixed for many years. Originally the fixing was subtle and cleverly engineered, but over the years it has become more and more blatant.

Long, long ago when such as Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio raced each other, often in the same team, the cars were crude, narrow tyred with brute force and poor handling. Then it was mostly about driver skill, but gradually over the decades the car became relatively much more important, so confusing the issue.

Then with the addition of pit stops and pit crew skills there was a third vital element to winning a race. To that was added the ability of team management to alter the car's software during the race. Ever more restrictive car design rules and KERS both added the ability of Formula 1 authorities to influence race results.

The end result is that very often none of us could be certain who or what won a race, driver, car, pit crew, team manager, rule change or just plain fiddling as we've just seen, robbing it of interest and enthusiastic following.

It's all about desperately trying to keep it popular, or in the case of many wealthy countries where they've built tracks without wide public interest, to make it popular where it isn't.

Perhaps Formula E will eventually kill it off for ever.
.

Can't help but agree with all that flecc, but I get hooked every year, and this one more than any in past.
For a long long time sport has centred not about building fastest car, pitting engineers against physics, but building fastest cars within a set of rules and parameters.
It really should be an absolute free for all but with purely a limit on fuel given/used. If cars become too fast (which has been argument for many advances to be stopped by rules) then you simply limit fuel again.
Lower formulas would simply be given less fuel..
I often wonder if the 100kg fuel limit was the only requirement would we be seeing hybrids... I doubt it.
F1 car design is steered more than cars are. I wonder what technology we would have seen had such as Newey had completely free hand..

 

[oldgroaner]

UK firms taking taxpayer-backed Covid loans continued donations to Tory party Exclusive: Guardian investigation shows companies donated tens of thousands of pounds while receiving low-interest loans

 

[flecc]

jHC... How do I put this politely ... I suspect you are incompetent to do anything approaching research on this topic. As am I and everyone else on this forum .

Danidl, how do I put this politely ... I suspect you are incompetent to decide for us who can research each and every individual aspect of this topic,

Some of us do have something valid to add, as I've been doing last year and this, with the validity now proven and officially supported.
.

 

[flecc]

Can't help but agree with all that flecc, but I get hooked every year, and this one more than any in past.
For a long long time sport has centred not about building fastest car, pitting engineers against physics, but building fastest cars within a set of rules and parameters.
It really should be an absolute free for all but with purely a limit on fuel given/used. If cars become too fast (which has been argument for many advances to be stopped by rules) then you simply limit fuel again.
Lower formulas would simply be given less fuel..
I often wonder if the 100kg fuel limit was the only requirement would we be seeing hybrids... I doubt it.
F1 car design is steered more than cars are. I wonder what technology we would have seen had such as Newey had completely free hand..

I'd say scrap it all and start again with simple basic rules:

Fixed capacity and fix whether naturally or forced aspiration.

Cars to complete the whole race distance on what they start with, fuel and tyres, it's only a couple of hundred miles and a couple of hours after all.

It was supposed to be about improving the breed, so make it do that. We all think nothing of driving a couple of hundred miles in more hours on the same tankful and the same tyres, rain or shine, so should they. If they can't or they break down, they are out, no pit stop nonsense.
.