43
   

Interesting characters on a2k

 
 
blatham
 
  1  
Reply Sun 17 Aug, 2014 01:10 pm
@ehBeth,
Quote:
it's like Notes from the Pope or something

On a couple of occasions, I've dangled Pope references, but george hasn't bitten yet. I'm guessing george doesn't think this fellow is helping the situation.
ehBeth
 
  2  
Reply Sun 17 Aug, 2014 03:59 pm
@georgeob1,
georgeob1 wrote:

No, it is simple mathematics.


the calculation of infant mortality is indeed simple.

why you have difficulty with it is something you will need to sort out for yourself.

you seem to be having a Homer Simpson moment around statistics (see my father's signature line)
ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Sun 17 Aug, 2014 05:01 pm
@blatham,
Classic post there.

Meantime, I want to hear about Matera.
OmSigDAVID
 
  1  
Reply Sun 17 Aug, 2014 05:11 pm
@ehBeth,
ehBeth wrote:

georgeob1 wrote:

No, it is simple mathematics.


the calculation of infant mortality is indeed simple.

why you have difficulty with it is something you will need to sort out for yourself.

you seem to be having a Homer Simpson moment
around statistics (see my father's signature line)
He is your father ?
ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Sun 17 Aug, 2014 05:12 pm
@blatham,
I, of course, like him. I got over some early doubts.
0 Replies
 
Frank Apisa
 
  1  
Reply Sun 17 Aug, 2014 05:13 pm
@OmSigDAVID,
OmSigDAVID wrote:

ehBeth wrote:

georgeob1 wrote:

No, it is simple mathematics.


the calculation of infant mortality is indeed simple.

why you have difficulty with it is something you will need to sort out for yourself.

you seem to be having a Homer Simpson moment
around statistics (see my father's signature line)
He is your father ?


One of your funniest lines ever, David! http://www.sherv.net/cm/emo/laughing/crying-with-laughter.gif

0 Replies
 
blatham
 
  1  
Reply Sun 17 Aug, 2014 05:34 pm
@ossobuco,
Re Matera... rather incredible place, perhaps the oldest human settlement in Italy. My daughter has traveled a lot and caught mention of it in something she'd read so decided to do a month there rather than three in Lisbon (a city she loves). Best bet is to check it out online (include a google images search).
ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Sun 17 Aug, 2014 05:48 pm
@blatham,
I somewhat know of it - books y'know, also google, but I've not been there. Scratches table with nails in envy - I'm glad your daughter is seeing these places.
blatham
 
  1  
Reply Sun 17 Aug, 2014 05:52 pm
@ossobuco,
I'd never heard of it. I'm envious too. Here's another city she fell in love with http://bit.ly/VxJR6g
0 Replies
 
ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Sun 17 Aug, 2014 06:15 pm
@ossobuco,
I can see loving Prague. Calamity Jane had a good thread on it once, if I remember, years ago now.
0 Replies
 
blatham
 
  1  
Reply Sun 17 Aug, 2014 09:28 pm
Another interesting A2K character, and I've thought of her more than once over these years, was FiFi Le Favre - the Mennonite Firecracker. Her posts wiggled in a way that caught your attention.

Of course, we all shortened her handle down to Fifi or Miss Le Favre or Firecracker (if one were bold enough to have her come at you full-bore) so you may remember her with that label. And if you do, then you may recall as well that she was a certified Class 2 dirigible mechanic and a practicing proctologist and a dancer. Not someone you messed about with casually.
0 Replies
 
blatham
 
  1  
Reply Sun 17 Aug, 2014 10:53 pm
Firecracker made a music video. Not sure if you all knew that. It was a choreographed piece which combined the trope of Madonna's "Vogue" with a stylized proctological examination. Portions filmed from or in a blimp. It has a cult following.
0 Replies
 
Finn dAbuzz
 
  1  
Reply Mon 18 Aug, 2014 12:16 am
@blatham,
Hong Kong, at one time, was pretty close, but in 2014 there isn't any nation on earth in which anything approaching "unfettered capitalism" operates.

The term is frequently (mis)used, however what constitutes “unfettered” capitalism is largely dependent upon how the user views private enterprise. You, for example, are likely to believe companies that keep any of their revenues to be “unfettered,” while I (and georgeob1 perhaps) believes it involves companies operating without any government regulation.

I'm unaware of any serious individual or group calling for capitalism without any restraint, but you seem to be an expert on right-wing fringe groups, real and imagined, so perhaps you can identify one.

The Pope seems to be a nice old man, even if he's a leftist religious anachronism, but you have to believe he actually represents a moral force in the world to care what he thinks or says. It's funny how so many left-wingers seem to have reconsidered the legitimacy of the Holy See since Benedict gave way to Francis.

Who or what is the Koch/John Birch crowd? Father Fred was a founder of the John Birch Society however sons Charles and David (the infamous "Koch Brothers"), to my knowledge, are not members. It’s common practice, though, to conflate the Koch Brothers with their father and the John Birch Society.
Thomas
 
  2  
Reply Mon 18 Aug, 2014 12:52 am
@joefromchicago,
joefromchicago wrote:
Your argument only makes sense if you can show that Europe's lower birth rate is somehow causally related to its lower infant mortality rate.

I find myself wondering if this might be some weird Catholic thing: "An ovum contraceived is an infant killed", or something like that.
0 Replies
 
georgeob1
 
  1  
Reply Mon 18 Aug, 2014 09:08 am
@joefromchicago,
joefromchicago wrote:
Your argument only makes sense if you can show that Europe's lower birth rate is somehow causally related to its lower infant mortality rate. For instance, if you could show that Europeans intentionally terminate pregnancies that would otherwise lead to the infant's death before the age of one, and furthermore that they do so at a significantly higher rate than Americans do, you might be on to something. But I very much doubt it.


No it is much,much simpler than that. Live births/female in Europe are much rarer events in Europe than in The United States (and most other countries in the world) . Indeed they are well below the numbers required to sustain their populations - a factor that is of some evident concern among their governments, particularly those contemplating the hordes of would be immigrants from the South and East. I am suggesting that as a result more cost and effort is put into the survival of those that are born. The statistics in the World Fact Book and other sources show a high negative correlation between female fertility and infant mortality. That doesn't prove a causal relationship, but I can think of several possible common cause factors.

I suspect that Joe will remain mystified and Beth will continue to sneer. Despite this, the point isn't hard to understand at all.

Know that I am bemused by the carnival of mutual reinforcement and back-patting.
Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Mon 18 Aug, 2014 09:13 am
No one can deny that live births in Europe is a much more unlikely event in the United States (and most other countries in the world). You just can't argue with that kind of statement.
georgeob1
 
  2  
Reply Mon 18 Aug, 2014 09:26 am
@Setanta,
OK Very Happy Live births are much rear events in Europe a than they are in the United States and most other countries.
0 Replies
 
timur
 
  2  
Reply Mon 18 Aug, 2014 09:32 am
GeorgeOB1 wrote:
Live births are much rear events in Europe


Oh, yeah?!

What is this world becoming, it was already upside down and now this...
cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Mon 18 Aug, 2014 09:59 am
Fertility rates by country.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2127.html
0 Replies
 
joefromchicago
 
  3  
Reply Mon 18 Aug, 2014 11:49 am
@georgeob1,
georgeob1 wrote:
No it is much,much simpler than that. Live births/female in Europe are much rarer events in Europe than in The United States (and most other countries in the world) . Indeed they are well below the numbers required to sustain their populations - a factor that is of some evident concern among their governments, particularly those contemplating the hordes of would be immigrants from the South and East. I am suggesting that as a result more cost and effort is put into the survival of those that are born.

That's a rather odd argument coming from someone who denies that socialized medicine has any appreciable effect on infant mortality. After all, expectant parents aren't particularly concerned about falling birth rates. Indeed, it would be farfetched to suggest that parents are motivated to spend more to care for their infants just because their neighbors aren't having any kids. For parents, the birth of a child is a unique, and uniquely important, event, so it matters not a whit to them whether the obstetrics ward is full or empty. On the other hand, if, as you say, the declining birth rate is "of evident concern among [European] governments," then we should expect that the additional "cost and effort ... put into the survival of those that are born" would come from those governments, not from the parents, and that the additional expense would show up in the reduced infant mortality rates. In short, you're saying that socialized medicine does work, which, as I mentioned before, is certainly an unexpected, but welcome, conclusion for you to make. Glad to have you on our side.
 

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