I succumbed to the advertising and watched the 7 sharp interview with the scientist for Ireland. They were gushing about how good Ireland is to get to number 1 on the Bloomberg list and it must feel good compared to where they were. There was no mention of...
Influenza deaths are always estimates as most people are not even tested for it. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html "influenza is infrequently listed on death certificates of people who die from flu-related complications." There are about 33 ...
Are you stupid or is the obtuseness deliberate. He is saying that only 1 in 20 of the 500 deaths are recorded as from influenza.
I note that Ireland has reached the top of Bloombers's resilience list (not "best place to be"). Ireland has a high vaccination rate and a relatively free economy and averaging about 30 covid deaths a week. Relative to where they were it looks and feels ...
How about fixing the housing crisis so that families are not squeezed together in transitional housing where isolation is impossible? How about jobs that pay the living wage, or benefits that people can live on so they can stay home and are not at the ...
So 11% of people hate ballet?
Modellers don't have the luxury of hindsight. They use the best available information and make assumptions to fill in the gaps. The estimate for the case fatality rate was 4% at the time I think. With better diagnostics, and more effective treatment this ...
Anybody who gives answers to what happens long term is not paying attention. We plan based on best guesses as to what the world will look like when we have implemented the plans. We know a bit about what the world looks like with Key's solutions. Singapore...
On the death rate from influenza: https://www.otago.ac.nz/otagomagazine/issue45/inbrief/otago664450.html They estimated the number because most deaths are not recorded as 'flu. A lot of deaths are from heart attacks due to inflammation of the heart. This ...
There is no way that Australia and Japan would let China join (at least under their current leadership)
I shudder when they talk about abandoning elimination. I agree that lockdowns need to stop when we have sufficient people vaccinated, but that does not mean living with the virus. It should be treated the same as measles. Whenever cases of measles occur ...
There is a problem with deportation. We have been criticising Australia for deporting their problems to us, and you propose that we should have done this to Sri Lanka. We can't have it both ways. He may have been damaged before he came here, but he was ...
Anyone who says there is/was a simple answer to this is either stupid or lying. We don't lock up people forever, and we don't lock people up for thought crimes. Where they do we call them human rights abuses. The judge wanted him to get some sort of help. ...
Of course we should not restrict free speech. Unless it is a question of slander or inciting rebellion or hatred, people should say what they like. However the media have a responsibility to put things into perspective. Testing takes some time to get up to...
In an emergency, Human Rights restrictions are allowed and sensible. An emergency must be limited in time and/or scope. NZ spent about 2 months at level 3 & 4 last year (more or less depending on where you live). Level 2 and below, probably do not qualify ...
I am always surprised that the government hasn't removed zoning from the Epsom-based grammar schools and put on buses from South Auckland. That is what Epsom people voted for when they voted ACT.
Yes, you can follow the daily numbers published on the Chinese NHC site http://www.nhc.gov.cn/xcs/yqfkdt/gzbd_index.shtml Remember, they only report symptomatic cases (so not directly comparable to our numbers). There was a new case yesterday in Henan 本土病例...
There are a lot more ruminants now under agriculture than there ever were in nature. It sounds like you have been listening to Alan Savory: https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/04/allan-savorys-ted-talk-is-wrong-and-the-benefits-of-holistic-grazing-have-...
"Of course the left could also organise around local bodies elections but prefers to complain about water quality instead of doing one of the most important things it could: voting environmentalists onto regional councils. " When the people voted on to ...
It is interesting to think about which businesses and countries would qualify for the pilot. There might be some businesses that want to send people to Nauru or Vanuatu. Most businesses would be thinking of US, UK or Europe which countries would certainly ...
The electricity market is working as designed. The only reason power cuts are not more common is because when they happen, people start asking questions and nobody wants that. Like supermarket prices and petrol prices, we will pay what they ask and moan to...
Rob Muldoon once half joked he knew all 70 odd registered unemployed by name.
We are biologically driven organisms, with evolution favouring overconsumption in times of abundance to build strength to tide us over in times of adversity. Village life allowed us to counter this to an extent by allowing us to see the value of self-...
When Collins called for an "adult" discussion of superannuation, I wondered when National were going to join an adult discussion of crime/punishment. Clearly not any time soon.
So there is no place for ambiguity? What about intersex people? Attitudes like "there are only two sexes" have led to babies with ambiguous genitalia being mutilated immediately to conform to a doctor's idea of what they should be. Yes, I am male (...
There seem to some nuanced positions on the issue. However, lining up with the people that say that trans women are not women should make one very uncomfortable.
While I don't excuse the Labour government for their inaction on housing and power prices, there are practical limits on how many houses they can build. Shortage of infrastructure, labour, materials are all holding us back. If the government builds more ...
Simon Thornley is very stubborn. At some stage you just admit you were wrong and move on. He is still saying that the IFR (Infection fatality Rate is 0.15% but the Population Fatality Rate in Peru has been more than 0.5%. For Thornley to be right, everyone...
Don't ignore the farmers, but ask them what they are doing to solve their own problems. To talk about labour for one: It is an indictment on the industry that they are looking overseas for skills. This is not unique to farming, but SURELY nobody knows more...
Groundswell have a lot of demands, but no answers. They are effectively saying that some farmers are good, and shouldn't have to suffer regulations. But they don't talk about the others that are the problem, and how to improve their practices. In the end ...
The litany of articles recently attacking China does seem like a campaign. Whether it is organised, or just a group of bullies realising that China is fair game I don't know. There are real human rights problems in China, but that is not unique to China. ...
Recent Comments