Early Risers.

[polybear]

4 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The latest 'experiment' in state-sponsored execution murder is nitrogen hypoxia - essentially death by suffocation.

 

You can find the 'sanitized' narrative here.

There are plenty of news reports that explore more thoroughly how truly horrible this was to observe. I'll leave it to those who wish to learn more to search them out.

 

It's worth remembering that M. Guillotine's invention was intended as being more "humane" than a professional executioner.

It didn't really work out that way. Nor did the electric chair, or any other invention intended to sanitize state-sponsored termination of life.

 

 

What I find interesting is there are often horror stories about U.S. execution methods (I'm sure quite rightly in some cases) yet nothing at all about those used by organisations such as Dignitas.  Perhaps our resident Surgeon @iL Dottore can shine some light on this?

 

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

As for mandatory death penalties for certain crimes, various research has established that  juries are often less likely to convict someone if they know that they will be sending them to their death, and will convict  them of a lesser charge, if available  - or even find them not guilty.

 

This has been revealed by studying data such as the court records of the Old Bailey -  once the option of transportation replaced the death penalty for certain crimes, convictions for those crimes went up.

 

Three Judges instead of no Jury perhaps? 

[monkeysarefun]

7 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

What I find interesting is there are often horror stories about U.S. execution methods (I'm sure quite rightly in some cases) yet nothing at all about those used by organisations such as Dignitas.  Perhaps our resident Surgeon @iL Dottore can shine some light on this?

 

 

Three Judges instead of no Jury perhaps? 

 

I assume that its because drug companies ban sale of their humanely lethal  drugs to anyone planning to execute people with them!

 

The idea of justice is that we are judged by a "jury of our peers" rather than 3 old blokes (or ladies...) .

Edited April 11 by monkeysarefun

[polybear]

24 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

The idea of justice is that we are judged by a "jury of our peers" rather than 3 old blokes (or ladies...) .

 

How's about a Bear, a Grizz and a Pup?

[polybear]

7 hours ago, Barry O said:

Late back from my course tonight. Some interesting driving techniques observed on the A1.. indicators are not optional!

 

Time for some sleep.

Baz

 

Bear mentioned to the Driver yesterday that I had an encounter with the driver of a certain German Car earlier (three letters...) with malfunctioning indicators.

He replied that in his (extensive) time in the Met. they were getting called to Wood Green Driving Test Centre three times A DAY because of people taking tests for others; let's just say they were always of the same I.C. category....

 

[Barry O]

7 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

I finally got around to watching the final episode of "Masters Of The Air" last night, several weeks after it aired -  it just hasn't grabbed me like "Band Of Brothers" did.

 

I dont think there's any spoilers below, just a general critique...

 

I can happily  rewatch "Band Of Brothers" every year or so, and I also liked "The Pacific", since it was nice to see something that featured the war that mattered most to us down here.   Darwin and other northern Australian towns were bombed, and Japanese submarines attacked shipping in Sydney harbour and the Imperial  Japanese Army  got as far as New Guinea just to our north, but for most histories, the war was a European one fought almost entirely in the northern hemisphere, the furthest south and  east many UK documentaries mention is Singapore for instance.

 

I had high hopes for "Masters Of The Air" but as the series progressed I found myself lagging more and more behind.  The Flying Fortress sequences were good as would be expected I guess, but the problem with having a series on bombing things, is that theres not a lot of variety, basically  every episode pretty much ended up being - go to briefing, discover  mission is to bomb something and there'll be flak and fighters; take off;  approach target and come under flak and/or fighter attack;  watch as some of your comrades fall to a fiery death; drop bombs; suffer flak in engine or something; return to base and  be all sad when you found out who didnt make it. There were a couple of subplots involving those who got shot down who either found the French resistance to help them or got captured, but they were just diversions.

 

I also found I didnt care about the characters that much. I know that all aircrew were generally young and white, but they all looked the same to me unlike the deeper character studies  in B of B.  And what made it even harder was that when they were in the air the oxygen masks covered their faces so I had no idea who was who, so when some plane got hit and burst into flames I had no idea who it was I was meant to be sad for.  For some unknown reason there was a half-hearted attempt to include the black fighter pilots of the Tuskegee airmen fame into a couple of episodes but it just seemed   tokenistic .

 

The last personal annoyance was the CGI used when the US  fighters  engaged the enemy fighters. . They'd appear out of no where at about a million km an hour and they'd all weave and  manoeuvre amongst the bombers at hyperspeed like  they were in Star Wars, it looked totally unrealistic,  especially when you see actual footage of air combat from the Battle Of Britain, Midway, etc.

 

The final takeout was basically "Bombing things in the daytime is very dangerous".

 

Masters Of The Air - 2.5 stars from me.

I made the mistake of reading the book.. it didn't shape up well against some of the other books on the Eighth Air Force and I didn't bother to "pay to view" the series on TV.

 

Band of Brothers was a different kettle of fish. The author (Stephen Ambrose) talked to a lot of veterans from that story.. 

 

Baz

Edited April 11 by Barry O

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

What I find interesting is there are often horror stories about U.S. execution methods (I'm sure quite rightly in some cases) yet nothing at all about those used by organisations such as Dignitas.

Oregon has a death with dignity law. It requires the patient to be terminally ill and in full possession of their faculties (and I think this is still true) a resident of the State. I believe the fatal prescription is taken orally by the patient. It must be completely self-administered and voluntary - with no 'assistance'. It is not administered as an injection or infusion like execution drugs.

 

There were convicted felons on 'death row' in Oregon, but with a moratorium on all executions, their sentences were commuted to life imprisonment without parole.

 

Edited April 11 by Ozexpatriate

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Not a lotn9n today.. but I need to get a wiggle on to be ready for the return of her indoors from moreasons.. TTFN

 

Baz

[BoD]

58 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

How's about a Bear, a Grizz and a Pup?

Doomed, doomed, we’re all doomed.

[BoD]

As to the death penalty, I’m with Gandalf …

 

“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.”

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Up a lot early than usual, mainly due to Sheila once again going to her Zumba class and requiring my chauffeuring service. After that, the rest of the day is my own, but the weather isn’t looking good for outside work, so another day in the workshop is planned. Wire droppers will be soldered to the 3 way point I think. I’ll also draw up an operating table / sequence too. 
 

Back later. 
 

Brian 

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, from a strangely only breezy, sunny rock that has soared to 12c.

 

Not much on the agenda today, so perhaps a trundle out on the bike may occur.  Also a decoderisator or something may arrive for a certain new purchase, but the post is all to hell with the number of ferry cancellations we have had this week - the fast craft was damaged on Tuesday in a rough crossing.

 

 

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,

A poor nights sleep, hard to get to sleep in the first place , then woken by heavy rain, very broken sleep after. Then there is a I think a transit sized lorry thunders down our road at stupid o'clock then half an hour later goes back the other way, happens several times a week.

 

Ben the happy Collie was taken on patrol then. It was dull grey and damp. While cooking Ben's breakfast , ok mine but he gets a small bit. It became sunny.

 

Plans for today

Modify loom and stand,

Try to order card reader.

 

Time to snooze.

[Winslow Boy]

32 minutes ago, TheQ said:

 

Plans for today

Modify loom and stand,

Try to order card reader.

 

Time to snooze.

But not necessarily in that order?

[DaveF]

Just a very quick visit having eventually go the page to load.  It's cloudy, dry and quite mild.

 

It should be a normal Thursday with church, sometime I need to call at the pharmacy to collect a prescription.  

 

After that there are a lot of choices depending in part on whether it stays dry.

 

David

[tigerburnie]

Baby killer Michael Davis asked for charity donations - BBC News

Death penalty or not?

[Peter Kazmierczak]

The real Baker Street was/is in Alvaston, Derby, where I grew up...

[southern42]

' morning all from red dragon land.

Still windy but not as much and sun squeezing out through the clouds. 11.8C though I doubt it feels it!

 

Just about managed to catch up on the last 24hours on here, so it must be coming up to mugadecaf time so I will be short. 

 

Time put into lots of toot on the flute repetition is showing some benefit, but it still needs more but I am encouraged to continue, simply because some of the more tricky bits occur later on as well.

 

Oooooh! Sun has popped out. 😎

 

Some paperwork work from officialdom will have to be sorted and filed away this afternoon. So that will clear one part of the worktop!

 

Take care. Be good. Keep on top of things.

Polly

 

 

Edited April 11 by southern42
Some jumble up txt...Sorted!

[TheQ]

There is a real Baker street in Stalham, sadly the baker closed soon after tesco opened..

Tescos opened on the old market ground, so Market  road no longer leads to a market.

And a couple of years ago the bank went from bank street.

 Oh and moor road no longer leads to the moor.  when the A149 was moved onto the old railway line, the far side of moor road got turned into a footpath.

Edited April 11 by TheQ

[PhilJ W]

7 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

One of the reasons I had a soft spot for Virgin Trains was the statue of Matthew Flinders they put in Euston Station, though it ended up rather sad as no one seemed to know what to do with it after a while. Most British people have zero knowledge of who he was, the only reason I know is I sailed on a container ship called Flinders Bay and traced back the name.

The significance of the Flinders statue at Euston is that the graveyard is right next door and was being cleared for the new HS2 station. Personally I think that the new station would be the perfect place for the statue (if the station ever gets built).

This was why I hated naming the current British Antarctic Survey ship after David Attenborough, it is nothing against Sir David but the former tradition of naming the ships after Antarctic explorers kept names alive which were all but dead to most people and tipped the hat to some brave and skilled mariners. 

They ran a competition where the general public were asked to choose a name and they came up with 'Boaty McBoatface' so as the vessel was shortly to be launched there was a bit of a rush to find a suitable name. Names connected with Antarctic Exploration such as Scott, Shackleton and Endeavour were already on other exploration vessels.

[Ohmisterporter]

Recently saw a Youtube video about a sheriff in Florida who caused some controversy by saying that if someone broke into your home or shop it would save a lot of money if you shot them dead.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Not a bad night last night (again), bladder control woke me up just after six and I got another hours kip in afterwards. I don't need to go shopping today so I'm leaving it until tomorrow, just as well as it's SEERS track night tonight and I have to get ready for that.

[PupCam]

Morning!

 

11 hours ago, Barry O said:

Late back from my course tonight. Some interesting driving techniques observed on the A1.. indicators are not optional!

 

Time for some sleep.

Baz

 

Oh, I think they are if you drive some makes of vehicles  (I don't like to promote stereotypes but they are often of German origin).   Which reminds me,  an acquaintance of mine described themselves as a "vibrant Audi driver".   Certainly had me wondering .......   

 

Conversely, other drivers get far more of an indication of my intentions when I'm out on my bikes and two out of the three don't even have indicators! (and I think the brake light is not actually a legal requirement on one of them due to its age).   You can't beat positive (legal) hand signals but of course the one problem with them is they are not persistent throughout a manoeuvre as those hands / fingers are required for other trivial things at times like changing gear, operating the throttle and the front brake.

 

 

8 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

The only real deterrent to crime is the risk of being caught.

 

I think criminals are on a spectrum from the hot blooded crimes of passion (the old 'red mist' type of thing) through crimes of opportunity through to the calculating. No form of deterrence will work on the former as deterrence relies on people acting rationally and measuring risk and benefit. Deterrence will have a lot of influence on opportunists and probably highly variable on the latter as their trade (so to speak) will be based on evaluating risk and benefit if they are any good at it. So for the people which may be swayed by deterrence the risk of a 20 year prison sentence is probably as effective as capital punishment as their calculation is whether or not they will be caught more than the punishment. 

 

An aspect which troubles me is the inherent asymmetry involved. Yes there are exceptions involving rich people and celebrities with deep pockets, but the norm seems to be the power of the state on one side with access to forensic analysis and all sorts of technical resource, communications intercepts (a big issue there is which intercepts and information is not shared with the court and defence team) and all the resources of the Police and prosecution services arrayed against some hobo, washed out person, someone with learning difficulties etc and a court appointed/legal aid defence lawyer. I am against the death sentence in principle, but even if I accepted it's utility I just don't have confidence in the justice system to the degree necessary to support capital punishment.

 

6 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Very natural and understandable. The stakes are higher and the assessment of "beyond reasonable doubt" will often (though not always) be examined more carefully in a capital case. Much might also depend on demographics - of the jury and the accused.

 

My emphasis but I think you need to add "and will be dealt with severely".      Being caught, told you're a very naughty boy and released is no deterrent for people with no morals or empathy for others.

 

Clearly the following options don't work or unacceptable.

 

     a)   Letting them go free (by either failing to track them down or in, really bad cases, not bothering to look for them at all)

     b)   Taking their liberty away and locking them up for a long(ish) while.   BTW  - I still have no clue as to why Life Imprisonment  rarely means that but I'm a simple soul.

     c)   Taking their lives

 

So for a philosophical Thursday, and in the absence of a Higher Being or Authority "Doing the right thing" on our behalf, what is the answer then?       The world is mostly broken* how to fix it?

 

* It always has been  and no doubt always will be and WE ALWAYS FAIL to learn the lessons of crime and war.

 

34 minutes ago, TheQ said:

There is a real Baker street in Stalham, sadly the baker closed soon after tesco opened..

Tescos opened on the old market ground, so Market  road no longer leads to a market.

And a couple of years ago the bank went from bank street.

 Oh and moor road no longer leads to the moor.  when the A149 was moved onto the old railway line, the far side of moor road got turned into a footpath.

 

Most of (if not all)  the banks in Bank Court in Hemel Hempstead new town (yes, I know it's 70 years old now and looking like it) have gone.   But then all of the fine logic used in its original planning has gone as old "new" buildings have been replaced, main thoroughfares have been pedestrianised, a half empty shopping mall built, the main entertainment venue demolished but not replaced,  the Civic Centre demolished and a host of other disasters choices made.      There was a good deal of thought and logic applied to its original layout all those years ago now totally abandoned with the rush to provide "more housing" and some might say** a fast Buck.   When we moved to the area many many years ago there was talk of a new hospital.      I moved away in the mid 70's, they are still waiting for a new, decent hospital .......   The words Fat***, Chance and Now spring to mind

 

**     Not me of course!

***   That's probably not PC perhaps it should be "larger than average"?

 

ION

 

A very convivial lunch was had yesterday in a Hitchin hostelry with a couple of rely-in-laws otherwise not-a-lot to report.    Really, a walk should be walked this afternoon if nothing else.

 

TTFN

 

 

 

 

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Names connected with Antarctic Exploration such as Scott, Shackleton and Endeavour were already on other exploration vessels.

 

 

How about Douglas Mawson? His hut is still down there.

https://www.mawsons-huts.org.au/

 

Yes he was Australian but we were still part of the Empire back then when his 1911-1914 expedition ws on, and after all we did send vast numbers of shiny young ANZACS thousands of miles up there to the Western Front to die in the name of the King shortly after , so he should at least  be eligible.

 

 

Edited April 11 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Ohmisterporter said:

Recently saw a Youtube video about a sheriff in Florida who caused some controversy by saying that if someone broke into your home or shop it would save a lot of money if you shot them dead.

 I see your sheriff in Florida and raise you a Presidential candidate!

 

Former President Donald Trump recently gave a glimpse into how his next administration would urge law enforcement to handle shoplifters if he wins the White House in 2024 − by shooting them in the store.

"We will immediately stop all of the pillaging and theft. Very simply: If you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store," he said Friday during a speech to California Republicans.

His comments drew applause from members of his party inside the Anaheim convention and he loudly said “shot” again for emphasis.

Edited April 11 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

51 minutes ago, PupCam said:

Clearly the following options don't work or unacceptable.

 

     a)   Letting them go free (by either failing to track them down or in, really bad cases, not bothering to look for them at all)

     b)   Taking their liberty away and locking them up for a long(ish) while.   BTW  - I still have no clue as to why Life Imprisonment  rarely means that but I'm a simple soul.

     c)   Taking their lives

 

So for a philosophical Thursday, and in the absence of a Higher Being or Authority "Doing the right thing" on our behalf, what is the answer then?  

NEVER  underestimate the power of a decent taunting.

 

When my son was little I managed to base my entire disciplinary regime on threatening him with a taunting whenever he stepped out of line. He had absolutely NO idea what a taunting was, but by using the correct  tone of voice "Keep that up and you're heading for a TAUNTING!" I was able to get him worried.

 

I'd be like "Do you want a severe TAUNTING!?" and he'd be "No, dad I don't want a taunting..." and back down.

 

Luckily he was both a) well behaved enough that I never had to carry out an actual taunting and thus reveal what a lame punishment it really was, and

 

b) never called my bluff by asking  me what a taunting actually involved..

Edited April 11 by monkeysarefun