Talked to my Uncle Mike today. First time in way too long. Just to give him my flight times to Manchester. I can't tell you how good it was to hear a homey Manchester accent.
Here's something to cheer you up. Toffs on parade.
Gawd, but I miss England!
Friday, July 30, 2010
It was the latest suicide stats around the world
~
and it was per 100,000.
The thing that caught my eye was that the "developing" countries were not really even on the list.
Look at it again. A couple of things stand out.
The highest numbers are former Soviet bloc countries. In those countries, particularly Russia, the gap between male and female suicide is enormous, 70.6 to 11.9, which is comparatively high for the female side. The female suicide rate seems to stay more or less even between countries, whether 1st world countries like Canada or former Soviet countries. But the disparity between male and female, and former Soviet and 1st world countries in male suicide really jumps out.
I have a few ideas but nothing scientific to go with. But it is interesting to speculate why. Worth thinking about.
The list doesn't bear out the ex-Soviet thesis completely. Albania reported 2.4/100,000 male suicides in 2000 with 1.2 female.
There are other factors, of course, that might skew the numbers. Reporting may not be reliable. In some cases doctors will not report a death as a suicide, family members might cover up. I don't know how Muslims feel about suicide (or whether they would count the suicide bombers martyrs) so it is hard to guess what the reporting would be like from predominantly Islamic countries. And it is a sure bet the Chinese aren't telling us everything.
But overall, it seems like it is worth noting that the suicide rate for both men and women seems to be high in countries that have little or no religion. Or have lost their religion.
~
and it was per 100,000.
The thing that caught my eye was that the "developing" countries were not really even on the list.
Look at it again. A couple of things stand out.
The highest numbers are former Soviet bloc countries. In those countries, particularly Russia, the gap between male and female suicide is enormous, 70.6 to 11.9, which is comparatively high for the female side. The female suicide rate seems to stay more or less even between countries, whether 1st world countries like Canada or former Soviet countries. But the disparity between male and female, and former Soviet and 1st world countries in male suicide really jumps out.
I have a few ideas but nothing scientific to go with. But it is interesting to speculate why. Worth thinking about.
The list doesn't bear out the ex-Soviet thesis completely. Albania reported 2.4/100,000 male suicides in 2000 with 1.2 female.
There are other factors, of course, that might skew the numbers. Reporting may not be reliable. In some cases doctors will not report a death as a suicide, family members might cover up. I don't know how Muslims feel about suicide (or whether they would count the
But overall, it seems like it is worth noting that the suicide rate for both men and women seems to be high in countries that have little or no religion. Or have lost their religion.
~
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Pop quiz: rates of what?
The first figure is for men, the second for women, then the year.
Guess what the stats are for.
Hint 1: the figures come from the World Health Organisation.
Hint 2: the highest numbers are from former Soviet Bloc countries.
Discuss.
Guess what the stats are for.
AUSTRALIA 21.2 ... 5.1 (1999)
BELARUS 63.6 ... 9.5 (2000)
BELGIUM 29.4 ... 10.7 (1996)
BOSNIA
and HERZEGOVINA 20.3 ... 3.3 (1991)
BULGARIA 25.2 ... 9.1 (2000)
CANADA 19.5 ... 5.1 (1998)
CROATIA 32.9 ... 10.3 (2000)
CUBA 24.5 ... 12.0
CZECH REPUBLIC 26.0 ... 6.7 (2000)
DENMARK 20.9 ... 8.1 (1998)
ESTONIA 45.8 ... 11.9 (2000)
FINLAND 34.6 ... 10.9 (2000)
FRANCE 26.1 ... 9.4 (1999)
GERMANY 20.2 ... 7.3 (1999)
HUNGARY 47.1 ... 13.0 (2001)
JAPAN 36.5 ... 14.1 (1999)
KAZAKHSTAN 46.4 ... 8.6 (1999)
LATVIA 56.6 ... 11.9 (2000)
LITHUANIA 75.6 ... 16.1 (2000)
LUXEMBOURG 23.9 ... 10.7 (2000)
NEW ZEALAND 23.7 ... 6.9 (1998)
RUSSIA 70.6 ... 11.9 (2000)
SLOVENIA 47.3 ... 13.4 (1999)
SRI LANKA 44.6 ... 16.8 (1991)
SWITZERLAND 26.5 ... 10.0 (1999)
UKRAINE 52.1 ... 10.0 (2000)
Hint 1: the figures come from the World Health Organisation.
Hint 2: the highest numbers are from former Soviet Bloc countries.
Discuss.
Jokes only Canadians will get
Score one "I'm a real Canadian" point for each province for which you got the joke.
Be honest.
~
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Going back over in a couple of weeks...
making a list of things to buy to bring back a little shred of civilisation
one of which will be all the back issues of the Chap and the Oldie that I can get.
And a bottle of Bovril. And a supply of lamb Oxo.
And I'm gonna hit the charity shops.
Mmmmm...
old stuff...
~
one of which will be all the back issues of the Chap and the Oldie that I can get.
And a bottle of Bovril. And a supply of lamb Oxo.
And I'm gonna hit the charity shops.
Mmmmm...
old stuff...
~
~
John Smeaton has posted some comments I emailed him the other day on why Catholicism and the pro-life movement go together.
He had to cut things short, since I tend to ramble on when not given a strictly enforced word-count limit.
But I thought it might be worth taking the points along to a conclusion that some in the pro-life world might find uncomfortable. While it is easy to see that the pro-life position must be held by Catholics, and it makes sense that being an atheist would give one some serious philosophical problems with holding the full, comprehensive pro-life position, there are problems that extend in another direction too.
I offer below the rest of my intolerant views on the subject:
~
John Smeaton has posted some comments I emailed him the other day on why Catholicism and the pro-life movement go together.
He had to cut things short, since I tend to ramble on when not given a strictly enforced word-count limit.
But I thought it might be worth taking the points along to a conclusion that some in the pro-life world might find uncomfortable. While it is easy to see that the pro-life position must be held by Catholics, and it makes sense that being an atheist would give one some serious philosophical problems with holding the full, comprehensive pro-life position, there are problems that extend in another direction too.
I offer below the rest of my intolerant views on the subject:
Protestantism is uniquely disabled in its fundamentals in giving answers to the abortionist world. The fundamental Protestant principle is that an individual judges for himself what to believe. This is why there are thousands or even tens of thousands of Protestant sects.
Protestantism is a kind of religious entropy, in which the trend ultimately is towards total dissolution, a steady state in which each individual man stands alone with his unique, private interpretation of God. Because of this, a Protestant may take or leave the pro-life position as he wishes. There is no such thing in the Protestant world as a unified, authoritative voice that can say, ‘This and not this, is true.”
Of course, I must add my caveat. I do not say that there aren’t any Protestant pro-life advocates, or that Protestant pro-life advocates are somehow inferior to Catholics as individuals. Indeed, even a brief acquaintance with the pro-life world will quickly disprove such prejudices. But there is no necessity, either logical or juridical, for a Protestant to hold the pro-life position, and no coherent, authoritative voice within Protestantism that tells the individual whether his private judgment on the life issues is correct.
The point is that it can only be as an individual that a Protestant becomes dedicated to the pro-life cause. He has chosen it based on his private judgment that it is a good and worthy thing. No one would ever say, “Protestantism teaches…” in the same way as one would say, “The Catholic Church teaches…”
A Protestant who holds pro-life positions holds Catholic positions. But, because of his Protestant principle of private judgment, he must necessarily hold back on the fullness of the pro-life position when it clashes with his Protestantism. (This is why so many Protestant pro-life groups refuse to answer questions, for example, about contraception. Though we have seen this wall coming down in recent years.)
Catholic teaching on life and family is inextricably connected with its teaching on the Trinity, on the Eucharist, on Mary and the cult of the saints. Nothing can be removed and taken in isolation. This is why its doctrine cannot be changed, as can Protestant doctrine, by committee meetings such as the Lambeth Conference or the Southern Baptist Conventions. Catholicism does not vote on the truth any more than mathematicians vote on axioms.
The pro-life position is one that is based on observation of external moral and physical phenomena. Outside reality, not personal opinion or preference or feelings, must guide, and the Catholic Church’s magisterial authority concerns itself exclusively with this external reality. It does not care what the world says, what its angry, disinformed members say, what the scientific community says. The truth is what it is.
~
No comment
~
Four headlines caught my eye today on an English language German news site:
I have no comment, other than to say that these triggered a strange response in me.
Homesickness.
I want to go home.
~
Four headlines caught my eye today on an English language German news site:
"Gay German Theologian Lashes Catholic Church"
"Flat Rate Sex Brothel Owners Jailed for Fraud"
"Politicians Call for Secure Homes for Child Criminals"
"Depression and Schizophrenia Filling German Hospital Beds"
I have no comment, other than to say that these triggered a strange response in me.
Homesickness.
I want to go home.
~
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Tech burnout
I just signed up for a Paypal account to use for various freelance thingies, and I'm totally burned out with technology for the night.
I didn't know enough of my bank info, so I looked up the phone number of the branch I used to deal with in Toronto, cut and pasted the phone number from the website into the thingy for Skype, and talked on the computer to the bank lady, who gave me the numbers I needed. I emailed them to myself so I wouldn't lose them again. Then I cut those into the Paypal sign-up thingy, including my account numbers that I got directly from my secure internet bank page thingy. Then I emailed the editor I'm going to be writing for and told him the login name for my account, so he can direct-deposit money into my Canadian bank account that I can (get) access (to) from Italian bank machines.
I think all this has upset my stomach.
I remember when you had to actually go to the bank, during opening hours, and take this thing they used to give you, called a "passbook" that had your account transactions written into it. When you wanted money, you took this passbook into your branch, and only your branch, and got money out by talking to the guy at the counter and signing a little bit of paper. If the bank was closed, you had to wait until tomorrow.
When you paid bills, you wrote a thing called a "cheque" and put it in an envelope and into the post box and then subtracted the amount of the cheque from your cheque book. This was called "balancing your chequebook".
But that was in the days when money was a Real thing.
It was also when people watched this big box thing they had called a "TV set". You had to change the channel on the "TV Set," using a kind of dial thingy on the front. You had to get up off the sofa and walk over to the TV set to do this.
It all seemed pretty high tech at the time.
~
I didn't know enough of my bank info, so I looked up the phone number of the branch I used to deal with in Toronto, cut and pasted the phone number from the website into the thingy for Skype, and talked on the computer to the bank lady, who gave me the numbers I needed. I emailed them to myself so I wouldn't lose them again. Then I cut those into the Paypal sign-up thingy, including my account numbers that I got directly from my secure internet bank page thingy. Then I emailed the editor I'm going to be writing for and told him the login name for my account, so he can direct-deposit money into my Canadian bank account that I can (get) access (to) from Italian bank machines.
I think all this has upset my stomach.
I remember when you had to actually go to the bank, during opening hours, and take this thing they used to give you, called a "passbook" that had your account transactions written into it. When you wanted money, you took this passbook into your branch, and only your branch, and got money out by talking to the guy at the counter and signing a little bit of paper. If the bank was closed, you had to wait until tomorrow.
When you paid bills, you wrote a thing called a "cheque" and put it in an envelope and into the post box and then subtracted the amount of the cheque from your cheque book. This was called "balancing your chequebook".
But that was in the days when money was a Real thing.
It was also when people watched this big box thing they had called a "TV set". You had to change the channel on the "TV Set," using a kind of dial thingy on the front. You had to get up off the sofa and walk over to the TV set to do this.
It all seemed pretty high tech at the time.
~
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