Archive for the ‘Trivia’ Category
Waiting Game
September 18, 2020
The world adds 1,000 new murderers every day
August 28, 2020Of all the causes of deaths, violent deaths probably account for 2 -3%. Intentional homicides globally account for less than 1% of all deaths, though in some countries it can be as high as 10%.
Some murderers kill more than one person. Say 2 of every 10 murderers kills two (10 murderers = 12 murders). That gives us 410,000 fresh murderers every year. Let us further suppose that murderers are 10 times more likely to be murdered than the general population. Even if we take the worst country homicide rate of 50/100,000 and assume that murderers are killed at the rate of 500/100,000, this only rids us of 2,050 murderers annually. The clearance rate of recorded homicides globally is probably less than 50%. However, clearance rates don’t affect the number of murderers in our midst. Execution rates are so low as to not be significant in reducing the growing population of the world’s murderers.
The incontrovertible reality is that we add over 1,000 murderers to the population every day.
Estimating how many murderers are around is more uncertain, but the arithmetic says it should currently be around 25 million (35 / 100,000 of population). To put that in perspective, any cricket match with 30,000 spectators would include 10 murderers in the crowd.
Losing sleep
August 24, 2020I have yet to find a political party which represents my views.
But of all the various parties from left to right, I find I am diametrically opposed to the various green parties on almost every issue. They have almost cornered the market on stupidity.
Resolution of armed conflicts
August 14, 2020With age they say comes wisdom.
In my case it shows up as cynicism.
There are no effective arguments against Force Majeure.
How to disrupt the reincarnation of dead flies
July 15, 2020It is summer, windows are open and the house flies have returned. They are not affected by the coronavirus. Fortunately they do not seem to be carriers either.
Based on past experience, fly swatters are kept available in every room.
Of course they reincarnate, so just swatting them only brings temporary relief. My efforts have now advanced to trying to disrupt their reincarnation process. Empirical evidence suggests that the following actions can gain a few minutes respite even if they cannot stop reincarnation.
- Wrap the swatted fly in tissue and throw into a waste paper basket
- Wrap the swatted fly in tissue and throw into a waste paper basket in another room
- Mash the swatted fly and wrap in tissue and dispose of in a waste paper basket in another room
- Mash the swatted fly and wrap in tissue and aluminium foil and dispose of in a waste paper basket in another room (based on the hypothesis that the foil disrupts after-death communications)
These actions have gained some respite from recurrent fly attacks, ranging from a few minutes up to an hour when foil-wrapping is employed.
However my latest efforts now involve:
- swatting the fly,
- mashing it,
- wrapping in tissue,
- further covering with foil into a tight wad, and
- flushing down the toilet.
This seems to work.
Of course it may just be that the reincarnation is shifted to somewhere else along the sewage system.
I swat them here, I swat them there,
My wife, she swats them everywhere,
Are they immortal? Are they from hell?
Those damnable Musca domesticels
4042
April 16, 2020404.2 posts / year which means I am still ahead of my one post per day target.
Have you noticed?
April 15, 2020Fear and alarm affects the brain and stops people from thinking.
I don’t find sanctimonious platitudes very attractive.
Knowing what you don’t know: Ambushed by the coronavirus
April 2, 2020Ambushed by the coronavirus, 15.5 billion km ago.
10 year old: So the earth moves around the sun and we move with it?
Dad: Yes.
10 year old: And in one hour we have moved 107,000 km along with the earth?
Dad: Yes.
10 year old: And the sun moves around the centre of the galaxy?
Dad: Yes, the sun and the entire solar system orbit the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy.
10 year old: And in one hour the sun has moved 828,000 km?
Dad: Yes.
10 year old: So in one hour I have travelled 935,000 km around the galaxy?
Dad: Yes.
10 year old: And does the galaxy move?
Dad: Yes, It is thought that the galaxy moves 2,160,000 km relative to other galaxies in an hour.
10 year old: So where did the coronavirus come from?
Dad: We don’t know.
10 year old: And it came in November last year?
Dad: Yes.
10 year old: And we have travelled 15.5 billion km since last November?
Dad: Aaaah, Yes. About that.
10 year old: So we could have been ambushed by coronaviruses lying in wait for us there?
Dad: No.
10 year old: But you don’t know where it comes from.
Dad: We don’t know where it came from, but we know it didn’t come from space.
10 year old: So you do know what you don’t know.
Still gone writing
October 22, 2019It has been about 3 months since I decided to stay off this blog and try and bring some other writing projects to conclusions (finish or abandon).
I think it’s working but I have neither finished nor abandoned any of the 7 “projects” I had ongoing.
Another 3 months should begin to generate some clarity.
Nonsense and nonsense
July 23, 2019I am taking a break to try and finish some writing. But it’s slow going and I need a break from my break.
Nonsense verse always rejuvenates.
Trying to write nonsense is not as easy it might seem.
And there are many kinds of nonsense. But nonsense verse must be read aloud.
Cheese and ham
Once the mouse had got his spoon
The cat then stole his ham and peas.
The cow jumped over the waxing moon
If only it wasn’t made of cheese.
Maun thum kun
Maun thum kun lanti brangin frau
Klum framking, framking, panto prang
Tagarn hartino balarmun klau,
Stum ginto, thinto, fanto thrang
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