Re: The Bigger, Badder, Even More Serious Thread

[Eldorion]

Yeah, cloudy water is pretty much the norm in the part of America where I am, though at least it's still somewhat drinkable, unlike some other areas.

[Pettytyrant101]

Pure as if off a Highland Mountain top here Eldo- which it should be as thats exactly where it come from.

[Eldorion]

It's been great for us, the customers, but it seems it will be the downfall of the telephone companies (at least in Norway). Calling, messaging and browsing the internet has become ridiculously cheap over the last couple of years, I really can't see how any of the companies are making profits.

In Canada, the telecoms wanted to do away with flat-rate prices for Internet access and start making people pay based on how much data they go through, and it took *gasp* government intervention to stop that.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/02/03/crtc-internet-clement.html

[Eldorion]

Pure as if off a Highland Mountain top here Eldo- which it should be as thats exactly where it come from.

Now you've gone and reminded me of your pictures of mountains and forests and other stuff where you live. Stop making me jealous!

[Ringdrotten]

That would actually be fair, but I'm glad it doesn't work that way

[Eldorion]

Same here, of course.

[Pettytyrant101]

Mine does work that way. More or less. I pay a monthly amount and I get a download limit which is measured by how much data is sent back and forth. Granted its quite a lot before you go over the limit (if you do that they charge an extra £5 for every 5gig more you use, and it only applies during the day, offpeak there is no limit and it doesnt count it towards your monthly total. So if I have big files to download I tend to do it overnight. In fairness to the company I'm with Ive only once gone over my monthly total and had to pay the extra fiver. And I watch all my tv and films online these days and I only pay £17 a month (no idea how that compares to other countries but its pretty good here compared to other companies prices).

[Ringdrotten]

That's cheap How's the speed ?

[Pettytyrant101]

Variable. But never awful. Its at its best offpeak as you would expect but it gets throttled pretty bad at peak times. I wouldnt even bother trying to upload or download anything major at those times but its still good enough to watch streaming footage (like the BBCiplayer) without too much trouble.


On another subject did any UK folks see Author Sir Terry Pratchett's program on assissted dying last night? It has caused a fair bit of contorversy because they filmed the death, people found this shocking and/or disturbing it seems and felt it shouldn't have been shown.
In my line of work people dying is a common occurance. By definition my job invovles people dying. My job description breaks down to 'caring for people until they die.' The only certain bit when you have a resident is that one day they will be a dead resident. And as it is the policy of Care Homes I've worked in to not leave people to die alone (and many have either no family or no family that care) so I have done 'death duty' many times and been present several times when people have died. For me its a privilage as my mind boggles at all the incidents, coincidences and luck that can lead a person to live a long life and yet at the end it is me sitting by their side. I find it humbling. Other care workers (especially the women) tend to get teary and upset (but being male I always suspect their is an element of 'look at me' and 'this is an excuse not to do any work for the rest of the day' about it, but maybe I'm being harsh there). It does not bother me. But assisted death is different. Especially when dementia is involved, and Sir Terry himself is afflicated this way.
When I go to work I know the personalities of my clients as much as I do the members of staff I will be working with. And those personalities are no less fixed than the staff either. They might not be the people they were, personality might be unrecognizable, memory fractured, reason lost, yet they remain steady characters. I know how residents will react in certain situations because they always react that way to certain things but with dementia there is this notion that people have just lost their minds, flitting from one personality to another. Its just not like that. The question I have to ask is who has the right to end the lives of these emergent personalities? I have one resident who loves wine gums, and I mean loves them. When she gets a bag of wine gums she is like a child in her joyish enthuisasm and unbridled joy. She might have dementia, she might not know who she is, remember her family or be able to reason but she can still experience joy and happiness and laughter. For so long as that is the case I would be very unhappy with someone externally deciding her time had come.

[Ringdrotten]

"For me its a privilage as my mind boggles at all the incidents, coincidences and luck that can lead a person to live a long life and yet at the end it is me sitting by their side."

Must be sad, yet nice too. Life is strange.

On the subject of assisted death I am torn. If it was me chained to a wheelchair unable to do anything myself, requiring 24 hour assistance with everything, I'd want someone to end it for me. On the other hand, there are examples like your dementia patient - who's to say she isn't living a worthy life? And there's the risk that some may be pressured into agreeing to assisted death, because keeping that someone alive is too expensive.

[Pettytyrant101]

For me it is dependant on the suffering. If someone has constant intolerable pain or such, if the quality of life they lead is so bad they simply cannot continue to endure it then I would not like to say they do not have the right to that choice. But right there is the nub, 'choice'. In the case of people whose illness is in the mind this gets dubious. Someone with full dementia is incapable of making such a judgement, for them that choice would be with family, or in the abscence of family some sort of governemnt board (assuming it was made legal) and that scares me given the experciences I've had with committess and boards making changes in care with no practical knowledge of the job. And even in the case, such as Sir Terry, where they have made it clear once a certain stage of the illness is reached they do not wish to go on, even that is not as clear cut as it might first appear. Who they will become after the illness is fully in control is not who they are when they make the decision. In a very real sense that personality is already dead. So does it have the right to decide that the new dementia personality has no right to existence? I don't have an answer to that but it does trouble me when I consider the issue of assissted death particularly in association with dementia.

[Pettytyrant101]

"Thousands of teachers have backed a programme of widespread strikes in England and Wales over changes to their pensions."-BBC news.

So did you have to decide whether to strike or not afterall Kafria?

[Pettytyrant101]

More strike news-

Up to 750,000 public sector workers will hold a co-ordinated strike later this month after members of a third major union backed industrial action.
The PCS said its 290,000 members had to defend themselves against "attacks" on their pensions by the government.
But ministers called it "irresponsible" and said the 32.4% turnout showed the strike had "extremely limited support".
The civil servants will walk out on 30 June - the same days as hundreds of thousands of teachers and lecturers.
The National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers have announced a nationwide walkout, affecting thousands of schools in England and Wales.
Alongside action from PCS members - who include court staff, immigration officers and air traffic controllers - it will be the biggest outbreak of industrial unrest in the public sector for many years.
Labour leader Ed Miliband wrote on Twitter: "Strikes are a sign of failure on both sides. Government needs to get round table not ramp up rhetoric."

Not exactly a stand by the worker comment from Miliband, Labour quite obviously still have their eye on Blair's Middle England more than its working class.
So far strike issues haven't arisen in Scotland thanks to the way the SNP have been directing the money. There are redundencies coming but the SNP have agreed a deal with most of thee public sector up here, and are in talks with the rest, to ensure it is all voluntary and early retirement. England looks like its heading the other way with strikes across the board.

[Kafria]

Didn't make a decision, I am more torn this time as the current round of pension changes do not seem to have a basis in the money and pensions for teachers have already been renegotiated once already since I became a teacher and the current arrangement has been reviewed and found to be affordable!

However, now as last time I will no doubt be out, last time the school managed to open anyway as few of us are NUT, may be the same this time.

Might actually get round to changing unions this time though!

(Not sure I agree with strikes in schools!)

[Pettytyrant101]

Its a tricky one to be sure. Potentially it harms the kids and their education and on the otherhand you can't let your concern for their well being be used as an excuse to be treated badly as a teacher by your employers.

[Pettytyrant101]

Insane news story of the week all the way from Israel.

'A Jewish rabbinical court condemned to death by stoning a stray dog it feared was the reincarnation of a lawyer who insulted its judges, reports say.
The dog entered the Jerusalem financial court several weeks ago and would not leave, reports Israeli website Ynet.
It reminded a judge of a curse passed on a now deceased secular lawyer about 20 years ago, when judges bid his spirit to enter the body of a dog.
The animal is said to have escaped before the sentence was carried out.
One of the judges at the court in the city's ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighbourhood had reportedly asked local children to carry out the sentence.
An animal welfare organisation filed a complaint with the police against a court official, who denied reports that judges had ordered the dog's stoning, according to Ynet.
But a court manager told Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot the stoning had been ordered as "as an appropriate way to 'get back at' the spirit which entered the poor dog", according to Ynet.'

Clearly there's nothing nutty or lacking in reason about this religous thinking after all! Its obvious the dogs the spirit of a cursed dead man. Amazed noone saw it before when it was a puppy, or just wandering the streets. And to think some crazy people might think it had wandered into the financial court for a bit of shade, food and companionship. Dullards!!

[Ringdrotten]

What the...

[Kafria]

Back to the pesions thing!

I wish the government would make up their mind if they are negotiating or not. Yesterday it was "it will happen!" stomp stomp.

Today it's "We will negotiate with reasonable people"

Yet to me this is where the big issue is. You listen to public sector workers and no one is saying "nothing is going to change! Grrr Grrrr!"
What is being said is....

We've already gone through changes that you have analysed to find they are affordable, but you've dismmised that.

Can you imagine a 65yr oldin some of these roles. the new rules will mean people get far less if they have to leave early
(the joke of the week in the prep room was that by making teachers work till 65 they are insuring more of them die in service amd volia.. no pension to pay, saving money. A real concern as a number of teachers who wait till 60 are seriously ill by the time they leave and die younger than you would expect!)

We don't mind paying more... but not if we're going to end up with less. (Some changes will mean that employees will have to work till 65, another 10 years, and retire on less than if they had retired early two or three years ago, ridiculous)

Figures being bandied about by both sides are misleading, which doesn't help either side (government predicitions based on what 1% get, unions including those who did a couple of years and built up very little!)

And the usual - public sector workers have it cushy, stop complaining! being bandied about too!

Wish people would sit down and talk properly!! not trial by press.

Personally, nervous about having to try control teenagers at 65 and keep on top of curriculum and technology changes. Even though pre 2007 entrants are on retire at 60, many already step down and take less demanding roles in the later years of teaching, with a reduction in salary, and consequential reduction in pension (entitlements can't be kept like they once could). (later than that are 65 retire already! it was agreed then that it was unfair to swap those already on the scheme!) Accept that I may have to pay more, but not if I am to get less than I am now! (in teaching, this seems a fair point as the employer contribution is very large at the moment! perhaps we should pay more of our own?)

On a different note, school will have to close. I had forgotten that since the last NUT strike (four years ago) cover rules have changed so that staff in school can not be asked to take a group other than one they ordinarily teach unless it is an unexpected last minute abscene. Even with three cover supervisors there is no way to keep even one year group in school. So some of us will strike and some will sit in a school without kids and have time to plan and mark!

[Eldorion]

What the...

That's what I said. While I'm not the world's biggest fan of Israel, I thought that they were past the point in history where punishing animals for crimes is acceptable. I really hope that this is just some backwater provincial court, but in that case, I would think that higher courts could overturn the decision. I hope that they do...

[Pettytyrant101]

I don't know which bit I find more worrying. That they can still accuse an animal in a court of law or that a court of law is accepting the existance of curses, spirits and animal possession. Actually I find all of it worrying. Really, I thought the human race was passed this nonsense.

Kafria I will get back to your post more in depth later- just doing some internet research! Scottish education is seperate from English but exactly in what ways I am not sure. I don't even know if Scottish teachers are members of the NUT or if they have their own Union so I'm brushing up n the english situation. From the outside looking in I can see what the complaint is, it looks a very unfair deal compared to what you had already agreed. However as a care worker in the private sector even what you are being offered is a hell of a lot better than what I am offered and nobody ever makes care workers pay and conditins headline news, perhaps because the private sector has effectively killed union activity dead (I've worked in or for over 10 different care establishments, not a union rep or any union members in any of them).

[Pettytyrant101]

Had a closer look at the pension issue- and yes you are definetly getting the s****y end of the stick here Kafria. The government postion seems to be inconsistancy. They have veered from thinly veiled threats and declarations of no negotations to there is room for talks. Both can't be true.
Cameron seems to be all over the place of late. He's backpedalled on more policies than I count. And all their policies seem to have been so badly thought that they are all collapsing under scutiny one by one. I suspect the pensions might be his next climb down. But there is a possibility as the media, particularly on the right, and his own backbenchers get jittery and start to turn on him that he might make this issue his stand. In which case this might get a lot worse before it gets better.
The last 'winter of discontent' was in the 70's. Rubbish piled high in the street uncollected, random power cuts and the dead left unburied. Its nowhere near that yet, but then again this is just the start of the austerity measures biting home.

[Kafria]

Part of the problem is that your talking 6 or 7 completely independant schemes as well so changes in each one will have a bigger or lesser effect.

And on the other point, I am well aware that compared to the private sector we are on a relatively good deal, that many low paid workers in the private sector don't have much chance of building up a decent pension, (but you fix that by sorting private pension or state pension options, not pulling down public schemes). It is one of the reasons I am a bit ambivelant about the whole thing. In the last few years I have been aware how lucky I am, in job security and pay terms

[Pettytyrant101]

Been reading a story in the New York Times. Afghan President Karzai has been critiscizing foreign operations in a very public manner.

'Most of Mr. Karzai’s criticisms have centered around civilian casualties and coalition night raids that often lead to them. "

The US Ambassadar in a speech made this very robust response;

'When Americans, who are serving in your country at great cost — in terms of life and treasure — hear themselves compared with occupiers, told that they are only here to advance their own interest, and likened to the brutal enemies of the Afghan people they are filled with confusion and grow weary of our effort here.'

Now whilst I can see his point, coalition troops are laying down their lives for these people in a foreign land, our tax money is funding assisstance and education.
On the other hand this is what sparked the latest war of words;

'His comments came after a coalition airstrike aimed at insurgents in Helmand province killed several civilians, mostly children.
“If they continue their attacks on our houses, then their presence will change from a force that is fighting against terrorism to a force that is fighting against the people of Afghanistan,” he said at the time. “And in that case, history shows what Afghans do with trespassers and with occupiers.”

Now the wording has to be taken in the context of a still largely tribally structured society and taking that into account would it not be more remarkable if he had kept quite? He is the President of these people. If a force suposedly helping the US had killed civilians, especially children, in a raid would not the US President be on every news station making himself heard and condeming it? It would be political suicide to do otherwise.
So why is America, who must know this, making it an incident? Looking for excuses to leave perhaps?

[Eldorion]

So why is America, who must know this, making it an incident? Looking for excuses to leave perhaps?

Because there is a large portion of the American population that literally cannot conceive of the idea that America might do something bad or be oppressive, and it is extremely risky for American politicians to suggest otherwise. During the 2008 election when Obama said he needed to restore America's standing in the world, he got a lot of flak from Republicans for daring to suggest that America had made mistakes that needed to be resolved. Politicians and pundits alike will perform ridiculous mental gymnastics (when they don't just flatly deny everything) to avoid taking admitting that America can do bad.

[Pettytyrant101]

"for daring to suggest that America had made mistakes that needed to be resolved."- Eldo

What did they think 9/11 was about then? Surely the American population by now must have noticed their foreign policies have been so repressive and foused on furthering US interests for decades at the expense of democracy, law and fairness that large parts of the world see them as evil with good reason. If the US population hasn't noticed this why do they think so many places dislike them to point of suicide bombings?