013 Podcast issues multi-lingual threats to exterminate infidels from August 13, 2005

Shire Network News Archive
Shire Network News Archive
013 Podcast issues multi-lingual threats to exterminate infidels from August 13, 2005
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Of note to modern day Shire Network News geeks: this show is the original source of the Blog News bumper clip! About 5 min in you can hear Tom pick it up and use it as we then did for all time.

In this week’s edition of Shire Network News, the official podcast of Silent Running, Our Man in London reports on a very British brouhaha over the former foriegn secretary’s funeral.

A “controversial” Australian historian (and when I say “controversial” I mean not a raving PC nutjob) Keith Widschuttle joins us to discuss the politicisation of history and how to resist it.

And the only New Zealand political party leader to also be an active blogger, Rodney Hide of the ACT Party previews his chances in the upcoming election.

And as always we bring you the Full of Crap Report from Laurence Simon.

Also mentioned, Sheikh Gazza, Lord of the Kyber, Little Green FootballsMEMRI, an alert commenter at Tim Blair’s blog, Chinese attempts to pretend they don’t have suicide bombings there, Internet Haganah and Jawa Report call bullshit on that, the Vietnam veteran who isn’t, a new report on why the Left is crazy and a summation of the various attempts to discredit it, and New Zealand blogs rumoured to be (gasp!) ACT Party boosters – NZ Pundit and Sir Humphreys.

We also have a challenge – send in a series of completely true and yet taken together highly misleading, facts about yourself, strung together in such a way as to make your life sound a lot more interesting that it actually is. Listen to the podcast for a couple of good examples.

If you derive value from my work, please consider donating some value my way. You can find all the details on the donation page.

Science!

012 Podcast announces end to its armed campaign from August 5, 2005

Shire Network News Archive
Shire Network News Archive
012 Podcast announces end to its armed campaign from August 5, 2005
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In this week’s edition of Shire Network News, the official podcast of Silent Running, Our Man in London reports that Tony Blair is apparently taking advice from Scott BurgessHarry and a few other bloggers on how to handle Jihadi inciters.

We go to Baghdad to speak to Omar, from Iraq the Model, about blogging from a war zone, and why what you see on your TV screen is most assuredly not the full picture.

As always we bring you the Full of Crap Report from Laurence Simon, at the end of which I practically beg him to get me a gig on the much bigger and more popular IMAO Podcast. It’s true, I have no shame, and there are no depths to which I will not sink in order to get some fame. What I really want to do eventually is direct though…

And finally we travel to the land of leprechauns, jigs, shamrocks, and…uh…kneecappings. Mick Fealty, the man behind the essential Northern Ireland blog/news portal Slugger O’Toole joins us to talk about the IRA‘s announcement it’s giving up it’s “armed struggle”, and what this means for the future of the province. Anything that means less media coverage for Ted Kennedy’s bloviating is fine with me.

If you derive value from my work, please consider donating some value my way. You can find all the details on the donation page.

Economic forecasting or climate forecasting: which is worse?

It’s hard to tell which “science” is more often wrong: economic forecasting or climate forecasting. Predict, 165,000 – get 304,000. Epic fail.

Every month economists make forecasts about all sorts of things. They use complex computer models filled with invented algorithms into which they feed observations of market movements and any other data they can lay their hands on. At the end the spit out predictions. Which are, pretty regularly, epic fails. Just because the outcome is better than expectation, missing with a prediction by 100% makes that original prediction completely useless and anyone who took action based on that prediction looks like a fool.

The claims made by computer modelling climate “scientists” are usually set much further into the future. So when they fail so epically, the “scientists” have usually spent the intervening years massaging their models to hide how much of an epic fail their entire branch of “science” has been.

The only thing worse than either climate forecasting or economic forecasting, is making economic policies based on climate forecasts.

If you derive value from my work, please consider donating some value my way. You can find all the details on the donation page.

Podcast asks is there something to learn from the Israeli Healthcare system?

BrianofLondon's Forest Talks
BrianofLondon's Forest Talks
Podcast asks is there something to learn from the Israeli Healthcare system?
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Today’s podcast covers my recent experiences with the Israeli health system. I think there is a lot to learn: from booking a GP visit online; the efficiencies of the online systems for booking and results; fewer support staff than I remember from the UK; quick appointments.

The whole system isn’t perfect but even though the cost is somewhat obscured to the user at the point of delivery (just like in the UK system), to my eyes it seems to be run comparatively well.

Even though I’m nervous about my entire medical records being online, I must admit they make the entire system much more efficient and it is great to get emails a few hours after a complex test with a link to the full results.

What do you think? Leave comments below here on brianoflondon.me.