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Coronavirus - the new strain XX

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mandryka said:
OK - I can see a case for media, fashion, interior design. Where I'm sceptical is that there is an economic case for the state to facilitate first degrees in fine arts, music, literature, history.
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Well at the most basic level,, just to perpetuate the knowledge.. via teaching at all levels, to produce a cultured population.. but the Fine Arts etc.. also feed into the more lucrative areas.. everything from film/media etc.. to the tourist 'dollar' from visitors to any number of attractions and institutions.

I was talking about the Arts.. in their broadest sense.. which means.. pretty much everything that isn't 'The Sciences'.

The only thing that Scientists need to note from this is that I am.. in no way 'Anti-Science.' I actually set out to be a scientist.. but suffered from a crippling weakness in Mathematics... which in itself was partly rooted in my literal view of the world.
 
Debs said:
Go away and read my posts. I have no desire to repeat them again for an ill educated twat like you.

You are on igore like the rest of the Muppets. Just because you have an O Level in Biology (or what the **** it ever was in the 1950s) does NOT make you a Biologist.

You, sir, are a ****ing fool.
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If that was aimed at me.. your really have sunk to a new low. You ascribe to me, claims which I have not made. I do indeed have an O level in Biology. Also Chem and Physics. All from the mid 1960s. I also completed a course in Cytology around 1967, but have forgotten most of it. I claim nothing more than a 'layman's' knowledge of Virology. but that does not give you the right to 'diss' my well meant observations.. or my valid questions. You might also wish to note that I have at no point called you a 'muppet','Uneducated twat', or '****ing fool'
Hubris... again..
I do not propose to debate further with you... and your abuse is reported.

Maybe a lie down?
 
Debs said:
Go away and read my posts. I have no desire to repeat them again for an ill educated twat like you.

You are on igore like the rest of the Muppets. Just because you have an O Level in Biology (or what the **** it ever was in the 1950s) does NOT make you a Biologist.

You, sir, are a ****ing fool.
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And you for all your knowledge, and I thank you for sharing it, appear to be losing the plot. @Mullardman is not your enemy.

.sjb
 
@Debs , you cannot breach the AUP, I have seen no-one insulting you. I have however seen you expecting posters to have read posts you may have made a significant time ago, seen you insulting them, and swearing at them. I have seen you posting comments belittling other members, and I have noticed you treating other members with contempt. If you cannot frame your arguments coherently and non-aggressively in future your posting rights will be diminished or removed.

<moderating>
 
Debs,

There’s a great opportunity here for an expert to educate people about immunology and possibly save lives.

Can everyone please just dial it back a couple of notches? The exchanges don’t have to be heated. Sorry for the brevity. I’m on a phone in the wilderness with a very iffy interweb connection.

Joe
 
Joe P said:
Debs,

There’s a great opportunity here for an expert to educate people about immunology and possibly save lives.

Can everyone please just dial it back a couple of notches? The exchanges don’t have to be heated. Sorry for the brevity. I’m on a phone in the wilderness with a very iffy interweb connection.

Joe
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I hope this doesn’t sound condescending Joe, but that is a very wise post. As a fellow - but less sweary - scientist I do understand why frustration happens when stuff which is obvious to us is challenged (in a less that polite way at times using terms like ‘credential waving’). The science we are all trying to discuss is fiendishly complex and involves virology, immunology, biochemistry, epidemiology, statistics and population dynamics. No-one on the planet has enough expertise in all of those specialities to explain clearly to non-scientists why certain ideas should be given more or less weight than another.

Like Debs, I studied at Bristol and the life sciences there were and are (my son also took biochemistry there) very hard courses and I have heard the unflattering comparisons to the more laid-back arts courses many times, although experience tells me that anyone with a degree has done well whatever the topic and someone with a PhD deserves real respect.

The frustration is that I wouldn’t dream of challenging in pejorative language the observation of a fine arts graduate in a thread about the genius of Jackson Pollock (who is a mystery to me), yet we regularly get tweets quoted as gospel quality science in this thread. Rant over…..
 
I guess the fundamental difference is that it really doesn't matter whether Jackson Pollock was a genius, but it matters a great deal if we get the science of contagious diseases wrong.

AFAIK we have no anti-vaxxers or Covid deniers here on pfm (or if we do, they are keeping very quiet), so I think it's fair to assume good faith amongst non-experts who are seeking to understand what, as you say, is a very complex problem.
 
Joe Hutch said:
I guess the fundamental difference is that it really doesn't matter whether Jackson Pollock was a genius, but it matters a great deal if we get the science of contagious diseases wrong.

AFAIK we have no anti-vaxxers or Covid deniers here on pfm (or if we do, they are keeping very quiet), so I think it's fair to assume good faith amongst non-experts who are seeking to understand what, as you say, is a very complex problem.
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But this virus man, it’s messing with people’s minds.
 
I think some people's minds were messed-up to begin with; look at how the 'Bill Gates invented Covid' meme links with the 'Hillary Clinton eats babies' meme amongst the batshit crazy conspiracy theorists.
 
Joe Hutch said:
I think some people's minds were messed-up to begin with; look at how the 'Bill Gates invented Covid' meme links with the 'Hillary Clinton eats babies' meme amongst the batshit crazy conspiracy theorists.
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A term I remember from school but is probably too blunt these days, is ‘wilful stupidity’.
 
Tony L said:
as we move towards a future that no longer requires mass labour and seas of dull middle-managers.
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This article argues that it's dull middle-managers, whose job is basically looking busy without actually contributing anything, who are the ones shouting loudest for a return to the office - because they've realised over the past 18 months that the firm has coped perfectly well without them.

I hadn't thought about it in those terms but I think there's some truth to it.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/why-managers-fear-a-remote-work-future/ar-AAMGW3R
 
It’s odd that people have this idea that arts students are lazy. I have never worked harder in my life than when I was a foundation art student trying to get into Chelsea. I did all day at college then worked in my bedroom until midnight. When I got to Chelsea I worked all the time, when I wasn’t making art I was thinking about it and when I was in the bar I was talking about it. Then when I left and got my own studio (above the Leadmill) I worked all day every day. I wasn’t bothered about selling that wasn’t why I worked. Then I got a job and I haven’t worked since.
 
Certainly not true that all middle-managers contribute nothing. For a start where do super-duper not dull top managers come from ?
 
Of course, it works both ways. When I passed the eleven plus, back in the dawn of time, I was expecting, if not a bike, then maybe a ten bob note. My mother's reaction? 'God gave you the brains'. Which was, I guess, fair comment.
 
MVV said:
It’s odd that people have this idea that arts students are lazy. I have never worked harder in my life than when I was a foundation art student trying to get into Chelsea. I did all day at college then worked in my bedroom until midnight. When I got to Chelsea I worked all the time, when I wasn’t making art I was thinking about it and when I was in the bar I was talking about it. Then when I left and got my own studio (above the Leadmill) I worked all day every day. I wasn’t bothered about selling that wasn’t why I worked. Then I got a job and I haven’t worked since.
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Indeed, whilst at Music College whilst contact time wasn’t high at around 10 hours a week, independent study was essential. 4/5 hours practice a day, plus up to six hours of orchestra, and the academic work to complete as well. As a working musicician/teacher now I do very long days. Successful arts students tend to be very driven, exceedingly committed, and on the whole very intelligent. I think the problem is this government just cannot comprehend how creativity can be such an important earner for the economy. That is however a discussion for another thread.
 
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