May I heartily recommend Bernard Cornwell’s Winter King trilogy?

True. Maybe we should just retire it and switch to “turd in the punchbowl”. It would certainly make putting their money where their mouth is more interesting.

“First degree rioting” is a thing? What’s “second degree rioting”?

In that diner sketch, is it decreed by law that whenever anyone enters an eatery in film or TV, you must always show a random table leaving at the same time?

If he’d stuck with ‘legal’, he’d probably be correct. I gather only one officer is being charged, and on a fairly minor charge at that. That may be correct - the issue isn’t what the cops did; it’s what the law allows them to do. Laws should stop arseholes being arseholes; not legalise it.

No 10,000 miles?

I had two books of his cartoons, which often tended towards SF. There was always this odd tension between the loving craftsmanship of the those elements, and the cynicism with which he seemed to regard the future. “Dark Star” might just as well have been written by him, since it basically plays like an extended take…

*shrug* It doesn’t mean it’s right - just not evil in intent. I think the BMI comparison is about the closest - generally accurate, but with edge cases. However, unlike BMI, it’s critical, and I’d fully agree that if there are any concerns about the result, then more detailed testing should be axiomatic. “Trust but…

Replying in general to those who take comfort in Trump’s stupidity - don’t!

Nice. Also, I never knew Chapman was gay (I know! I have no excuse, other than being old, white, and British), so tnx.

Okay, I did a little research (aka “asked the wife”), and she confirmed something I suspected. One of the main reasons to avoid early scheduled dialysis is that it lessens the chances of recovering natural renal function (“Recovered renal function” is a timeline code in every single database we support). So, putting…

You’d really need to ask a nephrologist - I program renal clinical databases, rather than treating patients - but I think you’re painting a bleaker picture than necessary. This really, really isn’t about denying black people treatment, or giving preferential treatment to white people. Renal failure is a matter of…

I never understood what the beef was with DH2 - it was fun! (and I vaguely recall a PS FPS based on it that I played waay too much of).

I think it’s important to distinguish between human-coded algorithms and those created by AI. We can at least examine the human ones, and we can understand why input X leads to output Y. When an AI creates an algorithm, we genuinely have no idea what’s in it or how it works - and such algorithms are becoming part of…

Nah - “intent” only gets you so far. I’d say “intent” + “social context” = “further”.

AI might well fuck-up, and I’m not saying that the eGFR calc. is correct, but it predates AI by quite a while, and is based on a reasonable statistical sample and techniques, and nothing more.

That’s a misunderstanding. The calculation lacks nuance, and may turn out to be incorrect, but eGFR is not being used to deny Black renal patients clinical care. Renal intervention is a PITA (pre-TX, most dialysis involves 3 hours in a couch, 3 days a week, and feeling like shit most of the time), and trying to…

I vaguely work in this field...

White UK here. I program clinical renal databases for a living, so I’m constantly having to include race in eGFR calculations.

I’m an old man in the UK, so may I kindly ask who the fuck you’re describing, because I need more than just that juicy taster.