sethoflagos

IMO this is post-modernist nonsense: a corruption of language; and fundamentally opposed to scientific orthodoxy. In scientific usage of English in the last 350-odd years, 'truth' and 'fact' have been used synonymously in their primary sense of meaning: the opposite of 'false'. Before that, 'fact' essentially existed in the language through its occurrence in the Vulgate: ... the primary meaning being 'done'. 'True' on the other hand goes back deep into the Germanic roots of English, where it shares an etymology with 'tree' to give meanings of 'steadfast, faithful, loyal'. Some of these older senses still exist in general English usage ('after-the-fact', 'a true edge' etc.), so they are not mathematically equal in all senses. But in their particular common scientific sense of 'not false', is equivalent to the extent that anyone attempting to split them is trying to rewrite the dictionaries.

Not so much. Check the origins of the current French squad: it's overwhelmingly drawn from second generation African immigrants - Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Algeria, Cameroon, Benin, DRC... Also puts any interesting slant on why there is only one African team (Morocco) in the top ten.

Certainly in real life engineering, determining the 'right answer' to a well-framed problem is usually a trivial affair. The real challenge is in determining what question is actually being asked among a mass of often incomplete, often biased data My experience is that some nationalities tend to be better at this than others. Those whose education systems prioritise rote learning over analytical skills don't fare so well here.

Could examiners reverse this trend by switching strategy away from 'what is the result?' type questions to 'this is the result; why is it so?' The stress would then be on having a sound understanding of the fundamentals, and the way they mesh together in order to generate what we observe. I'm not saying that LLMs would be incapable of tackling this, but it is computationally a lot more difficult, and demands well thought out prompts. An example of the journey being at least as important as the destination, if not more so.

... and the semifinalists just happen to be the top four nations in the Fifa world rankings. As the competition progresses, and teams get worn down by fatigue, injuries, and suspensions, the pendulum swings significantly in favour of the teams with greatest strength in depth. With the notable exception of Norway's defeat of Brazil, the results of the last two rounds have gone to form. I'm hoping for a Spain vs England final, but history says it's tons more likely to be France vs Argentina. As this is the Politics section, and given the state of the Trump-Macron relationship, I wouldn't actually mind seeing France be overwhelmingly victorious in the US. Particularly given the preponderance of African ancestry among the leading figures in the French team. Emphasising a link between a nation's current strength and a liberal past immigration policy would not be a bad thing.

They'll have to play much better than they did last night.

It gave me 'top 13%' though I've really little idea what population that represents. Worst one was pinning a 17th century Indian sketch as 8th century Persian. Just the one point for that. Right continent I suppose.

Only a temporary reprieve. 2-0 now and into the final quarter.

Oh, I missed that. Perfect! We will fight them with humility! Very Ghandiesque. (Though I fear the lesson may be lost on many)

Apologies for my understatement. Bad British conceit that doesn't really travel. Rather like our concept of being 'good sports'. Sometimes I think that's just an excuse for not being particularly good at anything except maybe word play. And even the Irish often beat us at that. Come the revolution... 🧱 Did notice Mr Bezos in the crowd. I do so hope he wasn't too disappointed. Al Jazeera perspective

In the event, Belgium rose to respond to the iniquity in the best possible way. No rough stuff; nothing cynical; didn't even pick up a yellow card. A small victory for fair play.

Just not something England would do, even if they disagreed with the decision. Wouldn't want to be accused of bad sportsmanship. The principled action for the US team would be to not field Balogun for tonight's game. But there's fat chance of that happening is there.

Point taken. But unlike Brazil, the England players know Haaland very well - keeping him quiet has become an essential part of the Premiership toolkit. A can you see a viking goal coming from anyone else?

Puh-lease! We're trying to discuss some serious science stuff here!

They'll beat Norway but lose to both Argentina and Spain. You expecting ICE to detain half the Belgian squad?

Personally, I'm happy to see our diaspora Lagos boy get a second chance - the sending off was on the harsh side. Ironic that his qualification to play for the US in the current climate is down to an airline refusing his heavily pregnant mother to board her return flight to London following a brief visit to New York. No harm in having the corrupt nature of US immigration policy highlighted for all to see. Besides which, in order to reach the final, the US have to get past Belgium, Spain, and France. Good luck with that! And if he beats all those odds, he'll either get to face England, the team he would have played for if he'd been good enough, or a team good enough to beat England. ...so give the US team the benefit of the doubt in all marginal decisions, and leave the US administration without a shred of an excuse when they bear the humiliation of an inevitable defeat.

... and definitely not confined to the Paridae (tit family) either. See "Cloaca Pecking Foreplay in Dunnock Courtship" for similar 'shenanigans' in genus Prunella. Incidentally, for those unfamiliar with this particular LBJ, dunnock derives from the Old English for 'little brown bird'. Hence, it is the archetypal 'Little Brown Job'.

The 'true' (translated!?) text is:

Do we have an attribution glitch in the works?

Some think this a 'bad' poem:

Why are these not simply examples of psychological manipulation? - the often willful means of reducing the critical thinking capabilities of the audience to the point that they will accept dodgy assertions as "true"/"factual" when they are not so. Reminds me of that old chestnut of Kierkegaard's: (paraphrasing) "If ten thousand people assemble and say the same thing; they're wrong even when they're right". Simple belief does not establish actual "truth"/"fact" for anyone. The claim to "truth" under such conditions merely demonstrates conviction, not veracity.

Whereas Haver & Boecker Niagara suggest the preformed liner version is "easy to cut and install". Wonder if we'll ever get to see a proper independent fault analysis.

Some staff at my school were leading lights in York Amateur Operatic Society, so I got regular paying gigs as trumpet in the pit orchestra. Learnt Mikado, Pinafore, Pirates, Iolanthe, Gondoliers, and Yeomen pretty much back to front. Nice little earner at the time - half Musician's Union rate for a pre-teen!

Mikado version

Emily finds British legislation confusing: Wales Act on sin on a canon is not case law