Harry's Place

Sounds like he’s in the wrong job.

Useless c*nts

Sounds like he’s in the wrong job.

Except you have to wonder what the right job for someone like him would be.

Other species? Is this those strange people who marry walls and staircases and suchlike? I would think that Alzheimers was the least of their problems.
Anyway, this week the MSM informed us that coffee drinking will stave off and even reverse Alzheimers, so as a confirmed coffee adict I suppose that means I can marry whoever (or whatever) I like.

Indeed. Shouldn’t he be in a field somewhere, showing the benefits of membership to Flossy?

He means ‘White People’

and you can cure gays with Yoga:
“It can be treated like any other congenital defect,” Swami Ramdev said in the challenge filed in the Supreme Court.

“Such tendencies can be treated by yoga, pranayama (breathing exercises) and other meditation techniques.”

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/India-Gay-Sex-Yoga-Expert-Swami-Baba-Ramdev-Challeges-Legalisation-Of-Homosexual-Sex/Article/200907215334781?lpos=World_News_Second_Home_Page_Article_Teaser_Region_4&lid=ARTICLE_15334781_India_Gay_Sex%3A_Yoga_Expert_Swami_Baba_Ramdev_Challeges_Legalisation_Of_Homosexual_Sex
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/India-Gay-Sex-Yoga-Expert-Swami-Baba-Ramdev-Challeges-Legalisation-Of-Homosexual-Sex/Article/200907215334781?lpos=World_News_Second_Home_Page_Article_Teaser_Region_4&lid=ARTICLE_15334781_India_Gay_Sex%3A_Yoga_Expert_Swami_Baba_Ramdev_Challeges_Legalisation_Of_Homosexual_Sex

Well, he got a couple of words mixed up. Like we all do sometimes.

I do recall reading somewhere that there was something in the genetic make-up of Finns (who aren’t closely related in origins to Swedes, or, indeed any of the Scandinavian peoples) that made them particularly prone to certain diseases.

This might be a pertinent wikipedia entry (no comment as regards accuracy, etc)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_heritage_disease

I can’t remember the exact details, and I don’t know how it relates to the bit about the impact of marriage on life expectancy, but I guess that is what the presenter was trying to get at…

This might be a pertinent wikipedia entry (no comment as regards accuracy, etc)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_heritage_disease

I can’t remember the exact details, and I don’t know how it relates to the bit about the impact of marriage on life expectancy, but I guess that is what the presenter was trying to get at…

Um, I’m going to say no.

What. The. Fuck.

So when some societies marry within ’species’ we get second cousin marriages and that’s not healthy.

(Gene hoa about a Friday Fun caption contest http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/searchpopup?picId=10806432)

He is absolutely right.

There is nothing wrong in what he said.

The HP poster is biggoted, in rejecting any mention of genes in behaviour and biology.

Of course one group of people who marry their own will be different to another which does not.

Yes, so he’s a knob- end. And you’re point is?

It’s long been known that married people live longer than single people. Something to do with regularity and order and consolation. As for statistics re ‘mixed marriages’, I would have thought we would have to wait a few more years for those, but if the marriage endures it is no different to marrige between members of the same group. My own parents have endured a very long marriage, and have lived to a ripe old age. Their constant bickering and quarrelling means that neither of them wants to die and leave the other one free to enjoy themselves. Next year, if they survive, they will be ‘celebrating’ their 60th wedding anniversary (or adversity as we now call it). The Queen sends a congratulatory telegram, so I am hoping they will make it.

Or rather- ‘And your point is?’

ganselmi hit it on the head.

Fox and Friends usually can leave you scratching your head, “WTF” but Kilmeade has really outdone himself with this.

No AARGAR, Kilmeade is a total dumb ass. There is about 40 rare diseases are regarded as Finnish heritage diseases related to “pure” ethnicity.

Freudian Slip. He will probably be quietly moved to some obscure overseas news desk, the move being portrayed as a “promotion” of course, Peshawar would be my guess, maybe Kabul, Mmmm, I suppose a little office 100 meter’s from Chernobyl’s gate would allow him to expand his knowledge in the field of genetic mutation, however I don’t think the owners of Fox are that forward looking, so yes, Peshawar would still be my best guess.

But we live in very strange times so they may give him his own prime time show, you never know.

Where do people like Kilmeade or, for that matter, AARGAR come from?

Freudian Slip. He will probably be quietly moved to some obscure overseas news desk, the move being portrayed as a “promotion” of course, Peshawar would be my guess, maybe Kabul, Mmmm, I suppose a little office 100 meter’s from Chernobyl’s gate would allow him to expand his knowledge in the field of genetic mutation, however I don’t think the owners of Fox are that forward looking, so yes, Peshawar would still be my best guess.

But we live in very strange times so they may give him his own prime time show, you never know.

Although neither is highly likely, the latter is more likely than the former.

Finns, heart disease. Very prone. At a (relatively) young age, and it’s genetic, nothing to do with diet or with not taking enough exercise. Or even marital status. I shared an office with a Finnish colleague, and he found out all about it the hard way.

AARGAR, you do know that gense aren’t affected by your marriage don’t you? The only thing that can be affected by the gense of the couple is he offspring. How does that have anything to do with the study? In any case, you guys really shouldn’t take sereously all those “scientific” studies on Fox (those segments in between news shows). These studies aren’t all that reliable anyways and mostly are very dodgy.

“Although neither is highly likely, the latter is more likely than the former.”

Indeed.

Gene, you don’t get FOX. Where’s the hat tip?

Well ,if Philippe Rushton starts to appear on Fox News we know this was just a preview of coming attractions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Philippe_Rushton

Kilmenade should be seen and not heard.

The cutie.

Adding a sterilant to drinking water or staple foods is a suggestion that seems to horrify people more than most proposals for involuntary fertility control. Indeed, this would pose some very difficult political, legal, and social questions, to say nothing of the technical problems. No such sterilant exists today, nor does one appear to be under development. To be acceptable, such a substance would have to meet some rather stiff requirements: it must be uniformly effective, despite widely varying doses received by individuals, and despite varying degrees of fertility and sensitivity among individuals; it must be free of dangerous or unpleasant side effects; and it must have no effect on members of the opposite sex, children, old people, pets, or livestock.

John Holdren

What’s wrong with Ven?

We’re obviously not going to get to the bottom of this without a scientific study. We are going to need two groups, one of Swedes married to other Swedes and another of Americans married to other species (or even Swedes. Or swedes. Or other root vegetables.)

The groups will need to be pair-matched for the ages of the participants (though we may have to calculate some ages in dog years) and the duration of the marriages. It may be necessary to interpret “marriage” to include civil union where one or both partners is a root vegetable. And the study will have to be double-blinded: Neither the researchers nor the participants can be allowed to know who is what species until end of the study.

Then we’ll find out who has dementia.

Italian is supposedly another species, perhaps one ahead of Kilmeade in the evolutionary chain.

Apparently he was a sports presenter. He should have stuck with that.

I like the whistling at the end….

Gretchen CARLSON. Swedish descent.

Excuse me, Gene, but you and the other commenters here must be at least as dense as Kilmeade.

It takes just a few seconds’ thought to realise Kilmeade was probably trying to say that the conclusions of a study of the fairly homogeneous Swedish and Finnish population(s) may not be readily transferable to such a heterogeneous population as the USA’s.

I don’t think his assertion necessarily correct, nor his manner of expressing it clear or elegant. But everyone here has been a bit foolish in failing to look past Kilmeade’s awkwardness to recognise (and perhaps engage with) the very simple point he was trying to make.

In fact, let me translate from Kilmeadese to proper English: “Are the results of a study of the small, fairly homogeneous Swedish and Finnish populations readily transferable to the much larger, far more heterogeneous population of the USA?”

Well, perhaps I am spoiled. I watch the BBC. Despite its numerous faults, the BBC does not employ idiots who may (or may not) be making a reasonable point, but instead come across as racist fuckwits.

Why does Kilmeade come across like that? Well, to employ Ockham’s Razor, perhaps it’s because he is.

Some of the FOX presenters are not the most articulate persons available. Brian Kilmeade is one of those.

What he said may or may not identify him as a racist but having listened to his somewhat uninteresting comments for a few years, this doesnt raise any red flags with me. It is just another expression of his rank ignorance.

The other bloke is not much better. Their constant snide comments about Obama rather garner support for Obama. At least with me.

And their ‘apologies’ for Palin’s gaffs fall on deaf ears. At least with me.

He is a nobody who talks ‘nothing’.

@Ven:

It doesn’t matter if you have children within your own ethnicity or with others, because the moment you get married by a Catholic priest, your marriage is sanctioned by God and you can’t have children with gene problems. Theologically certified.

Other species? Pure genes? Finns have a rule that Finns marry other Finns?

This should be on Comedy Central.

Regards,

Inna

What the fuck are pure genes? Or rather what are genes that aren’t pure?

Presumably Brian Kilmeade is living proof of his own arguments?

I suspect a mix of hedgehog, great auk and some sort of aquatic polyp in his genetic mix.

Fabian – errr…well I dare say the odd “scientific racist” who had slipped on a cloak of home-made “theology” would be in full agreement with you.

(despite the fact that the Catholic Church, ever since notions of so-called “racial science” first mistakenly emerged, has been, and in its continuing uncompromising opposition to abortion, euthanasia, etc, has always been,a nd continues to be, the most vigorous opponent of this sort of baloney)

But I suppose then again some people are always unable to restrain their vile anti-Catholic bigotry.

Having now watched that clip (and being reminded, a, how great the BBC are in comparison with pretty much every other media corporation in the world and, b, why I haven’t owned a TV for 16 years), the guy is obviously an idiot, but I don’t think there is anything malign in what he says.

I’m no geneticist, but he thing about Finnish genetic pecularities iand ensuing strangely high vulnerablity to various forms of disease is pretty well known to anyone who knows much about Finland. It’s not some remote and abstruse point.

I don’t think his assertion necessarily correct, nor his manner of expressing it clear or elegant. But everyone here has been a bit foolish in failing to look past Kilmeade’s awkwardness to recognise (and perhaps engage with) the very simple point he was trying to make.

Two points:

–As far as I can tell, the study compared rates of Alzheimer’s and dementia among Swedes and Finns who have had long marriages to Swedes and Finns who haven’t. To go from that to a discussion of the genetic distinctiveness of Swedes and Finns compared to other populations is truly bizarre.

–Kilmeade is presumably paid big bucks by FOX to be, among other things, minimally articulate.

Gene

I am paid nothing to be minimally articulate – how unfair is that!

The only Finn I know is married to an Indian GP. She returns to Finland each Summer and gets eaten alive by midges. So, Finns don’t always marry Finns, and their genetic adaptation is a mess.

It doesn’t matter if you have children within your own ethnicity or with others, because the moment you get married by a Catholic priest, your marriage is sanctioned by God and you can’t have children with gene problems. Theologically certified.

WTF are you on about?

WTF are you on about?

I think it’s either

a) a joke; or

b) an audition to become a FOX News anchor.

I don’t think there is anything malign in what he says.

Anyone who talks about genetic purity should be treated with the utmost suspicion.

Has he got Alzheimers one wonders?

The only Finn I know married someone of UK-possibly Chinese descent somewhere along the line.

According to Swedes and Norwegians, Finns are a bit crazy and violent. They certainly have a high suicide rate I believe. The Finn I know, their brother committed suicide. Only a sample of one, but there you go…

It was a joke. It was directed to Ven, because I think she is the only one in this thread who takes seriously the idea that God watches over a religious marriage.
It could also have been directed against Rabbis or Prostestant ministers. I don’t know enough of the theology of Islam for making that joke about them. I guess that God has a hard time watching over the Muslim woman, since she is sometimes covered in a sack.

I guess that God has a hard time watching over the Muslim woman, since she is sometimes covered in a sack.

Don’t be silly, God has X-ray vision. It’s a by-product of living under our yellow sun

Philo-Semite:
In fact, let me translate from Kilmeadese to proper English: “Are the results of a study of the small, fairly homogeneous Swedish and Finnish populations readily transferable to the much larger, far more heterogeneous population of the USA?”

Erm… yes, given that genetics is ostensibly irrelevant to the subject of the study (marriage). Unless marriage somehow activates genes which provide resistance against alzheimers, and these genes are unique to the Finns and Swedes.

A much better question would be: Are the results of a study conducted in countries that are so near to the arctic circle, readily transferrable to countries which aren’t so near the arctic circle?

@Gene

1. Kilmeade is surely not the only major talking head who is inarticulate. The USA even had a President – far more powerful than a mere news commentator – who was spectacularly inarticulate.

The venerable Grey Lady herself (New York Times) once published a half-page article lamenting the tribulations of a Times “international reporter” newly-transferred from New York to London, who simply appeared at Heathrow and announced to customs, “I’m here to work”. Even more amazing than an “international” reporter so incompetent as not to realise one needs a work visa in advance before entering another country, was the fact that the Times advertised rather than hid its incomptetence.

I remember one (Beeb?) anchor who mis-read the teleprompter, identifying two runaway cows as being named “Black and Gus” (black Angus!).

All to say that incompetence (or mere inarticulateness) in the news media is so common as to be unremarkable.

2. Kilmeade said nothing about “genetic distinctiveness”. He said “pure genes,” by which I infer not any bizarre or complex racist theory on Kilmeade’s part, but simply Kilmeade’s inarticulate (your correct term) way to introduce the issue of homogeneity in the study’s subjects. It’s a valid question. Kilmeade may be wrong in asserting the study not tranferable at all, but it’s not so unreasonable a question to ask.

@Hector

You seem to have ignored my statement that “I don’t think [Kilmeade's] assertion necessarily correct.” I merely formulated his assertion into reasonable English.

However, Kilmeade’s assertion isn’t an obviously incorrect one, either. Most medical parameters (starting with height) show far greater variance in the USA (and other high-immigration new-world countries) than in the more homogeneous populations of smaller, old-world countries. It’s observable even in the far wider range of clothing sizes and shapes available in the USA.

That the issue (of population homogeneity vs heterogeneity) might affect the applicability of a study is not only conceivable, but probable. In other words, Kilmeade’s question remains a very good one even if his skills of expression are not.

Ordinarily, Harry’s commenters are fairly astute. I am truly surprised that an entire thread of comments was generated without anyone realising the question Kilmeade was trying to ask – “To what extent does population homogeneity raise issues of transferability of results?”

I point out as well that the same heterogeneity vs homogeneity issue also affects social and cultural behaviour, and is frequently cited as one of the reasons the USA has more social conflict, a more difficult time establishing social norms, lesser “social solidarity,” greater problems managing social programmes, more problems trying to establish consensus for national health insurance, more problems trying to establish gun control, etc.

The heterogeneity of the USA is even evident in its restaurant hours. French and Italians generally dine from 7pm to 9pm; the Spanish, from 8pm to 10pm. The Americans, however, range from 4pm to 11pm, with many a restaurant open 24 hours. I’ve walked into restaurants in the USA at 3pm and been served, while doing the same in France (if the door were even opened) would simply elicit, “C’est un fou!”

All to conclude, once again – the study results may or may not be transferable, but Kilmeade’s question wasn’t entirely so stupid as was his manner of delivery.

P.S. If the heterogeneity of the American population affects both medical and cultural norms, it certainly could affect behaviour in marriage – and, inversely, the effects of marriage on health.

So, there’s an opportunity for a sociologist or public health student to attempt to reproduce the study’s results in the USA – reproducible results being a normal research requirement in any case. I expect it to be someone’s nice little post-graduate thesis.

To Clap Hammer
11 July 2009, 6:43 am

The other bloke is not much better. Their constant snide comments about Obama rather garner support for Obama. At least with me.

Funny, Brian walked off the set one day because of what he thouht was Obama bashing. Any connection – Obama defender/idiot statement?? Sounds about par for the course.

I’ve walked into restaurants in the USA at 3pm and been served, while doing the same in France (if the door were even opened) would simply elicit, “C’est un fou!”

Not when I live in France. You would, of course, be served lunch.

I have not noticed the problems that you speak of with social heterogeneity in Luxembourg, Switzerland or Canada.

Fabia from Israel
“I guess that God has a hard time watching over the Muslim woman, since she is sometimes covered in a sack.”

God is all seeing
Using your logic God would have problems seeing what Orthodox Jews get up in the dark on Sabbath because their primitive tribal cult forbids them turning on a light!

Philo-Semite

I have rarely seen such a set of clearly controvertible set of interpretations for commodity variety and sale opportunities in developed countries.

That, however, you have managed to work in a racial element as an explanation for the wider number of objects available for purchase in developed countries and as an explanation for later shopping hours in such states is, however, truly remarkable… if a bit weird, frankly.

Calm down! All we need if for a “journalist” from the News of the Screws to tap his phone and we will soon sort this all out.

Classic of Fox news… They live in their own world.

Talk about a revealing slip! Kilmeade’s remark about “inter-species” marriages sounds like something believers in Eugenics like Dr. William Shockley would have said. Shockley, an American physicist who was co-inventor of the transistor, for which he shared in the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1956, spent his latter years in the 1970s & 80s trying to prove that blacks were genetically inferior to whites. Link to Shockley bio at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shockley .

Question: Are Kilmeade’s coments and Carlson’s amazed reaction an example of Fox’s “fair and balanced” coverage?

As for Kilmeade’s next assignment, believe it will have something to do with covering the unrest in far western China with occasional news features from Mongolia.

Sue R – 10 July, 8:20 PM: Yes, my parents have done 56 years of their life sentence so far; their determination to outlive the other is their primary motivation and has kept them going strong. My mother turned 84 in May and the Good Lord Willing, my Dad will be 81 in September.

@hasan

“Not when I live in France. You would, of course, be served lunch.”

Not where I lived in France for decades. You’d be offered an omelette, or a croque monsieur, or a sandwich Paris-beurre at the zinc. But to expect a full meal would have you labelled an oddball.

“I have not noticed the problems that you speak of with social heterogeneity in Luxembourg, Switzerland or Canada.”

First, I did not speak of any “problems” of social heterogeneity; I simply observed that Kilmeade had a point that European countries such as Finland or Sweden have populations which are smaller and more homogeneous than the USA.

Second, you have not understood the point. Luxembourg and Switzerland are miniscule compared to the USA, and do indeed have a certain homogeneity of attitude even if not of language.

Canada is sui generis.

Kilmeade remains correct that sociology and epidemiology and other such studies need take into account differences in population, in scale, and in heterogeneity between the USA and Scandinavian countries.

@ermintrude

“you have managed to work in a racial element as an explanation for the wider number of objects available for purchase in developed countries and as an explanation for later shopping hours in such states is, however, truly remarkable”

Nothing racial about it. You’re quite ignorant of international cultural differences if you were unaware of consumer marketing differences from country to country, whether in clothing or in dining. Marketing of ANY good differs from culture to culture, as does the practice of medicine, as do sociology and social work.

The Americans make the mistake in reverse when they marketed left-hand-drive vehicles in Japan, or marketed a completely alcohol-free Disney Europe to visitors who expect wine or beer with lunch.

Cultures differ. Some are more homogeneous in attitudes and habits, some less. As nations of immigrants, countries such as the USA, Canada, Argentina, and Brasil can be argued to be far more heterogeneous than Finland or Sweden. That’s all Kilmeade was trying to suggest, in his inarticulate way.