'Mass shooting' reported at Sutherland Springs church in Texas

[bcking 3,157]

1 hour ago, IDWAF said:

I challenge you, without looking it up after you read my post, to explain the difference between 1st world and 2nd world, and list 3 countries in each category. 

 

Be honest, there is no shame in trying.

2nd world is a rather antiquated term since it refers to Soviet Union states.

 

I didn't use those two terms, you did. The OECD does not just include "first world countries". It is a group of countries that have agreed to cooperate economically. It happens to include mostly wealthier countries with high quality indexes.

 

So you quoted me commenting about how your argument that we shouldn't compare the USA with poor, unstable countries is flawed and downright stupid because we are better of comparing like with like. Instead of actually responding to that, you tried to push to a tangent.

 

The fact remains - statistically and analytically speaking we are far far better off comparing ourselves to a select few countries. Those thst we share the most similarities with. That way when differenced are found, there are less confounders to attribute those differences.

 

If you can't form a well reasoned argument against that, it's okay. We can just move on.

 

 

Edited November 10, 2017 by bcking

[Boiler 45,852]

3 minutes ago, bcking said:

2nd world is a rather antiquated term since it refers to Soviet Union states.

 

I didn't use those two terms, you did. The OECD does not just include "first world countries". It is a group of countries that have agreed to cooperate economically. It happens to include mostly wealthier countries with high quality indexes.

 

So you quoted me about how your argument that we shouldn't compare the USA with poor, unstable countries because we are better of comparing like with like. Instead of actually responding to that, you tried to push to a tangent.

 

The fact remains - statistically and analytically speaking we are far far better off comparing ourselves to a select few countries. Those thst we share the most similarities with. That way when differenced are found, there are less confounders to attribute those differences.

 

If you can't form a well reasoned argument against that, it's okay. We can just move on.

 

 

A friend of mine was probably still is a Tube Driver/Trainer, I remember he dealt with fatalities mainly suicides. There was more than one a week just in London.

 

Number in Colorado - zero.

Edited November 10, 2017 by Boiler

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

2 minutes ago, bcking said:

2nd world is a rather antiquated term since it refers to Soviet Union states.

 

I didn't use those two terms, you did. The OECD does not just include "first world countries". It is a group of countries that have agreed to cooperate economically. It happens to include mostly wealthier countries with high quality indexes.

 

So you quoted me about how your argument that we shouldn't compare the USA with poor, unstable countries because we are better of comparing like with like. Instead of actually responding to that, you tried to push to a tangent.

 

The fact remains - statistically and analytically speaking we are far far better off comparing ourselves to a select few countries. Those thst we share the most similarities with. That way when differenced are found, there are less confounders to attribute those differences.

 

If you can't form a well reasoned argument against that, it's okay. We can just move on.

 

 

I used those two terms because someone else mentioned them.  

 

My argument, actually, was that we should list ALL countries in order, not just a handful.  But it doesn’t really matter, when you think about it.  Whether we have the worst gun homicide rate, or the 4th, or the 149th worst rate... we have a problem in America.  And no one seems to be able to solve it.

 

Personally, i think a lot of the reason why is due to apathy.  

[bcking 3,157]

2 minutes ago, Boiler said:

A friend of mine was probably still is a Tube Driver/Trainer, I remember he dealt with fatalities mainly suicides. There was more than one a week just in London.

 

Number in Colorado - zero.

Tube suicides? Ya unfortunately that happens.

 

What does that have to do with the current conversation?

[Boiler 45,852]

Colorado twice the size of the UK, never mind London, zero deaths.

 

London just by itself more than one a week.

 

Thought it was obvious. 

[bcking 3,157]

Just now, IDWAF said:

I used those two terms because someone else mentioned them.  

 

My argument, actually, was that we should list ALL countries in order, not just a handful.  But it doesn’t really matter, when you think about it.  Whether we have the worst gun homicide rate, or the 4th, or the 149th worst rate... we have a problem in America.  And no one seems to be able to solve it.

 

Personally, i think a lot of the reason why is due to apathy.  

Yes and my argument is listing all countries together is stupid. Any well educated statistician or pretty much anyone used to looking at data would agree with me.

 

We gain nothing by putting us in a big list with a ton of countries that are miles apart from us. We don't gain anything from comparing us to Sudan, for example.

 

We gain far more by selecting the most similar countries and comparing ourselves to learn from others and see what makes us different.

[bcking 3,157]

5 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Colorado twice the size of the UK, never mind London, zero deaths.

 

London just by itself more than one a week.

 

Thought it was obvious. 

Actually funny enough I thought you wanted to make some comment about how there were no tubes in Colorado (obviously).

 

Colorado is twice the geographical size. Miles don't kill other miles. 

 

London is about 40% bigger (population), and is entirely urban with a very high population density.

 

Wasn't I just talking about comparing like with like? Is that really a hard concept?

 

Edit: I was actually curious just how different they are. Colorado has a population density of 50 per square mile. London is around 3,900.

 

Next do you want to compare a town of 100 people with Switzerland? Seems just as relevant.

Edited November 10, 2017 by bcking

[natty bumppo 297]

2 minutes ago, bcking said:

We gain far more by selecting the most similar countries and comparing ourselves to learn from others and see what makes us different.

Similar, yet not like the USA. We are unique. Nothing wrong about that.

Who wants to be just like the others?

 

If you don't already know what makes the US different ... maybe you'll understand some day

 

[Boiler 45,852]

4 minutes ago, bcking said:

Actually funny enough I thought you wanted to make some comment about how there were no tubes in Colorado (obviously).

 

Colorado is twice the geographical size. Miles don't kill other miles. 

 

London is about 40% bigger (population), and is entirely urban with a very high population density.

 

Wasn't I just talking about comparing like with like? Is that really a hard concept?

 

Edit: I was actually curious just how different they are. Colorado has a population density of 50 per square mile. London is around 3,900.

 

Next do you want to compare a town of 100 people with Switzerland? Seems just as relevant.

At no point have you sought to compare like with like.

[bcking 3,157]

1 minute ago, Boiler said:

At no point have you sought to compare like with like.

Comparing ourselves to other members of the OECD is FAR closer to like with like than comparing us to every country on the planet.

 

Try again.

[Boiler 45,852]

Just now, bcking said:

Comparing ourselves to other members of the OECD is FAR closer to like with like than comparing us to every country on the planet.

 

Try again.

Isnt the UK an OECD member? 

[bcking 3,157]

2 minutes ago, natty bumppo said:

Similar, yet not like the USA. We are unique. Nothing wrong about that.

Who wants to be just like the others?

 

If you don't already know what makes the US different ... maybe you'll understand some day

 

Yes and unfortunately want seems to make us unique is our inability to protect our citizens compared to similarly wealthy and advantaged companies.

 

Oh and our poor health outcomes, despite massive money spent.

 

There are more examples...

 

Quite a list to be proud of these days...

[bcking 3,157]

Just now, Boiler said:

Isnt the UK an OECD member? 

Yes. I'd prefer to compare us to those than what IDWAF was trying to do, which was graph us with all countries.

 

I may have missed part of the thread while I was gone, so if you also happened to point our the flaws in his argument, then apologies.

[Boiler 45,852]

3 minutes ago, bcking said:

Yes. I'd prefer to compare us to those than what IDWAF was trying to do, which was graph us with all countries.

 

I may have missed part of the thread while I was gone, so if you also happened to point our the flaws in his argument, then apologies.

So my comparison is valid, thank you!

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

How come the UK only kills 12K per year with medical errors, but the US kills 250K?