The Off Topic Topic

[Josquius]

The languish law brigade ran into this one yet?

This is a pretty hilariously #AMERICA story.

I do wonder whether the insurance company made a big error in the wording here and the woman is a genius to spot it or she's just a chancer.

BBC News - Car insurer Geico may have to pay $5m after woman contracts STI in a vehicle
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-61763333

[DGuller]

Could be a collusion with the guy, with the guy being the mastermind.  As far as I understand it, the woman sued the guy and he agreed to settle for $5 million, and GEICO supposedly gave up its right to have a say in the settlement by denying the claim.  I think it would be fairly obvious that the guy wouldn't agree to pay out $5 million for this nonsense unless he thought he could get it reimbursed from his insurance company (and I'm sure that later on that $5 million would be split).

[The Minsky Moment]

There's always a risk for an insurance company to deny a defense to a purportedly covered person because if the insurer loses the coverage defense, it is screwed.

The underlying claim was arbitrated, and arbitration can be a kind of legal black box.  The arbitrator may, but is not always required to, articulate a reasoned explanation.  The grounds for overturning an arbitral award are extremely narrow.

[The Brain]

Some opposition parties in Sweden want to ban marriage between cousins. The reason? In criminal clans "keeping it in the family" helps with clan cohesion and therefore helps support criminal activity. What the hell. Also something about medical reasons, which is insane, and something about forced marriage, which is already illegal.

[Admiral Yi]

Some opposition parties in Sweden want to ban marriage between cousins. The reason? In criminal clans "keeping it in the family" helps with clan cohesion and therefore helps support criminal activity. What the hell. Also something about medical reasons, which is insane, and something about forced marriage, which is already illegal.

Insane how?  Have the results of inbreeding ceased while I wasn't watching?

[Josquius]

Some opposition parties in Sweden want to ban marriage between cousins. The reason? In criminal clans "keeping it in the family" helps with clan cohesion and therefore helps support criminal activity. What the hell. Also something about medical reasons, which is insane, and something about forced marriage, which is already illegal.

Insane how?  Have the results of inbreeding ceased while I wasn't watching?

Spoken like a man with ugly cousins.

[Sheilbh]

I wasn't sure if it was legal here or not. I searched Google and the first result was an explainer from Somerset Live, which tracks

[Admiral Yi]

Spoken like a man with ugly cousins.

Al contrario.

[HVC]

Genetic harm of kissing cousins is overblown. Takes a few generations of pruning the family tree. Good old Charles didn't spring up because one pair of cousins did the nasty. Until recently it was pretty common, especially in smaller villages and the like.

[The Brain]

Some opposition parties in Sweden want to ban marriage between cousins. The reason? In criminal clans "keeping it in the family" helps with clan cohesion and therefore helps support criminal activity. What the hell. Also something about medical reasons, which is insane, and something about forced marriage, which is already illegal.

Insane how?  Have the results of inbreeding ceased while I wasn't watching?

My impression is that the risks are limited. And deciding that some people shouldn't have kids together because the kids have a higher chance of health problems is a box best left unopened.

[Jacob]

Thailand 420: Legalaew - Thailand just legalized marijuana apparently, as the first country in Asia to do so. You still need a medical condition to be allowed to smoke it, though.

[Eddie Teach]

It helps with my paranoia.

[Josquius]

Thailand 420: Legalaew - Thailand just legalized marijuana apparently, as the first country in Asia to do so. You still need a medical condition to be allowed to smoke it, though.

Wow. That's... Unexpected. Thailand is pretty infamous for all those times tourists get locked in hell prisons for having a quarter or two.

Though of course also the second biggest pothead tourist destination so....

[Josquius]

I'm in Prague.
Got me thinking about cosmopolitanism. Its weird stuff really.
It's not just about having a diverse population. There's more to it than that.
In the UK we have people from all over... But it's not very cosmopolitan.
High streets are full of generic kebab/pizza shops and identikit Chinese takeaways-my local "chinkies" is under new management, the old couple who ran it are gone and there's a family there instead. With the same name and same menu that tastes no different. The only change is they're not open lunch times. There must be quite a set up for Hong Kong immigrants to set up these generic English Chinese establishments.
In Prague meanwhile... I wager foreigners make up a smaller percentage of the population overall but you see all sorts of shops about.
In the UK its rare to see an Indian restaurant that is any more than that. But in cosmopolitan places you get various regional specialties.
I want to blame the business rates setup.
But I fear it might be that British people are just really bloody closed minded.

[The Larch]

I'm in Prague.
Got me thinking about cosmopolitanism. Its weird stuff really.
It's not just about having a diverse population. There's more to it than that.
In the UK we have people from all over... But it's not very cosmopolitan.
High streets are full of generic kebab/pizza shops and identikit Chinese takeaways-my local "chinkies" is under new management, the old couple who ran it are gone and there's a family there instead. With the same name and same menu that tastes no different. The only change is they're not open lunch times. There must be quite a set up for Hong Kong immigrants to set up these generic English Chinese establishments.
In Prague meanwhile... I wager foreigners make up a smaller percentage of the population overall but you see all sorts of shops about.
In the UK its rare to see an Indian restaurant that is any more than that. But in cosmopolitan places you get various regional specialties.
I want to blame the business rates setup.
But I fear it might be that British people are just really bloody closed minded.

I assume you're simply ignoring London from your equation.