Midsomer Murders

While binge watching Midsomer Murders on YLE Areena ... yes, I know....but there is a correlation between watching crap TV/Movies and intelligence - or at least I hope there is.... anyway, there seems to be a remarkably high rate of murder, which prompts some interesting shower thoughts....

1. Firstly any detective posted to Midsomer is obviously at the peak of his career - you're never going to be bored and solving the crime is always going to be a challenge. Positions in the Midsomer police force must therefore be highly coveted.
2. It is probably a good thing that Morse was never assigned to Midsomer...given the frequency that pubs play some role in the cases would imply that Morse would be succumb to severe alcohol poisoning after just a few cases.
3. Jessica Fletcher could be one of the most prolific mass murderers ever...even surpassing Miss Marple...

Various people have calculated the murder rates for fictional TV towns and come up with the conclusion that...well...let's see:

• The average rate in England and Wales (2010) is approximately 9-10 murders per million.
• The rate in Midsomer is around 32 murders per million, approximately 3 times the UK average
• In rate in Cabot Cove, home of Jessica Fletcher is 1490 murders per million (approx 130 times the UK average and 38 times the US average)

Here are the current rates worldwide for comparison, and summarised in murders per million

UK  9
USA 39
Honduras  846
Midsomer 32
Cabot Cove 1490

ePrivacy Directive

It seems that the proposal for the new ePrivacy Directive has been leaked - not quite sure I'd put it in the same league as the Panama Papers but good to see an early draft of the most important piece of potential privacy legislation since the GDPR

Here's the link to the PDF: http://www.politico.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/POLITICO-e-privacy-directive-review-draft-december.pdf

It is highly unlikely that this will be retracted or hidden...something called the Streisand Effect.

As this concerns networks and OTT service providers this is potentially far more interesting that the GDPR in its scope. And, before someone goes off on a Daily Mail style anti-EU rant ( "EU bureaucrat demand that companies protect user data is evil" kind of thing ), this brings greater clarity and consistency to companies and EU citizens regarding how companies can use, profit from, market, sell etc, their data - good stuff!