Much good there to critique :-).
I'll tak just one small aspect for now.

>> For me, with a family history 4 out of 4 of severe heart disease a
>> generation back on one side, and 1/1 2 back, that would be good news.
>> For the many people for whom "cancer of some sort or other runs in
>> the family" it would be equally good news.

> Just because something happens in people related to each other doesn't
> mean that it has a genetic component. There may be shared behavioral
> patters. These are as complex as genetics (meaning more complex in their
> interactions than we can grasp at this point), so we can't quite discard
> this possibility -- and maybe it could just as well explain some of
> those clusters.

The daughter goes to England in her early 20's, marries an Englishman
and settles down. Comes back to NZ only later in life. Lives a healthy
outdoor lifetyle. Lives in a house in the country one a farm
surrounded hilltop.

Eldest son moves to Cook Islands. laid back lifestyle, tropical
climate. Raises 12 children. Moves to NZ capital - wet and windy
Wellington only later in life.

Middle son has a desk job but is keen on hiking and rambling. Found on
windy lonely beaches and country walks and ... .  Overeater in later
life and heavier than would be advisable.

Youngest son fairly fit and fairly thin. Bests by heart issues in
middlelife. Dies youngest of all.

Father. WW1 rifleman, Dardanelles* and then Western front*. I remember
him as tallish and slimmish and certainly not fat. (* If he'd died
there, as many did, the sample of 4 below, and me, would not exist).

All die of heart attacks. All have bypass surgery (except youngest who
is too sick to tolerate).

Natures, lifestyles, physiques, weight, country of residence etc are a
broad  mix. The overwhelming commonality is the heart disease and
patterns thereof. Even at a sample of 5, even the IPCC would find it
vastly hard to reject the notion that the nature and extent of the
correlation strongly suggests causation.
Only a sample. But a notable one.



    R
--=20
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