"“Connected” is one of the most generic, but most loaded, buzzwords still in circulation, and for a reason. The notion that information technology is increasingly connecting our lives, for better and worse, is a rudiment of the web 1.0—and the term remains coded with both utopian and dystopian tones. Connectivity promises closeness and efficiency, yet threatens to render us vulnerable and superficial."
It's not brilliant, not awful, but it could be improved an order of magnitude if it was retitled.
https://youtu.be/iWLcWHYmgpg
[Leaving a long gap to avoid spoilers, not that I think it matters that much]
I suggest Star Trek Borg Origins. It's far more fun when you realise the Borg evolved from bored New Age housewives.
The end is, I guess, supposed to be sinister, except that it's not clear why it's sinister. If telepathic technologies are developed, it will just be a thing that happens.
Tuesday, 9 February 2016
David Cameron's own mum is against austerity
Speaks for itself, really.
Originally shared by Bernard Kelly
She knows he's an idiot with no clue about the consequences of his policies.
http://www.itv.com/news/2016-02-09/david-camerons-mum-signs-petition-against-conservative-cuts/
Originally shared by Bernard Kelly
She knows he's an idiot with no clue about the consequences of his policies.
http://www.itv.com/news/2016-02-09/david-camerons-mum-signs-petition-against-conservative-cuts/
Eating whales is just silly
Whale meat is not (for the most part) integral to Japanese culture nor is it profitable. By all accounts the taste is nothing special. The reason Japan keeps hunting whales, according to this article, has little to do with traditional Japanese culture or corporate greed, but government bureaucracy. Or as Sir Humphrey would have put it :
"We don't measure success by results but by activity ! The civil service does not make profits or losses. Ergo we measure success by the size of our staff and budget, the size of our whaling fleet and the number of whales we catch. By definition a big department is more successful than a small one. This simple proposition is the basis of our whole system."
Hypothesis : there is no political situation not explored by Yes Minister.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-35397749
"We don't measure success by results but by activity ! The civil service does not make profits or losses. Ergo we measure success by the size of our staff and budget, the size of our whaling fleet and the number of whales we catch. By definition a big department is more successful than a small one. This simple proposition is the basis of our whole system."
Hypothesis : there is no political situation not explored by Yes Minister.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-35397749
Monday, 8 February 2016
The Heavy Water War
I finally watched The Imitation Game last night, which is very good within the confines of its somewhat patchy historical accuracy. Mostly I can forgive it apart from its depiction of Alan Turning as a misanthropic genius. I don't know why people still insist on believing that mathematical brilliance corresponds to social maladjustment. Oh well, Benedict Cumberbatch can act the part, and at least the other characters didn't fit that stereotype.
Anyway today I discovered The Heavy Water War on Netflix, which looks to be a great little series from the first episode. It tells the story of the efforts to sabotage Norweigan heavy water production during WWII, which the Nazis wanted for nuclear weapons. Episode one is so well-made I can't believe it's going to put a foot wrong. Solid cast, very high quality production of a fascinating historical episode.
Time for a short break for some Fallout 4 before resuming with episode 2...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_8p2fROkMc
Anyway today I discovered The Heavy Water War on Netflix, which looks to be a great little series from the first episode. It tells the story of the efforts to sabotage Norweigan heavy water production during WWII, which the Nazis wanted for nuclear weapons. Episode one is so well-made I can't believe it's going to put a foot wrong. Solid cast, very high quality production of a fascinating historical episode.
Time for a short break for some Fallout 4 before resuming with episode 2...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_8p2fROkMc
Eagles versus drones : it's getting real
OK, so apparently the eagles-vs-drone thing is actually being taken seriously.
The future is looking very, very strange.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35519470
The future is looking very, very strange.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35519470
Deporting the poor people, because that totally makes sense
Tory wealthism and xenophobia again. I first heard of the notion of deporting people (non-EU citizens) earning less than £35k a few weeks ago but assumed that such a radical idea was just Theresa's extremist mouth not knowing when to shut up, as usual. But no, it's actually happening - in April !
There is a petition organized here :
http://www.stop35k.org/
It currently has 97,000 signatures. At 100,000 it will be considered for a debate in Parliament. The government already responded to the petition, which you can read here :
https://petition.parliament.uk/signatures/9825982/signed/yNwh0dRMIJGfWia9tWR
Let us assume for argument's sake that the UK is suffering a population crisis. If so, the last people you want to be deporting at those earning £35k, which is well above the ~£25k national average. These people are skilled workers, who cannot possibly be the "coming over 'ere, stealin' our jobs" type. I suppose it might sort of make a horribly twisted sense to deport people earning the minimum wage, if that was really a problem, if they'd been here for years. Maybe.
OK, I get that not everyone who comes here to work is automatically entitled to permanent residency. But if you're going to kick people out based on their salary, you have to make that abundantly clear from the offset and that has not been the case.
OK, you want to encourage employers to train British workers. I would even say that is commendable, but the method is absurd. You can't suddenly decide to throw people out because they're not earning above an arbitrary threshold. I dunno, give tax breaks to employers who create training programs for locals or something, maybe ? And maybe this rather small group (35,000) of people are doing jobs for which there just aren't qualified locals at present.
The plan to help the economy by throwing out a very small number of highly skilled people, many of whom have been here for years and established lives for themselves, pay their taxes and contribute to the economy, is estimated to cost the taxpayer £200-500 million. I don't get it.
Originally shared by null
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/theresa-may-teachers-charity-workers-nhs-staff-scientists-kick-out-of-britain-stop35k-a6853891.html
There is a petition organized here :
http://www.stop35k.org/
It currently has 97,000 signatures. At 100,000 it will be considered for a debate in Parliament. The government already responded to the petition, which you can read here :
https://petition.parliament.uk/signatures/9825982/signed/yNwh0dRMIJGfWia9tWR
Let us assume for argument's sake that the UK is suffering a population crisis. If so, the last people you want to be deporting at those earning £35k, which is well above the ~£25k national average. These people are skilled workers, who cannot possibly be the "coming over 'ere, stealin' our jobs" type. I suppose it might sort of make a horribly twisted sense to deport people earning the minimum wage, if that was really a problem, if they'd been here for years. Maybe.
OK, I get that not everyone who comes here to work is automatically entitled to permanent residency. But if you're going to kick people out based on their salary, you have to make that abundantly clear from the offset and that has not been the case.
OK, you want to encourage employers to train British workers. I would even say that is commendable, but the method is absurd. You can't suddenly decide to throw people out because they're not earning above an arbitrary threshold. I dunno, give tax breaks to employers who create training programs for locals or something, maybe ? And maybe this rather small group (35,000) of people are doing jobs for which there just aren't qualified locals at present.
The plan to help the economy by throwing out a very small number of highly skilled people, many of whom have been here for years and established lives for themselves, pay their taxes and contribute to the economy, is estimated to cost the taxpayer £200-500 million. I don't get it.
Originally shared by null
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/theresa-may-teachers-charity-workers-nhs-staff-scientists-kick-out-of-britain-stop35k-a6853891.html
Saturday, 6 February 2016
Britain should lead the EU, not leave it, says Poland
Interesting perspective on Britain in the EU from Poland's former foreign minister, who apparently thinks extremely highly of us for some reason.
Originally shared by Joerg Fliege
On Brexit, and geopolitics
"Preventing the continent of Europe from uniting to the exclusion of Britain was a principle of British foreign policy for half a millennium. Wars were fought over it. The world would gasp in disbelief if the British now voluntarily excluded themselves, and this over social benefits for people who do not want them. Having lost an empire, the British have been at a loss for a new role. There is another nascent empire, just across the water, yearning to be led. If only the British would realise it."
http://app.ft.com/cms/s/91ac6432-cbf5-11e5-a8ef-ea66e967dd44.html
Originally shared by Joerg Fliege
On Brexit, and geopolitics
"Preventing the continent of Europe from uniting to the exclusion of Britain was a principle of British foreign policy for half a millennium. Wars were fought over it. The world would gasp in disbelief if the British now voluntarily excluded themselves, and this over social benefits for people who do not want them. Having lost an empire, the British have been at a loss for a new role. There is another nascent empire, just across the water, yearning to be led. If only the British would realise it."
http://app.ft.com/cms/s/91ac6432-cbf5-11e5-a8ef-ea66e967dd44.html
Friday, 5 February 2016
Playing by different rules
"The opinion of the UN Working Group ignores the facts and the well-recognised protections of the British legal system. He is, in fact, voluntarily avoiding lawful arrest by choosing to remain in the Ecuadorean embassy."
I agree. He doesn't have a letter from mummy saying that he can't be arrested today because he's hurt his foot. He hasn't been "involuntarily detained" or "under house arrest" - he went into the embassy to evade arrest. This is not complicated.
"In September 2014, Mr Assange - who has been living in the embassy for more than three years - complained to the UN that he was being "arbitrarily detained" as he could not leave without being arrested.
Then be arrested and face trial like everyone else, you berk.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35499942
I agree. He doesn't have a letter from mummy saying that he can't be arrested today because he's hurt his foot. He hasn't been "involuntarily detained" or "under house arrest" - he went into the embassy to evade arrest. This is not complicated.
"In September 2014, Mr Assange - who has been living in the embassy for more than three years - complained to the UN that he was being "arbitrarily detained" as he could not leave without being arrested.
Then be arrested and face trial like everyone else, you berk.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35499942
Wednesday, 3 February 2016
Irony, thy name is internet conspiracy theorist
Originally shared by NewsThump
An Internet conspiracy theorist has insisted people should think for themselves and agree with him without the slightest trace of irony this morning.
http://newsthump.com/2016/02/03/you-should-think-for-yourself-and-agree-with-me-says-conspiracy-theorist-without-slightest-trace-of-irony/
An Internet conspiracy theorist has insisted people should think for themselves and agree with him without the slightest trace of irony this morning.
http://newsthump.com/2016/02/03/you-should-think-for-yourself-and-agree-with-me-says-conspiracy-theorist-without-slightest-trace-of-irony/
Monday, 1 February 2016
Sanders and Corbyn
Why in the world has it taken this long to do a comparison for heaven's sake ?
"But Sanders' call for universal healthcare, a higher minimum wage and subsidised higher education are hardly radical by British standards."
The first one is true, the second one is also true but with complications, but these days subsidising higher education does seem to be an idea going against the grain, if not actually radical.
"Sanders has expressed doubt over the need for America to have thousands of new nuclear warheads but, unlike Corbyn, he is no unilateralist. That really would be political suicide for a would-be American president and commander-in-chief."
I'm not sure it's doing Corbyn any favours either. It wins him support from a minority who agree with him but that's about it.
"The Clinton/Blair era of safe, "centre ground" politics appears to be over on both sides of the Atlantic."
Well across the pond it seems to have been over for decades, but as for Britain I'm not so sure. I think we've seen some very clever shifting of the goalposts on both sides, or, more subtly, some clever shifting of where the goalposts are perceived to be. "This idea isn't radical, that one is !" In the rush for the centre by the two largest parties, the true centrists - the Lib Dems - got squashed. Now it's a war to tell people what the centre ground really is and how - coincidentally - whoever's telling where it is happens to be standing right on it. Hence the Tories can claim, absurdly, to say that they're "the party of Labour" while Labour can claim that throwing away a major defence policy of the last few decades is a perfectly sensible thing to do that will make the world a better place.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35293178
"But Sanders' call for universal healthcare, a higher minimum wage and subsidised higher education are hardly radical by British standards."
The first one is true, the second one is also true but with complications, but these days subsidising higher education does seem to be an idea going against the grain, if not actually radical.
"Sanders has expressed doubt over the need for America to have thousands of new nuclear warheads but, unlike Corbyn, he is no unilateralist. That really would be political suicide for a would-be American president and commander-in-chief."
I'm not sure it's doing Corbyn any favours either. It wins him support from a minority who agree with him but that's about it.
"The Clinton/Blair era of safe, "centre ground" politics appears to be over on both sides of the Atlantic."
Well across the pond it seems to have been over for decades, but as for Britain I'm not so sure. I think we've seen some very clever shifting of the goalposts on both sides, or, more subtly, some clever shifting of where the goalposts are perceived to be. "This idea isn't radical, that one is !" In the rush for the centre by the two largest parties, the true centrists - the Lib Dems - got squashed. Now it's a war to tell people what the centre ground really is and how - coincidentally - whoever's telling where it is happens to be standing right on it. Hence the Tories can claim, absurdly, to say that they're "the party of Labour" while Labour can claim that throwing away a major defence policy of the last few decades is a perfectly sensible thing to do that will make the world a better place.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35293178
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