Interesting Links for 12-8-2011
Collected links from around the web
matgbs updated Delicious Glue script.
comments on the original post on Dreamwidth. I'd prefer it if you comment there[1] if you are able to keep the discussion together. [1] If you are reading this, you very likely have an OpenID.
Disney bans Marvel UK from making comics. Yes, you did read that correctly
OK, it appears to be that they're not going to take original content from Panini owned Marvel UK franchise, but... It was Marvel UK stuff that got me into comics. Somewhere at my parents should be a copy of the Transformers issue that had the very first Death''s Head appearance. I got the complete run of both Dragon's Claws and The Sleaze Brothers. I started collecting Zoids because of the Zoids comic. Looks like we've only got Rebellion left funding original content over here now. Gap in the market?
(tags: comics marvel stupidity)
New leukemia treatment exceeds 'wildest expectations' - cure for cancer on the way? Using HIV? Holy shit
Very very early stages, very experimental, very weird. But a bloke given a week to live is completely cured? We are living in the future.
(tags: cancer science health)
Tachyon TV's take on Torchwood:Miracle Day- close to mine, it's shite
I was really looking forward to Mircale Day. Rusty on good form can be brilliant, give him a budget and co-writers like Jane Espenson? It should be brilliant. It's not. It's close to being unwatchably bad. It's not just that the politics make no sense, at all, even if there's a mass brainwash going on, it's that the whole thing just doesn't hang together. It feels both rushed and deathly slow at the same time. I won't bother watching it live next week, I'll catch up at some point over the weekend, that way I can find out what happened without hoping it might be good.
(tags: Torchwood)
Looters return stuff to Games Workshop - The Daily Mash | I worked for GW for ten years. This is what it's like
11 years of my life I spent working hell week after Xmas. More returns on one day than the rest of the year, guaranteed. I can so see this happening.
(tags: games-workshop looters london riots satire)
So, question. When's @AndiOsho next doing a show in #WestYorks?
I think the only objection Jennie's likely to raise is that she'd want to join in, but seriously, how is someone as attractive and funny as Andi Osho single and unhappy about it? What a weird world we live in.
(tags: Andi-Osho)
Egyptian Chronicles: This is not good for us Mr. Cameron
And, of course, if you declare it's OK for us to turn off communications, then it was OK for Mubarak. It wasn't OK for Mubarak, and Cameron said so at the time.
(tags: egypt social-media David-Cameron censorship)
'In defence of anarchy' - Boff Whalley (of Chumbawamba) - brilliant article
"Over the years, as a musician and as a writer, I've watched how traditional hierarchies in the workplace create divisions and arguments. I don't think I'm alone in not wanting to have a boss tell me what to do. I refuse to have a boss tell me what to do. The bargaining tool that's unspoken in that statement is that I will happily relinquish the power to tell other people what to do. That, for me, is anarchism. I won't order you about, if you don't order me about. And together we'll make it work." For those liberals unaware, JS Mill's liberalism and his views on economics were heavily influenced by Proudhon, and for a damn good reason. The Chumbas sometimes play gigs in pubs around here, I really need to pay attention to this and go see them soon. We'll be singing, when we're winning...
(tags: anarchism philosophy liberalism)
UK Prime Minister's Anti-Tech Crackdown: Stupid, Useless, and Wrong
More on the Cameron is a moron meme, with added censorship is bad goodness. However, the comments? All about gun control. Gotta love the US gun nut and the monomaniacal approach to everything.
(tags: politics David-Cameron freedom social-media)
Riot strategy-‘why calls for tougher cops are missing the point’ -someday, I may disagree with @johnb78. But not this day
John's spot on here. A select wuoted paragraph "These riots are the difference between WWII and Vietnam: the insurgents didn’t have a front line, but tried to appear, attack and disappear - and the authorities just didn’t know how to handle the new kind of conflict. Adding water cannons and CS gas into the mix wouldn’t have done anything to stop the looters, and I’m sceptical that rubber bullets would have achieved much. Live automatic weaponry would’ve done the job, but if you think that’s an acceptable solution to teenagers robbing shops, then you’re a dangerous lunatic who shouldn’t be allowed out in public." I keep looking at the YouGov figures saying 33% would've supported live fire. Then I go back and reread one of my many "why YouGove are talking bobbins" posts to make myself feel better.
(tags: riots london policing)
Six more arrests over Huddersfield disorder - they're trying to riot in Hudds? Better not hit Patriot or t'Parish
Ye gods, how stupid are some people? It only really worked in London as it was happening everywhere at once and the Met's always busy. Huddersfield? Gah! FWIW, I live just off Bradford Road, it'd be a bit of a walk but the Asda they tried to loot is literally "down the road from me", even if it's several miles down said road. Hang on. They tried. To loot. An Asda. USians? Asda is owned by Walmart. Says it all really.
(tags: Huddersfield riots)
Damn good presentation. - video on how people react to atheism and rejection
Seems to make sense, the reactions of a theist to finding someoen is an atheist are very similar to a suiter being turned down. Anyone know better? Definitely makes the rhetoric used worthy of thinking about a bit.
(tags: atheism psychology religion)
IBM Leads the Way in the Post-PC Era | bit of a puff piece, but interesting-agree with him on the Lenovo deal
IBM engineer bigs up how his company works. Bit of a "aren't we wonderful" feel to it, but I don't think he's actually wrong, getting out of the PC market, the market they effectively created, was a canny business move.
(tags: IBM computers)
Only 1.2% Of American Spending Actually Ends Up In China - another in the "we still make stuff y'know file
OK, these figures are for the US, but odds are the UK figures would be very similar, this whole "we don't make stuff anymore" meme really gets to me at time, I live 5 minutes walk from a factory FFS.
(tags: manufacturing trade china)
The monogamy monopoly - New Statesman has article proposing the state should get out of regulating relationships
"In a liberal society, it is no business of the state's how people conduct their private lives." Exactly. It would be really good if we can figure out a way of allowing people with multiple partners to register those relationships, if that's what they want to do. We certainly do.
(tags: poly marriage relationships)
Bum-vertising: Beach volleyball aces sell bum ads - I don't know what to think about this
OK, sports kits tend to be emblazoned with sponsor logos and similar. I'm fine with that. Beech volleyball, being, y'know, a beach sport, tends to involve wearing very little. I'm fine with that. Due to lack of space, the sponsor has a QR code on the arse of each member of the British beach volleyball team that leads to the Betfair mobile site. So watchers are encouraged to take pictures of the teams arses. Um...
(tags: Sports advertising qr-codes)
New drug could cure nearly any viral infection - if true? this is massive
How cool is this? A drug that identifies anything with a viral infection, and kills it. If it works as advertised, it could be phenomenal.
(tags: science research health)
Today’s emergency riots debate in the House of Commons told us one thing: MPs don’t understand social media | Jon Worth
Can't argue with Jon here. OK, I rarely argue with Jon, but he's spot on on this. as the riots started, I used Twitter and similar to find out what was going on, check friends were OK, spread information that was useful. I saw elected officials coordinating their constituents, reassuring people, etc. I saw people coming together to organise cleanups, pass on information to the police warnings, etc. A communication medium is neutral, it can be used for good or bad. Overwhelmingly, over the last week, online communication has been a medium for good. Why some MPs think otherwise is beyond me. Lib Dems? I feel an emergency motion coming on, anyone want to help?
(tags: politics social-media house-of-commons)
America's Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books - lving the top two are British
I saw a link to this and though "there's a meme in this", and within half an hour saw multiple people copying it out and bolding their faves. Some very good choices on here, some very interesting choices, and a few low points. Surprised to see S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale as high up the list as it is, but, y'know, I love the book so perhaps shouldn't be.
(tags: books fiction sf)
matgbs updated Delicious Glue script.
comments on the original post on Dreamwidth. I'd prefer it if you comment there[1] if you are able to keep the discussion together. [1] If you are reading this, you very likely have an OpenID.