Interesting Links for 13-02-2012

[andrewducker]

• BitTorrent doesn't effect movie sales - except for delayed releases in other countries
  I could have told them that - make it available and people will buy it. Make us wait for months and it'll get sucked down the intertubes.
  (tags: bittorrent movies )
• The End of the Mainframe Era at NASA
  (tags: ibm mainframe nasa computers )
• What it's like to be

Comments

[channelpenguin]

That NHS article deserves to be seriously taken note of!

Finally!

[lsanderson]

You goddless commies are going to experience the some of the amazing benefits of our capitalistic medicine! We've been worrying about you since you started it. I'd list all the benefits, but I seem to have misplaced my list...

[channelpenguin]

At one point, I came out with what I thought was an excellent idea. The producer again turned towards me, said nothing and then turned slowly back to Brian. About a minute later, Brian repeated my idea almost word for word and the producer told him it was brilliant.

This effect has been observed again and again. Even sadder that the men did not even notice this.

I would have HAD to say something at the time (whilst trying VERY hard not to lose my temper).

[artkouros]

I miss the mainframes. I learned Fortran on a 1963 Control Data 1604. It was awesome. The thing I don't miss is being charged by the second for mainframe use.

[andrewducker]

Lots of financial companies still use them, because high speed ultra-reliable IO is worth it when you're processing millions of records through numerous batch jobs.

Nowadays the better ones don't use their interfaces though :->

[danieldwilliam]

Glasgow Labour.

The joys of preferential voting and the reduction of barriers to entry.

[andrewducker]

The question is - is there a gap in the Scottish market for a left-wing party? A new one that isn't tarnished with the NuLab associations has potential, but what do they offer that the SNP doesn't?

If the SNP fall apart and Labour doesn't recover then I expect someone to exploit this.

[danieldwilliam]

Currently I don’t think there is. It’s a crowded place with two players and encroachment on either side from Greens or Lib Dems. Where I think there is a gap in the market is in a socially liberal economically liberal pro-market pro-business party.*

I’m not sure how badly Glasgow local politics is afflicted by corruption. There might be a gap in the market for a clean centre-left party in Glasgow.

The credible treat of a new entrant might make the Continuity Labour behave itself.

What I would observe is that under Single Member Plurality I’d be *certain* this would fail. Under PR-AMS, it might succeed and the main driver of succcess isn’t the electoral system, it’s the fact that there are already about 3 or 4 parties in Scotland who might describe themselves as centre-left.

*I’d so dearly love to see one of these. I’d almost certainly never vote for it but I’d love to separate the “Let’s Get Rich Party” from the “Know Your Place Party”

[andrewducker]

Well, it's not PR-AMS for Glasgow Council elections - it's STV. And that gives smaller parties more of a chance of getting a person in, if they can persuade people they're worth supporting.

And yes, a liberal pro-business party would probably do rather well. I do wonder why the world seems to have ossified in a structure where you can be pro-business authoritarian, or anti-business liberal, but there's not much in the way of pro-business liberal about.

(Although many properly left wing people would say that the Lib-Dems were pro-business from their point of view, what with their putting up with capitalsim and all)