Interesting Links for 26-06-2012

[andrewducker]

• Sonic.net: We Delete User Logs After Two Weeks. Your Internet Provider Should, Too.
  (tags: internet isp privacy viaFanf )
• There is a third Dungeons and Dragons movie, so bad that even SyFy will not release it!
  (tags: EpicFail movies dnd )
• Olympic park workers blacklisted over political views
  (tags: building olympics uk politics )
• Facebook

Comments

[cartesiandaemon]

Facebook forces all users over to @facebook.com e-mail addressesThis was just so stupid. If they offered a free email account that delivered emails promptly, that could be used for any facebook friend, that could be very useful and I might well use it. I originally started using gmail solely as a back-end, but started giving that account out as a backup, etc. And if google hadn't jumped the shark on privacy, I might have switched permanently to gmail if my cantab address expired

[cartesiandaemon]

"Conservatives raise the spectre of food vouchers for the poor"

Youch. I can see the logic, but is there any evidence that this does any good whatsoever and/or not massive amounts of harm? I think America does this and it just seems to (a) massively increase the stigma and (b) create a giant beurocratic overhead. And (for us capitalists) it distorts the market depending what's included and what isn't. We were just talking about trying to get AWAY from this complication for VAT.

[a_pawson]

Whether it does any good is not the purpose. The purpose is to appease the more right-wing members of the electorate and/or the right-wing press.

[del_c]

["What someone receives in benefits compared to what they potentially get by going into a job has an impact on the incentives they face," a Downing Street spokesman said.]

While that sounds like sense, the missing Step 2 in the underpants-gnome logic chain is that if you reduce benefits, it will increase the gap between wages and benefits. I bet it just reduces the wages, leaving the gap unchanged.

[cartesiandaemon]

I was originally going to add a comment that what we probably wanted was a sliding-scale benefits system so getting a job always made you a little bit better off. That would seem to work well for everyone. But I think someone else nailed it when they said it wasn't about what Cameron thinks will actually help, it's about appeasing fears that people will ONLY work if they are beaten with sticks enough.

[bart_calendar]

Facebook seems intent on destroying their own brand. It's almost as if Zuckerberg sold enough of his personal stock at the IPO to live comfortably forever and doesn't give a shit if the company tanks or not

[gonzo21]

Odd thing I find about it is, advertising has always seemed a pretty exact science to me. It's full of some very clever numbers people who have a pretty precise idea of whats going on. And yet here they are throwing a fortune at Facebook advertising, without any evidence that it actually works.

[ashfae]

The first D&D movie was so bad that I nearly walked out of the theater, despite some delightful cameos. But the second one was actually pretty awesome. Curious about this trailer, alas that I'm at work.

I wonder how long it'll be before Facebook explodes? Or quietly dies as everyone finds something like it but better.

[fub]

Wait... there was a second D&D movie!? I only ever saw the first one, and it was ridiculous in a fun way. I need to seek out this second movie!

[ashfae]

Yes, this one! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0406728/

It was everything I wanted the first one to be. Still not something to take seriously, of course, but with some creative moments and a lot of hilarious ones and awesome special effects.

[a_pawson]

I quite enjoyed the first one, but probably that was due to the fact it had Tom Baker, Richard O'Brien and Jeremy Irons in it. Don't think I ever saw the sequel.

[johncoxon]

Did I imagine that Clang post that went away before I could post my reply?

[andrewducker]

Yes, completely imagined it. I didn't at all write it, get the maths wrong, realise that I needed to rewrite it, and take it down again in the space of 10 seconds.

(If you have any commentary on improving it, other than "You're talking nonsense." I'd appreciate it.)

[johncoxon]

I don't know that I can offer any real criticism/commentary, but I'll post some thoughts that came off what you wrote