Interesting Links for 27-09-2012

[andrewducker]

• Today we celebrate Petrov Day - the man who decided not to destroy the world (No, really)
  (tags: russia nuclearweapons epicwin )
• 10 most overused opening sentences in personal statements for university applications
  (tags: university )
• London's surnames overlaid on a map. (Useful for finding all the Cohens)
  (tags: viaJack names visualization

Comments

[gonzo21]

You know, I read a fascinating book once, A Path Where No Man Thought, published in 1990. And it was saying that until they had done the research and written this book, the powers that be had never really thought through the implications of global thermonuclear war. Our political leaders at the time were of the opinion that even a fairly substantial nuclear exchange would be surviveable, in the sense of, the nation would survive.

And it wasn't until Carl Sagan and Richard Truro and their team of researchers started actually putting down on paper exactly what would happen, that the political classes slowly realised that nuclear war was not in fact winnable.

Although actually it seems that the Soviets knew a nuclear war wasn't winnable, Reagan and the American military industrial complex were pushing very hard for there to be a nuclear war, because they thought they would win with only minimal loss of life, and besides, the profits from rebuilding everything would be very good for their business buddies indeed.

[philmophlegm]

Is it politically incorrect to look at that very clever surnames map of London and think "Gosh, aren't there are lot of furriners living in London*..."?

* Or, as I understand the locals** pronounce it "Landun Taaaan"
** Not that the locals seem to actually live there any more, if the map is anything to go by.

[naath]

Well, yes. Considering how many people with non-WASP names are British citizens.

[inamac]

Also, assuming the map follows custom, those names are all men - I'd be interested in a map of women and pre-marital names.

[naath]

Do most cultures follow that custom or is it just a white-British thing?

[holyoutlaw]

Glad I didn't use any of the ten most-frequent application opening sentences, especially the nursing-related ones, as I'm applying for a forestry-related degree.

[kerrypolka]

Although it would have been brilliant if you had. "Nursing is a very challenging and demanding career...which is why I've decided to go with forestry."

[holyoutlaw]

Hmph! It would have been "Nursing is a very challenging and demanding career -- almost as challenging as urban forestry."

[andrewducker]

That would have been memorable!

Petrov Day

[snarlish]

I honored this day by, when passing someone who seemed lost, stopping and turning around and helping them to get where they were going.

Petrov Day, may it ever be remembered.

[fub]

I find it interesting that the lawyer of one of the Americans who were found guilty of transferring an Italian to Egypt so that he could be tortured is going to appeal... at the EU Human Rights Court. I think the judges there will have lots of sympathy for someone who let a EU citizen be tortured.

[apostle_of_eris]

+1
I caught the same paragraph. It ought to be an interesting court session if they're foolish enough to go through with it.