Interesting Links for 20-11-2012

[andrewducker]

• Cola - still not healthy after all these years.
  (tags: funny food health coke )
• Why the (current) paid MMO model might be unsustainable.
  (tags: games free starwars mmorpg )
• Was Jimmy Saville a mobster?
  (tags: crime JimmySaville )
• Israel’s desperate gamble is likely to backfire
  (tags: israel palestine )
• Philippa Boyens talks about writing

Comments

[abigail_n]

Some pretty dodgy arguments in that Liberal Conspiracy article. For one thing, it completely ignores the existence of the Iron Dome missile defense shield, which has had a success rate of over 70% in shooting down missiles from Gaza. Of the missiles fired at the Tel Aviv area - maybe half a dozen since the Israeli attack began - all but the ones headed out to sea have been intercepted and safely destroyed. In practice, Israelis in the Tel Aviv area are in no more danger this week than they were before the Fajr missiles were put into use, and there hasn't been any fire towards Tel Aviv in the last two days - possibly an indication that the Fajr stores and launch sites have been destroyed. So at the moment it looks as if the combined strategy of aerial assaults on missile stores and launch sites and Iron Dome deployment will prevent the threat of missile attacks from reaching the Tel Aviv area, and though the more southern towns and cities remain at risk (at least until more Iron Dome batteries are produced and deployed), that has

[anton_p_nym]

Iron Dome, for all we know, may just be Patriot reheated. Twenty years ago Patriot was lauded for its ability to intercept SCUD missiles fired during the Gulf War; soon after, though, examination of the evidence showed that when the Patriots did hit they tended to hit the empty fuel tankage and not affect the course of the warhead at all.*

-- Steve is very leery about wartime claims of weapons efficiency; they're just too easily biased into propaganda by either side.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIM-104_Patriot#Success_rate_vs._accuracy

[abigail_n]

Iron Dome has been fully deployed for several years now and thoroughly field-tested under both high and low intensity fire. The numbers I'm quoting are the results of actual interceptions (and the interception rate is artificially lowered by the system itself, which is able to determine where a missile will land, and does not try to intercept if it is headed for unpopulated areas). To date I'm aware of only one instance in which debris from the interceptor missile has caused damage on the ground.

In short, Iron Dome and Patriot are very different systems, and the former has been given ample opportunities to prove itself and outstripped all expectations at every turn. It is a remarkable technological achievement, and one that, if it weren't for the sad political reality that made it a necessity, I would be very proud of as an Israeli.

[abigail_n]

Or, for a more concrete demonstration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfAuD5psCq8

That video was taken on Wednesday night in Be'er Sheva. The barrage comprised 18-20 missiles, some half of which were intercepted by Iron Dome, and several others came down outside the city and were ignored. All told, I believe there were only two or three hits, and no damage from missile debris.

[bart_calendar]

I'm astounded that John McAfee's blog didn't make your list.

[andrewducker]

I don't find that kind of person fascinating in the same way you do - I read about half an entry and closed the blog, feeling somewhat dirty.

[bart_calendar]

Gotcha. I just figured you'd like it because of the tech connections.

Also, it's been a while since someone has gone full Sheen.

[andrewducker]

True - Well, someone that famous. Julie finds that kind of thing fascinating, I used to get a daily Sheen update when I arrived in each evening.

[octopoid_horror]

To my mind, and having directly experienced it in two MMOs now (and Team Fortress 2), it's partly the beta testing aspects of the MMO model that harm it.

MMOs seem to launch with a lengthy beta (partly closed, populated by people that the company have invited from their other MMOs, via invites from email lists and forums or hardcore fans, and then finally an open beta after that. And sometimes with later beta testing of further content. The problem is, these players are the ones who are often really keen to play the content, so they do so during the beta then just sit on the forums complaining and complaining and complaining about the lack of new content, or how it was better in beta, or how newbies are spoiling the game, or how people aren't doing things right and they know best because they were there during beta. (although City of Heroes did have a content-creation system that was as close to sandboxy as you'll get in that style of linear-missions MMO and was apparently popular

[octopoid_horror]

If your game's existence is predicated on having X amount of subscribers/players/microtransactions a month, then yes, this is a problem. The model that should be thought of as dead is possibly not the paid MMO, so much as the high budget MMO possibly. The Secret World, oddly enough, while it's openly struggling due to being a high budget MMO, is also one of the few MMOs that would genuinely be enjoyable as a single player game. Unfortunately, since it's an MMO this means it's a] more expensive than a single player game, b] has content that requires a group and c] has sections intended to suit an MMO playstyle ie varying degrees of "grind". An MMO launching with a realistic expectation of their long-term customer base and trying to provide for them, rather than for the influx of MMO addicts who will briefly play every new MMO and vanish (which happens with each and every MMO, and the companies ALL seem to get taken by surprise when those free first month or discount-after-beta customers don't stay a long time

[octopoid_horror]

The "How to Criticise Israel Without Being Anti-Semitic" article is slightly misleading. While it makes good points for some people discussing Israel, there's also an alarming undercurrent, particularly in the more heated right wing discussions, where any criticism of Israel is treated as anti-Semitic regardless of how evenly measured and politely it's put (my personal view is that this is a direct result of a now relatively unchallenged superpower offering at times unconditional support and stifling legitimate debate over time). Similarly, I've met people for whom any support of Israel on your part was seen as meaning you were completely anything approaching a solution other than the continuation or worsening of the status quo.

[andrewducker]

I can't read it from here (Tumblr being blocked), but isn't there a bit at the top about there being people who aren't arguing in good faith, and how there's bugger all you can do about them anyway? Or something like that?

[octopoid_horror]

"OMG, Jews think any criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic!

In the interests of this post, I’m going to assume that the people who express such sentiments are acting in good faith and really don’t mean to cause pain to or problems for Diaspora Jewry."

I read the article as dealing with certain ways that people tried to cast the discussion (ie by using certain kinds of imagery or words) but not the to my mind separate problem of the deliberate obstructing of any discussion about Israel & Palestine by casting any criticism of Israel regardless of the form of that criticism into something offensive. This isn't necessarily in bad faith - I'm sure there are people who wholeheartedly believe that Israel must be supported unconditionally and that not to do so is anti-Semitic. Nor did I say that it was Jews who thought this, I would note.

[andrewducker]

Fair enough - it doesn't deal with people who cannot be argued with.

I'm not sure there's much you can do to deal with that, except to not engage with them, and leave big warning signs for others to see.