Interesting Links for 17-02-2014

[andrewducker]

• In Germany, House Prices Keep Falling -- Because That's What House Prices Are Supposed To Do
  (tags: germany housing )
• BBC accused of political bias - on the right, not the left
  (tags: politics bbc )
• Incredible 3D-looking GIFs Created with a Simple Visual Effect
  (tags: 3d animated_gif viaNeilRodger )
• Thinking about money makes parenting less

Comments

Chinese Space Stuff

[danieldwilliam]

I’m with some of the commentators on the Chinese space programme article.

When the Chinese are doing something new I’ll be impressed. At the moment they just seem to be demonstrating that they have caught up. Which is not an unworthy thing to do. Clearly they can’t do something new until they’ve caught up. When they are willing and able to take on some of the burden of doing new and exciting stuff that will be no bad thing.

What they are enjoying at the moment is classic second mover advantage.
Which is great for them.

[gonzo21]

I gave up on the Indie article about left/right bias when they described US Democrats as being 'sources from the Left'. :)

Facial Reconstruction

[danieldwilliam]

The vodka bottle is Gollum!

More seriously, the facial reconstruction stuff is very impressive.

When I worked at the archaeology consultancy a few of the Finds Officers specialised in human remains and their ability to work out what people had been doing with their lives from their bones was pretty awesome but I find nothing quite puts you in touch with the past as seeing someone recognisably like you looking back at you. The past becomes populated with people, not just skeletons.

Re: Facial Reconstruction

[andrewducker]

Yeah, it does make a massive difference. Suddenly they look "just like us", which somehow feels wrong - like discovering that people in the 1930s weren't black and white.

[bart_calendar]

The ovulating women thing has been documented many times before and is fairly obvious if you are in an open relationship with a woman or are with a woman who is into open discussions about sexual things. The guys they scope out (if you are monogamous) or try to bang (if you are not monogamous) clearly changes during the course of the month if you pay attention.

On Kitty Genovese - this has also been documented before. The general feeling is that the NYPD wanted more money for more cops and the mayor didn't want to give it to them and the New York Times upper management also wanted a larger police budget because they thought the neighborhoods they lived in were becoming less safe - and the two organizations worked together to create a story so horrible the mayor had to cave and hire a bunch more cops.

Catan

[danieldwilliam]

I like the comparison of Catan to golf.

Lots of my colleagues and managers played golf when I was a trainee. I never could quite muster the time and enthusiasm to take it up and I'd have quite liked it if the out of work social bonding had included board games.

Re: Catan

[andrewducker]

Yeah, agreed. I'd be much happier if work socialising involved less alchohol and more board games.

Re: Catan

[danieldwilliam]

I quite liked the boozing at my previous employer but it definitely became less useful once many people started having children and not fancying staying up till one in the morning on the shandies.