Interesting Links for 13-05-2014

[andrewducker]

• Richard and Judy agree assisted death pact
  (tags: euthenasia death UK )
• There are at least five types of depression
  (tags: depression chemistry biology )
• This Is What "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" Would Look Like As A LucasArts Point-And-Click Game
  (tags: viaJulie buffy games )
• Some interesting opinions on what men can do to be more attractive to

Comments

[erindubitably]

Wow, I saw that Black Milk thing going around when it first came up - astonishing how resistant they were to issuing a simple apology given all their supposed social media know-how.

"If you don't like what we do then don't be a fan of us" reads an awful lot like "we don't understand that as a company selling things we need to work our hardest to endear people to us, not piss them off".

[andrewducker]

Yeah, it seems pretty obvious to me that you try not to piss off your customers, and if they don't like what you've done then you step back, take a deep breath, and decide which is more important - pissing them off more, or changing tack.

[naath]

I would be vastly more receptive to arguments about how renting housing is sooooooo much better than buying it if RENTING WERE NOT SO SHIT. If tenancy law was massively improved then, yeah, maybe renting would be a really good option - but it is shit.

[naath]

Oh, and obviously some people *are* "foodowners" - farmers for instance, food shops also have a strong incentive to see prices rise. And yet the price of *rental housing* goes up and up and up as landowners decide they can charge as much as they like, whilst the price of food goes up much slower.

[del_c]

I would be vastly more receptive to arguments about how renting housing is sooooooo much better than buying it if the arguments weren't coming 100% from house owners who have no intention of selling up and renting, whose relatives are also house owners WHNIOSUAR, and who are very frequently collectors of rent on the extra capacity they own.

[ext_208701]

I think you forgot

... who actively campaign against the building of further housing because it will result in a drop in price of their own house.

[bart_calendar]

I am not the least bit shocked that customs people at Heathrow are dicks to moms who have a different surname than their kids, because the customs people are dicks to everyone. I don't understand why, because it has to really damaging to tourism revenue

[drainboy]

Those examples beggar belief. Do customs officials have supreme power to reject people from entering the country without proof? Can you appeal?

[bart_calendar]

How do you appeal if you can't get out of the arrivals area. They just put you on a plane back - and send you a gigantic bill for it. (Note: I've never heard of this happening to an EU citizen, so it probably has to do with them being able to fuck with Americans and Canadians and not with EU folk.)

[drainboy]

I don't know. I would hope there would be some sort of due process and appeals system. Evidential requirements and preventative measure against individual abuse of power and general fuckwittery.

I think I live in a different, hopeful, foolish world, compared to reality.

Houses and Food

[danieldwilliam]

I take the guy’s point about food-owners and house-owners but they are fundamentally very different types of good.

So much so that I think the article makes a good satire but a poor policy recommendation.

[chess]

Also, uh, people do already do this extensively in the food market - the food futures market is well-established and helps farmers hedge against bad growing seasons...

[danieldwilliam]

They do and it is.

People participating in the food futures market are not doing so in the way that most people participate in the housing market i.e. buying small volumes for personal and current use.

[ice_hesitant]

> What if we treated food the way we treat housing?

A friend of mine does something similar. She pays for a year in advance and receives a box of fresh vegetables from a local farm every week.