Interesting Links for 25-06-2014

[andrewducker]

• Concentrating solar power could supply 80% of electricity for the mediterranean
  (tags: solarpower )
• Schizophrenia and cannabis use may share common genes
  (tags: genetics cannabis schizophrenia )
• Gut microbe levels are linked to type 2 diabetes and obesity
  (tags: obesity diabetes bacteria )
• A SWAT team blew a hole in my 2-year-old son
  (tags: drugs

Comments

[bart_calendar]

While Brooks is a scumbucket I will say that when I was a journalist my editors often made it extremley clear that they did not want to know who or what some of my sources were

[andrewducker]

Oh yes - she may well have been wilfully ignorant - but it's worth noting that Coulson _was_ convicted ,and we have plenty of evidence from during his reign. So either she was vastly cleverer at managing the situation or things really were different.

[bart_calendar]

I suspect she knew that the information was being gathered in a dodgy way but made it clear she didn't want to be told what dodgy way and that because of that she had no clue phone tapping was going on. Though she almost certainly knew that something unethical, illegal or both was going on - but from my experience that's par for the course. It's really hard to get breaking news without breaking the law or normal human ethics (one of the reasons I burnt out on journalism by age 30.)

[a_pawson]

People seem to forever complain about the mark-up restaurants put on wine, but seem to overlook that the mark-up on many other drinks such as coke, coffee, or beer is even larger.

[fub]

Or tea. Tea is about the cheapest drink to make -- and yet a cup of tea will set me back at least EUR 2 nowadays.

[a_pawson]

Yes, and I don't mind paying that sort of charge as essentially I think when I am in a cafe that I'm paying not for the drink but to rent the table. Also because nobody could make a living if they sold tea at say only twice the cost price.

[fub]

You are right -- but then the tea (or coffee) is the 'main event' of your stay there. One could argue that in a restaurant, the wine is an 'extra' to go along with the food.
But then again, I know nothing about the economics of running a restaurant. I'd rather pay a fair price for everything, so that it doesn't matter if I have wine or water with my meal.

[gonzo21]

That report is a bit odd, the UK has had a serious shortage of farm-land since... well before the first world war. We've never been able to grow all of the food we need to feed the population.

[andrewducker]

How much of a difference is being predicted, any idea?

[gonzo21]

I'll ask around, I'm probably seeing my farmer friend today, and he's pretty well informed.

I suspect the problem lies with EU subsidies, those drive farmers to plant crops that are technically mostly useless, but they have big subsidies, so they make their money that way. So huge swathes of the country get switched over to Oil Seed Rape and ethanol-producing crops.

If there is one area of EU policy that desperately needs looked at, it is the common agricultural policy.

[ckd]

As soon as I saw that the YouTube contract link was to the Reg, I thought "oh God, it's Orlowski again, isn't it?"

The Reg in general, and Orlowski in particular, are prone to inaccurate attacks.

[andrewducker]

Yes - but you can go through to the contract and take a look - and things do look _reasonably_ accurate from the other discussions I've seen.

Pretty good discussion here:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7939524

(I agree in general on Orlowski, I don't trust him at all.)

[ckd]

I agree, Hacker News is better then the Reg.

(If you sense a note of faint praise there, you're not wholly wrong.)

[andrewducker]

Hacker News - like talking to a bunch of overexcited six-year olds.
Orlowski - like listening to a Fox News commentator.
Slashdot - like sticking your head into a bucket of angry squid.
Tumblr - like talking to a bunch of overexcited six-year-olds on LSD.

[momentsmusicaux]

> Don't try to cheer up friends with low self-esteem. Sympathise instead.

Fuck yes. When I'm having a crisis, I HATE it when someone tries to tell me it's okay. It's NOT FUCKING OKAY. I do appreciate the help in calming down, but it has to start from a position of 'Yes, this is a BLOODY BIG DEAL'.

EDIT. 'hate' is the wrong word. 'react badly'.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, it doesn't matter, to be honest, if things aren't even that bad in reality, if you're upset then telling you it's not that bad really doesn't help!