Interesting Links for 18-07-2014

[andrewducker]

• Microsoft Will Cut up to 18,000 Jobs
  (tags: Microsoft jobs )
• Getting to the heart of the psychological differences between Conservatives and Liberals
  (tags: politics conservatives liberal psychology )
• World Health Organisation calls for the decriminalisation of drug use
  (tags: who decriminalization drugs )
• The Jet Propulsion Lab fixes all defects

Comments

[erindubitably]

Julie says there isn't enough space in the flat for me _and_ one of these dogs

The solution is clear: you'll have to get two!

[andrewducker]

I like the way you think!

Getting a new home is also on the to-do list. But probably not a dog _quite_ that large.

[momentsmusicaux]

Re. 'agree, extremely', I've often found in meetings that after I've proposed one way of doing things and then agreed with another way, my suggestions ends up back on the table...

[andrewducker]

Yeah - "I like your way of doing things. I think it has a couple of issues *here* and *here*, but if we can make it work then let's do it!" seems to work well for highlighting issues without getting people's backs up :->

[a_pawson]

I wonder if phones have reached the point PC's did a few years ago where faster and faster processors are no longer required to keep up with the demands of the latest apps. I remember my first couple of android phones became so slow after 18 months or so that they were unusable, but my current (Nexus 4) is 18 months old and still more than fast enough for everything I use it for. Similarly my PC is now 6 years old and still capable of playing the latest games, something which would have been unthinkable 10 years ago.

[andrewducker]

Absolutely. We now seem to have screens that are as high res as eyes can really see, processors that can throw data around at as high speed as you need on a phone, and enough storage to hold all of your photos for most people.

I can see places where they could do with a bit more power - but nothing vital. They've definitely reached the point where they're "good enough".

[i_kender]

That's truly shocking about the HIV researchers. Makes the tragedy even more tragic... wowsers.

[drdoug]

It is a terrible tragedy, and several of the people on the flight were indeed key contributors to HIV/AIDS work. (It's not just research.) But the initial story is, I think, rather overstated in the implied impact on work in this area.

Most outlets are still saying there are "unconfirmed reports" that 100 people going to the conference were on the plane, or more.

There are, as of now, six confirmed dead from conference delegates. More are 'expected', but I'd be surprised if it was as much as that again. (The passenger list still isn't released as of time of writing this, which I hope is not yet another incompetence but is merely so that the relatives can be informed first.) Some are researchers, some are campaigners. Reports about how many were expected at the conference vary, but range from 12,000 to 25,000

[andrewducker]

Thank you, that was really informative!

[i_kender]

Thank you for that - a timely reminder that a) there's always more to the story than what first meets the eye and b) the media have sometimes been guilty of printing what will make the better story (and therefore sell more newspapers etc) rather than waiting for all the facts to come in!

Still... a tragedy is a tragedy is a tragedy.

[artkouros]

Now that we know that liberal/conservative isn't a lifestyle choice we can all stop arguing with each other.

[andrewducker]

Or, at least, we can discuss things more usefully.

In my experience, the roots of disagreements are generally:
1) Different priorities
2) Different experiences
3) Errors in logic

If the primary difference between liberals and conservatives is that conservatives are more focussed on being safe, and experience things through the lens of being stressed about Bad Things Happening then understandnig that gives you an avenue for dialogue.

(Of course, that's just one axis to be covered, and there are a lot of differences it doesn't explain.)

[artkouros]

I've found that "errors in logic" pervade the whole spectrum of ideas, even my own - if I take the time to look objectively at them.

[andrewducker]

Oh yes. (Which is why I left them out above)

Although when discussing with friends, I tend to find that it's differences of experience or semantics that cause the most issues.

"Oh, when you said A you meant X, not Y. Well, in that case I agree!" happens a lot. Usually after 45 wasted minutes :->