Interesting Links for 23-01-2015

[andrewducker]

• FactCheck: the truth about jobs and wages
  (tags: jobs wages UK facts )
• TV debates to include Conservatives, Labour, Lib Dems, Greens, UKIP, SNP and Plaid
  (tags: uk politics )
• New Town £60m registers regeneration near St Andrew Square revealed
  (tags: viaFrancescaElston architecture building Edinburgh )
• Dwarf Fortress will crush your CPU because

Comments

[cartesiandaemon]

Dwarf Fortress will crush your CPU because creating history is hard

Wow, maybe REAMDE isn't as ridiculous as I thought...

[xenophanean]

To be fair, REAMDE is directly attributable to Dwarf Fortress, Stephenson encountered it, and thought it was neat, I think.

[andrewducker]

Dwarf Fortress is on my to-play list. Along with DOTA 2.

For when I retire.

[xenophanean]

"For when I retire."

For a certain sort of person, this is a very good plan, as far as DF goes. I tend to get obsessed for 4 days every 5 years, then get bored. Some people only get the obsessed stage. (some others, just complete incomprehension as to what the point is).

DF is definitely one of MineCraft's parents though, and much of what makes MineCraft great is also true of DF, in a much more complex/harder to use sort of a way.

[vanessagalore]

Depressing but interesting links today! The aluminum article made me nauseous. And regarding the elite: yes, the American property tax system funding the schools is designed to maintain the wealthy elite, and basically just institutionalized racism if one is really honest about it. And what's worse is that the sheeple just natter on about tax-and-spend Democrats and big government, and continually vote against their best interest. I really fear for the U.S. if Jeb Bush becomes president.

[vanessagalore]

ETA: Not that the Democrats are much better, really. But at least there's a hint of concern for poor people.

[apostle_of_eris]

No, the property tax system was originally to provide universal education. It's screwed up now, but it wasn't "designed" to be.

[xenophanean]

America’s elite: An hereditary meritocracy

"This is partly the result of various admirable aspects of American society: the willingness of people to give money and time to their children’s schools; a reluctance to impose a uniform model of education across the country; competition between universities to build the most lavish facilities. Such traits are hard to object to, and even if one does object they are yet harder to do anything about. "

No they aren't, I object to them all, to some extent, and barely break a sweat. The reason nothing's being done about them, and their resultant problems is precisely because of people like the author parroting these right-wing mantras.

Although I appreciate the direction of the article, I do think there's a bit of a smug "we're better _really_ though, aren't we?" thing going on through it.

[elfy]

Things you might like/find interesting

[andrewducker]

Thank you!