Interesting Links for 09-02-2016

[andrewducker]

• How did I not know there's an otter on the Water Of Leith?
  • otters Edinburgh
• Giving up on morality
  • morality philosophy
• Indian bus driver becomes the first person in recorded history to be killed by a falling meteorite
  • space death
• Star Wars: Some lovely behind the scenes photos from the original trilogy
  • starwars photos history
• How important is

Comments

[gonzo21]

I think there have always been Otters on the leith. My father remembers seeing them when he was a kid playing down there.

[a_pawson]

It's possible they have been present even if they had no holt. Otters tend to have a massive range. It's not unusual for them to roam 30 miles or more from their holt - and quite often significant distances over land.

[gonzo21]

I did not know that. That's an extraordinary range.

These could be sea otters then?

[momentsmusicaux]

> Warriston, Saughton and Juniper Green

That's quite a range! I was thinking it would be worth taking a walk down there one weekend to try to spot it, but that would be quite a long walk!

[momentsmusicaux]

The Water of Leith is deceptively windy. I once decided to cycle home along it from Stockbridge, rather than the more direct route through town, and it took something like an hour. Turns out it takes quite a massive detour out to the back of the prison.

[chess]

I agree with the basic premise of the morality piece (the world clearly matters differently to different people) but there are two different (sometimes conflicting :-) ) things I also believe on top of that, which reintroduce ways to align a moral compass:

1) I believe that we live in a universe which does have a God we can accept or reject, and while there will be some people who are sufficiently rebelliously-wired that not accepting this is worthwhile for them, those people are a small minority at most;

2) The modern secular project, where we attempt to make space in society for the widest compatible set of ways the world matters to people, is a good project - it will necessarily exclude some people whose way-the-world-matters is incompatible with too many other people's, however, and those are just going to be collateral damage. I am usually fairly happy to reconcile this to 1) by muttering 'render unto Caesar'.

[agoodwinsmith]

I shared the cat thing with a fellow worker who is also a slave to cats, and I agree with her assessment: "I did a cost-benefit analysis, and I've decided to keep them." :)

[murasaki_1966]

My cats have got through some very bad times.

[agoodwinsmith]

Regarding Twitter: I have recently been introduced to this artist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKftOH54iNU

The above is Stromae, and his Carmen. :)

[andrewducker]

That was very nicely done!

(For some reason I've always thought that French rappers were particularly good at it.)