Interesting Links for 15-07-2016

[andrewducker]

Scotland slides slowly closer to Independence (tags: scotland europe independence ) Robot runs over toddler in shopping centre (IT HAS BEGUN!) (tags: robots children war ) What are the British public's expectations of what will happen under Brexit? (tags: uk europe poll ) Blind-tested soloists unable to tell Stradivarius violins from modern

Comments

[manintheboat]

Every Ingress player I know has been questioned by the cops at some point. Even little white girlie me.

[octopoid_horror]

Trainspotters get stopped by the police a lot these days too.

Of course, I imagine for black Ingress/Pokemon Go players in the US or any Ingress/Pokemon players or trainspotters who could be mistaken for Sinister Terrorist From Somewhere Foreign, it's a lot worse

[kalimac]

There used to be a thing, at least here in the US, that might be called planespotting: hanging out around the edges of airfields to watch planes. You can't do that any more: it looks very suspicious.

[errolwi]

It depends on the airport/local cops. Some airports encourage spotter groups/individuals and have them help out with noticing unusual behaviour (because they are in an excellent position to do so).

[bart_calendar]

The plastic bag story is a bit of an exaggeration.

As of July 1 French companies can no longer buy plastic bags for distribution to consumers.

Which means that every shop I know placed gigantic orders for plastic bags in June.

My local bookshop owner told me he has enough plastic bags for the next three years of customers.

The law specifically states that companies can continue to distribute any plastic bags they had in stock as of June 30 to customers until they run out.

Because the new bags are super expensive any shop with extra money invested in plastic bags.

[kalimac]

Speaking as a professional classical concert reviewer:

I don't think I can reliably tell a Stradivarius from any-possible-anything-else either. But I can testify that violins differ by maker. Once I heard a string quartet whose striking quality was that the two violinists sounded almost exactly the same, which they rarely do. It was only after the concert that I learned that they had violins from the same (modern) violin-maker, not a common thing in a string quartet.

[kalimac]

The robot running over the toddler was not very big news here where it happened. Self-driving cars having accidents seem to be more of a concern here in Silicon Valley.

I used to visit frequently the shopping center where this happened when I worked nearby, but I'm only stopped there passingly in the last few years, so I haven't seen the robot on duty. However, I have seen robots trundling along hospital corridors, carrying supplies, at the Stanford hospital close by the shopping center.

[danieldwilliam]

I shall be interested to see how the national mood in Scotland changes over the next six months. Whether we shift from thinking independence sounds like a nice idea but not really on to thinking that independence is certain even if one personally doesn't support it. And if this shifts the polling from 52-48 to closer to 60-40.

[andrewducker]

How about 59-32?
http://www.scotsman.com/news/poll-puts-support-for-scottish-independence-at-59-1-4163338

(Let's see how well that holds though.)

[iainjcoleman]

...which works out as 65 - 35 once you net out the Don't Knows.