Interesting Links for 06-09-2014

• Housing benefit: MPs debate plans amid Coalition split
  (tags: housing politics UK welfare )
• Government _rubbish_ at managing contracts
  (tags: government contracts fail )
• Ukraine: A Catastrophic Defeat
  (tags: ukraine Russia vianwhyte )
• Radio 4 to make first ever dramatisation of Good Omens
  (tags: NeilGaiman terrypratchett radio )
• Posting stolen naked pictures of celebrities is now officially worse than cancer
  (tags: cancer charity reddit nudity celebrity hacking )
• Scientists discover how to ‘switch off’ autoimmune diseases
  (tags: medicine immune_system )
• Ever Wonder How Often People Use Game Consoles For Porn?
  (tags: porn consoles )
• Tesco: prices wouldn't be 16% higher in an independent Scotland
  (tags: tesco shopping independence Scotland lies )
• Airman denied reenlistment for refusing to say 'so help me God'
  (tags: USA religion military )
• Panda sex meme FTW
  (tags: panda sex meme )
• I am totally using "I put my monkey in the happy place" in conversation as soon as I can find an excuse to.
  (tags: children funny monkey )
• So Bill Gates Has This Idea for a History Class
  I'll be taking a look at the videos (lots on YouTube!)
  (tags: history education )
• Can anyone identify the music from the goth home improvement ad?
  (tags: music goth advertising diy )
• Turns out you can add bike lanes _and_ reduce traffic delays
  (tags: traffic bicycles viafanf )
• CDC: Nearly 1 in 5 women have been raped - 44% of women and 23% of men have suffered sexual violence
  (tags: rape assault USA )
• An EU insider on Scotland, Independence, and EU membership
  (tags: Europe Scotland independence )

I wonder how much money is spent each year researching how best to prevent bullying

I was in a discussion recently about preventing people from trolling, and wondered aloud about how we might get trolls to empathise more with other people, and so stop getting their kicks by making them miserable.

And got a reply along the lines of "There's no such way, or we'd all be doing it, and there wouldn't be any trolls."

Which felt rather like someone from the early 19th century saying "There's no such way to talk to people at a long distance. If there was we wouldn't need to send letters."

I know that there isn't a magic cure that turns off the bully switch in people's heads - but there has to be environemtns that are more or less likely to cause bullying, and ways of dealing with bullies that reduce their reoffending rate.

I took a quick look at the government advice on this and while its heart is clearly in the right place*, it seems remarkably nebulous. I've also seen numerous people on LJ and FB talking about their kids being bullied and the schools not being interested in doing anything about it.

Considering the massive impact that bullying has on people's lives (increased rates of depression, lower academic achievement, worse health), the overall financial cost of bullying to society must be massive. Plus, y'know, the moral case.

Anyone know if there _is_ much invested in this area, and I'm just not aware of it?


*See page 7 for the sections on Prevention and Intervention

I am amused by complaints to the BBC

a) the contrast between the seriousness of 2,3, and 5 versus the frivoloty of 1 and 4 (particularly as the skipped episode was for a rerun)
b) I am now curious as to whether the BBC keep track of how many complaints they get on either side of Israel/Palestine bias and then tailor the next news segment to try and even things up a bit...

Image from here. Where you can also see people complaining about "beastiality" in Doctor Who. And the word "Dunce" in the Great British Bake Off.

My relationship with music changes less than I thought

eatsoylentgreen posted this video containing pop music between 2000 and 2013:

"Hit Songs Through The Years: 2000 - 2013" (Watch on YouTube)

About 8 songs per year, all of which went massive (at least in the US).

And I was expecting that at some point I'd stop recognising them, as I didn't think I'd been paying any attention to pop music recently.

Watching this reminded me that I've pretty-much _never_ paid attention to pop music, and indeed my osmosis seems pretty constant all the way through - I recognised about 25% of the songs from each year.

(I have no idea how, for most of them, as I don't tend to watch music videos. And I don't think I've ever watched or listened to a chart show in my life. I assume that some things are just unavoidable if you ever leave the house.)

I bet they wish they'd just put Devo Max on the ballot paper

With YouGov releasing their first poll that puts "Yes" in the lead, it seems that the three unionist parties are now falling over themselves to offer proposals for what Scotland would get if it voted No in time for the ballot.

No, wait. They're _apparently_ offering to set up a convention which will get a bunch of people together to discuss proposals to possibly hand over some powers in the future.

Amid signs of panic and recrimination among unionist ranks about the prospects of a yes vote on 18 September, the Observer has learned that a devolution announcement designed to halt the nationalist bandwagon is due to be made within days by the anti-independence camp.

The plan, in the event of a no vote, is that people from all parts of Scottish society – rather than just politicians – would be invited to take part in a Scottish conference or convention that would decide on further large-scale transfers of power from London to Holyrood.

A senior government minister close to the Better Together campaign said a pledge to set up a new Scottish conference or convention, after a no vote, was imminent. The intention is to demonstrate to the Scottish people that they themselves would be able to "finish the job" of devolution if they reject independence. "Watch this space. You can expect something in the next few days," said the minister.

It is understood that there have been intensive cross-party talks in recent days to finalise the plans.

Which all feels like too little too late - if they'd been taking this seriously in the first place then they'd have _had_ the conference, pulled together the plans, and be offering a solid proposal for what Scotland would get in the event of a No. Instead they've assumed that it would be a No, and therefore that they didn't need to offer anything at all.

Back when the SNP first got a majority in 2011 the figures were 33% backed devo-max, 28% supported independence and 29% backed no further constitutional change. And the bet was that 2/3 of the "devo-max" voters wouldn't vote Yes, so that was fine. But those figures are a clear, massive, majority for change.

Offering those voters something concrete over the last three years might possibly have been a good idea. Waiting until two weeks before the vote doesn't make you look terribly reliable...

Instead, if these plans come to fruition then we're going to get Devo Max (whatever that turns out to be) _anyway_, even if there's a no vote.

(Which, by the way, is still entirely possible. This is a single poll, with a margin of error higher than the lead. It's exciting, but there's only one poll that matters, and that's in 8 days time.)