Interesting Links for 16-09-2014

• Home ownership becoming exclusive members' club - deposits have increased tenfold, 2/3 need parental help
  (tags: housing )
• Who Killed Lard?
  (tags: fat cooking food )
• Can Self-Compassion Overcome Procrastination?
  (tags: procrastination )
• How Scotland can avoid a credit crunch
  (tags: Scotland independence banking )
• Microsoft buys Minecraft (for $2.5Billion)
  (tags: Microsoft minecraft )
• This review of Doctor Who's "Listen" sums up marvellously why I liked it so much
  (tags: drwho review StevenMoffat )
• This is what it's like when you get to stop running the massively successul company you accidentally created
  (tags: minecraft success )
• John Oliver on Scottish Independence - Utterly Hilarious
  (tags: Scotland independence funny video )
• The best idea for smuggling alcohol _ever_
  (tags: women menstruation alcohol genius )
• Schizophrenia is at least eight different genetic disorders
  (tags: genetics schizophrenia )
• Rape Culture in the Alaskan Wilderness
  (tags: rape Alaska usa )
• 10 Lessons From Real-Life Revolutions That Fictional Dystopias Ignore
  (tags: dystopia fiction writing history )
• Smartphones Are Used To Stalk, Control Domestic Abuse Victims
  (tags: phones surveillance abuse )
• Housing is the cost of living crisis
  (tags: housing money )
• Economists can't tell Scots how to vote
  (tags: economics ireland Scotland )
• Slow to mature, quick to distract: ADHD brain study finds slower development of key connections
  (tags: adhd brain )
• Neuroscientists identify key role of language gene
  (tags: language genetics brain memory learning )
• Microsoft buys Minecraft to find out what it is
  (tags: minecraft Microsoft funny )

I'm proud of campaigners, of many types

I am still very proud of the work I put into the AV campaign, which was not as much as I would have liked, but I am very glad that I got out there and did something to try and improve the way the country is run. And I feel intermittently guilty that I do not have the energy to be out there campaigning myself this time around.

And, partially because of that, I am proud of anyone who got out there during the Independence Referendum and tried to make a difference - on either side. If you were peacefully, and reasonably, out there raising awareness and working towards a goal that you believe will make the world better, then I am both envious and proud of you.

One of the main good things that has unquestionably come out of the referendum is that 97% of the population are registered to vote, a massive increase. And that people who I've never heard discuss politics at all have been talking about the way they want their country to be run.

I'm a firm believer that more education, more discussion, and more people thinking about politics is vital to a democracy. I'd much have rather people be engaged and disagreeing with me than entirely disengaged and letting the elites do whatever they want.

(That being said, I am now _really_ looking forward to seeing the results on Friday morning so we can all get on with whatever comes next.)

I saw a job opportunity through a time warp

This evening I received an email from a job-hunting firm telling me I could earn €400 per day for a year-long contract - if I was only willing to work in Ireland, using dBase, FoxPro or Clipper skills.

dBase, FoxPro, and Clipper being names I haven't heard since 2001, when I stopped working as a Visual FoxPro developer - and never really expected to encounter again. It's like being asked to come work on the latest version of Wordstar, or if I fancy a game of Quake II.

Also, I hear Dublin is _really_ expensive to live in. It'd probably cost me most of that just to buy the occasional pint.