Interesting Links for 19-07-2018

Astronomers can now get sharper images from the ground than the Hubble can from space

(tags: astronomy space technology )

European Commission fines Google €4.34 billion for illegal practices regarding Android mobile devices to strengthen dominance of Google's search engine

(tags: Google Europe fines )

EU signs its biggest free trade deal with Japan

(tags: europe japan trade )

Critical realism in 100 words

(tags: reality philosophy )

UK facing longest fall in living standards for over 60 years (this is *before* a hard Brexit is taken into account)

(tags: UK economy epicfail )

The 10 Phases of a 10 Minute Shower With a Baby at Home

(tags: cleanliness babies funny true viaJane )

‘Meghalayan Age’ announced as official new chapter in Earth’s history (starting 4,200 years ago)

(tags: prehistory geology )

Hackers account for 90% of login attempts at online retailers - successful 3% of the time

(tags: hacking passwords security )

Edinburgh's Leith Street to reopen after almost a year

(tags: Edinburgh roads transport )

The end of all things is upon us

(tags: UK Europe doom )

Michael Scheuer, the former senior CIA official and NYT bestselling author of Imperial Hubris, is calling for Trump supporters to kill Trump opponents

(tags: WTF civilwar usa )

Homophobic University chaplain removed after holding service to atone for Gay Pride event

(tags: homophobia religion catholicism glasgow Scotland uk )

Timeline of the far future

(tags: thefuture )

As I assumed, the Chequers agreement is totally unacceptable to the EU

(tags: UK Europe doom fail )

Labour don't have the numbers to keep the UK in the EU

(tags: UK Europe labour )

Zuckerberg defends Facebook users' right to deny the Holocaust

(tags: Facebook freespeech lies Holocaust )

Israeli defense firm demos kamikaze drone bomb that can be called off

(tags: drone weaponry military )

Do not debate holocaust deniers. If possible, shut them down

(tags: Holocaust bigotry fraud history )

Labour politician refuses to quit despite calling women ‘b***h’, ‘cow’ and ‘c***’ in misogynistic hate campaign online

(tags: Labour misogyny Manchester )

Non-religious countries experience greater economic growth, study finds

(tags: religion success economy )

Spain to introduce ‘yes means yes’ sexual consent law

(tags: law rape Spain consent )

The women choosing to love their natural grey hair

(tags: women hair age )

Chief whip Julian Smith told MPs to defy pairing deals

(tags: politics conservatives OhForFucksSake uk )

Some notes on She-Ra from the guy who co-created her

(tags: writing women children animation )

"I was right to confront Jeremy Corbyn over Labour’s antisemitism"

(tags: labour Jews bigotry )

Israel passes law enabling apartheid

(tags: israel bigotry racism )

Morrisons 'quiet hour' for autistic shopping introduced

(tags: shopping autism noise uk )

How democratic are the reformed electoral systems used in Britain’s devolved governments and English mayoral elections?

(tags: voting uk )

Looking at Test Driven Developmen: An Academic Survey

(tags: research testing development software )

Visualizing street orientations on an interactive map

(tags: design roads cities )

After a 400-Year Absence, A Rare Ibis Returns to European Skies

(tags: birds Europe GoodNews )

Looking at voting intentions in Scotland

I was looking at this poll for voting in Scotland, and specifically at the differences between Constituency and List votes, and two pairings leaped out at me:

The first number here is the Constituency vote (who you vote to be your local MSP) and the second is your List vote (basically which party you want to represent you in parliament - this is then used to make the results more proportional).

SNP 43% -> 33%
Green 0% -> 11%

Conservatives 24% -> 19%
UKIP 0% -> 5%

Labour 21% -> 21%

LibDem 9% -> 10%

So, basically, Greens are supporting the SNP in the constituency vote, UKIP are supporting the Conservatives, and Labour and Lib Dem are sticking with what they've got.

Which makes sense. Your SNP/Greens are the Independence vote, so of course they stick together. And UKIP are basically the deeply unpleasant wing of the Conservatives.

Still, nice to see it laid out like that.

(I do wonder how the votes would change in an independent Scotland, where people weren't basically responding to the behaviour of the Westminster parties. And there wouldn't be a need for an SNP any more.)