Delicious LiveJournal Links for 10-28-2010

[andrewducker]

• The truth about Britain's "bloated welfare" system. Which is that it's currently costing less than at any point 1979-1997...
  (tags: welfare uk government)
• A bunch of famous geeks talk about their geekery
  (tags: geeky geeks geekery)
• What the Quran says about women's rights
  (tags: islam feminism rights women)
• A fascinating look at a mechanical approach to making writing pass the Bechdel test.
  (tags: feminism bechdel writing)
• Why I shan't be signing the 'Save Our Forests' petition yet
  (tags: forestry wildlife nature uk)
• Giving fish oil to pregnange mothers has......absolutely no effect.
  (tags: fish oil pregnancy science)
• Gene found that makes people more liberal - under the right circumstances.
  (tags: genetics nurture dopamine psychology)
• Caprica cancelled
  (tags: Caprica tv scifi)
• Aspergirls - an interview with a fermale stand up comedian on the autism spectrum
  (tags: autism aspergers comedy women)
• Post Office to get £1.3bn of extra funding
  (tags: uk government postoffices)
• Gay Man Being Deported from the USA Because Partner's Marriage Not Recognized
  (tags: usa lgbt bigotry marriage immigration)
• Graphs of Rotten Tomatoes ratings versus box office takings. I'd love to see scatter plots.
  (tags: movies quality)
• UK Licences for oil and gas exploration cut back by 25% to protect wildlife
  (tags: oil gas uk wildlife conservation sea)
• Batman 3 gets a title, nixes 3-D and rules The Riddler and Mr Freeze
  (tags: batman ChristopherNolan)
• Explain the internet to a 19th century street urchin
  (tags: internet illustration funny)
• The Hobbit will be made in New Zealand after all.
  (tags: thehobbit newzealand)
• Rare earth minerals shortage feared by US and EU
  (tags: globalization china)

Comments

[dalglir.livejournal.com]

What are the chances of the extra 1.3billion UKP being 'invested' in the Post Office actually being largely trousered by Post Office execs as a reward for making 'tough cuts' being recommended by extortionately paid management consultants?

[dreema.livejournal.com]

Kinda disappointed by the Caprica news, although i don't think they did themselves any favours by putting such a large gap in the middle of the first series.

Re: What the Quran says about women's rights

[zornhau.livejournal.com]

Reverence & Duty <> Equal Rights*

Not to say that the Koran doesn't somewhere advocate equal rights, but just that that article doesn't make the case.

*Medieval Chivalry was also big on reverence and duty towards women.

[soon_lee]

"The Hobbit" sets a disturbing precedence: New Zealand government changes law (currently being read under "urgency") to pacify Hollywood studio. Is this really the way we want to pass legislation?

[andrewducker]

Not really. Unless they think that the money really is worth it that much, and the side effects are going to be small.

[soon_lee]

The side effects are small: the amendment is supposed to clarify that if you are employed as a contractor, you cannot later claim to have been an employee. Decision here.

So overall, it is a good thing because it provides clarity. It means that "The Hobbit" will still be filmed in NZ (yay), but it also gives the impression of the NZ goverment bending to the will of a Hollywood studio which is the disturbing precedent for me.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, it's not an image you really want to project.