Interesting Links for 17-3-2011

[andrewducker]

• Tories considering breaking the coalition if AV wins the referendum...
  (tags: conservatives av uk government)
• Pepsi unveils new plastic bottle made from plants rather than petrol
  (tags: sustainability pepsi plastic)
• EU considers walking away from US data agreement - US not honouring it
  (tags: privacy usa europe EpicFail)
• Some scientists talk about the worst case scenario at Fukushima.
  (tags: earthquake japan nuclear tsunami)
• Quiz: Science fact or fiction? (I got 7/8)
  (tags: scifi science bbc quiz)
• Janne In Osaka: On Radiation - people are panicking ignorantly...
  (tags: Radiation nuclear japan fukushima)
• Charlie Sheen - an explanation (only makes sense if you've seen BSG)
  (tags: CharlieSheen bsg funny)
• Deaths per TWh by energy sources
  (tags: energy visualization statistics nuclear)
• Ireland and Doctor Who (Éire agus an Dochtúir Cé)
  (tags: DrWho ireland)
• Strange Horizons Reviews: Machine of Death: A Collection of Stories About People Who Know How They Will Die
  I'm about four stories in so far. It is good (so far).
  (tags: writing scifi reviews)
• The best description ever of how Magic: The Gathering is played (halfway down the page)
  (tags: magic game)
• Grown Adult Actually Expects To Be Happy
  (tags: philosophy funny psychology)
• Clever Israeli PSAs for parents of gay teens
  (tags: lgbt parenting)
• Egyptian military torturing protestors
  (tags: egypt military torture protests humanrights revolution women)
• Proclaiming the Alternative Vote in Leith (how I spent Sunday)
  (tags: av voting uk)
• God Hates Japan
  (tags: Japan atheism funny)
• DC Comics exec says that off-again Sandman TV series is back on again | Blastr
  (tags: comics sandman neilgaiman)
• 300,000 new jobs in the UK - mostly for the over 50s and men.
  (tags: jobs uk wtf)
• Iowa Woman Jailed for Thinking about an Abortion
  (tags: abortion law usa)

Comments

[birguslatro]

I got 9 out of ten in the quiz too, getting it wrong on the invisible clock question. What about you?

The problem with radiation vs more usual risks is you need a machine to tell you if you're in danger. And if you've not got one, you're reliant on the media or authorities. Which in practice would boil down to how much you trust the media or authorities.

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

Ummm... that comic is about Star Trek and has nothing to do with Charlie Sheen.

[andrewducker]

Fixed! Somehow I managed to link to a strip two after the one meant to...

[innerbrat]

I still don't get it. And I have seen BSG.

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

I've seen BSG as well and am confused.

[andrewducker]

The first two rows are (slightly tweaked) Charlie Sheen quotes. The first two panels on line three are quotes from Cavil, complaining about being an awesome supercomputer trapped in a body made of meat. The final panel is clearly him complaining (in Cavil mode) about the decisions of the Final Five to create cylons in the form of humans (who he despises).

[andrewducker]

The first two rows are (slightly tweaked) Charlie Sheen quotes. The first two panels on line three are quotes from Cavil, complaining about being an awesome supercomputer trapped in a body made of meat. The final panel is clearly him complaining (in Cavil mode) about the decisions of the Final Five to create cylons in the form of humans (who he despises).

[innerbrat]

And the utterly baffling visuals?

[andrewducker]

I took them to be a metaphor of Charlie Sheen shedding his human pretence and being "reborn" in his true Cylon form.

but that may have just been me :->

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

yup, that's exactly how I read it.
Though knowing nothing about Charlie Sheen makes the whole recent furror on the interwebs utterly bemusing

I'm guessing he's just said loads of weird stuff, and for some reasons people keep repeating it.

[andrewducker]

Actor -> Mental problems -> drugs -> repeated breakdowns -> recent total meltdown.

Not a lot else to know :->

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I was hoping so much that the last link would be to The Onion.

[andrewducker]

Sadly not. Although in a better world it would be.

[alitheapipkin.livejournal.com]

Dear God, between this sort of nonsense and withdrawing funding from Planned Parenthood, I feel like I should be donating to charities to support women's reproductive health in the USA, nevermind in 3rd world countries :(

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

the End Times really are upon us.

as little as 18 months ago I could say that in total jest.

[snarlish.livejournal.com]

my most recent 'wish it was the Onion' link is the one about westminster council considering banning and fining sleeping rough and giving food and blanket to those sleeping rough in its boundaries.

[blackmanxy.livejournal.com]

6/8 on the quiz, but I find it annoying that one thing was "science fact" because it was "theoretically possible," but another thing was "science fiction" because, even though people are currently working on it, it hasn't been made yet. I got the first one wrong, which influenced my answer on the second, which I then proceeded to get wrong as well.

[andrewducker]

Yup - same here with the invisiblity cloak.

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that annoyed me, I'd have gotten a perfect score aside from that. I've seen pictures of the invisibility cloak--it's not common but it does exist. Baaah!

[stillcarl.livejournal.com]

Seeing an invisibility cloak (in pictures or otherwise) is no proof they exist!

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

That description of MtG delighted me unutterably, and also reminds me why I stopped playing. ;)

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

I encountered MtG whilst an unparalleled LARPing snob. I watched a game for an unknown time [it may have been up to 3 hours], asked a couple of friends what was going on [they explained as only a firebrand geek truly can] and figured out that the total cards on deck must be worth at least £10,000.

one guy kept going on about Black Lotus, and how it had cost him a second mortgage, and how he would not play it, but was trying to source a second copy.

That was more than enough to prevent me ever remotely attempting to even look at a card again, never mind play.