Interesting Links for 7-9-2011

[andrewducker]

• A more progressive tax system makes people happier
  (tags: society tax happiness)
• Possibly the least convincing suicide _ever_
  (tags: suicide murder usa crime)
• A quiz about kittens! How can you resist?
  (tags: kittens comic funny)
• Tourist complains about sight of fish in harbour.
  (tags: funny devon fish OhForFucksSake)
• Chinese Nazi Chic Cosplay Wedding.
  (tags: nazi wedding cosplay china)
• Learn to code really, really easily.
  (tags: programming web javascript coding computers development)
• Court broadcast of judges' remarks to be allowed.
  (tags: law uk tv)
• Scottish soldier first to be convicted of transgender prejudice
  (tags: transgender scotland law bigotry crime)
• Very neat invention gives motorcyclists a great rear view. So simple everyone should have thought of it.
  (tags: motorcycle perception technology awesome)
• The Art Of Clean Up
  (tags: art photography)

Comments

[miss_s_b]

That riderscan thing is ace. What's the betting someone will get it banned for spurious reasons??

[andrewducker]

I sincerely hope not.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Suicide? Well... forensics people have figured out how people detemined on suicide sometimes bind their wrists & ankles, but I see no reason why murderers wouldn't have access to the same details. And it does look very much as though this case is getting into the San Diego Officials' syndrome of "Rich people are Important, and we shouldn't annoy them". *sigh* (Mind you, "shot twice in the back of the head" seems to me to be a much less likely "suicide", and I think that _has_ been the Official Finding in at least a few cases.)

[spacelem.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately Columbo is no longer with us. He was an expert in this type of thing, and dealing with rich people, and would have solved the crime no matter how well covered up it seemed.

[eatsoylentgreen.livejournal.com]

apparently the "learn to program" game is really easy to break by typing in
'fuck me' into the prompt instead of the calculations like you're supposed to

not that I did that mind you

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

The Chinese Nazi cosplayers are cultural appropriation at its very best.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

The transgender conviction saddens me.

I saddened that people think it’s okay to go and butt into to other people’s lives in a way that makes them feel unsafe or uncomfortable over an issue which (I think) is a matter of personal choice. It’s just rude.

I get that people might find unusual gender alignments in others make them uncomfortable and that they may not be in a place where they can approach the person with curiosity or indifference.

What I’m struggling with is the shift from feeling internally uncomfortable to going knocking on someone’s door and shouting at them. That’s a conscious decision to go and be rude.

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

slightly puzzled by your wording:

do you mean being transgender is a personal choice, or being a dick about someone else's life is a personal choice?

the latter is totally accurate. The former is not

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

Perhaps personal choice is the wrong phrase.

I think being transgender is a personal issue which one may choose how and if to engage with oneself over it.

Being a dick about is a personal choice.

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

The "least convincing suicide" has some competition, e.g. the death of Smiley Culture.

Via Webofevil: "She stabbed herself to death in front of me" is a comically awful attempt at a defence when offered by a regular person but actually stands when put forward by the police

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

I once saw, in the Cowgate, a chap talking to the police about an assault. The victim was very drunk and abusive.

attacker said "In my defense, Officers, the plaintiff is clearly a cunt"

which I thought was a perfectly reasonable argument. The police seemed inclined to agree and ended up restraining the victim as he moved aggressively towards a not-very-dressed young lady.


not at all relevant, but amusing nonetheless

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

the Codecademy is slightly better than most I've seen, but still littered with basic errors.

two important things:
when instructing someone to enter a command, make sure what you put on the screen is *exactly* what you want them to type.

Make the wording of an instruction completely unambiguous, and tell me what the bloody solution is! If I'm left not knowing what to do, I'm guessing. Lesson 7 is a great example of an author assuming it's obvious. It isn't.

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

[deleted comments cos I was spamming. Sorry.]

ok... grinding my way through it, and it's sinking in a bit. Firmly remains the case that it isn't as well written as it should be, and a lot of it is just bloody frustrating. The 'oh for fucks' moments rapidly get in the way of actual learning.

this is probably the best resource I've used, though. Which likely says more about my abilities than the resources

convincing suicide

[apostle-of-eris.livejournal.com]

On June 17, 1982, Roberto Calvi was found hanged** under Blackfriars* Bridge in London, with his hands tied behind his back, his pockets filled with five kilos of bricks and rocks (i.e. masonry)[* duh!]**, at a height where the rising tide would cover his body.**
He had been a principal in the P2*** conspiracy in Italy who was about to testify as state's evidence.
His death was repeatedly ruled a suicide.

"P2" was so implausible that even though there is a lot of incontravertable documentation, a preponderance of online references are conspiracy sites . . .


* a Masonic symbol
** in accordance with the penalty specified by certain Masonic oaths
*** Though they didn't quite take over Italy, they did steal the Vatican bank, and may have killed a Pope.

see Archbishop Marcinkus, Banco Ambrosiano