Interesting Links for 11-04-2017

[andrewducker]

First UK rail freight service to China to depart

(tags: uk china rail transport trade )

Russian arrested in Spain over US election hacking

(tags: russia spain hacking usa elections )

How to force manufacturers to take IoT security seriously?

(tags: Technology security )

British Religion in Numbers

(tags: religion demographics uk )

Are the voters on Twitter typical of the rest of us?

(tags: twitter voting polls )

NHS Scotland to fund 'game-changer' Prep HIV drug

(tags: hiv drugs scotland healthcare )

Three Ways to Grade a Test

(tags: Education )

Chechnya has opened concentration camps for gay men

(tags: lgbt fascism russia )

Scots to bask in 3 months of hot weather

(tags: Scotland weather )

Using Facebook more leads to less happiness

(tags: facebook happiness psychology )

Why an X-Men comic has ignited political debate in Indonesia

(tags: xmen islam politics )

The Great Impostor

See also http://www.xkcdb.com/?10480 for a more informal discussion. He makes Frank Abagnale look like an underachiever.
(tags: viaSwampers )

The Ableist, Racist, Classist Underpinnings Of ‘Laziness’

(tags: work class race )

Comments

[cheekbones3]

Three months of hot weather, apart from the upcoming snow and the fact that we can't forecast reliably more than a week in advance in almost all cases *sigh*

[andrewducker]

The headline may be over-egging it a bit, but the actual quote from he Met Office seems very reasonable:
"Warmth is being seen in regions that are sources for air travelling to the UK and sea-surface temperatures are above normal."

"This increases the chances of warmer-than-average temperatures from April to June."

[danieldwilliam]

The Prep thing is interesting and all power to its elbow.

I remember being a teenager at the time that HIV first appeared and how scary it was at the time. It's my mother's favourite disease.

I'm a little puzzled by the health care psychology. For people who are at risk of contracting HIV because they frequently have unprotected sex with high risk groups, I'd also expect them to be amongst the people who are least likely to routinely take pre-emptive medication. I'm trying to think of things in my own life where remembering to doing something every day is easier than remembering to do it when it needs to be done.

Mind you I did very recently read a really interesting article about sexual health and the linkages between people having "romantic" relationships with each other which seemed to demonstrate that whilst there were lots of people having relations with lots of people there were great opportunities to break up the network by changing the behaviour of those people who weren't super connectors but were connections between two very interconnected groups.

[andrewducker]

Good question about the psychology.

I wonder if some of these people know that they'll do something stupid on the spur of the moment, or while drunk, so having a fallback is worthwhile.

[danieldwilliam]

That would make sense.

There must be plenty of people out there who know they are likely to do something stupid when drunk and horny but wise enough to take precautions when sober against their own recklessness.

And of course there's a bunch of people who are in high risk categories who would want to take Prep any way, A&E medics, sex workers, partners of people with HIV.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, so it's a good thing, if quite expensive at the moment. The main question being how much more expensive it is than the likely costs of not using it.

[danieldwilliam]

I was wondering to myself about the pricing of the drug and it occured to me that if I were in charge of pricing new drugs for sale to a socialised medical insurance fund like the NHS I'd work out what the avoided costs for the health service were and then price the drug at £1 less than that.

So assuming that I'm not crazy off base with my economics then the avoided cost plus the value of the improved life are something like £450 a month per person. That said, as a preventative it's going to function in a similar way to vaccination. 1 or 2 people here and there is good for them, increasing the immunity of 90% of the population cuts the disease entirely.

[danieldwilliam]

The only thing that could make the Russian hacking story funnier was if he'd been arrested trying to cross over to the Gibraltar.

[andrewducker]

That would have been particularly funny.

[digitalraven]

Demara's good, but he's no Ignaz Trebitsch-Lincoln, one-time MP for Darlington, German spy, member of the German government, and reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.

[toothycat]

"...over US election hacking" seems a little misleading given the actual article headline and content? I was expecting a much more sordid story.

[andrewducker]

That was the headline at the point I linked to it. Also the story then was about 25% of the length it is now. Sounds like they clarified and updated. Which is a good thing, even if it makes me look a little silly!

[dewline]

3. And we're supposed to let ourselves be dragged into the "Internet of Things" Age kicking and screaming when we can see consequences like the ones documented in that article and on Spark lying in wait for us?

8. Horrific. No other word for it. And you just know they're test-piloting it for Putin and Dugin.

11. What a mess. And in a comic book series devoted to pro-diversity dialogue.