Interesting Links for 26-05-2017

[andrewducker]

Police cuts mean forces can't handle terror threat without Army help, Police Federation says

(tags: uk police Conservatives )

An Epic Landslide in California, Before and After

(tags: california earth photo roads )

Star Wars: The glass-half-full gift of the only official unaltered original trilogy DVDs

(tags: StarWars )

Ancestry.com denies exploiting users' DNA (they can totally exploit mine if it helps cure anyone of anything)

(tags: genetics data )

Mindfulness-focused childbirth education leads to less depression

(tags: mindfulness depression childbirth mother )

Netflix and Amazon streaming service rivals put BBC 'download and keep' service out of business

I have never "bought" a tv show on digital. Really can't imagine ever doing so. Happy to "rent", and subscribe for streaming though.
(tags: tv bbc vod streaming viaSwampers )

The Handmaid's Tale, Dystopia & Life Imitating Art

(tags: women scifi tv dystopia )

I was not aware quite how large crocodiles got

(tags: crocodile video )

Brain images reveal roots of kids' increasing cognitive control

(tags: psychology neuroscience children brain )

When Will Machines Exceed Human Performance? Survey of AI Researchers.

(tags: ai thefuture )

Fathers' brains respond differently to daughters than sons

(tags: parenting fatherhood psychology )

It Is Really Important to Humanize Evil

(tags: evil society psychology slavery humanity )

A collection of terrible terrible book jokes

(tags: books jokes funny )

Americans discover that you can put butter on bread _with other things_. Not satire. I think.

(tags: food usa wtf )

IFS criticises Labour and Tory plans - Neither major party is being "really honest" with voters

(tags: labour Conservatives economics tax welfare uk OhForFucksSake )

Why I Quit Being So Accommodating (an essay from 1922)

(tags: advice business )

Whales are the largest animals on Earth. Now we know why they got so big

(tags: animals ocean prehistory evolution climatechange )

Comments

Butter

[fanf]

I was puzzled by AA Milne's poem "The King's Breakfast" - marmalade instead of butter? Wat? Tho we had some childhood friends who were shocked that I put both butter and jam on bread - they were only allowed one topping at a time.

[danieldwilliam]

If the reasons whales got bigger is partly to do with artic ice does this implay that when there is much less artic ice then there will be more evenly spread krill and smaller whales?

[movingfinger]

Krill is being fished by humans at the moment, and although (in some areas, at least) safe catch numbers are used, it is really hard to know how much krill is surplus to needs for marine life. Everything in the Arctic and Antarctic runs on krill; the food chain is extremely short, as in three or four steps (for example, phytoplankton->krill->penguin/fur seal->orca/leopard seal) and krill-eating animals are also being stressed by loss or degradation of habitat.

Krill won't "spread out more evenly." Swarms will become smaller and fewer and as waters warm they will probably vanish from some areas altogether. Phytoplankton, which krill consume, need cold water to grow, and the warming, more acid ocean means those too are threatened. Although polar ocean wildlife is highly mobile, traveling farther for food uses energy and time and with krill-dependent birds and animals requiring land to breed, there is a limit to how far they are able to go for food when rearing young.

All in all, things don't look good for those two big ecosystems.

[armiphlage]

There have been trials with using iron sulphate to promote phytoplankton blooms, which would increase krill stocks. I'm concerned that too much of that could have unforeseen impacts on other areas.

[movingfinger]

Honestly, crocodiles ought be at the top of the list of "animals that shouldn't be habituated to receiving food from humans."

[calimac]

As the link says, the jokes are for book nerds. The ones about authors I'd read I thought were very funny. The ones about authors I hadn't read I didn't get at all.

[amaebi]

I think it's lovely to be able to check out of being everyone's servant. I wonder what that's like.