Interesting Links for 24-07-2017

[andrewducker]

How to view and download ransomed Photobucket gallery images, on a per-image basis

(tags: photos internet )

Labour would take Britain out of the EU single market, Jeremy Corbyn says

(tags: immigration Europe Labour OhForFucksSake )

Jeremy Corbyn: Student debt write-off not a commitment

(tags: debt students labour )

People to be allowed to pick their own gender without doctor's diagnosis, under Government plans

(tags: gender law uk )

An interesting snippet of an interview with Jodie Whittaker, in light of her casting as Doctor Who

(tags: drwho acting gender )

"My father-in-law won't become a coder, no matter what economists say"

Pssssst, basic income...
(tags: employment jobs Technology )

How are things going with the Hugo Award attempts to deter slates?

(tags: voting awards hugo )

World's first floating wind farm emerges off coast of Scotland

(tags: Scotland windpower ocean )

Many of the best Scrabble players are Thais who don't speak English

(tags: language games )

'A misuse of scarce funds': NHS to end prescription of homeopathic remedies

(tags: homeopathy NHS GoodNews )

Etobicoke "park stairs" story is a perfect example of the anti-regulatory nonsense that led to the Grenfell disaster

(tags: regulation safety )

How 1967 changed gay life in Britain: ‘I think for my generation, we’re still a little bit uneasy’

(tags: lgbt UK history )

18yo arrested for reporting a bug in the new Budapest e-Ticket system

(tags: crime bug OhForFucksSake transport epicfail )

Wisconsin Company Offers to Implant Microchips in Employees

(tags: technology cyborg usa )

Why Brilliant Girls Tend to Favor Non-STEM Careers

(tags: gender science research bias )

Comments

[cmcmck]

I'll be glad if the gender laws make things simpler and I speak as one who had a lot of hoops to jump even though being so long transitioned and of the 'first generation' to benefit from the new laws as they were in 2004 gave me free pass past a lot of them.

Some of us favoured non STEM careers 'cos we're academic historians!

[danieldwilliam]

It's not often I'm tempted to use "game changing" when looking at technology but those floating wind turbines might well be game changing. They open up vast areas of sea to commerical energy generation. It's the technology that might theoretically allow wind to supply 100% of energy demand and leaves the arguement down to one of cost.

"My father-in-law won't become a coder"

[jack]

The CNMB articles seem to spend a lot of effort tactfully saying "ok, what I'm about to say isn't 'rah, capitalism', but might it possibly be worth listening to anyway...?" :) I dragged myself past that to the actual conclusions.

Previous innovations have indeed been pretty bad to people who's jobs were replaced. No work on the farm? No work in the mill? No work for people who can't read? The people who owned the stuff could replace people with machines, make more money, and leave people with no income to starve, or become dependent on state support. So-called luddites had a very valid objection to technology, they didn't dislike it on principle, they disliked it because they might starve.

But in the long term, it's hard to say society would be better if were were all hunter gatherers and never invented artificial medicines etc.

In the short term, mechanising might not be worth it if owners were directly responsible for the continued wages of workers they replaced. But in the medium term, it probably would still be more efficient even if they continue paying wages forever for workers no longer needed at their old jobs (as they do indirectly, via taxes).

What would be desirable is a way to allow transition without ruining people's livelihoods along the way. As you say, a basic income seems like it might be a good candidate. It may not be worth an individual company retraining someone nearing retirement. But if society as a whole viewed retraining as a natural expectation, rather than a grudging concession, it might be a lot more possible.

How are things going with the Hugo Award attempts to deter slates?

[jack]

It seems comparatively positive. In particular, the requirements that any changes need to be voted through in two successive worldcons seems to have done a good job at turning out some sensible proposals. In 2015, I was annoyed there was no way to emergency ban the troll entries. But in retrospect, it was worth having two years of turmoil and a *good* amendment to the voting system, than a quicker fix (especially considering how easy it is to put in something badly thought out).

Reading the post in more detail also made me realise, I'd got the impression E Pluribus Hugo would lead to less ability to nominate multiple works, but it seems, it doesn't, which makes me a lot more positive about it. I should have realised that earlier, but I correctly expected that whatever passed was probably a fairly good proposal.

The one thing I'm not sure is covered is, I would really like it if pre-approval, or being voted below no award, removed a work's "finalist" status. But I do see how that could lead to recriminations if people campaign against valid but disliked finalists.

[movingfinger]

World's first floating wind farm emerges off coast of Scotland is a splendid headline. I hoped to read about Aquaman overseeing a coalition of exasperated marine life heaving it above the thundering waves, having resorted to building it to show the thickwitted humans how to generate electricity without destroying their habitat.

[heron61]

Why Brilliant Girls Tend to Favor Non-STEM Careers
I'm unimpressed with this article, because the authors are sloppy and clearly have at least a strong a bias as any they are claiming be working to counteract. For example, there's this bit:

Women preferred working with people, whereas men preferred working with things, a preference that is detectable within the first two days of birth and among our close species relatives, rhesus monkeys!

First off, the rhesus monkey study is utter nonsense of the "evolutionary just-so stories" school of evo psych, and numerous studies have shown that infant (and presuming much later) behavior depends on how adults react to the infant, and gender difference reverse entirely in infants labelled as the other gender, because adults treat them very differently.

The studies quotes about "gender differences in interests" are both US-based, I'd be very interested to see the results of similar studies done in Iceland, Norway, Finland, or Sweden (the 4 best nation (in order) for overall gender equality. Also, as some quick googling revealed, at least in Sweden, problems persist. I have yet to see any explanations of this gap that can be accounted for by overall cultural sexism.