andrewducker: (Default)
andrewducker ([personal profile] andrewducker) wrote2017-09-20 12:00 pm
supergee: (mogen david)

[personal profile] supergee 2017-09-20 11:16 am (UTC)(link)
The new Jew Stereotypes in sf are Arabs, going back to The Mote in God's Eye.
danieldwilliam: (Default)

[personal profile] danieldwilliam 2017-09-20 01:17 pm (UTC)(link)
What is clearly needed is time travelling submarine to settle the Brontosaurus question.
danieldwilliam: (Default)

[personal profile] danieldwilliam 2017-09-20 01:19 pm (UTC)(link)
I think the Edinburgh motorway would have gone through my flat.

danieldwilliam: (Default)

[personal profile] danieldwilliam 2017-09-20 01:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Whenever I read things like the Space- Capitalist Jewish stereo-type thread I wonder how one might construct a space-faring race (or a fantasy race) who are primarly trade focused without hitting any of the cultural stereo-types about Jews and then I regret that I don't currently have the time to try that out in a book.

(Or, what element of Jewish culture one might "borrow" that weren't a strong part of the Ferenghi / Space-Jew riff and where that might take one with different Jews-In- SPAAAACE.)
danieldwilliam: (Default)

[personal profile] danieldwilliam 2017-09-20 01:28 pm (UTC)(link)
I was chatting to someone (possiblly someone from the dialogue group) about red squirrels and polecats and how the interaction between re-introducing polecats and red squirrel numbers was interesting because red squirrels and polecats had co-evolved and grey squirrels had no idea how to deal with polecats and spent more time on the ground but were apparantly delicious meal for two sized targets for polecats.
danieldwilliam: (Default)

[personal profile] danieldwilliam 2017-09-20 01:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I am extremely sceptical about arguments that start with "displaying the insignia of a group is not a form of speech" and then lead on to being okay with banning and / or punching such displayers of insignia.

They start from, in my opinion, a dodgy, and unexamined, jurisprudential axiom that free speech is absolute. It's an absolute in the best known written constitution in the anglo-sphere. That doesn't mean that it has to be absolute.

I think one should be very, very careful in restricting speech.

I think if you are trying to classify behaviour that is clearly X as Y so that you can ban it (or punch it) without having to ban X then I think you will ultimately cause yourself more difficulties in the long run.

I'm okay with restricting speech that advocates for genocide or the subjugation of people based on their ethnicity and other popular Nazi tunes. I'm also okay with saying fascists have a long history of starting their politcal aspirations a long, long way beyond what is acceptable so, no, no one can be a fascist or advocate for fascism and that is a limit on the freedom of speech.
jack: (Default)

Feeling bad about failure is part of how we learn to do better

[personal profile] jack 2017-09-20 02:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I'm definitely interested, but I'm too familiar with the "failure, so just shouldn't try this, it's out of my reach" loop.

I also wonder, the article summarises the positive effects as "tried harder next time". I hope they were more clearly unambiguously positive in the actual study, "tilt harder" is not always the answer to failing to defeat the windmill.
jack: (Default)

Scotland's rental rules are changing from December

[personal profile] jack 2017-09-20 02:51 pm (UTC)(link)
That does sound better! I forget it's actually possible to make progress on this sort of thing :(
jack: (Default)

HMRC will focus on mass market schemes after successful first anti-avoidance panel ruling

[personal profile] jack 2017-09-20 02:54 pm (UTC)(link)
HMRC: You owe NI for this payment.
Employer: Oh, it's not *payment*. It's just gold that we gave someone in exchange for the work they did for us.
HMRC: Yes, that is literally the oldest form of payment in existence.

I'm pleased there is more focus on banning avoidance. I'd forgotten the government could do things I was pleased about!
calimac: (Default)

[personal profile] calimac 2017-09-20 04:25 pm (UTC)(link)
I had been under the impression that brontosaurus hadn't been reclassified as a type of apatosaurus but that it literally did not exist. That is, the skull of one species had been incorrectly attached to the body of another, and since the combination didn't resemble either of them, it was given a new name.

But apparently that's not quite what happened. Now I'm confused.
simont: A picture of me in 2016 (Default)

[personal profile] simont 2017-09-21 08:39 am (UTC)(link)
Red squirrels winning battle with greys in Aberdeen woods

My first thought was 'I'd watch that movie.'