Interesting Links for 28-10-2017

[andrewducker]

The cat serial killer stalking suburbia

(tags: cats psychopath OhForFucksSake uk viaSwampers )

What Is a Nation in the 21st Century?

Personally, any group of people sufficiently large to manage all of the bureaucracy necessary to run a state should be able to do so.
(tags: nationality nations )

Catalonia declares independence from Spain

(tags: catalonia independence )

Comments

[drplokta]

And Iceland demonstrates that 300,000 people is “sufficiently large”. Independence for Preston?

[ironyoxide]

I work in Seattle. Our company moves about 3-4 tons of product to Vancouver BC every year. We move 8-12 tons of product to Portland Oregon a week.

The difference? Shipments to Portland don't require annoying border paperwork and arcane tax calculations.

Oregon could very well become a nation state in its own right; it certainly has the necessary infrastructure and skillset. I'd just rather they didn't, at least not without some sort of European style customs union.

[heron61]

What Is a Nation in the 21st Century?

My answer is clear - a blight on humanity and a locus of hatred and oppression. My strong preference has always been to abolish nations and create a world government with a strong guarantee of human rights.

My feeling about nations and nationalism is best expressed by this awesome quote from the excellent Ken MacLeod novel Engine City:

'What you are looking at', said Matt, 'is the most obscene and disgusting thing I've seen in centuries. It's a map of the world which happens to be a rectangular sheet of chauvinist shit. Every one of those barbarously, artificially carved-up fragments of the world is tagged with a little rectangle of its own, a bloody badge of shame - a flag! They've got nationalism down there. If they had a virulent strain of bubonic plague instead I'd be happy for them.'

[conuly]

What sort of monster kills cats for funzies?