Interesting Links Post for 17-01-2018

[andrewducker]

McDonald's aims for fully recycled packaging by 2025

(tags: recycling mcdonalds )

The UK would be welcome to stay in the EU if it changed its mind about Brexit

(tags: uk europe )

China builds world?s biggest air purifier (and it seems to be working)

(tags: environment pollution china air )

Amazing Cyberpunk Beer Commercial By The Makers Of Ghost In The Shell

(tags: advertising anime alcohol )

The new London/Scotland sleeper trains look very plush. (Not that I'm likely to use such things.)

(tags: trains sleep )

UK green energy investment halves after policy changes

(tags: environment energy uk fail Conservatives )

Co-op launches even quicker online divorce service

(tags: divorce internet uk )

Uber remotely locks down its offices during police raids, shutting off computers storing sensitive information.

(tags: police security law )

Working in psychological research? Got 15 minutes to share your concerns about academic integrity and research practices?

(tags: psychology research )

The brains of jazz and classical pianists work differently

(tags: brains eeg music piano jazz )

No evidence to support link between violent video games and behaviour

(tags: games behaviour psychology violence )

When "not that bad" becomes your armour

(tags: sex abuse society )

NHS haemorrhaging nurses as 33,000 leave each year

(tags: NHS fail )

Ancient frozen tomb of Scythian Prince found in Siberia

(tags: history russia archeology )

Comments

[autopope]

The "NHS losing 10% of its nurses per year" story is dodgy, IMO.

First, you'd expect an average 4-5% loss rate per year just through aging and retirement, assuming a 40 year career duration.

Second, nurses are overwhelmingly — 90% — female in the UK. So you'd expect a very high proportion — 50-80% — to take maternity leave at some point, and of those, many won't return to work until their children are in infants school or older.

Of an initial cohort entering the work force aged 22, probably 80% have left by the time they hit 42, although subsequently a number will return. Which gets you to a 10% per year wastage rate.

Below the lede, the article says that the attrition rate is up 20% over five years ago, which would be alarming ...until you consider the proportion of NHS nurses who are non-UK EU citizens, and look at the effect of Brexit on EU workers in the UK.

Finally, consider the proportion of nurses employed by non-NHS private medical services that are taking on subcontracted NHS work. This proportion is clearly rising (thank you, Chris Grayling) and will obviously impact the attrition rate among NHS nurses as the units they work for are privatized by the back door.

[danieldwilliam]

A decrease in spending on renewable is not great news.

But some of that decrease will be the result of falling costs and some of it will be a relative decrease from a position that involved accelerating projects to get them included in the previous funding regime.

The UK has put a reasonable amount of money in to renewable deployment over the last few decades. I'm not horrified if we've adjusted our subsidy regime down so that some other countries, with less developed easy to exploit resources pay for the next round of build out.

[danieldwilliam]

I may well be on the new sleeper service at some point later in the year.

I shall let you know how it is.

[agoodwinsmith]

I hate Uber and that whole business model so much.

Safety regulations are never adopted voluntarily by capitalist entities, only grudgingly, slowly implemented at the last possible minute when mandated by law resulting from labour action. Organizations that shove workers back into unsafe conditions are not "disruptive innovators" but old-fashioned greedy shits who believe peasants aren't real people. People working in head offices aren't the peasants.

Also: tax evasion: also not disruptive innovation, just another greedy shit wanting to use infrastructure (roads, snow clearing, etc etc) for free. Shkreli is just the pimple on the current oozy zeitgeist boil.

[zotz]

One study finding no evidence is not that same as studies in general finding no evidence. One study, in general, is worth very little unless replicated.

[darkoshi]

Did you generate this entry differently than usual? The link tags didn't get copied to the entry level tags.

[andrewducker]

The post failed, and I had to manually copy paste it to a new one, which didn't bring the tags with

Sleeper trains

[anef]

Yes, they look very posh, but what about the mattresses? We went up to Scotland on the sleeper a few years ago and it was memorably uncomfortable. Not quite as bad as camping in Greece, but I don't remember getting much sleep.

Re: Sleeper trains

[andrewducker]

When Dan's tried it I'll get him to report back on mattress quality.