Interesting Links for 13-02-2018

[andrewducker]

I’m Just a Misunderstood Marbled Crayfish (Overlord) Who is Certainly Not Planning World Domination

(tags: funny animals viaSwampers cloning dna evil )

No shared leave for shared leave minister

(tags: paternity parenting uk parliament OhForFucksSake viaSwampers )

Marmite maker Unilever threatens to pull ads from Facebook and Google

(tags: facebook google advertising )

Where Old, Unreadable Documents Go to Be Understood

(tags: history writing )

German workers win right to 28-hour week following industrial action

(tags: work germany working_hours )

Brain scans show why people get aggressive after a drink or two

(tags: alcohol aggression brain behaviour psychology )

Do the Freemasons’ claims stack up?

(tags: charity law discrimination secrecy uk )

The diabolical genius of the baby advice industry

(tags: babies advice marketing OhForFucksSake )

The terrifying robot dogs can open doors now

(tags: video robots terrifying )

Just a Joke: Where Alt-Right Guys Get Their Start

(tags: school fascism society bullying OhForFucksSake comic )

Firms on Caribbean island chain own 23,000 UK properties

(tags: tax property uk )

Comments

[miss_s_b]

The robot doggies are adorable, not terrifying.

[naath]

They remind me strongly of Roynold's Diamond Dogs which is squicky

[momentsmusicaux]

Far worse than the baby advice industry, I would say, is the baby equipment industry. The amount of stuff that new parents end up convinced they need to buy is horrific.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, I think Jane found a list of essentials with about a hundred items on it.

[momentsmusicaux]

Ha, yes, doesn't surprise me.

It's a good idea to check with parents of older kids whether anything is actually useful.

(E.g. I seem to remember L & A saying they never used their moses basket. We hardly used ours. Mildly handy to put baby in while eating, but pretty soon baby got annoyed at not being able to see us. In the end the cat adopted it and has at some point weed in it.)

[channelpenguin]

Do get the baby slings that you carry the kid on the front of you with. *everyone* uses them here in Berlin - people even have outsize (or possibnly specially-tailored) jackets / coats so the baby fits inside..

And for the city parent, who uses the rather not-pram-friendly UK buses and trains a lot, just get the most minimal folding pram you can - we had a very basic "deck chair"-esque one for my lttle sister and I recall we got on and off all buses and trains easily. (I was walking by then).

My mother says just a normal bag with a few nappies, tissues and spare undies / top was all she ever carried. As long as I have known him, Jean has managed with his son with his messenger bag or Teo's kiddie rucksack, even when Teo was still in nappies and could not walk.

[momentsmusicaux]

> (There is also a subgenre of books aimed specifically at new fathers, but since they are an almost uninterrupted wasteland of jokes about breasts and beer, this article will give them the attention they deserve, which is none.)

I chanced upon this one in a bookshop once, and while overall it's not my cup of tea, the mantra of 'plan, prepare, organize' is certainly one I endorse: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Commando-Dad-Elite-Carer-Birth/dp/1849532613

No shared leave for shared leave minister

[jack]

A: Are you taking up the shared parental leave?
B: No. Any parental leave I get is arranged in a different way.
A: What way?
B: I don't see how that's relevant.
A: Have you asked if you can take an equivalent amount of leave time?
B: I don't see how that's relevant.
A: Would you like it if you could?
B: No.
B: And nor would my wife.
A: So everyone should decide for themselves?
B: No, they should follow the government guidelines, like I said originally.

[calimac]

The author of the article on baby advice describes a category of books called Baby Trainers, full of precise advice which, if you diligently follow it, should lead to the perfect baby.

Well, I recently came across a book which can equivalently be called a Cat Trainer.

[momentsmusicaux]

> But more strangeness was in store: the baby cried mildly for about four minutes, slept for 10 hours, and woke in a buoyant mood

I once had Caractacus screaming through large parts of the night when she was about 2. Next morning at breakfast, she casually remarked, 'I cried in the night', as if she was talking about the weather.

[andrewducker]

People do seem to be very good at forgetting how bad they felt get recently

[skington]

Better numeracy from journalists, please!

44% of all properties owned by overseas companies in England and Wales are in London. Is that a lot? How many properties are there in all of England and Wales, and how many in London?

Overseas-owned properties in London are worth £33.9bn, which is a lot of money. How much are all properties in London worth? Is that number large because overseas companies own a lot of London properties, or because London properties are really expensive? Just by looking at the graphs you can't tell!

[alithea]

Totally irrelevant to your comment, but I love that you have a Monica face for your icon for nonsense like this :D

[melchar]

The robot dogs ... kinda scary, I agree, if only in the 'what can go wrong' sort of way.

And the article about the marbled crayfish neglected to mention how they taste. If they are as tasty as normal crayfish - and breed like reported - they could go a long way towards filling the human need for protein in a world where fish populations are being over-fished to extinction.