Interesting Links for 26-03-2018

[andrewducker]

Plaid Cymru 'would hold Wales independence referendum'

But support is very low
(tags: Wales independence referendum )

Are You Anti-Semitic? A Handy Guide.

(tags: Jews bigotry )

Keir Starmer: ‘We cannot allow Labour to break apart over Brexit’

(tags: Labour Europe uk )

How much free time did an average person in the middle ages have and how die they spend it?

(tags: history life )

How to Fall Asleep Fast - In Less Than 2 Minutes

(tags: sleep advice )

When they found a video tape, this was not what they expected to be on it

(tags: video )

Germaine Greer 'Heard Friend Being Raped' And 'Did Nothing'

(tags: rape wtf )

In France it's illegal to stream movies until they've been out of the cinema for three years

(tags: movies France streaming vod law )

Quarter of Scotland's sex offenders abuse children online

(tags: scotland abuse internet rape children Child_abuse )

Comments

[andrewducker]

Bit of duplication today due to time zone changes.

(Yes I should fix that. But I'd have to make some fairly deep changes, and it's not been high priority)

Greer

[alithea]

Oh my. I mean, I'd already stopped taking any notice of anything she says over flagrant transphobia but that is really horrible, I stopped reading after her line about sex being a blood-sport. Her poor friend. No wonder some feminists oppose marriage if that's what they think it's like.

Re: Greer

[alithea]

Not that her transphobia isn't also really horrible, just to be absolutely clear. I realize I worded that as if I thought that was a lesser thing.

Re: Greer

[cmcmck]

Don't worry- I'm trans and I knew what you meant! :o)

Re: Greer

[alithea]

I thought it was worth making doubly clear given the current climate!

Re: Greer

[danieldwilliam]

She seems to be a person with no soft edges.

I'd have some sympathy for her if her take had been "I was lying there in bed, in someone else's house. I heard the noises. I wasn't exactly sure what was happening but mostly I was uncertain, embarrassed and scared and conditioned not to make a fuss so I just stayed there in bed and I regret it" rather than "Shit happens, get over it."

Re: Greer

[alithea]

Yes, that response I'd empathize with, I can imagine it would be very hard to intervene at the time. But how she then talks about it is just horrible.

[cmcmck]

Don't get me going on Greer!

On the anti Semitic thing I'm thankful not to do any of those things and with my family history, I'd be ashamed if I did!

[ninetydegrees]

Correction: How to Fall Asleep Fast - In Less Than 2 Minutes if you have no problems falling asleep.

Not very useful otherwise.

[nancylebov]

It seems like quite an elaborate system of relaxation to get through in two minutes, but maybe it's useful for some people.

Mostly I treasure the bit about relaxing your face so that you look like a brook trout. How do you stay relaxed when you might want to laugh at the silliness? Does all trout species have similar faces?

[ninetydegrees]

Once you've practiced it several times and it works for you I think it's like meditation. You can get to it pretty quickly. But it has to work for you in the first place.

XD Good question!

[andrewducker]

If you have no problems falling asleep then you wouldn't need advice to do it.

I agree though that it wouldn't help people with chronic sleep problems.

[ninetydegrees]

These are tips to help you fall asleep *quickly*. Onset insomnia is chronic/acute if you consistently need more than half an hour to fall asleep, precisely because relaxing is hard. You know you should relax. You just *can't* (and this can only be one part of a more complex issue which can involve chemical imbalances, false beliefs, issues with your circadian rhythm,...). Which is why this kind of advice is useless unless you usually have no problems falling asleep (Context: I had chronic onset insomnia for at least 15 years and have been helped by several specialized doctors for 3 years now).

[adrian_turtle]

One of your links has the wrong title. It should be: "How much free time did the average man have in the middle ages?" It counts sitting-down work like spinning and weaving as Not Work, and doesn't consider food prep or child care at all. (To be fair, it also ignores animal care and things like keeping the house warm, which were often considered men's work.) But those all took a lot of time at low tech levels, and there's a reason our foremothers used to say, "A man must work from sun to sun, but a woman's work is never done."