Interesting Links for 10-01-2019

[andrewducker]

Drones deliver pollen, better fruit

(tags: drones bees fruit plants Technology )

Some quick takeaways on the 'reassurance to the DUP' document that's just been published by UK Government

(tags: UK europe NorthernIreland DUP )

Oxford students call for professor’s removal over alleged homophobia

(tags: lgbt Oxford academia )

Briefing note to Labour MPs says the party is proposing “a sensible Brexit”.

(tags: UK europe labour )

Labour finally explain what they want from Brexit. Can anyone explain it to me?

(tags: labour UK europe wtf )

Why are chefs like that?

(tags: cooking business behaviour )

US government shutdown: Where do we go from here?

(tags: usa politics doom )

In case you were wondering how little respect the British government had for constitutional process

(tags: UK government OhForFucksSake )

Comments

[xenophanean]

Corbyn's deal appears to be either:

"Fuck it, let's just join the EEA, but can we call it something else so we don't look crap".

Likely EU reaction: (resigned) "Sure, why not, but you'll get a slightly crappy version so it doesn't piss off Norway"

or

"Can we have *some* of the 4 freedoms, but not all of them?"

Likely EU reaction: (fury) "FFS, read the last, like, 300 memos where we have said WE WILL NOT FUCKING DO THIS! FFS We just can't even!"

[andrewducker]

I think Corbyn wants (2), or possibly doesn't know what he wants.

[xenophanean]

Yes, I worry that this is true. I think it's a complete non-starter, which frankly makes me want him to resign. It's utter crap.

[skington]

The Guardian's liveblog reckoned the main talking point from Corbyn's speech today was that he fundamentally doesn't care about Brexit; he's reflexively Eurosceptic for Bennite reasons, and because he fears the centre-right-dominated EU will never allow socialism in one country, but other than that he mostly cares about class divides, rich vs poor etc.

The problem is that increasingly the country's divisions are young vs old (a far better predictor of how you voted Tory vs Labour in England and Wales at the last general election), and increasingly remain vs leave.

[andrewducker]

I also think that he doesn't believe how bad Brexit will be. I saw something yesterday about how there are some very central people in the Labour Party who think it's mostly Project Fear.

chefs

[mair_in_grenderich]

The chef thing reminded me of Nevil Shute on aircraft designers:

"There is, of course, a good explanation in psychology for this universal characteristic of the greatest aeroplane designers. A beautiful aircraft is the expression of the genius of a great engineer who is also a great artist. It is impossible for that man to carry out the whole of the design himself; he works through a design office staffed by a hundred draughtsmen, or more. A hundred minds, each with their own less competent ideas, are striving to modify the chief designer's original conception. If the design is to appear in the end as a great artistic unity, the chief designer must be a man of immensely powerful will, capable of imposing his idea and his way of doing things on each of his hundred draughtsmen, so that each one of them is too terrified to insert any of his own ideas. If the chief designer has not got this personality and strength of will, his original conception will be distorted in the design office and will appear as just another, not-so-good aeroplane. He will not then be ranked as a good chief designer.

All really first-class chief designers, for this reason, are both artists, engineers, and men of a powerful and an intolerant temper, quick to resist the least modification of their plans, energetic in fighting the least infringement upon what they regard as their own sphere of action. ... "

(https://www.fadedpage.com/books/20120814/html.php)

Re: chefs

[andrewducker]

Thank you!

I wonder if there are good examples of more team-based design processes.