Interesting Links for 14-01-2019

[andrewducker]

"52 things I learned in 2018" (I think #31 is the most astounding)

(tags: )

Latest polls on voting intention and Brexit

(tags: polls uk europe politics )

Make Susie Gay, You Cowards: On The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel's Lesbian Problem

(tags: lgbt tv )

To protect kids, don’t send report cards home on Fridays

(tags: abuse children school )

The Embroidered Computer

(tags: computers art craftwork viaElfy )

Why I Love Luke Skywalker's Arc in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'

(tags: StarWars movies )

The Art and Making of "Into the Spiderverse"

(tags: spiderman movies art )

Comments

[wildeabandon]

I agree with a lot of the article about The Marvellous Mrs Maisel, but I take issue with the argument that everyone else is explicitly heterosexual just because they're either in or pursuing different-sex relationships.

[andrewducker]

Good point!

Although "There are also invisible bi people" isn't great.

[snippy]

I was thinking more that some of them were doing the expected thing because they didn't know or weren't brave enough to risk figuring out what they actually wanted.

[calimac]

Of the 52, I was most interested in no. 50, "Waterstones gave individual store managers control over which books to stock and how to display them. Over seven years, returns dropped from 20–25% to just 4%." I couldn't learn anything from the links, but I'll guess that this was less from variations in local preferences than from the store managers just knowing the stock and the customers better than corporate did.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, I'd assumed the same. Trust the people closest to the situation.

[doug]

Yes, and I think there's another effect going on that's synergistic. With the former system, you have one central person (or group) deciding which books need to be sent to the shop, and a different person (or group) in the shop deciding which books need to be sent back as returns. If you make one person responsible for both decisions, they're going to be in a position to make better decisions, and they have an incentive to not look stupid by sending back a book shortly after ordering it in.

[rmc28]

I was especially impressed by 33 (blue light panels on Japanese railway stations associated with hugely reduced suicide attempts).