Interesting Links for 08-06-2019

[andrewducker]

Why HS2 is vitally important, and the only option to improve Britain's railways

(tags:UK trains transport )

The mysterious crystal that melts at two different temperatures

(tags:physics viaSwampers )

Why every possible Brexit outcome spells disaster for the Conservative party

(tags:Yay Conservatives )

Google confirms that advanced backdoor came preinstalled on some Android devices

(tags:android security )

BFI to refuse funding for films with facially-scarred villains

(tags:beauty movies society )

Children calling Childline after being told to kill themselves because they're LGBT

(tags:LGBT suicide children )

Four teenage boys arrested over homophobic attack on lesbian couple

(tags:lesbians LGBT violence )

How a Google Cloud Catch-22 Broke the Internet

(tags:internet Google fail )

A thread of political donations Google has made in support of hate.

(tags:Google politics money bigotry )

'The Good Place' to End With Season 4 (and that's good news)

(tags:TV ethics GoodNews comedy )

Criminal barristers in England and Wales vote for national walkout

(tags:UK law doom )

Otters spotted swimming in central Edinburgh (under Dean Village bridge)

(tags:otters edinburgh rivers )

Comments

The mysterious crystal that melts at two different temperatures

[doug]

Oh wow, that was really interesting, thanks.

And I know Terry Threlfall from York - we were both in the Chemistry Dept in the early 90s. Good to hear he's still doing interesting work in his 80s!

Why every possible Brexit outcome spells disaster for the Conservative party

[calimac]

That was amazingly lucid. I read through some of Jonathan Lis's back files at Prospect, and he's always amazingly lucid. I should have been reading him all along.

I disagree with the headline, though. "Every possible Brexit outcome" - there is no possible Brexit outcome. All the possibilities - hard exit, revoking Article 50, least of all May's soft exit, or any variations on any of the above - are impossible to achieve, because too many people oppose each one of them. And Lis shows that repeatedly asking for extensions, the only alternative to any of the above, is also impossible.

As I've suggested before, the only remaining outcome is for the entire UK to vanish in one of Douglas Adams's puffs of logic.

[lilysea]

Otters spotted swimming in central Edinburgh (under Dean Village bridge)

Hurray! ^_^

[doccy]

Depressing update on the Childline story if you've not already heard - the NSPCC has severed ties with Munroe Bergdorf after a Times journalist called her a "porn model" and appeared to be threatening a boycott (NSPCC's reaction: "We never officially called her an Ambassador", Twitter responses: "Please stop using the LGBT flag")

https://twitter.com/MunroeBergdorf/status/1137407382412234752

[andrewducker]

It's a horrendous response from them.

[doccy]

I can't even understand it! After all, -they- asked -her- to work with them. Did they not expect to see the level of hate that most LGBTQ+ people get? Isn't their latest push meant to be around -helping- these children -because- of that hate?

[dewline]

They've been successfully intimidated into backing away from their goal.

Fascist obedience test, passed.