Interesting Links for 14-05-2021

[andrewducker]

Janelle Monae Joins Daniel Craig in 'Knives Out' Sequel

(tags:movies )

Movies Every Physics Student Should Watch

(tags:physics movies )

NHS tracing app prevented thousands of deaths (and hundreds of thousands of cases)

(tags:pandemic nhs apps )

It's True. Everyone IS Multitasking on Their Video Calls

(tags:multitasking work )

Wales elects the world's first elected non-binary mayor

(tags:wales gender politics )

When Germans Find Out About Tipping in the U.S.

(tags:video tips usa funny true )

Black homeowner had a white friend stand in for third appraisal. Her home value doubled.

(tags:USA racism housing )

Native oysters reintroduced into Firth of Clyde

(tags:Scotland sea seafood )

In a system with lots of small parties, forcing one of them to give up a vote to make someone a presiding officer seems like bad design

(tags:politics scotland )

That was the County Court Judgment that was - and why everyone is entitled to a civil justice system that works at the speed it worked for Boris Johnson

(tags:law UK )

Back in the 80s I played computer games - by post. (Fascinating slice of now dead history)

(tags:games history mail )

Palestinian Family Who Lost Home In Airstrike Takes Comfort In Knowing This All Very Complicated

(tags:viaJohnSmith Israel palestine satire )

Israel vows not to stop Gaza attacks until there is 'complete quiet'

(tags:Israel Palestine war OhForFucksSake )

How to criticize Israel without being anti-Semitic

(tags:Jews Israel bigotry advice )

Comments

[calimac]

2) Some of these movies I hadn't heard of, even ones starring famous actors. Either I'm really unplugged from the movie-release publicity circuit, or it's really broken.

6) You don't have to be German to find the U.S. tipping system to be bizarre and annoying. I'm American and have to live with it all the time. I don't object to giving the money, but I really resent an obligation which requires me to pretend to be generous and altruistic.

8) Here's something the U.S. does better. Our Speaker of the House, though expected to preside in a non-partisan manner (ignore current Republican complaints on that count: they're trolling), remains a member of her party and can vote.

13) I endorse the "how to criticize Israel without being anti-Semitic" post about 99%. This writer has hit dead-on what makes criticisms of Israel sound anti-Semitic. I should add under item E that there are people who think they're well-meaning who do not believe Israel has any right to exist. This is mostly because they've fallen for the fallacy in item J. I've seen some fantastically mendacious historical claims, and they reappear frequently.
My one disagreement is under item H, which says the words "genocide" and "extermination" are OK to use. No they're not. Those are not the Israeli govt's aim,* but they were the Nazis' aim, so they fall under using Nazis as a rhetorical prop, which is the item H fallacy. Also in the same category: "ethnic cleansing." This has come to mean "genocide while pretending it isn't," and is thus wholly toxic. Don't use it.

*footnote: reports of new plans to invade Gaza do make me wonder wtf the Israel government does think it's doing.

[andrewducker]

In answer to your footnote I think the answer is "whatever they can get away with".

I don't know what their end goal is though.

[danieldwilliam]

What is the eventual outcome of a policy of forcibly removing people from their homes and taking their land from them?

[calimac]

It's a policy of forcible population transfer. That's what the term "ethnic cleansing" meant before the Serbs turned it into a euphemism for genocide. But since that's what it is now, a euphemism for genocide, it's consciously inflammatory to use it for anything else.

[danieldwilliam]

And what are people going to do when all their land has been taken from them?

[calimac]

1) Nobody's taking all the Palestinians' land away.

2) They're not going to be genocided, whatever else happens.

[ninetydegrees]

The 'Indian removal' policy has been said to be genocide, or lead to genocide by some historians I believe. I don't think ethnic cleansing or genocide has to always be the direct assassination and extermination of a group of people. I think you can reach the same outcome using other means, and knowing your actions will potentially or can lead to it. I'm not saying this is the case here but I think it's fair to question Israel's intent and what they think will happen to forcibly displaced Palestinians. If they aim to leave this population without any means to survive this is an eventual genocide.
And I apologize if I've misunderstood what you were trying to say.

[calimac]

I believe something like 90% of the Indians died as a result of the incursions of the whites. That's why it's called genocide. When the Palestinian death rate begins to approach that, call again. I don't think it's going to happen. The idea of them all slowly starving in border-zone refugee camps because all their lands have been taken is quite fanciful. Even the Syrians with all their troubles are not in such a state.

[ninetydegrees]

When the Palestinian death rate begins to approach that, call again. I don't think it's going to happen. The idea of them all slowly starving in border-zone refugee camps because all their lands have been taken is quite fanciful.

Ok I understand your reasoning now. Thanks for the very interesting conversation :)

[calimac]

I hope you don't think I approve of the Israeli government's behavior. I find it quite appalling. But it doesn't amount to genocide, and it weakens the case against it to call it that.

[zlyuk]

oh, dear. before posing various complicated counterfactuals, let's first get our facts straight.

1. this one is not the case of taking a land from people by the state. it's a court decision on a years-long quarrel about property. surely, it is politically charged and sensitive, but still this is a technical law act.
like, not every time an irishman is evicted from his home in Belfast, it's a war atrocity by the occupying UK regime.
2. if this is the way by which (supposedly!) the wretched Israel tries to seize Palestinians' land, it is awfully inefficient. a rude estimate: it would take 10^4-10^5 years to make any significant achievement, at this rate.

that's one paradox i really am puzzled about. the same argument usually charges Israel with most dreadful evil wills, and with most significant strength and abilities to carry these evil plans out. But somehow nothing of this really happened over the last 50 years. No genocide, no massive theft of lands, no millions of homeless refugees. somehow the big bad wolf is very very clumsy and unsuccessful.

[errolwi]

The Presiding Officer losing their vote in a notionally proportional system is illogical, and anti-democratic. NZ dropped their Speaker losing their vote when it changed to MMP.

[andrewducker]

Makes sense!

[simont]

It's True. Everyone IS Multitasking on Their Video Calls

I totally believe it. But what struck me about this article was that it had two unspoken premises, neither of which I believe:

1. People multitask real work with their meetings because they're behind on their real work, and not because the meetings are UNUTTERABLY TEDIOUS.

2. People multitasking real work with their unutterably tedious meetings is a bad thing, and not a way to recover some of that wasted time in the cause of actually doing something useful.

I think what's really happening here is that the pro-tedious-meeting people are struggling to come to terms with the fact that their captive audience isn't captive any more, and now they have to make their meetings shorter, more interesting, and deliver perceptible benefits, because suddenly they're exposed to competition from everything else people could be doing instead.

[andrewducker]

Yup! Not that I mind meetings which are productive. But some really aren't .

[trailer_spot]

I feel a slight impulse to say something about the very funny "When Germans Find Out About Tipping in the U.S." video. :) But the video is obviously more about the US system than Germans. So I will just add that here, depending on the situation/location, people tend to tip about 10%.

[andrewducker]

Yeah. I'll tip up to that much for good service. But it's very much an extra, rather than what the employees are relying on for their salary.

[doubtingmichael]

Nish Kumar talked about "How to criticize Israel without being anti-Semitic" in one of his live shows. I don't remember the exact words, but his suggestion was something like "I strongly disagree with the policies of the current Israeli government". That seemed a pretty good line to me.

[andrewducker]

That's good line.