Interesting Links for 09-08-2021

[andrewducker]

Major U.K. science funder to require grantees to make papers immediately free to all

(tags:science research publishing uk GoodNews )

Four officers who defended U.S. Capitol against attack have died by suicide

(tags:suicide USA police )

Xsolla fires 150 employees using big data and AI analysis, CEO's letter causes controversy. (and rightly so)

(tags:work OhForFucksSake redundancy technology ai )

What did Margaret Thatcher have to say about climate change?

(tags:margaretthatcher conservatives globalwarming environment pollution )

'Tortured phrases' give away fabricated research papers (what are journals paid for again?)

(tags:research publishing fraud translation ai OhForFucksSake )

Global Warming: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'

(tags:globalwarming doom )

Exams remain the best way to guarantee standards, says The Commission on School Reform

(tags:exams school scotland )

Nicaraguan liberals forcibly disbanded by Ortega regime

(tags:nicaragua democracy liberal )

Chinese scientists develop world's strongest glass that's as hard as diamond

(tags:glass china )

Lorry driver showing off his 1337 skills

(tags:tea driving impressive ViaDrCross video )

Vodafone to bring back roaming charges from January

(tags:uk europe phones )

Comments

[aldabra]

Did you see this, further down in the lorry driver thread?

pic.twitter.com/euTcXnPEG8

— This is rare, but it happens (@RareHappenes) August 8, 2021

[andrewducker]

Whoosh!

[dewline]

1. This is good news indeed.

2. Sad news, which I fear will find fascists celebrating.

3. Holy crap.

4. and 6. Ecological issues seem to have been among the few brighter spots in Thatcher's career history as a politician. Not that it seems to matter much at this point. We've been fighting against foot-dragging and outright sabotage, including the creation of the new fascist international to take over national governments across the planet under the latter category.

8. And Ortega is part of that "new fascist" problem now, or trying to be.

[zz]

"During emotional testimony last week, four police officers told a House of Representatives special committee that they were beaten, threatened, taunted with racial insults, and thought they might die as they struggled to defend the Capitol against the mob."

i.e. police get a taste of their own medicine for once. boo fucking hoo. no sympathy until they stop doing the same to others, with special legal powers to boot.

[dewline]

Under the specific circumstances of that time and place, I'm not sure I want to join in any mockery of those officers in particular.

Thatcher

[danieldwilliam]

The Tories venerate Thatcher as an icon but they appear to have a poor (or deliberately slippery) memory of what she actually advocated and what she opposed.

Not hugely surprised she had an eye on environmental change given her background in chemistry.

Re: Thatcher

[dewline]

Some facts did still matter to her.

Re: Thatcher

[andrewducker]

There seems to have been a break somewhere between "Attached to reality, believe that a simplistic take on economics is the right way forward" and "No longer attached to reality, espouse simplistic economics while actually taking what they can get". And it feels like the latter has become more and more common in the Conservative Party.

Re: Thatcher

[danieldwilliam]

The attachment to reality and the pragmaticism that came with it was always a strength of the Conservative Party, both when governing and electorally.

[anna_wing]

The glass used fullerenes, so could it be argued that it is in fact a variety of diamond?

[andrewducker]

I would have assumed you needed to be pure carbon to be a diamond. But I am the very opposite of an expect!

[danieldwilliam]

I think diamond is the name for the the particular alignment of pure carbon that you get in diamonds - but also no expert. This feels like a diamond alloy or adamantine.